Very natural Sound

Build quality

Sharp looking without being intrusive

Allows you to hear details that you may have never noticed before

Allows you (within reason) to still enjoy less than perfect recordings

No longer in production

They weren't cheap

You NEED to use them with subwoofers

Hard to find

Really should be used with GOOD electronics (if you are using a JVC receiver, or something similar....these probably aren't for you)

I have known about these speakers for several years, but always passed them by in the final running... However, I have been upgrading my system of late, and decided it was time to finally upgrade the modified Energy 4.1e's that I have loved for so many years.

My dealer allowed me to take home MANY pairs of speakers over a two month period, and the LD2's finally won me over. Now, these are speakers that REQUIRE the use of a subwoofer (or in my case, two). There are no if's, and's, or but's here. The LD2's employ a sealed box design and roll off at 80hz. (Actually, my pair roll off at 71hz..but you get the idea). I have seen some nasty reviews of these online, and if I used them all by themselves, I would probably WRITE one. But, add a sub or two crossed over at 80Hz and these are some of the finest, flattest (in a good way) sounding speakers I have heard. No cabinet resonance to speak of (sealed box), they are built quite well, and everything sounds very natural. For aluminum drivers they are even a little forgiving of less than ideal recordings, yet give all the detail you could ever ask for. They are not the most efficient speakers, however, so plan on pushing the volume up a little more than you may be used to.

These were the last pair my dealer had (they had been there quite some time...this pair was manufactured in 1994). They never did sell well, and were quite expensive to build, so velodyne dropped them after a fairly short time (they don't even mention them in the archives on their website).

All I can say is that after listening to them (along with subs) for awhile, I suddenly realized how "wrong" other speakers are!

If you can find a pair of these anyplace, and you have a sub or two.....buy them. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying these when used properly.

Oh, this website shows the MSRP being $400. That is incorrect....that is what one individual who reviewed them here paid for them on Audiogon...these speakers retailed for $800/pr in 1994.

Customer Service

Haven't used Velodyne customer service. I WILL say that I sent an email with a warranty question, and they never got back to me. Take that for what it's worth.

Similar Products Used:

Energy, Paradigm, JM Labs (Focal), Mordaunt-Short, MB Quart, Monsoon, Acoustic Research, Dahlquist, Wharfedale, Athena, Phase Technologies, B&W, RBH

Clarity in upper frequencies. Build quality. Size

Lacks bass and midbass punch. Lacks high wattage. Cant find anymore

I was able to find 3 pair of these on Audiogon. Plus the LD3C center channel. I had to get them. I never used the center channel. I used just 1 pair in stereo. I had several amps at that time I used them with. I had the Citation 5.1 and Citation 7.0 processor with 2 large 15" subs. The Little Velodyne speakers sounded really clear at all levels. At times I thought someo one was talking to me from another room! The vocals were very impressive. Sounded almost too good at times and wondered if it was my speakers playing or if I was hearing someone really talking!The only thing I would have changed about them is the midbass and bass response. There was bass but it wasnt loud at all. This speaker is more for vocals and higher frequencies. I took the speakers out and looked at them. Amazing! I saw an odd speaker basket and a real aluminum cone with X marks and cancellation material on the back of the cone were the X was. I figured it was a method of getting rid of distortion spots on the cone. The crossover had no electrolytic caps. It was all poly or film and air core inductors. Looked like either 18 or 24db slopes used. The tweeter was nothing special to look at but sounded better than anything I heard of regarding the same type (aluminum dome). Only thing that came close to it was an Infinity emit tweeter as far as sound. But they are in two totally diffrent categories. The Velodyne tweeters had a snap or a ting to it that made it sound natural. Emits has an airy sound. To me the Velodynes sounded real, not like they were tweeters. Sounded like they played some midrange also. Unfortunately the overal sound was not as good as it could have been. The soundstage was very wide. But the sound was thin. It needed more body and depth. These speakers are not warm. More on the brite side actually. Even though this was a weak point I couldnt deal with sometimes I still regret selling them on Ebay. They were fun to play with (listen too) Using diffrent amps made them sound diffrent every time. They are very sensitive. If you can find them buy them. Wish I could find a pair of DF-661's to play with.

Similar Products Used:

None that I have heard so far

I may be partial to Velodynes, because my entire Home Theater system consist of them. I have two df-661s for the main, an ld-3 for center, and a pair of ld-2s as surrounds. IMHO Velodyne full-range speakers are one of the best out there. I also have a uld-15 to round out the low end. I have a denon 5600 running the system right now, but i'm seriously thinking about upgrading the receiver. In denon's 5 channel stereo, the ld-2s sound as clear and detailed as the df-661s. I place the df-661s in a catagory with my Martian Logans. I hooked the df-661s to my music systems Classe' and the sound was awsome. Velodynes are only second to the magnificant Martin Logans. Anyways, the ld-2s are great too, but would sound much better mated to a small sub like the hgs-10. Happy listening...

This is a high-end product. I picked up a demo pair on clearance for $500, at Circuit City. I was familiar with the politics surrounding Velodynes full-range speakers and decided to investigate. I own a pair of Thiel CS.5 and this speaker is better. They don't have the bass the Thiel's do, or the bass that most speakers do (They are only rated down to 80hz, and considering its a 6-1/2" driver what it is doing it does well). They are worth it. This speaker claims to have less than 1% distortion at 1 watt, and that claim is audible. They are very transparent sounding; voices are naked. Soundstaging from the LD2's was just as good as the .5's if not better. Its a speaker that is well-engineered and, furthermore, avoids expenses you won't hear, like wood veneers, by using a black vinyl finish. Furthermore, the grills were not engineered with diffraction in mind, leave them off. The next model up from this one got bad reviews by Stereophile and another publication, from what I hear. However, the Audio Critic thought it to be a mid-priced superspeaker. I think latter opinion holds for the LD2 too, its virtually the same as its bigger brother minus the extra 6-1/2" driver. If you find one somewhere with a thirty day return policy, treat yourself to a free audition. It really is a special speaker and you might end up throwing-out whatever garbage you thought was high-end.
My system for this speaker was a Jolida SJ202a amplifier, and California Audio Labs DX-1 cd player, a soundstyle equipment rack, and all Synergistic Research from power cord to speaker cable (appropriate for this priced speaker). The room is 15' long by 12' wide by 8' high. The speakers were firing the length of the room placed about 30" from the side walls and a bit under a third of the way into the room. The listening position was on the rear wall. No, reflections of the back wall do not interfere with the sound when you are up against it (the delay is to small to be audible then), except for the added benefit of maximum bass pressurization, which helped the LD2's considerably. They were fine without a sub under those conditions; however, in a bigger room and a more typical listening environment you will want a sub, preferably one of Velodyne's. The 10" model from the F series (also with <1% THD) with these speakers would make a beautiful sounding, true-full range system for under two grand, you might even be able to pull it off for closer to fifteen-hundred if you play your cards right.
The only reason I give them three stars is because I know I haven't listened to even a sizeable fraction of all there is out there. Furthermore, I haven't listened to it under truly empirical blind a/b and abx testing to say its a five. Five star to me isn't a price-performance ratio, but how it rates against everything out there regardless. If it was five you couldn't buy better, period. When in doubt its usually better to err on the side of conservative. If we are talking price/performance ratio; I give it a five.

Clearity, not muddy

Appearance

These humble looking speakers are not cheap. I regretted after I bought them. After listening over a year, I realize most speakers in the market, of this price range, are muddy. It sounds very clear, very true, very accurate. The only problem is missing the bass. But who cares if you use subwoofer anyway. Velodyne stops making them because of the technical difficulties to assemble aluminium cones.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity

I give this speaker a rating of 5 because the other reviewer that gave it a 3 because he is an anal over conservative jerk. This speaker deserves a 4. It's darn good. There is always something better. I use mine for the rear channels in a surround sound set up. My main speakers are Infinity Kappa 8.1's my center channel is the Velodyne LD3 and my subwoofer is the Velodyne FSR12. The sound from this setup is very close B&W's top of the line speakers costing thousands more. The sound is uncolored natural and is only lacking in deep bass. My other speakers make up for that.