Daedalus–ModWright–WyWires

Daedalus Loudspeakers has been a loyal exhibitor at RMAF, along with ModWright Instruments and WyWires. Their system showcased the Ulysses v.2 speakers ($14,950/pair) driven by a ModWright KWA 150 Signature amplifier ($8495), with the front-end a pre-production prototype ModWright Elyse DAC (price TBD) fed data from a ModWright-modded Oppo disc player, and ModWright LS 36.5 two-box preamp with tube-regulated power supply ($9995). Cables were WyWires PLatinum interconnects (from $1495) and Silver Series AC cords, with Daedalus/WyWires speaker cables. The Ulysses uses two full-range Fostex units for its midrange, combining it with twin tweeters and two proprietary 8" woofers with paper cones and corrugated surrounds originally designed by Daedalus 20 years ago for musical instrument use. (Apparently Lou Reed uses Daedalus MI speakers for amplifying his acoustic guitar.)

The speaker boasts a flat 6 ohm impedance and a claimed 97–98dB sensitivity, which means the solid-state ModWright amplifier was just idling at the level at which I auditioned Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car." Even so, the sound had a slightly hard edge that crept in at higher volumes.

Source : stereophile[dot]com