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.

WOW WOW WOW! I am 'blown away' by the sound of these B652-AIR's! I've been an audiophile since the 70's, when I discovered great sound via my father's vintage early 60's FISHER 500C stereo receiver, running the original German Telefunken tubes. Since then, i've had McIntosh, Onkyo Grand Integra, Rogue Audio, California Audio Labs, early Polk Audio, Magnepan, and JBL (horn loaded speakers), just to name a few of my favorite brands. I ordered these Daytons, because I wanted a cheap pair of halfway decent speakers for my garage setup, using a FiiO X1 music player as my source (with WMA lossless files). Being that it is still February and frigid outside (and in my non-heated garage), I couldn't wait until Spring to try these out. So I hooked them up on a large dresser in my bedroom (grilles off, just inches from the wall), using the FiiO X1 as my music source. I tried both a classic Pioneer SX-780 vintage stereo receiver, as well as a Qinpu A-6000 MKII tubed hybrid integrated amp during different listening sessions. To say I was floored by what I was hearing is an understatement! Even right out of the box, these speakers SING! After some hours of 'break-in', their sonics belie their small price and small size! They sound natural, detailed, airy, and well-paced! I thought I was listening to a pair of $1000 dollar monitors! I fed them Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Mozart, Debussy, Steely Dan, The October Project, 60's through 80's pop/rock, Synthpop, Techno, Motown, Neo-Flamenco, and a lot of other stuff, and they performed admirably, even at a healthy volume! These speakers image and project very well, and sound very musical! Honestly, I have not had this much fun auditioning a pair of speakers than when I brought home a pair of Polk Audio Monitor 10's, back in 1986! 30 years later, I still have that pair of great speakers, and i'm sure i'll still have this pair of Daytons in 2046 (if i'm still around, that is)!

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.

I just got a great deal on these with the AMT tweeter. I'm kind of a newbie audiophile and just starting to get my feet wet into home audio (I've been into car audio mostly for about 15 years). I hooked these up and gave them a listen and I was truly impressed. They are a budget priced speaker, but they sound wonderful for the price range. I was truly impressed by the AMT tweeter. It is extremely detailed. I listened to some Norah Jones, Alice in Chains, and Diana Krall and in some areas immediately noticed some details that I had never heard before in the music. It seemed definitely limited to the tweeter output though. The woofer output was nice and fairly well balanced but not overly detailed (I wasn't expecting anything different in this price range). This sort of caused a bit of imbalance in the detail of the sound with the woofer being relatively standard while the higher frequencies being extremely detailed with the higher quality tweeter. I had read another reviewer mentioning that the upper midrange was pretty bright due to a lack of crossover for the midwoofer. I can attest to this as well as I noticed it with a few tracks in particular. I would notice with a guitar string that was bent up that the sound peaked quite a bit at the upper range of the midwoofer but then died down quite a bit once the tweeter took over. It was fairly noticable on a couple of tracks but not overwhelming. You will definitely need a sub to augment the low end with these as the bass didn't seem very present, but I wasn't expecting it too with a frequency response cutoff at 70hz on the low end doesn't leave much for picking up bass guitar, kick drum, etc. Overall I would say these are excellent sounding speakers especially for the price range and I'm looking forward to listening to most of my other music on them. I would definitely purchase again. I also received my order within a couple days of placing it so kudos to parts xpress for fast shipping and a quality product.

So when i ordered these, i didnt realize they were passive and i couldnt get them working. They come with 2 speakers and some raw speaker wire. This was a learning experience for me and i actually kind of enjoyed doing the research on my mistake. To fix the issue I ordered this amp: https://www.amazon.com/AIYIMA-A07-TPA3255-Amplifier-Digital/dp/B08CJZGT6H/ Anyway, the speakers sound great. I use them for producing electronic music and they have good range. The tweeters: Not the best in the biz but just having tweeters at all makes huge difference and they do produce good high freq sound. Kicker and other reputable brands will be better quality but these speakers are hundreds of dollars less and still sound good. The 6.5": They have muddy bass. Do not get these if youre looking for flat response. That said, they are good enough and produce great midrange sound, say 200Hz+. I will probably high pass them when i learn how to do that, maybe with a more expensive amp. To finish off my budget bedroom studio build, I paired these speakers with this subwoofer: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009GUTJ34/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 In conclusion: Not professional level audio but I've never found a better budget build than this. Best sound for the price range I've ever heard. Hell, these cost less than some Logitech 2" speakers.

For the $60 I paid, the sound quality is good but construction and quality of finish is below par. Some of the paper thin black vinyl at the top/side of the front baffle is blistering up on both speakers (this same problem is on a YouTube video from 2020 - apparently nothing done about it). The cabinet side wall thickness is thin with no internal brace. Inside, there was one piece of polyester batting on the rear - nothing on the sides, top or bottom of the cabinet. The result is a somewhat boomy bass and boxy midrange. For a sealed box design, the internal cabinet should lined/stuffed with polyfill type (which I did to improve the sound). So for a few bucks more they could have improved these. They are good value for money if you're willing to put up with the imperfections. OK for a bedroom or the garage.

I bought these speakers to replace and free up the desk space taken up by my much larger and much more expensive Monitor Audio book shelf speakers. I use them mostly for near field and relatively low volume applications, which these speakers excel. No, they won’t fill up the sound in a large room, they won’t give you the bass, and they’re not highly accurate either. But for near field on a desk and at low volume they’re very good. The small size also makes it easy to optimize their placement, although placement for them is not critical at all. The sound imaging is one of the best I’ve heard. For larger rooms, bass, and accuracy I have better systems, but for desktop use, I’m very happy with them. By the way, I’ve made modifications to these speakers, but they sound very good already out of the box. After one month on my desktop, here’s my update: I don’t like these speakers as much anymore. They tend to sound too bright and sometimes hurt my ears even at low volume settings. The bass can get boomy and there seems to be a few resonances which I initially interpreted as ‘details’ but they’re not. They are still good value speakers for the price, however. I’ve now swapped them with my vintage Celestion speakers from by bedroom. The sound is now much more listenable and using them far field at low volume in my bedroom seems to be a better match.

For the past few months I have been looking for the ultimate audiophile budget bookshelf speaker system. So far I have tested the Fluance SX6'S, Micca MB42X's, Dayton Audio B652's and these B652-AIR's. Here are my thoughts on the AIR's and overall conclusion from my comparisons. The Dayton Audio B652-AIR's are an excellent speaker for just under $70. They are definitely an improvement over the original B652's-which were renowned for their amazing value. I'm always on the hunt for audiophile sound on a budget and the AIR's ALMOST fit the bill and here's why. Although they do sound amazing for the price, they are not perfect. I found them to be a lacking a bit in the mids. The 6 1/2" woofer produces some amazing lows for a non-ported speaker and the Air Motion Tweeter (AMT) produces wonderfully crisp highs. Where they fall short is in the midrange. Mids are there, but just fall flat. Perhaps a better way of saying it is that they are overpowered by the highs and lows. If I used an EQ to pull the high end out I could definitely hear the mids better, but this produced a much flatter that was overall unpleasing. For my system I am using a Macbook Pro running iTunes 11:4. That is connected to the Behringer UCA202 DAC via USB. The DAC is connected to an older, but still good, Aiwa AV receiver that is rated at 120WPC but only produces about 30. The EQ and DSP was turned off on my receiver and I used iTunes to adjust the sound for optimal sound reproduction. The B652-AIR's are one of, if not the, best speakers I've heard for around $65. The main reason I can't give them five stars is that for just a little more there are far superior options out there. At only around $15 more I would definitely choose the MIcca MB42X's. They have better mids and produce a better soundstage. My ultimate choice for budget audiophile bookshelf speakers would be the Fluance SX6's, at $100 refurbished they are an amazing speaker!