Hi folks,
I wanted to give a quick report of recent audition of Dali Zensor 5. Hope it will help other FMs.
I also have questions regarding Dali Zensors (specifically 5 vs. 7) and would very much appreciate help from experienced FMs / Dali users.
No offense intended to anybody with opinions expressed
Audition Report:
Place: The Sound Factor - East Street, Pune
Speaker auditioned: Dali Zensor 5
Music: Self made audition CD using flac files
Amp: Yamaha, Arcam FMJ A19
CD: Yamaha, Cyrus
I have decided to change the speakers and opt for floorstanders. Current speakers are wharfedale 9.2s. So, took first round of audition with Dali zensor 5 as above.
I had telephoned in the morning and fixed a time for audition in the evening. Shang (The sound factor), had spoken to me and welcomed me once i reached. I also had shown interest in starting range of Focal speakers. So, Dali Zensor 5 and Focal chorus 714 was on agenda.
We started with zensor 5. I had heard good things about zensor 5 especially that it is very musical and good performer in all frequency slabs.
As we started the first track, in few seconds I was getting restless/nervous. The speaker sounded very laid back / boring. The lower bass was weak. The sound stage was certainly not created. I didn't certainly expect that to happen.. Listening to the full track and couple of more tracks confirmed it. The sound was dull and flat...
Then I sensed something. I couldn't take my Marantz PM6004 amp so was relying on the amps available in the shop. The Yamaha amp/CD player combo (I do not know the model numbers) was the culprit probably. I requested Shang to change it to Arcam, which we had talked about on phone. He happily obliged also changing the CD player to cyrus... and we resumed.
WOW.. what a difference it was. Literally day & night! The speakers suddenly came alive and started dancing.. It was all musical sound. Suddenly the enjoyment level was high. I completed the entire CD.
I was bit skeptical given the size of the speakers as these ones are the smallest floorstanders I have seen. But the speakers didn't fall short of creating a soundstage and producing enough bass.
Some observations:
* Adequate bass
* reasonable separation of instruments
* at times, the high frequency sound was bit bright to my taste
* cyrus/arcam combo was unforgiving so it highlighted good AND bad parts of recording
* vocals were good and soothing
* at times treble was bit 'loose' / muddy
As said earlier, the experience was enjoyable!
Then, we switched to Focal chorus 714. I had heard Focal BS before and had liked it so was eager & curious.. To my surprise 714s failed to impress me (It's subjective so no offense to owners). The sound apparently was very neutral. It was not flat but as if the speaker was doing a mundane job of an office worker.. Delivering without enthusiasm. Again this was my perception. Other bigger (& more expensive) models may be give (drastically) different experience. I stopped the audition after 4-5 tracks (out of total 20).
Now, there are a few things am wondering about:
1. Having read about zensor 7 being bigger & better in some departments than zensor 5, should I go for it? Apparently audition is not possible at 'The sound factor' as they don't keep 7s in stock. So will have to visit Mumbai. Shang suggested that given 22x12 room size (listening distance 10 ft), 7s will be better and especially because of the (low/normal) volume level I am used to (typically 9 clock on the amp)
2. Will 45 w output of Marantz PM 6004 able to drive zensor 7?
3. The other shortlisted speakers are:
* Q Acoustics 2050i (What hifi 5 start rating, 2013 award winner). No audition possible in Pune afa I know. Will have to check with Imperial sound, Mumbai for the audition (& possibly zensor 7)
* Wharfedale 155 : Good review on what hifi. Cheaper than Dali 7 (equal to Dali 5). What hifi had cut one star because of poor build but they were happy with the sound
* Boston Acoustics A360: Good reviews by magazines and owners. But don't want to compromise just because its cheaper
4. One question to Dali owners: With zensor 5 or 7 , the protective cover doesn't fit on the speakers tightly. By design, there is a gap of 1 cm approx. So the obvious question is in Indian dusty environment will the speakers cones be protected adequately? (I know fine dust particles must be travelling thru even if the cover is tight but this gap is obvious)
Thanks.
I wanted to give a quick report of recent audition of Dali Zensor 5. Hope it will help other FMs.
I also have questions regarding Dali Zensors (specifically 5 vs. 7) and would very much appreciate help from experienced FMs / Dali users.
No offense intended to anybody with opinions expressed
Audition Report:
Place: The Sound Factor - East Street, Pune
Speaker auditioned: Dali Zensor 5
Music: Self made audition CD using flac files
Amp: Yamaha, Arcam FMJ A19
CD: Yamaha, Cyrus
I have decided to change the speakers and opt for floorstanders. Current speakers are wharfedale 9.2s. So, took first round of audition with Dali zensor 5 as above.
I had telephoned in the morning and fixed a time for audition in the evening. Shang (The sound factor), had spoken to me and welcomed me once i reached. I also had shown interest in starting range of Focal speakers. So, Dali Zensor 5 and Focal chorus 714 was on agenda.
We started with zensor 5. I had heard good things about zensor 5 especially that it is very musical and good performer in all frequency slabs.
As we started the first track, in few seconds I was getting restless/nervous. The speaker sounded very laid back / boring. The lower bass was weak. The sound stage was certainly not created. I didn't certainly expect that to happen.. Listening to the full track and couple of more tracks confirmed it. The sound was dull and flat...
Then I sensed something. I couldn't take my Marantz PM6004 amp so was relying on the amps available in the shop. The Yamaha amp/CD player combo (I do not know the model numbers) was the culprit probably. I requested Shang to change it to Arcam, which we had talked about on phone. He happily obliged also changing the CD player to cyrus... and we resumed.
WOW.. what a difference it was. Literally day & night! The speakers suddenly came alive and started dancing.. It was all musical sound. Suddenly the enjoyment level was high. I completed the entire CD.
I was bit skeptical given the size of the speakers as these ones are the smallest floorstanders I have seen. But the speakers didn't fall short of creating a soundstage and producing enough bass.
Some observations:
* Adequate bass
* reasonable separation of instruments
* at times, the high frequency sound was bit bright to my taste
* cyrus/arcam combo was unforgiving so it highlighted good AND bad parts of recording
* vocals were good and soothing
* at times treble was bit 'loose' / muddy
As said earlier, the experience was enjoyable!
Then, we switched to Focal chorus 714. I had heard Focal BS before and had liked it so was eager & curious.. To my surprise 714s failed to impress me (It's subjective so no offense to owners). The sound apparently was very neutral. It was not flat but as if the speaker was doing a mundane job of an office worker.. Delivering without enthusiasm. Again this was my perception. Other bigger (& more expensive) models may be give (drastically) different experience. I stopped the audition after 4-5 tracks (out of total 20
).Now, there are a few things am wondering about:
1. Having read about zensor 7 being bigger & better in some departments than zensor 5, should I go for it? Apparently audition is not possible at 'The sound factor' as they don't keep 7s in stock. So will have to visit Mumbai. Shang suggested that given 22x12 room size (listening distance 10 ft), 7s will be better and especially because of the (low/normal) volume level I am used to (typically 9 clock on the amp)
2. Will 45 w output of Marantz PM 6004 able to drive zensor 7?
3. The other shortlisted speakers are:
* Q Acoustics 2050i (What hifi 5 start rating, 2013 award winner). No audition possible in Pune afa I know. Will have to check with Imperial sound, Mumbai for the audition (& possibly zensor 7)
* Wharfedale 155 : Good review on what hifi. Cheaper than Dali 7 (equal to Dali 5). What hifi had cut one star because of poor build but they were happy with the sound
* Boston Acoustics A360: Good reviews by magazines and owners. But don't want to compromise just because its cheaper
4. One question to Dali owners: With zensor 5 or 7 , the protective cover doesn't fit on the speakers tightly. By design, there is a gap of 1 cm approx. So the obvious question is in Indian dusty environment will the speakers cones be protected adequately? (I know fine dust particles must be travelling thru even if the cover is tight but this gap is obvious)
Thanks.
