Dayton Audio B652-AIR

I've been working with consumer and professional audio equipment for my entire life, so even though I only just received and set these speakers up in my living room tonight, I've already played a few songs, and HOLY CRAP were they a good investment! A little background here: for the past 17 years, I've been using a pair of Realistic Minimus 25's that my father gave me when I moved out to go to college. I'm not sure when he bought them, but I remember them being our main living room stereo speakers from at least the very early 90's. I've looked the 25's up, and the year I see mentioned most consistently is 1985, so they could very well be as old as I am. They still work! Don't get me wrong, I'm not abandoning them. I have plans for them. But I'm overhauling my home studio setup, and I wanted something that put out a more full sound. The one place the 25's are lacking is bass. They have 4.5-inch woofers and handle 25 watts RMS at 8 ohms, so I had to have the bass knob on my 2001 KLH amp (which is also getting replaced) turned up to 3 o'clock. The 652's have 6.5-inch woofers and handle 30 watts RMS at 8 ohms, so while the power handling is comparable, the bass response is MUCH more powerful! I swapped the 25's out for the 652's without making any changes, even though I knew they would be different. I actually had to TURN DOWN THE BASS, and you will almost NEVER hear me say that, EVER! When you're sitting right between a pair of what are essentially near-field monitors and the bass is too muddy instead of too hollow, that's a big change! The funny thing is, if you read some of the reviews here on Amazon, there are several people who complain that the bass from these 652's is weak. I knew these people had to be wrong, because... well, let's face it, it's Amazon; most of the reviewers have no clue what they're doing with audio equipment. But even despite that, I was going into this expecting that they WOULD be somewhat anemic on the low end. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they perform even better than I expected! The key -- as with any pair of stereo speakers -- is proper placement. You need a wall behind them to reflect the low frequencies back out from the rear of the cabinets, and you need to aim them to properly set the stereo field for where you'll be listening most often. Do that, and and you'll find that these babies push MORE than enough bass. You won't get Sensurround-style lows out of them (boy, am I dating myself with that reference or what?), but you won't be disappointed. The one issue I *do* find with them, however, is that there seems to be a bump in the high midrange that's a bit harsh, particularly on female vocals. They're definitely not flat like the 25's are. I get the feeling it's caused by the crossover in the speakers. These come with Dayton Audio's AMT tweeters (basically a pleated ribbon), which cover a wider upper band than traditional tweeters, allowing the woofer to focus more on the mids and lows, and requiring less power for the same SPL. That's probably boosting the gain in those frequencies. I can't rein it in on the KLH because that just has a basic pair of "bass" and "treble" knobs, but I have a 15-band graphic EQ on the way to pair up with the new amp (which is just an amp, nothing more), so it shouldn't take much to find the trouble frequencies and dial them down a bit once that arrives. You may want to do the same. Otherwise, those AMT's really sing! The highs are airy, not harsh... dynamic, not crushed... very pleasant to listen to! All in all, I'm glad I bought them! For $55, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better pair of brand new bookshelf speakers.

Great value. For a starter system these are ideal. Great highs and tight bass. Sensitivity is only listed as 87 db but it seems much better than that. I have them on and old RS STA-42 receiver that is just rated at 10W per channel and they really kick.

A little background...I never got to hear the original B652's that everyone raved about. The first set I had were the "new" models that apparently had bad tweeters. They were awful!! I contacted Dayton, and to their credit they sent me a pair of the "fixed" models. They were much better than the first set. I played them for a month or so, and then re-reviewed them. In short, I said that they were a good pair of cheap speakers; a real steal for $39 and a good set of speakers for anyone who wanted acceptable sound for a small price. But they still sounded like cheap speakers to anyone who is used to listening to higher quality audio. Now,getting to these new "Air" models. The Air Motion tweeters are wonderful! Very smooth with just the right amount of brightness. Bass response is not bad; I still think it would be better with either a larger cabinet or ports, but it's respectable as is. So highs and lows I'm happy with. And that leaves the problem area...in the upper midrange. The standard B652's have an area around (I am guessing a bit here, I didn't scope them) 2-3 K where those frequencies are too loud and they come across as being somewhat harsh and shrill. Unfortunately, these Air models have the same exact problem. I suspect it's because of the lack of a real crossover; these have only a capacitor to knock the lower frequencies off the tweeter. But that doesn't keep the whole frequency spectrum from being thrown at the woofer, nor does it do much to balance the volumes of the various frequencies. If your system has an EQ, you can "notch" this band down some and partially correct it. But if all you have is bass and treble; you're stuck with the shrillness. Considering the surprisingly good platform they have to be a cheap speaker; I am surprised Dayton doesn't go ahead and use a real crossover in these. The additional $20 a pair would be money well spent because it could potentially turn these into speakers into some that sound as good as models costing $300 or more a pair. But as they are, they still sound like cheap speakers with a great tweeter. Still...for $59, they are a steal. If that's all you have to spend, you will get a lot for your money in these. As a comparison to another popular low-priced speaker; I did an A-B test with the Micca MB42-X's. I feel that if you have another $20 to spend,the Micca's will give you a far more accurate and better balanced speaker with a real crossover network. They might have slightly less pronounced bass since they only have a 4" woofer; but they are wonderfully smooth and balanced, without the shrillness of the Daytons. I am going to be generous and give these 4 stars because of the excellent tweeter. Otherwise, it would be a 3 star rating because of the harshness. The tweeters alone are worth the purchase price. Good listening! ---Update--- It seems NoAudiophile tested these and noticed the same spike I mentioned. But he actually scoped them and the spike is at 3150 HZ (hey, I was close). He also stated that they have some problems as is. Interestingly; he reversed polarity on the tweeters and it improved things somewhat. I might try this and report back. --Long Term Update-- I never got around to reversing polarity on the tweeter, so no comment on that. I have been putting some time on these and playing them for hours at a time. The Air Motion tweeters are a tremendous upgrade from the tweeters in the standard B-652. The tweeters in the standard B652's are kinda crappy (hey, whataya expect for $39?), so this is a huge improvement. They do still have that spike in the upper midrange that I mentioned above. That probably wouldn't be an issue in home theater, but it does bug me a bit for music. Not terrible, but trained ears will pick up on it. Remember...I'm looking at these from a budget audiophile's point of view, so I'm being a little on the critical side. Still...for the price they are excellent, and I suspect most people would be thrilled with the sound. I had a little time to play and I did an A/B with the Micca MB42-x speakers. The Daytons have a 6.5" woofer compared to the Micca's 4", so the Daytons had a slight advantage in thump, though the Miccas actually go lower. The Micca's silk dome tweeter gives the Dayton a run for the money, but the Miccas win handily in the midrange and in overall sound quality. Between the two, I would spend the extra $20 and go with the Miccas; especially if you will be using a sub. But if $59 is your budget, I'm not sure you can do any better. Really an excellent speaker for the price. Good to see that Dayton brought these back. I hope they make a version of the floorstanders with the Air Motion tweeter. I will probably test them if they do. Good Listening! --Update-- Not sure why Amazon is so high on these. Parts Express has them for $59 with cheaper shipping. The current seller here is crazy high on shipping. --Update-- I find myself getting angry at these because they are almost excellent speakers. The tweeter is quite good, but the problem with the midrange mentioned above is annoying. Granted...most people would not notice it, but I do. Oh what a difference a crossover would make.

This speaker works really well. Great speaker for the price of $104.

Thanks very much ... A bit of a wait, but worth it!

Initial impressions are that it is a little bright. Using it with an Aiyima A03 tube preamp (6K4 tubes) & A03 2.1 amp, paired with an 8" passive sub. Soundstage is large enough and I took the advice of one of the reviewers here to shove it right up against the wall. This helped with the bass response. Due to the lack of it and my console space (which is tight), it is a match made in heaven. So bass is not overly bloated and is still present. Sounds up to par with the rest of my budget audiophile speaker arsenal so far. Will update the review in the future as the drivers open themselves up more.... Conclusion: Decided the speakers weren't for me and returned them. The upper register is peaky and the size is rather big. I needed smaller speakers for my bedroom.

Excellent speakers

After getting these out of the box i was very disappointed to find a crack/scratch on the front of one of the speakers through the tweeter and into the cabinet face. Have returned them for a refund. Will see what the refund process is like.