Anyone remember Dayton Audio Esoteric Series? 5" and 7" woofers?

[JonMarsh]

I was unpacking some Wharfdale Reva speakers to use for testing out an electronic crossover for Steve, and got reminded of these, because a bin of each was under the Revas....






They date back to 2014... crap, more than 10 years old. I'm sure the reason they caught my eye back then was the 3" edge wound voice coil on a titanium former, dual shorting rings, claims for FEA and Klippel optimized designs, and pretty dang flat impedance curves.









Now, I can imagine a number of interesting things to do with them, especially with some DA25TX tweeters, but folks on the forum couldn't buy them at this point- PE doesn't seem them anymore, I think they haven't for a few years. I'm thinking in terms of an MTM with either of these, working with a dual woofer combo, but which one?

Feels like a lost opportunity... though who knows... Maybe these were just too high tech for PE's general product lines and customers.

[DaveFred]

Why did they not take hold?

I think I have a pair of unused ES140's in the dungeon.

[Hdale85]

IMO there was kind of a lul for a couple years where it didn't seem like much new stuff was getting developed in the DIY space. And then covid and their prices shot up like crazy iirc.

I've been eying the Epique series cause they have a 5.5" mid and a tweeter they just released to go with the 2 "sub" drivers. Don't think they are on the same level as the Esoteric's though.

[technodanvan]

Why did they not take hold?

I think I have a pair of unused ES140's in the dungeon.

Weren't they kind of expensive compared to the rest of the Dayton lineup?

[JonMarsh]

Oh yeah... but much higher level of technology. Definitely not RS180's.

[JonMarsh]

IMO there was kind of a lul for a couple years where it didn't seem like much new stuff was getting developed in the DIY space. And then covid and their prices shot up like crazy iirc.

I've been eying the Epique series cause they have a 5.5" mid and a tweeter they just released to go with the 2 "sub" drivers. Don't think they are on the same level as the Esoteric's though.

I bought some Epique series parts and came to the same conclusion

[Hdale85]

Yeah they seem interesting, but they are in a completely different bracket for performance and affordability. The Esoteric stuff was clearly aimed much higher in the food chain lol. Really sad they aren't around anymore cause I had wanted to build something with them at one point. What are you going to do with yours?

[Hdale85]

I was unpacking some Wharfdale Reva speakers to use for testing out an electronic crossover for Steve, and got reminded of these, because a bin of each was under the Revas....

Now, I can imagine a number of interesting things to do with them, especially with some DA25TX tweeters, but folks on the forum couldn't buy them at this point- PE doesn't seem them anymore, I think they haven't for a few years. I'm thinking in terms of an MTM with either of these, working with a dual woofer combo, but which one?

Feels like a lost opportunity... though who knows... Maybe these were just too high tech for PE's general product lines and customers.

You may be right that most people shopping at PE are looking for cheaper stuff generally, certainly could have had something to do with it. The funny thing is I feel like PE has now become sort of a car audio shop in a lot of ways. I do think Covid had something to do with it though I really feel like I remember their prices going up or PE making some sort of comment about it or something. I could be remembering wrong though, wouldn't be the first time lol.

And yes they were more expensive but not anything insane like other higher end stuff. I feel like they were under $200 a driver.

According to AI their price range while they were around.

• ES140Ti-8 / ES140TiA-8: A 5-1/2" woofer/midbass driver featuring an FEA-optimized neodymium ring magnet motor, dual copper shorting rings, and a 100W RMS power handling capacity. Pricing typically ranges from $150 to $232. [1, 2]

• ES180TiA-8: A larger 7" high-end midbass woofer with a resonance frequency (\(F_{s}\)) of 33.7 Hz, a frequency response spanning 35 Hz to 5,500 Hz, and 100W RMS / 200W max power handling. Pricing typically falls around $205 to $244. [1]

[a4eaudio]

...
Feels like a lost opportunity... though who knows... Maybe these were just too high tech for PE's general product lines and customers.

The unconfirmed story was that PE got a limited stock of surplus Accuton drivers (well, maybe the frames, spider and voice coils?) and developed the Esoteric woofers. Of course they didn't share this, so people were upset when they almost suddenly went on clearance and went NLA (no longer available).

[JonMarsh]

You may be right that most people shopping at PE are looking for cheaper stuff generally, certainly could have had something to do with it. The funny thing is I feel like PE has now become sort of a car audio shop in a lot of ways. I do think Covid had something to do with it though I really feel like I remember their prices going up or PE making some sort of comment about it or something. I could be remembering wrong though, wouldn't be the first time lol.

And yes they were more expensive but not anything insane like other higher end stuff. I feel like they were under $200 a driver.

According to AI their price range while they were around.

• ES140Ti-8 / ES140TiA-8: A 5-1/2" woofer/midbass driver featuring an FEA-optimized neodymium ring magnet motor, dual copper shorting rings, and a 100W RMS power handling capacity. Pricing typically ranges from $150 to $232. [1, 2]

• ES180TiA-8: A larger 7" high-end midbass woofer with a resonance frequency (\(F_{s}\)) of 33.7 Hz, a frequency response spanning 35 Hz to 5,500 Hz, and 100W RMS / 200W max power handling. Pricing typically falls around $205 to $244. [1]

A LOT of places have become sort of "car audio shops" of late- go take a look at what the Byema web site looks like these days! The only place I've seen lately to get TPL75 is Speaker Workshop