Trying some DP160 Planar Magnetic speakers.

[Pure_Carbon]

Diptyque DP160, Mk1.
A mate "popped" a pair over a few weeks ago for me to try , and dropped them in to the system.
Then it was my MBL 5011 pre into a Bryston 2.5B cubed power.
I'll admit, wasn't overwhelmed.

They came out , and have been taking up a lot of space in the downstairs loo since.
The bad weather, ( no motorcycling) and a change of amp made me decide to drop them back in.
Now driven by a Plinius Hiato integrated amp.

I'll admit, maybe the more current the Pliny is putting out, and spent longer getting the positioning and level correct, but a much better experience.
Suprisingly good deep tight fast bass, excellent mids , and if you sit in the ( very precise) sweet spot, excellent imaging.
Sit off axis, and the other speaker seems to "cut out" almost immediately, need to be in the HiFi spot.
It's a presentation that took a bit of time to get used to, sound isn't projected straight at you like conventional cone speakers, but a day or 2 in, enjoying them.

Main critisism for me is the tweeter.
As a drummer, I get really clenched about cymbals sounding correct, and for me , these are OK, but not great.
Tapping the cymbal bell, not bad, but a full on crash, seems to get overloaded.
Many may not be as fussy.
I've noticed the new MK2 , the tweeter is over twice the length, so maybe it's been noted.
Overall, like them a lot.
Wouldn't buy these Mk1s, but be interested to hear the Mk2 with the upgraded tweeter.
Not cheap though.

 

[Darren]

This is very interesting. Steve Guttenburg liked them, but they are well beyond my means. Do you think Cymbals are hard to reproduce full stop?
I wonder if you would think Magneplanar treble has the same quality - I suspect so.
I would very much like a pair of the larger Maggies with the true ribbon tweeter.

PS. Your downstairs loo must be capacious!!

 

[Pure_Carbon]

Hi D.
I've heard quite a few "traditional" speakers that do cymbals/percussion very well.
Going slightly off track, i find Class D amps don't do cymbals properly either.
I want to hear the initial crash , and then some decay , and as the cymbal gets bigger/smaller, it's frequency changes, a big 22" ride is much deeper than an 8" splash., and where you hit also changes, the bell is more "tingy" than the outside, and needs to sound properly metallic.
Some kit just doesn't get it right.
Cowboy Junkies The Trinity Session , Sweet Jane , a decent example. He swaps cymbals and ends on the Bell.
I've got a mate in Scotland who's pondering selling his Maggies but need a van to collect !
Thankfully, I can get the Dippys side by side, and don't take up too much space when not in use.