I know in the past you have not been too impressed by the Daedalus offerings but Lou's now moved his designs to the next level with a "Version 2" designation. I haven't heard any models yet but hope to at CAF at the end of the month. His Athena would meet your size requirements and, to my ear, all your other checklist requirements. Whether the Version 2 moves you in a way his earlier designs did not is obviously an open question. What are you using these days?
Does this speaker exist?
Looking for ideas. Here's the wishlist:
- Small footprint, either standmount or small floorstander (<40”)
- For listening at normal distances (not nearfield, or not only nearfield)
- Comes alive at low volume (let's say that at least it doesn’t need to be cranked to come alive)
- Musically versatile
- State of the art tonality, truth of timber
- Superb treble
- Gobs of refinement (think 1080p or 4K vs. 420, or very high thread count egyptian cotton vs. Ramada Inn)
- Not important: large soundstage, disappearing act, bottom octave, fill the room
- I actually prefer a small soundstage -- a small but open widow to the performance
- Small footprint, either standmount or small floorstander (<40”)
- For listening at normal distances (not nearfield, or not only nearfield)
- Comes alive at low volume (let's say that at least it doesn’t need to be cranked to come alive)
- Musically versatile
- State of the art tonality, truth of timber
- Superb treble
- Gobs of refinement (think 1080p or 4K vs. 420, or very high thread count egyptian cotton vs. Ramada Inn)
- Not important: large soundstage, disappearing act, bottom octave, fill the room
- I actually prefer a small soundstage -- a small but open widow to the performance