How is it possible for Italian men to be so goddamn graceful? The lilting accent, casually stylish habiliment, as if it’s just natural. I always feel like a shambling oaf when I’m around Italians. So it was on Friday morning at the PGE Narodowy stadium, the site that Diapason chose for the unveiling of their newest speaker, the Didascalìa.
For as long as I’ve been in the audio industry, Diapason has been known for its elegant two-way speakers. In a style that’s uniquely Italian, Diapason’s cabinets have traditionally been made from solid wood rather than the much more common MDF covered with a thin layer of veneer. The classic Diapason speaker that immediately comes to mind whenever I think of their brand is a small two-way, stand-mounted monitor that looks like it was carved from a solid block of wood.
Paolo Tezzon unveils Didascalìa
All that is changing. While the company’s Reference collection has drifted away from that archetypal wood speaker, the Didascalìa (€59,000/pair) takes Diapason in an entirely new direction.
As Paolo Tezzon, head of research and development, and Alessandro Schiavi, the founder of Diapason, lifted the covers off the new Didascalìa (in an easeful, graceful Italian way), I got my first look at this substantial speaker.
For a close-up deep dive into the Didascalìa, I suggest you hop over to YouTube and watch the SoundStage! InSight video that we recently shot at Diapason’s factory. But here’s a quick summary.
The Didascalìa is ostensibly a two-way design, but in a medium-sized tower cabinet. Two side-mounted, racetrack-shaped passive radiators provide additional bass reinforcement. Makes sense really—why waste the space that the stand would typically take up? The speaker tapers to the back and is fronted by an aluminum plate that rises vertically and integrates into the top panel. The sides of the Didascalìa follow Diapason’s traditional styling, made from tall staves of solid walnut, and a pillow of luxurious leather surrounds the front-facing drivers. It’s an elegant look, one that combines forward-thinking modernism with classical styling.
The drivers are made for Diapason by Scan‑Speak, which is in Denmark. Diapason worked closely with Scan-Speak on driver development, and it was interesting to note that Simon Møller Nielsen, an R&D engineer from Scan‑Speak, stood sentinel-like at the back of the room.
The large cabinet, combined with the additional output provided by the passive radiators, offered Diapason an easy route to a claimed 90dB sensitivy (2.83V/m) and an amp-friendly nominal impedance of 8 ohms. Further, Diapason specifies that the Didascalìa reaches down to 40Hz with relative ease.
Formalities out of the way, we had a listen. The Didascalìa speakers had a great sense of presence, sounding just slightly forward in the midrange. Frank Sinatra’s voice reached out, sounding just ahead of the orchestra on one track, as did Nat King Cole on another. The Diapason folks were hopping around, playing portions of different tracks—they were obviously very proud, wanting to show us everything all at once.
As the room cleared out, I hung around for a short while, hoping for a chance to listen to some familiar music. Here, I made a mistake. I asked Schiavi to play “Demolition Man” by The Police, having just purchased the half-speed-mastered Abbey Road reissue on vinyl. Holy hell, did that not fit the vibe of the room, with the Qobuz version sounding flat and uninvolving. To make up for that, I asked, if they still trusted me, to play “Rampel” from Koby Israelite’s Book of Angels. Now we’re talking.
Here I got snappy percussion, crisp dynamics, and excellent reach into the bass. The highs were silky and well behaved, and the Didascalìas proved themselves comfortable at high volumes, sounding easeful and composed.
The system was running with Van den Hul cables and electronics, the latter of which were new to me at least. The source was a Lumin streamer.
Alessandro Schiavi and Paolo Tezzon
The first photos I saw of the Didascalìa were from Doug Schneider’s recent factory visit, and they showed the black-lacquered version of the speaker. The wood version here looked dramatically better. That rich, satin-finished solid walnut flanking aluminum and leather was stunning. The all-matte finish was perfectly set off by the polished feet.
Starting next year, Diapason will offer custom colors, either lacquered or anodized. That’s an ambitious plan, but I’m skeptical. To me, that’s like buying a Ferrari in a color other than red. Imagine a green Ferrari! No, there’s only one finish for this speaker, and that’s natural walnut.
Jason Thorpe
Senior Editor, SoundStage!
