Davone Reference Three speakers
The first Davone speaker I saw was the Ray, a very distinctive and beautiful design with a single stalk stand and a curvy shape wrapped in bent plywood. It immediately brought to mind the Eames Lounge Chair designed by Charles and Ray Eames in the fifties – the name that Davone founder Paul Schenkel gave to it cannot be a coincidence. That said bent ply furniture started in Schenkel’s neck of the woods, Denmark, where Alvar Aalto created the 60 stool in 1933. Just like the Rolling Stones re-introduced blues to the US Mr and Mrs Eames made bent ply fashionable for a whole new generation.
Davone launched with the Rithm in 2007, this is another beauty that forms something like the shape of the Star Trek badge when viewed from the side. It’s worth looking at the Davone site’s ‘About’ page just to see this and other designs, what’s more striking about the Rithm than its looks is just how much bracing was used in its construction. I fear that the extreme styling may have made folks think that the brand was all about aesthetics when in fact Schenkel found highly imaginative ways to create extremely stiff cabinets that have a lot of advantages when it comes to reducing the resonances that undermine conventional cabinets. The fact that Davone is still thriving suggests that this message got across.
Sit where you like
Today Davone continues to use this attractive material in a range of six curvy models, the Reference Three is the least radical looking speaker in the catalogue and yet it’s still a stunner in both form and function. Standing just under a metre high and finished in quarter cut walnut veneer it is one of the most domestically appealing floorstanders I have had the pleasure of using, all the more so because the looks are outweighed by the sound quality. The curved baffle is not just elegant, it is very stiff and eliminates the edges that cause diffraction on conventionally shaped cabinets. High frequencies travel across the front of a speaker and spray out when they hit the corner of the box, if there is no sharp corner the dispersion is more even and produces a result that is more consistent across on- and off-axis listening positions, or to put it simply you get a wider sweet-spot in which to sit and listen.
The Reference Three’s cabinet strength lies in that bent plywood, Bowers & Wilkins use a similar construction in their 800 series models because laminated wood is so stiff when it’s curved like this. The ply in this instance is 25mm thick which is very chunky given the size of the box. On the back is a flat panel with a reflex port in it and a single pair of high-quality cable terminals at the base. The speaker sits on a metal plinth which juts out at the back to counteract the slight backward tilt of the cabinet. This base also provides a solid anchor point for cone spikes if they are required.
Driving force
The driver array on the Reference Three is deceptively simple, a tweeter and a seven-inch woofer, what that doesn’t tell you is that the tweeter is beryllium and the mid/bass unit has a glass composite cone. There was a time not so long ago when beryllium cones were only found on very pricey loudspeakers such as the Focal flagships and equally costly designs from TAD, so finding one on a model at under £7k is surprising. The appeal of this material is incredible strength to weight ratio which is way ahead of other metals and means that break-up is significantly above the audio-band. The woofer cone is a mix of cellulose and glass fibre, the plant fibre provides damping while the glass keeps the cone stiff, the whole being coated for stability and powered by a balanced drive motor structure for a result that Davone describes as “both musical and precise”.
Sound quality
The Davone Reference Threes manage to combine strong detail resolution, excellent timing and a smoothness of presentation that makes them very easy to enjoy. They pull of the impressive trick of reproducing material that can often sound hard or aggressive without emphasising these qualities, instead you get the dynamics, pace and energy without any shoutiness or apparent compression. I suspect this comes down to the combination of excellent cabinet design and high quality drive units, quite possibly that beryllium tweeter is worth a lot more than its (extremely low) weight in sonic capability.
I used the Moor Amps Angel 6 power amp to drive them and suspect that its 150 watts helped the fairly low sensitivity Reference Threes to produce a full bodied sound that expanded out into the room in a highly coherent fashion. Detail levels were good with reverb on voices well defined and less appealing studio effects also clear on some occasions – if you want to hear into a recording you will get the good and the bad. With Daisy Rickman there’s a bit of both but the overall result is surprisingly compelling. As is the bassline on Kendra Morris’ In My House, a tune that came through with all of its sprightly goodness in totally coherent form, the details delivered in an unforced, fluent fashion which allows the listener to appreciate the work in full effect. The less than audiophile beats of Chase and Status’s monster track Baddadan can often be bludgeoning as a result of heavy compression, the Reference Threes reveal the power and banging nature of the tune without making your ears bleed, not at moderate levels at least.
Contrast
By contrast with other Scandinavian speakers the Reference Threes are a lot smoother and more rounded than an Oephi for instance, they do take prisoners. The brand that they remind me of in acoustic terms is Dali whose more ambitious models have a similarly revealing yet forgiving balance. And this means that Djrum’s more upbeat drum machine antics are more listenable than more starkly revealing designs, more fluent and easier to appreciate. But also that decent recordings of acoustic instruments and voices sound absolutely beautiful, this is true of string quartets where you hear the distinct timbre of the instruments as well as the space they were played in, and jazz trio’s such as Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Paul Motian At the Deer Head Inn (a fabulous recording that has just been released in full on vinyl by ECM). The latter sounded absolutely beautiful, the pathos of I Fall in Love Too Easily coming through in palpable form, while the drive and energy of Straight No Chaser was presented in fully rounded effect.
The better the recording the higher one is inclined to push the volume with the Reference Threes, the designer has judged the balance of resolution to fluency perfectly, and that is good news for music lovers everywhere. I tried them with my Rega Elex integrated as well, this is nowhere near as smooth as the Moor Amps but has lovely verve and energy with a speaker like the Davone. This pairing let me enjoy another live jazz release inf the form of The Way Out of Easy by Jeff Parker and his band, where the pace was perfect and the saxophone did not glare, which is a very impressive trick. Detail levels are high but the musical flow is given priority, which is just what a good speaker should do in my book.
Conclusion
I continued using the Davone Reference Threes for a lot longer than review purposes required because they are so easy to enjoy, even rough pieces like the Velvet Underground’s Rock & Roll manage to transcend the limitations of their production via these elegant speakers. There is always lots to appreciate on every piece played, whether it’s the snare on Court and Spark (Herbie Hancock) or Norah Jones’ vocal on the same. This voice can often feel a little swamped by the band but the Reference Threes projected it well without threatening to mask what’s going on elsewhere.
I for one am a big fan of the bent wood look of these Davones and am intrigued about some of their larger designs. The Reference Threes have made a very positive impression and highlight what can be done in an attractive loudspeaker of domestically acceptable scale. The Davone Reference Three is highly recommended even if you don’t crave an Eames chair.
Pros
Exceptional build & aesthetics: Features a stunning ‘bent plywood’ design reminiscent of Eames furniture. The 25mm thick walnut veneer cabinet is both domestically appealing and incredibly stiff.
Advanced driver materials: Includes a beryllium tweeter (usually reserved for much more expensive speakers) and a glass composite/cellulose woofer, offering a high strength-to-weight ratio.
Acoustic engineering: The curved baffle isn’t just for looks; it eliminates sharp edges to reduce diffraction, resulting in a wider ‘sweet spot’ and more consistent off-axis listening.
Smooth & forgiving sound: Capable of playing aggressive or poorly produced tracks without becoming ‘shouty’ or fatiguing.
Excellent balance: Prioritizes musical flow and timing while maintaining high detail resolution.
Sturdy foundation: The metal plinth and backward tilt provide stability and a solid anchor for spikes.
Cons
Low sensitivity: The review notes they are ‘fairly low sensitivity,’ meaning they require a powerful, high-quality amplifier to really ‘sing.’
Deceptive aesthetics: The extreme styling might lead some to mistake them for ‘lifestyle’ speakers focused on looks rather than serious high-end audio performance.
Price point: While the reviewer considers under £7k a ‘surprise’ for beryllium drivers, they still represent a significant investment for the average listener.
Revealing nature: While forgiving, they are still high-resolution; they will show you the ‘bad’ studio effects in a recording alongside the good.