Dayton Audio OPAL1 speaker launches

[Rick Sykora]

Dayton usually impresses for their price point though, highly interesting for sure. Who is buying a pair to send to Erin or Amir?

Erin supposedly has contacts at PE although they sent the Orian to Audioholics. Pretty sure nobody needs to buy.

 

[Ze Frog]

The power has to go somewhere. To get the SPL, you'll be burning up power in the loudspeaker and with less (a tiny fraction) being converted to actual acoustic power, ALL the rest goes up as heat in the voice coils and crossover components.

200 Watts is an awful lot of power. I don't think people understand how much heat is produced. No heatsinks, no fans, no way of getting rid of the heat. It's a fantasy number.

Can't disagree with that, I wouldn't put 200w through it. Saying that though I would say I rarely listen beyond 80 something dB at listening position, so for me I'd need 64w maximum excluding dynamic peaks. I don't think I've likely ever ran any speaker at full rated power myself. I think most claims regarding power a speaker can take is pretty useless as well, chasing the crowd for bigger numbers equals better.

 

[JohnnyNG]

They don’t mention anything specifically about them being power hungry

They do make a couple (somewhat conflicting in terms of max power) points in the .pdf manual.

"While the sensitivity is moderated to facilitate the extended bass, the system requires a
substantial amplifier with a recommendation of 200W or more to achieve its full potential."

"Note: OPAL1 is a low sensitivity speaker and can handle up to 200 watts of power per speaker. In many cases,
the extra power can improve the sound quality when compared to lower power amplifiers. Keep this in mind when
selecting an amplifier to pair with the OPAL1."

 

[Penelinfi]

Imo if you're running any speaker near max capability for extended periods, you should probably think about getting more subwoofer or speakers that can go louder/sensitivity.

But if you're not, then there's usually no big problems .
The tweeters on low sensitivity speakers will usually be more protected as they are padded down so much that the other crossover components take the heat first.
The woofers will have much of the power through them, though with high excursion should be able to keep cool enough. Assuming the mids are also somewhat padded down helps.

 

[TonyJZX]

i'm not hugely opposed to low sensitivity speakers... "if the juice is worth the squeeze"

i'd also love to ask them what amp they recommend and what amps they tested it with

 

[Putter]

It strikes me as having a fairly limited use case. It would work best as a desktop setup where a subwoofer is not possible or desired for the sake of simplicity and its relative inefficiency is not a big issue and also where there is sufficient space in back for the passives to work properly.

I know that rear ported speakers require a minimum of the port diameter to work, but don't know what is true for passive radiators. There are some powered speakers from JBL, Kali and Dynaudio among others that have similar specs without the sensitivity issues.

 

[quattro98]

These were lots of fun at Axpona. The driver excursion is crazy. It’s a dual gap motor, but I forgot to take a picture of the driver. I asked about wall placement, they said 2-2.5” minimum.

Home

Epique E150HE-44 5-1/2" DVC MMAG Extended Range Subwoofer 4 Ohm per Coil Epique E150HE-44 5-1/2" DVC MMAG Extended Range Subwoofer 4 Ohm per Coil Like. No. Other Combining world class performance with a reasonable cost, the Epique E150HE-44 5-1/2" carbon fiber cone woofer from Dayton Audio sets...

www.parts-express.com

 

[Ze Frog]

There is another potential issue with this. According to some in D.I.Y community these are 'leaky', not the boxes but the driver's apparently are loosely woven and allow air to pass through. Wether this has been fixed since it's a job to tell.

 

[Penelinfi]

There is another potential issue with this. According to some in D.I.Y community these are 'leaky', not the boxes but the driver's apparently are loosely woven and allow air to pass through. Wether this has been fixed since it's a job to tell.

I guess that would be pin holes where the resin didn't seal over?
Is there a reference to the discussion?

 

[Prana Ferox]

Could the sensitivity be listed as a typo? It is rated at half space which means at full space it would be even less sensitive.

The woofers themselves are listed at '83.3dB 2.83V/1m' so it wouldn't take much crossover shaping to pull the whole speaker down into the 70s.

I am curious about the heat soak issue restorer-john mentions.

 

[Ze Frog]

I guess that would be pin holes where the resin didn't seal over?
Is there a reference to the discussion?

Here's a couple from Parts Express. Also a few bits about on Reddit etc. Shame, seemed like interesting driver's.

 

[Ze Frog]

The woofers themselves are listed at '83.3dB 2.83V/1m' so it wouldn't take much crossover shaping to pull the whole speaker down into the 70s.

I am curious about the heat soak issue restorer-john mentions.

Not seen anything about that myself yet, but to be honest not been looking too hard. I'd like to try a passive radiator design, but if I was going to use Dayton Audio I'd go with there aluminium or paper driver's. They make good stuff, have used a fair bit over the years and some of it is hard to beat even from higher priced gear, the RS100A makes a killer midrange driver, up there with one of the best I've heard.

 

[Velocipede_Acoustics]

They don’t mention anything specifically about them being power hungry but they do have an amp they say is frequently bought together with the speaker, despite the speaker being brand new? It seems to have sufficient power, but ups the price by another USD 900…..
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayto...ter-Stereo-Power-Amplifier-300-810?quantity=1

Look at how much gain that amp has. That's probably why. Low sensitivity at 8ohms is going to require aot of voltage...

 

[TonyJZX]

it sounds like just about every surface could be hit with some clear coat to seal the unit

however if the cpne material is porous then what the hell can you do about that

 

[lewdish]

just for the sensitivity alone they are to trash, no offense, but what the hell

I'm guessing its cause the enclosure is really smol~ Theres other speakers like buchardt s400 mk2 that measure similarly in bass extension but have much more normal sensativity, but then again they cost almost 3x. Ultimaitely i think the product might be a demo product to show the capabilities of their Epique drivers which I think are meant to compete in the market as like a "low budget purifi driver". Purifi woofers cost like 3-5x the cost of their epique drivers but maybe w/ good reasons.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

78dB? of course the guys are going to say '' they work very well with tubes '' hahaha lmao, just kidding

 

[cavedriver]

Interesting, this is one of their Epique line by the looks of it, should imagine if they are fed the power needed these will be rather impressive low down.

The measurements for the Epique drivers seem to have some disppointingly high distortion readings in the upper bass (>3% from 550-800 Hz, ouch). Seems like a dud design despite the cool engineering that appears to have went into them:

Test Bench: The E180HE-44 Full-Range Subwoofer from the Dayton Audio Epique Line

In this article, Vance Dickason characterizes the E180HE-44 woofer, from the Dayton Audio Epique lineup. As with the E150HE from the same range, the E180HE-44 uses the patented Multiple Magnet Air Gap (MMAG) technology, invented by Enrique Stiles and patented by Step Technologies. The E180HE is...

audioxpress.com

 

[Mnyb]

I like how the product pictures show the speaker placed with the rear radiators' surrounds basically touching the wall:
View attachment 363231 View attachment 363232

And no cables at least its not a stock photo of some concrete anf glass room with the speakers photoshoped in

 

[Mnyb]

A bit wexing im not into small spakers with low F3 it can do it but not loud enough its 5,5” or similar driver ? So its wasted effort .

Choose a more sensible operation point get 10dB more sensitivity and hint that a subwoofer or two would be fine

Potential buyers my already have an AVR and sub ( now the AVR can drive the speakers )

But it still looks interesting , hopefully someone sends Amir a pair .

 

[Ze Frog]

The measurements for the Epique drivers seem to have some disppointingly high distortion readings in the upper bass (>3% from 550-800 Hz, ouch). Seems like a dud design despite the cool engineering that appears to have went into them:

Test Bench: The E180HE-44 Full-Range Subwoofer from the Dayton Audio Epique Line

In this article, Vance Dickason characterizes the E180HE-44 woofer, from the Dayton Audio Epique lineup. As with the E150HE from the same range, the E180HE-44 uses the patented Multiple Magnet Air Gap (MMAG) technology, invented by Enrique Stiles and patented by Step Technologies. The E180HE is...

audioxpress.com

It's a shame. Especially at the price of the things.