Capital Audiofest 2016: Daedalus goes BorderPatrol, stirring wood

CAF16-BP-Daedalus-TWL-4331

I suppose it shouldn’t have been surprising to see, but the team-up between two American-Made brands was unexpected — and delightfully so.

Daedalus loudspeakers, a visually striking example of modern design meets retro styling, paired with BorderPatrol electronics, a visually striking example of modern design meets retro styling. Like I said, I should have seen that one coming.

A Daedalus loudspeaker is iconic — all-natural all-wood cabinets. No veneers. No paint. Just a towering sculpture of nature’s finest, outfitted almost PA-like with high-sensitivity drivers. BorderPatrol is equally iconic, all 300b-based vacuum tube amplifiers, the warm thermionic glow belied by a bass-grip and top-end extension that “ought not be possible” to wring from such a tube. Together. Sweet! And to ice this All-American cake, it was all tied together with Triode Wire Labs — more on TWL soon, as I have a full set to play with — but I can tell you up front that this is some of the least expensive and highest caliber wire currently available in today’s high-end.

The sound here was pretty familiar, I’ll have to admit. Ha! Fine — yes, this is perilously close to the system I reviewed not too long ago and was very happy with, so I’ll refer you to the link for more detailed comments.

In-room, the sound was warm and inviting — this was an absolutely non-fatiguing set up arranged for all-day immersion. Well. It almost depended on who was running the room — Gary Dews of BorderPatrol, Pete Grzybowski of Triode Wire Labs, or Lou Hinkley of Daedalus Audio, the triumvirate responsible for the room. I heard, by turns, rich renditions of “female vocals”, audio show standards from Mark Knopfler, and some loud-as-hell ZZ Top. Music range? Handled. This was a kick-ass room.

Daedalus Audio

  • Athena v2 loudspeakers: $11,850
  • DiD: Daedalus Isolation Devices: $480/set

BorderPatrol

  • BorderPatrol 1543 DAC: $1250
  • BorderPatrol Control Unit Preamplifier: $6,500
  • BorderPatrol P20 EXD stereo amplifier: $16,750

Triode Wire Labs

  • Obsession Power Cord: $1,299
  • Silver Statement Power Cord: $1,199
  • Gold Statement Power Cord: $999
  • Seven Plus Power Cords: $549 each
  • Ten Plus Power Cords: $399 each
  • American Speaker Cables: $699/set
  • Spirit Interconnects: $349/set
  • Spirit 75 S/PDIF: $349 each




About Scot Hull 1063 Articles
Scot started all this back in 2009. He is currently the Publisher here at PTA, the Publisher at The Occasional Magazine, and the Executive Producer at The Occasional Podcast. There are way too many words about him over on the Contributors page.

2 Comments

  1. I didn’t realize Border Patrol is now made in the USA. Cool! Thanks for bringing me up to date.

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