Bookshelf Speakers — Davis Acoustics Krypton 3

The Krypton 3 is a small two-way reflex-loaded bookshelf model from Davis Acoustics, the French maker based in Troyes that has produced loudspeakers since 1986. The Krypton range was launched in 2021, and this model went on sale in September of that year at EUR 1,000 per pair as the only bookshelf design in a line otherwise made up of floorstanders and a center channel. Davis is a small company of about ten people that builds many of its own drivers and assembles most of its speakers in its own workshops, while cabinets and some driver parts come from outside suppliers.

Key specs that matter

A 13 cm woofer with a woven Kevlar fibre cone handles low and middle frequencies, while a 28 mm impregnated fabric dome tweeter takes over at 4,000 Hz. Davis quotes a response of 55 Hz to 24 kHz within 3 dB, a sensitivity of 90 dB and a nominal impedance between 4 and 8 ohm. Power handling is 80 W nominal and 120 W maximum. The cabinet stands 35 cm tall, 19 cm wide and 27 cm deep, and each speaker weighs about 5 kg.

Engineering and use context

In the woofer, a cast metal basket carries a motor with a wide, thick front plate, and a machined aluminium phase plug is fixed to the pole piece to limit air turbulence and reduce distortion. Behind the tweeter dome sits a tubular damping chamber. The cabinet is MDF with a 25 mm front baffle, and the two panels that form the laminar front port also act as internal braces. The crossover has one circuit for the tweeter, built from an air-core coil, two electrolytic capacitors and a cement resistor, and a second circuit for the woofer. The baffle is painted, the rest of the box is wrapped in a wood-effect vinyl, and a Danish-style fabric grille covers the drivers. A wooden base tilts the cabinet slightly backward to align the arrival times of the two drivers, and rubber pads come in the box. Three finishes are offered, Classic Walnut, Nordik White and Technik Black, with the cone tinted black or left natural yellow to match.

Pairing

Given its efficiency and the lower end of its impedance range, the Krypton 3 suits integrated amplifiers of moderate power that remain stable with low-impedance loads, and its power handling leaves margin for typical stereo amplifiers. It is equally suited to multichannel home cinema use as front or surround channels, with the matching center channel and tower models of the range as companions.

Alternatives

The Davis Acoustics Courbet 3 S2 is a 2-way bookshelf speaker with a single 13 cm Kevlar cone woofer/midrange.