Davis Acoustics Hera 150 Floor Stand review
My last meeting with Davis Acoustics was quite a long time ago, so my memory managed to erase certain details and circumstances, preserving the general impressions: a sound imprint and a visual image of acoustics. And most of all, I remember the fact that having three completely diverse dynamics, the Davises played exceptionally solid, seamless and without any pronounced coloration.
I spotted the new Davis Acoustics models at the Hi-Fi & High End Show 2022 at the Borodino Hotel. The Hera 250 and Krypton 9 floorstanders shown there sounded very interesting, but first I decided to get acquainted with a model that is as close as possible in design to the one I tested a few years ago.
Acquaintance
Hera 150 is currently the youngest floorstanding speaker in the series and one of the most affordable Davis Acoustics floorstanding models in principle. The specificity of the design that attracted me is the set of emitters. But in order to better understand the essence, it is better to start acquaintance from afar.
As one of the few privately owned companies that to this day has not entered into any local or international holding, Davis Acoustics independently manufactures speakers and implements its own take on high-end audio - the Hera 150, for example, has its own woofer and midrange driver.
It is noteworthy that the company's assortment is far from meager - rather, on the contrary, it surprises with abundance, including acoustics of completely different types, shapes and sizes, and even speakers separately for those who prefer to assemble speakers on their own. At the same time, Hera 150, although it is a representative of an affordable line, may well claim the status of a showcase of proprietary technologies.
And this showcase looks very solid for its price range: the details fit clearly, the gaps are uniform, the finish with vinyl film is neat, repeating the texture of real veneer. Our version, with a black composite front panel, on which various emitters stand out, and walnut sides, looks strict, but interesting. The black protective grill completely covers the entire front of the acoustics, adding a golden logo at the bottom.
Design
Acoustics Hera 150 has a classic three-way configuration, each speaker has an original design. The traditional-looking 25 mm dome fabric tweeter is equipped with a powerful voice coil of the same caliber, whose task is to provide the most natural sounding top without distortion and aggressive coloration.
The mid-range diffuser is woven from bright yellow fiberglass yarns, which, as you know, combine high strength with extremely low weight. In the center of the cone, on the core, there is a massive aluminum phase-equalizing bullet. The speaker of the same caliber with a specially processed cellulose cone is responsible for the lower frequencies. The cellulose cone is quite smooth to the touch: probably some kind of protective polymer coating has been applied to it.
Under a fairly large dust cap hides a large voice coil with a diameter of 37 mm, operating in the field of a powerful magnetic system. This allows you to improve control and increase the response speed of the woofer. It is curious that both the midrange and the woofer have the same rubber suspensions, and the woofer's suspension is only slightly inferior to the midrange in terms of elasticity.
The acoustic design of the Hera 150 is bass-reflex. The port has a large diameter and is set quite low, and is located on the front panel - this way you can simplify the search for the optimal place for acoustics in the room, since such speakers are less dependent on the distance from the wall compared to models with a rear port.
And in order to minimize the dependence on the properties of the floor, the manufacturer has added sufficiently long and sharp vibration-decoupling spikes to the kit, which it strongly recommends using.
In the specification of the model, the high sensitivity of 92 dB attracted special attention. This means that very few watts are required to obtain a comfortable volume - and expands the list of suitable amplifiers, including low-power tube and transistor models, and powerful transistors will play cleaner due to the fact that at moderate volume their circuit will not go beyond class A .
New geometry
The manufacturer's recommendations for arranging acoustics in a room are unusual, especially for this class of acoustics: it is proposed to place the speakers quite wide, three meters apart, and in parallel - only a small turn towards the listener is allowed.
And this is interesting, since most manufacturers just recommend doing the opposite: they say to build a classic Haifan triangle, aiming the acoustics with tweeters directly at the ears and moving the speakers closer to each other. Therefore, with the arrangement during the test, I wanted to experiment.
At first, I disregarded Davis Acoustics' recommendations and pointed the speakers at myself - and got a sound reminiscent of studio monitors. The top is extremely clean, legible, without sand and synthetics, and even sibilants do not cut the ear, which is generally very worthy for this price category.
And such a handwriting, with raised tops and upper middles, is just typical for professional equipment - this setting allows you to pull out the smallest nuances from the recording. The presentation seems more analytical, allowing you to look "behind the scenes" of the recording, and this is not at all the effect that you expect to feel from small and affordable French floorstanders.
Then I listened to the manufacturer's recommendations and changed the arrangement of the speakers, even slightly increased the distance - and as a result I got a completely different picture. Sound images are located wider, the stage has become more voluminous and filled all the space between the speakers in width. The virtual center remained approximately in the same place - between me and the components - but the feeling of volume and space filling became completely different.
Turning the axes of acoustic radiation almost parallel, so that if they intersect, then somewhere a hundred meters behind me, provided an absolutely non-dominant, soft top that retained all the above-mentioned advantages - purity, transparency and legibility, but without professional sharpness.
As for the mids and lows, the speakers turned out to be joined so seamlessly that in a blind test I would assume that the middle and bottom are played by one high-quality broadband driver with a dense paper cone, but not a bunch of paper bottom with a fiberglass middle. The sound had the integrity and phase linearity characteristic of wideband speakers, which gave exceptional naturalness to live recordings.
The bass range was reproduced quite typically for paper cones: with a confident study of lingering deep notes and a lack of density on dynamic music. And if the specifics of the appearance of a characteristic softened and deliberately intelligent attack on the bass is quite understandable - a light paper woofer is responsible for it, then it is not clear how the developers achieved an absolutely lively and warm sound from the "soulless" fiberglass and how they were able to harmonize these two speakers so imperceptibly.
To combine the incompatible, to make completely different materials sing in the same key - this requires a special talent. Another talent of the developers of Davis Acoustics, which was revealed during the audition, is the ability of the Hera 150 to reproduce complex rhythmic patterns as accurately as possible. Thanks to this, jazz, reggae and bossa nova are literally mesmerizing.
In the course of listening, I was very impressed with the sound of the composition "Ain't no sunshine" by Christy Baron. It's a very minimal piece, just vocals and double bass, but with the Hera 150, it's been a real treat from start to finish. This is because these acoustics combine excellent rhythm and natural sounding with a resolution that is high enough for its class.
As a result, the subtle intonation play of the vocals and the instrument is perfectly audible, the energy of the musicians is perfectly conveyed, there is not a single colored or distorted note in the sound - even on complex double bass passages. It turned out very heartfelt, with the full effect of immersion in music.
Another highlight is the overdriven, raspy guitar on Aerosmith's Mama Kin. The distortion was reproduced so faithfully that the first impulse was to run to the system and check the amplifier, speakers and all connections for the source of the wheezing. And only when other instruments entered it became clear that this was a recording.
Outcome
After listening to the full set of test discs, the initial impression of the acoustics remained practically unchanged. The character of the sound surprisingly combines the warmth and softness of good paper "widths" with the detail and transparency of the top, characteristic of studio monitors.
The tonal balance was almost perfect - no deliberate warmth, no dryness, no hyper-detail. The nature of the high frequencies can be corrected by turning the acoustics, finding a balance of analyticity and comfort that suits a particular listener.
In terms of musical genres, Hera 150 is primarily suitable for lovers of live music, jazz, blues, reggae, classical and vocals. Acoustics reproduce high-resolution audiophile recordings very effectively. The soft, relaxed bass has left its mark on energetic rock with a predominance of simple rhythms, alternative music and metal: nevertheless, between exquisite refinement and pressure, Hera 150 prefers the former. Which rather even supports its status as an exclusively audiophile acoustics.
But the most interesting thing is that small outdoor speakers play well not only with the usual arrangement in the right triangle, but also with a wide one. Very few models in this class - and especially in this price range - at a distance of three meters can form an integral scene, not lose scale and leave the middle legible and beautiful, but Davis coped with such a test. And this shows that the acoustics turned out to be really thoughtful and solid.
Pros
lively and realistic sound, high detail, well suited for both small and large rooms, high sensitivity
Cons
for rock and metal bass seems soft
OFFICIAL SITE
Davis Acoustics specifications
Frequency range: 42-20000 Hz
Tweeter: 25 mm, fabric dome
Midrange driver: 165 mm, braided fiberglass cone
Woofer: 165 mm paper cone
Power: 150W
Sensitivity: 92 dB
Impedance: 8 ohm
Dimensions: 900x190x270 mm
Weight: 15 kg
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