Daedalus Audio speakers - Muse or Muse studio

@d2girls

The stereo imaging won’t be quite as good as vertically aligned drivers.

If you can’t audition then don’t buy.

Speakers are the biggest variable in an audio system.

Every speaker ever reviewed seems to garner positive reviews. Reviews are often meaningless. Get out there and listen!

Stereophile or Soundstage measurements can quickly tell you which speakers to avoid (most speakers unfortunately have weaknesses) but that won’t help you make that final critical decision on what you like!

Commonly available popular brands - you should audition at least 7 or 8 out of these before plonking down 10K:-

B&W
Focal
Wilson
Revel
Kef
Dynaudio
Martin Logan
Monitor
Totem (Canadian)
Paradigm (Canadian)

Many of these have issues within their extensive line up but most have at least one or two models that hit it out of the park or come very close.

You can’t become an audiophile in 1 year. It takes years of experience and critical listening skills often come only with time (10,000 hour rule applies). 

Initially most buyers go for something with sizzle - big bass and emphasized treble (95% of speakers cater to this market) - attention grabbing speakers. Those who make it to a higher discerning level will gravitate towards speakers that sound balanced and totally natural and convey the true dynamics of live music (these speakers do not draw attention to themselves).

I think you you will be surprised at how much you will lose when you move away from Harbeth. It is far from perfect in the bass but Harbeth really do the mid range superbly and that is 80% of your music.

Mr_m and Inna, thanks for the mention. And yes, about 90% of my listening is to classical music, with about 10% being rock and other genres.

@d2girls, I’ve owned my Daedalus Ulysses speakers for about 8 years, and I’ve been sufficiently happy with them that I have no plans to go to anything else in the foreseeable future. During most of that time I’ve driven them with a 300B-based 65 watt per channel VAC Renaissance 70/70 MkIII tube amplifier. As you saw me mention in the current thread about the Lab12 DAC I recently purchased the solid state Pass XA25 to use with them, which I’ve also been very happy with.

Daedalus speakers are known for their natural sound character. I’d characterize the sound of my Ulysses as being somewhat more rich sounding and full bodied than many other speakers, but at the same time being dynamic, fast, and detailed. And that is accomplished without any hint of excessive brightness, and perhaps even with a bit of rolloff in the treble. Overall, a very nicely balanced speaker for my taste. I have no experience with Harbeth speakers, but based on what I know of them I would expect that a Daedalus speaker would be somewhat less warm sounding, while being a bit "faster" and more dynamic.

The combination Lou’s speakers provide of relatively high efficiency, high power handling capability, and an unusually flat, benign impedance curve makes them suitable for use with just about any amplifier in existence other than the really flea-powered types. The Ulysses are rated at 97.5 db/1W/1m, 2.5 db more than the Muse, and both the VAC and Pass amps I have used with it have no trouble generating the 100 to 105 db peaks that occur at my 12 foot listening distance on a few of my symphonic recordings which have particularly wide dynamic range.

Also, the 95 db rating of the Muse is about 8 db more than the sensitivity Stereophile measured for your Harbeths. Which means that less than 1/4 as much power would be required by the Muse to generate the same volume that would be generated by your Harbeths.

Regarding deep bass extension, based on measurements I’ve performed as well as on listening I’ve found the 28 Hz rating of my Ulysses to be accurate. So I would expect the 35 Hz rating of the Muse to also be accurate.

Shadorne raises a valid concern about the lack of vertical alignment of the drivers in the Muse. If you want to consider that model further I’d suggest that you raise that specific question with Lou. I’m sure he would give you an honest answer. Also, in contrast to the Athena and my Ulysses it appears that the Muse has the front of all of its drivers mounted in the same vertical plane. I suspect that the slight recess of the mid and treble drivers in the Athena and the Ulysses, relative to the positioning of their woofers, provides at least a slight benefit in terms of time coherence.

Best of luck, however you decide to proceed.
-- Al

d2girls,

For what it may be worth , I'll add to Almarg's amp association with Daedalus, I have the Argos V2's , model below the Ulysses, I drive them with either Modwright LS100 pre & KWA100SE power amp combo, Line Magnetic 518IA integrated (845 tube based SET, 22 wpc Class A), or Finale Audio 7189 (2) integrated (22 wpc push pull) . I will also agree with Al's assessment on the sound