Diapason Audio Adamantes III 25th Stand Mount Speakers

Diapason Adamantes III 25th Italian stand mount loudspeaker solid wood Walnut  hand built by Diapason master craftsman in multi-angled cabinet shape which  closely follows the best acoustic principles by providing circular emission of sound  around the loudspeaker thus avoiding distorting resonances from the transducers.
This unique design gives a close approximation to the theoretical ideal of point-source radiation, where the loudspeaker quite simply disappears from the scene, giving the  listener the sensation of a highly realistic "virtual" soundstage.  
New in unsealed box Adamantes III 25th is the latest edition of the Adamantes model and will come with full manufacturer Warranty. 
From 6 Moons Review:
Besides its resonant behavior, Walnut has an advantage over other woods when properly cured. It retains less moisture. Since wood lives, subsequent expansion and contraction is common but to be avoided in a speaker lest it develop cracks. Diapason’s track record is clean. They purchase only wood properly cured over 20 years and add two more years in their own shop just to be sure no moisture remains.


First, praise must be heaped on how exceptionally free the music decouples from the boxes. The usual disappearance act really fits. A good yard stick for that is the precision of the left/right progression. A dead center recorded voice or instrument is localized properly by most any speaker. Ditto for events that occur ca. 25% off-center to either the left or right. Most boxes still position such sounds accurately. In my opinion the trouble usually starts in the outer fringes. It’s as though such sounds then were magnetized to be magically captured by the speakers. The closer such sounds are to the outsides, the higher the likelihood that they seem to emerge from the boxes. The Adamante ‘demagnetizes’ such effects. She organizes the lateral spread very cleanly all the way to the edges and nothing ever sticks to the speakers.

Even the unfriendliest commentator could never claim that the Adamante conjures up its brand of transparency by injecting glassy, metallic, hyper-pronounced, forward or hard ingredients which might win quickie auditions but would turn anyone off three hours later. There’s simply no artifice or effort, period. I’d go as far as calling the Diapason a relaxation-inducing monitor. Precisely because the tunes are presented with such clarity, there’s not even any subconscious doubt that better cables or assorted cones might improve our ability to tell what’s what. Instead one might ascertain whether Sade’s  Solider of Lovelingered in the domestic inventory. Mine had it.


It’s a question of timing. The Diapason tracks impulses instantaneously and doesn’t overdamp the decays to there take its time. The trademark beats of Solder of Love rang out clearly longer and looser than over many other speakers. The effect was nearly ‘cool’ in its innate swing yet simply a function of accuracy. Dryness which kills this natural ring-out isn’t for me and exactly why the Adamante had me at hello. Besides high transparency and superlative dimensionality, this speaker lives a third central virtue – timing precision. Perhaps the notion to wire up the mid/woofer to the amplifier direct with just a short inner wire was spot on. The result was certainly highly immediate and consistent, be it on the very first piano attack by Cake, drums and percussions in general or in fact transients of any denomination.


Diapason’s Adamante is an exceptionally resolved monitor with first-class soundstaging and (not often the case) blessed with articulate yet musical timing that avoids all artificial edge. Instead of going after overt warmth, its foot is planted on the more lightweight side of the fence. It's a deliberate choice your preferences must match.


If you’re blessed with the requisite change and listen in small to medium rooms, this woody Italian is a must audition. I was blown away sonically and bought into the fine furniture charms only afterwards. Sonic traits include:


• The Adamante refuses midbass lift to compensate for lack of bass which is endemic to the monitor breed. The tonal balance is thus somewhat lightweight but does not tilt up to remain even and most certainly not too bright or forward.
• Midrange and treble are seamlessly connected and brilliantly clear. Detail retrieval is excellent but lacks all tiresome aggression. The word is simply ‘informative’. 

• The bass too is perfectly integrated but generates no pressure waves nor mines deeply. Existing bass is exceptionally ‘swingy’, i.e. instantaneous on the attack and finely nuanced on the decay to not step on the brakes with overdamped bone dryness.
• Transient events (noises, percussion, string attacks) are unbelievably realistic.
• Soundstaging is beyond reproach by combining millimeter sorting with a holistic presentation. Sounds are three-dimensional rather than flat, firmly localized and freely suspended and decorrelated from the speakers. Depth layering is impressive even at the edges of the stage. The speakers lights up the entire recorded venue.