I've been searching for a speaker for a secondary living room system and I've auditioned quite a bit of them. Brands I've auditioned were affordable bookshelf and floorstanding models of Wharfedale/Epos/Tannoy/Mission/Polk/Dali and yes even Dai-Ichi . .
I would have loved to get a B&W CM5 or an RS3 but my budget was whittled down by a need to fit my budget to buy new appliances (TV/AIrcon/Speakers), so my budget was only for the entry to low-mid speakers . . .
On my final short-list was the Epos Epic 2, Tannoy Mercury V, Polk RtiA3, Wharfedale 100 and the Mission MX3.
Then suddenly I saw that SIght and Sounds was selling the Denton at a sub-20k price, so I went over to the shop to have a listen.
Associated components were:
1) Rega Elicit integrated amp
2) iPhone 4S with Apple Lossless files and 256kbps AAC from iTunes store
3) LOD to RCA cable
4) Furukawa Power Cable
Closer look on the speaker:
Tracks used were my usual speaker audition tracks, notably:
1) Magnificent Seven - Apple Lossless, from Bose Audition CD
2) Africa - Apple Lossless
3) Bring Me to Life - Apple Lossless
4) Man in The Mirror (acoustic guitar by Tuck Andress) - Apple Lossless
5) Sweet Baby (new version) - Apple Lossless
6) Locked Out of Heaven - 256kbps AAC
I usually use the Magnificent Seven track to see the speaker's quality and quantity of bass. I was pleasantly surprised that the Denton had enough of both, despite 5 inch woofer. Immediately noticeable was that the Dentons had a warmish signature to them, giving them additional perceived bass depth, and bass was actually very tight.
What was also apparent was the very detailed highs, somewhat rolled off (thus less fatiguing). But without the usual weakness of budget speakers - warm pero ngongo, detailed pero very sharp.
Plus, the cabinet was very finely finished. Very nice real wood veneer. Maybe they learned something from the cabinetry of Castle, which parent IAG acquired some years back. I have a Castle Richmond on loan to my father-in-law, and I can tell you the veneer of the Denton is just as good.
Over-all, it was a very nice, well-balanced speaker, albeit on the warm side. One nice surprise was the price - at 17.6k deferred for 12 months, the speaker is a steal at that price. If you consider that the overseas price of the Dentons are at about 30k or so, and considering that these speakers are a limited edition series (I've read there will be only be 2k plus examples made worldwide), the value proposition of the Dentons is very persuasive. . .
Very persuasive in fact, I bought the only pair that Sight and Sounds has . . .