The Dayton Wright Hommage
A state-of-the-art redesign of a classic speaker
Audio Industry News - March 20 2022
Written By Robert Schryer
It promises to be one of the most endearing moments at this year’s Montreal Audiofest: On Friday, March 25, François Lemay, founder of Tenor Audio and now owner of Lemay Audio, will officially unveil—curtain and all—the Lemay Audio-manufactured Dayton Wright Hommage (French for homage)—a state-of-the-art redesign of the iconic Dayton Wright XG-10 electrostatic speaker—to Michael Wright’s widow, Betty, who’ll be in attendance. dayton wright hommage, hi-fi, audio, audiophile, high-end, electrostatic speakers, montreal audiofest, audio show A gutted XG-10
But I’m getting ahead of myself. This whole thing with François and Dayton Wright speakers started nearly 50 years ago, when, while shopping for new speakers, François heard his first pair of Dayton Wrights at Montreal’s Audio Club. “It was a shock, a whole new world,” he told me. “But I couldn’t afford them. And they needed powerful amps and a dedicated listening space. I was 23 years old.” By the time he could afford them, Dayton Wright speakers weren’t being made anymore.
“By 1985, production had ceased, although Wright* continued to offer updates and service for his models,” said François. “One of the things about his speakers is they contained gas, and the gas would eventually begin to leak out.” The speaker uses a series of electrostatic cells, which, in the right light, look not unlike your typical floor vent, inside which is a conductive Mylar film that, like a regular speaker cone, transmits sound. The panel of cells in the speaker is enclosed between two Mylar membranes, basically plastic sheets, stretched out entirely across either side of the speaker. Essentially, the gas, and the cells, are hermetically sealed in a compartment filled with a gas that is five times the weight of air.” Okay, but why?
“Gas is a better dielectric than air,” said Francois. “It meant that Wright could make his speakers sound more powerful. And there was a reason he wanted them to sound more powerful. Canada’s first Imax in Toronto had heard about Wright and wanted him to build 50 pairs of speakers to accommodate its cinema. To do that, the speakers needed to project sufficient energy into such a large space. The deal with Imax eventually fell through, but this created another opportunity. Since Wright had the design and all the tooling necessary to build his speakers, he decided to exhibit at audio shows. When people heard them, they were floored.”
The Lemay Audio Room
MONTREAL AUDIO FEST 2022
Robert Schryer | Mar 27, 2022
(All prices are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.)
The Lemay Audio room comes with a sweet story and a giant killer.
First, the sweet story: François Lemay, Tenor Audio founder and now owner of Montréal manufacturer-retailer Lemay Audio, remembers the moment vividly, even though it happened nearly 50 years ago, when he was a budding audiophile in his early twenties. "I was shopping for speakers when I heard my first pair of Dayton-Wright electrostatic loudspeakers," François told me. "They were incredible, like nothing I'd ever heard, and I promised myself I'd own a pair when I could afford them."
Unfortunately for Lemay, by the time he could afford them, they weren't being made anymore. "Michael Wright was a brilliant inventor, but he often got the raw end of the deal in business." Lemay confided. "He had to stop building them."
Lemay never forgot his dream of owning a pair. Instead, that dream grew into something even more magical. Not long ago, he decided, with his engineer friends, to rebuild a pair of the iconic XG-10s to modern specs. He and his friends were so pleased with the result that they decided to design and build a reimagined, state-of-the-art version of the XG-10, which would use 3 boxes of panels of electrostatic cells instead of the original model's one. Fittingly, the new model was named the Hommage. Only 10 pairs have been built. François intended to unveil one pair at the 2022 Montreal Audio Fest to Wright's widow, Betty, who apparently was thrilled that François had taken such a keen interest in her late husband's work. The speakers made it to the show, but Betty couldn't make it due to health reasons. I'm sure it would have been a moment to remember.
All is not lost. Thanks to François, who brought his dream to the show, visitors were treated to some amazing sound.
This is where I segue into the giant killer part: The system, comprised of the Dayton-Wright Hommage speakers ($58,000), a Tenor Audio Line 1 preamp ($160,000), two Tenor Audio 350M monoblocks, a Roon-core Baetis Audio server ($15,000), a couple of Lemay Audio Type GR Research active subwoofers ($10,800/pair), cables by Inakustik and Silversmith Audio, and stands by Modulum Audio, delivered some of the most natural-toned and textured sound I've ever heard. Vocals were out of this world, as was the delineation of the soundstage. François told me he hates when there's an instrument in a mix he can't identify. Here, it seemed I could hear every violin string being bowed. It was uncanny.
Now look closely at the photo, at the half a million dollars worth of equipment, and what do you see?
The DAC is an iFi Diablo, retail price $1300. François, who has tried $20,000+ DACs and fancy R2R ones, swears by it. Crazy, right?
Salon Audio Montreal / Audio Fest 2022 Show Report
Montreal Audiofest 2022 show report part 3.
Montreal Audio Fest 2022 Coverage By Rick Becker
You walk into the room, with your camera in your hand, You think you hear live music and you say "Who's that band?" You listen very hard, but you don't understand Just what you will write when you get home.
– Bob Dylan, paraphrased
The theme continued as I entered the darkened Outremont 2 room and found myself listening to what looked like might be PureAudioProject Trio speakers on steroids. The room was deathly silent aside from the music as people listened with an intense sense of religiosity. That alone told me I was in one of the Best Rooms Of Montreal 2022 at the show. I sat down to verify that truth.
The name Lemay on the banner and the Tenor 350M monoblocks were dots that connected when the familiar face of Francois Lemay approached and sat next to me. We go back to when Tenor first burst on the scene. I had made an erroneous assumption they were Italian in my 2000 show report but identified them as one of the best rooms at the show in 2003. They were driving an upscale Kharma speaker in that room, and I first met Bill Parrish of GTT Audio, the importer of the speakers. Shortly thereafter, I reviewed the Kharma Ceramique 2.2 speakers that remain my reference to this day.
While others examined the system Francois invited me to the hallway where he explained the three rectangular modules of these Hommage Dayton Wright speakers each contained three NOS electrostatic panels from vintage Dayton Wright speakers. Only the center channel of the center speaker is run full-range, while the others are confined closer to 3kHz midrange at the upper limit for tonality. A pair of open-back subwoofers from GR Research supplement the bass and a Mundorf ribbon tweeter augments the highest frequencies. The speakers sat on custom-designed stands from Modumlum, as did the components in the rig. I met Jean-Francois Michaud of Modulum who did the design work to minimize the vibrations of this tall design.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Jocelyn Jeanson (above) who was involved with the restoration and reengineering of the Dayton Wright panels. Michel Vanden Broeck of Tenor Audio and industrial designer Patrice Guillemin were also key players in this unique audio adventure. And lest you think you need a huge room for such a tall speaker, it will be custom made for ideal listening distances of 3, 4 or 5 meters.
The price of the Hommage Dayton Wright speaker with all the electronics that support the electrostatic panels is $58k and they have only enough NOS panels to make 10 pairs of speakers, so these will very likely become highly sought after once this small lot is sold out. This is one of those incredible niche stories in the history of High-End audio. The sad part is that while the project began when Michael William Wright was still alive and he was aware of it happening, he passed away in 2018 at about the age of 82 before its completion.
From what I learned in the brochure, he was a man of many talents and a prolific inventor... which makes me wonder about that vintage diving helmet on display in the hall. After I struggled with the French, I went to the Lemay Audio website and found it all spelled out in English. He sounds like a man who would have been fascinating to meet.
Coming back to the room and listening to a variety of music from loud, dynamic jazz, to classical orchestral works, to large choral music—and I visited this room three times over the two days, I was continually impressed. Surprisingly, the music was from Roon from an internal drive or Tidal via the new Baetis Reference 4 server ($15k CDN) which is built in Montreal. The fine resolution, magnificent sound staging, tonal balance, and the way it emotionally drew me into music that I don't normally care to listen to — and that’s saying something. The micro-dynamics were superb and the macro was very pleasantly sufficient. The audible transparency made the large speakers seemingly disappear.
It's not unusual for a system driven by Tenor Audio amplifiers to rank among the Best Rooms at any show — they usually do, but with the Hommage Dayton Wright speakers, I'm quite sure that years down the road this room will stand out as one of a handful of Very Best Rooms that I will remember from all the shows I've covered. At about a half-million dollars (CAD) for the gear in this room, that might not be unexpected, but money alone is not a guarantee. To steal a quote from an audio blog:
"My experience is, one doesn't get to a magical level for free and also not with lots of money alone."
— Jazznut, February 10, 2022, on Paul's Post.