I told Lou I would post my thoughts after the speakers settled in. My speakers are the Orpheus with the Duelund/ Mundorf Upgrade in the highly figured walnut. My previous speakers were the B&W 800D2.
Associated equipment: Koetsu Blue Lace- Ikeda 407- VPI Avenger- Hashimoto HM7 SUT- ANK L3 Phono (Waiting for an L5)- Line Magnetic 219ia. Fully treated dedicated GIK room.
I was looking to move on from my 800D2s after a couple years of ownership. In short they were very detailed and thunderous speakers but a bit fatiguing. I tried a few different front ends but listener fatigue always crept in after an hour.
The Orpheus are fantastic. Detailed and natural, almost sweet and work great with my SET amp. They equal or better the B&Ws in everything but bass. The 800s do have two 10" drivers, so this is to be expected. The bass is still musical and plentiful for music but lack pure thunder. No big deal, I could see a pair of BOWs someday.
The finish is obviously top notch. They are an heirloom piece. The figuring of the walnut is majestic.
Although they are efficient they can push my LM to 50W during peaks, which was interesting. I can see how some people use these speakers and say they have better dynamics with a solid state amp compared to a SET. Luckily, my LM219 puts out well over the 24 wpc spec.
I always say that the true test of a speaker is one that makes you want to continue listening and come back time after time. My Daedalus gives me that.
Lou is a nice guy. I am always nervous wiring such a large amount of money to someone I never met but he seemed to have a great reputation.
Criticisms: Nothing is perfect and I do have two small criticisms. One was the packaging. I wish they would have shipped in crates. The speakers arrived unharmed, but the boxes had a few holes in them. I had to tear them open before accepting from Fedex. The second, I would wish for more robust feet. My room leans to one side by about 1/3". That means I have to raise one speaker 0.25", plus level the speaker. I am maxed out on the adjustment of one speaker.
I will probably think of a few more things and edit this post a couple times.