Dayton Audio B65 new budget speaker review

Dayton Audio is revamping their speaker line-up. There are several new models including tower, mini bookshelf, center channel and these bookshelf models. They are based on a vintage look and are called the "classic" series. Let's see how the B65 model performs. I purchased these with my own money, they were not given to me to review.
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[@rich1051414]

You can't beat Dayton audio's hardware for the price. They make some killer drivers. Looks like they did the rest right on this update by adding the crossover.

[@bobisyouruncle1]

Very nice. Without the grill, they look a lot like the AR18S, from the 80's. I still have them. I very much like the Dayton's grey grill. Real retro style look. The AR18's have a mechanical 2nd order woofer loe pass and single capacitor for the tweeter. I very much like those new Dayton's.

[@zarboaudioprojects1430]

I like the look of the Dayton B65 speakers a lot, the retro vibe is really sharp and different. Impressed they put a REAL crossover in there, and it shows (or sounds) as I could hear a difference between the new and old speakers. Piano sounded a bit 'Twangy' on the old, but nice and sharp on the new. **Really good review, you get to the important points quickly. I really enjoy your videos, even though I don't always understand everything you're discussing! :) **

[@carlosmacmartin4205]

Thanks for sharing. I've been waiting for a review Iike this. Today, I bought a black pair of B65's along with a Douk Audio 5.0 Bluetooth Receiver. I wanted something for near field listening in a very small space. All in all, I spent $140. Affordable Audiophilia! 😅

[@matthewf1979]

The difference is very audible. The dome tweeter and the crossover really helps the new model. With a little Fosi audio amp and a set of the new Daytons you’ll have a decent stereo system for under $200.

[@Uraim]

i seen the new fosi audio amp with underrated power supply, its not that good, MC351 literally comes with underrated power supply and with too little amp dies that its on paper 600watts, while it can only do 80watts till 1% distortion on 4ohm. Also i seen a video where it was opened up, and i seen nothing good, small die, at least good heatsink size, but thats it.

[@KneppaH]

@@Uraim But for these speakers it would be more than enough.

[@publicmail2]

Looks like an 80's speaker and it also looks like a decent sound for it's size, compression cabinet, guessing 50-20kHz, watching video now...$60 pair is a good deal for a decent speaker pair.

[@BrayantSoto]

can you do a review of the new dayton audio B40 please?

[@McTroyd]

I ended up with 2 pair of B652s, when the first set came with a dead speaker, and so did the second set PE shipped me. (Hooray for soldering irons. 😁) Glad to see this re-issue clearly has much better build quality. Crossover is nice too... I keep meaning to add crossovers to mine, but I'm so used to how they sound now, it just never happens.

[@elikirkwood4580]

I have the dayton T652s in my garage, and ended up doing a crossover mod to them that I copied from another youtuber. It helped them out a lot but I still feel like the tweeter is lacking. I might try replacing the tweeter but that would probably mean a new crossover as well and I'm not sure I care to do that

[@HillsWorkbench]

There are some pretty simple speaker analyser setups that just send a few pulses to the speakers with calibrated microphones and software that uses Fast Fourier transforms to spit out spectral data.

[@aksela6912]

I'm sure you can do some decent measurements with just some white noise and a PCM recorder (or your phone). No absolute values, but for comparing two speakers it might give some insight.

[@Neushoorn63]

I like their looks.

[@ikymagoo]

with headphones on the new ones sounded more full, like you said, less midrange, and a little more bass, great review, i have a pair of the originals, and i kinda want to get a pair of the new ones, just to see

[@1pcfred]

The suspension on the new speaker looks bigger to me. Probably makes the driver livelier. Putting more insulation in that new speaker could help it out. The box does look a little thin. I wasn't keen on the lip on the new speaker. I think that could hurt spatial separation some. Stop the spread a little. I like a flat face. But really I'm sure it's fine.

[@robinkleinsteuber5217]

A couple of decades ago and beyond, audiophile and pro monitor speakers would place significant high-density felt around the tweeter of the right thickness to effectively stop the cabinet edge diffraction effect, and hence would also limit super wide-angle dispersion. Brands such as NHT, Dunlavy, Duntech, Spica, Wilson Audio, and all BBC LS3/5A monitor iterations have used that felt treatment method. For sure, you don't want a pronounced lip, due to the resulting comb filter effect on the frequency response caused by the edge diffraction. But you also wouldn't want 180 degree wide dispersion result from a flat baffle. It would be frequency selective, and would definitely start sounding bad listening at enough of an angle horizontally off-axis. Not the best. Acoustic waveguides are now the norm instead for controlled, and therefore consistent, directivity through the mids and treble. And yes, the vast majority of loudspeakers are made with a totally flat baffle. Now, only "Heritage" and "Classic" models are built with a pronounced lip edge for the nostalgia crowd. The ear-brain connection tends to cause one to ignore the technical elephant in the room and just enjoy the anticipated eye + ear pleasing result. Oh dear, psychoacoustics anyone??

[@gamiwv]

they need some "brake-in" period (let say 70~100 hours) at low(er) power. After that you can try your mods (stuffing and better X-over) and reevaluate them.. Air-core coils are not just "fancy" and of course that non-polarity capacitors (I have see that crap capacitors even in much more pricier speakers)

[@josh2011miller80]

I would be fascinated to know what woofer and what tweeter went into the new Classic B65s

[@TheTrueVoiceOfReason]

The B65 looks like its got the Dayton Audio ND28F-6 tweeter and the Goldwood GW-S650/4. The B652,.I cant find the exact drivers could be GRS.

[@juramirez05]

They are GRS..

[@TheTrueVoiceOfReason]

@@juramirez05 Thank you.

[@publicmail2]

John can you sing something for vocal test, I doubt you'd have a copy strike? BTW the wife and me had a 2-4HZ hump...

[@JohnAudioTech]

I dunno if you want me singin'. That's a good sort of hump (I hope).

[@robinkleinsteuber5217]

​@@JohnAudioTech Maybe try Aerosmith's "Dream On" with a guitar picker as your backup!? 🤔

[@RennieAsh]

That crossover though lol

[@craighoffman6876]

Ya, it's meager but at least it has something. Generally in this price class you get a tiny 5 cent cap in line on the tweeter positive terminal and that's it.

[@jakubczajka4275]

"Innovative design" booklet with picture of a tube amp on it... Anyway, a decent speaker for $70.

[@robinkleinsteuber5217]

Tubes ... dilemma - left side of brain says "no, don't go there!", and right side says "oooh, yesss, let's boogie!". 😮

[@gillanland]

The old one has much more pronounced highs( brighter sounding cymbals) which i like and the old one sounds muffed up in comparison. The midrange sounded the same.

[@bobisyouruncle1]

I do agree with the more pronounced highs in the old model.

[@Uraim]

i mean you mentioned bass, you can try running low frequency tones, but i think its a dead giveway, due both shares nearly the same woofer driver, But the dustcap is able to change sound. I mean this speaker is ok with those 2-15$ class d amplifiers, i think it would also fit for the money, but i still prefer my good sounding 45year old pioneer sa7800 with my B&W DM601S1 speakers, sounds so damn good

[@ziggy8757]

dont like the vintage look...just because of that i wouldnt buy them

[@jasontimothywells9895]

The crossovers are with extra cheese

[@robinkleinsteuber5217]

Some cheese, please!! Classic chedda is betta! 😊😅