Congrats on your new proud possessions harsh. please share broke up costs and your plans for surrounds.
Speaker Shortlist Help - 80k Stretchable to 1L
- Thread starter shriharsha.p
- Start date
Congrats on your new proud possessions harsh. please share broke up costs and your plans for surrounds.
shriharsha.p
Member
Hi All
Here are the initial impressions on my (now) nearly 10 day old set up. Actually, the most appropriate title for this narrative should have been "how the proper english gentleman was bested" considering I had almost finalized the QA 2050i. Very refined and polished speakers suitable for extended listening sessions. Great voice and instrument separation and the quality was pretty much apparent even for a layman like me. The speakers also had adequate bass though the specs for this department aren't exactly great (44hz at +/-3db). This was not a dealbreaker for me since by now, my already rubberband budget had stretched and I had decided to also include a sub with my initial purchase. Amongst all the speakers I have listened to thus far, these were the nearest that came to a live concert experience. It was as though the singer and instruments were in front of you. However, at the time of audition, somehow I was not very convinced with the movie capabilities of the QA even though i am told they sell a competent 5.1/7.1 package. The centre speaker seemed to have recessed dialogues and it appeared a bit puny with 4.25" drivers. I decided to hold off for a couple of days and wait for the Dalis, which were out of stock. In the meanwhile, I decided to again audition the Zensor 7 in DNI. This time, I did so with a lot more patience and by now, my ears had started to discern things like instrument separation, soundstage ( i still do not understand this term completely and for me, they are akin to how real a "live concert" experience you get), the range and the ability of the speakers to dig deep and still belt out tight, controlled bass.
Which brings me to the Zensor 7s. Well dressed, thoroughbred looking mafiosi, who have the polish and sophisticated demeanour but can roll up their sleeves and really play dirty when necessary. I auditioned with a Pioneer AVR primarily with the dealer's FLAC and low quality MP3 files and they had a sweet, seductive air about them. They handled most types of music with aplomb and contrary to some opinions that were expressed, they did NOT sound bright. The Zensors have very good bass extension and for someone on a tight budget initially, they can hold fort on the bass front for music and movies. The Vokal, being a fairly large centre with twin 5.25" drivers, belted out clear dialogues when a Tommy Lee Jones movie was played. Even with a low end Pioneer sub, the Zensors sounded awesome in the action sequences. By this time, I felt it was about time I bit the bullet and decided to go ahead with the Dalis. I had gone to so many speaker shops that even my little daughter started saying "appa no more speaker angadi (shop))! The people I was in touch for the Dalis (ivoryedge) were also actually talking to Mr Alex in DNI and I connected them both to figure out who does the billing etc and in the process, i get the speakers at the agreed price. So for the princely sum of 79.5k, I was getting the Dali Zensor 7s, a Vokal centre, about 5 mts of audioquest speaker cable, a HDMI cable from AVR to TV, installation AND importantly, moving my existing Denon HTiB to the bedroom with all associated drilling, etc.
Fast forward to the present. I definitely felt that the Dalis now sound very different in my living room (about 28' X 16') with the listening area about 20' X 16', but not in any negative way. Probably, owing to the bigger listening space, they sound a lot more open and airy. Also, even with the available area, the speakers dont have the luxury of an enormous breathing space and I did tweak placement to minimize any perceived boom. Owing to existing furniture, the Dalis themselves and a (very) accommodative wife, I struggled for the seamless integration of the sub with the overall sound. This is still an ongoing process as the sub had an irritating (I am told widespread) problem of not coming out of standby until a sufficiently large LFE signal was passed through. I solved this by pushing up the amplifier gain and decreasing the sub volume correspondingly. I am by no means a music purist though most in my immediate family and me have varying degrees of training in Carnatic music. A primary requirement for me when I decided to overhaul my AV equipment was the ability to render a wide variety of music from classical to bhajans to bollywood/regional filmi music to rock and have punch at extremely low volumes (not for classical though). To this end, the Velodyne impact 12 performs admirably though overall integration, I feel, could be better. I have so many AVR/sub related queries that I will have a flurry of questions being posed in various threads in the next couple of days.
I must add that this has been a journey of discovery and like photography, which is kind of a pet hobby of mine, this is addictive and not very easy on the wallet! On a different note, the Yamaha RX V475 is a great receiver and pairs well with the Dalis. One slight niggle I have noticed is that either the amp or the speakers (or both?) are not very forgiving towards low quality MP3 music. The Dali+sub combo also has a tendency to boom when watching downloaded MKV/DivX movies and a minor irritation for me is to constantly fiddle with the sub volume knob as I do not want to alter the AVR amp settings, lest I have a recurrence of the 'sub not coming out of standby issue".
The roadmap for the future looks fairly clear:
1. Some carpeting and heavy curtains to improve acoustics (will have enthusiastic support from the better half here!)
2. Change my existing music collection to higher quality audio - this will be a challenge to change everyone of them to say a FLAC)
3. Universal remote/alternative management like Yamaha scene buttons, etc. to democratise system usage. At present, my wife is overwhelmed by the number of remotes
4. Subdude or a DIY alternative to reduce sub related vibrations and negative effects
5. Zensor 1 sorrounds with tilting wall clamps as one entire wall is full of book cases
My 2 rupees here and I hope this aids other prospective buyers,
Cheers
Harsha
P.S. Will attempt to post some photos today
Here are the initial impressions on my (now) nearly 10 day old set up. Actually, the most appropriate title for this narrative should have been "how the proper english gentleman was bested" considering I had almost finalized the QA 2050i. Very refined and polished speakers suitable for extended listening sessions. Great voice and instrument separation and the quality was pretty much apparent even for a layman like me. The speakers also had adequate bass though the specs for this department aren't exactly great (44hz at +/-3db). This was not a dealbreaker for me since by now, my already rubberband budget had stretched and I had decided to also include a sub with my initial purchase. Amongst all the speakers I have listened to thus far, these were the nearest that came to a live concert experience. It was as though the singer and instruments were in front of you. However, at the time of audition, somehow I was not very convinced with the movie capabilities of the QA even though i am told they sell a competent 5.1/7.1 package. The centre speaker seemed to have recessed dialogues and it appeared a bit puny with 4.25" drivers. I decided to hold off for a couple of days and wait for the Dalis, which were out of stock. In the meanwhile, I decided to again audition the Zensor 7 in DNI. This time, I did so with a lot more patience and by now, my ears had started to discern things like instrument separation, soundstage ( i still do not understand this term completely and for me, they are akin to how real a "live concert" experience you get), the range and the ability of the speakers to dig deep and still belt out tight, controlled bass.
Which brings me to the Zensor 7s. Well dressed, thoroughbred looking mafiosi, who have the polish and sophisticated demeanour but can roll up their sleeves and really play dirty when necessary. I auditioned with a Pioneer AVR primarily with the dealer's FLAC and low quality MP3 files and they had a sweet, seductive air about them. They handled most types of music with aplomb and contrary to some opinions that were expressed, they did NOT sound bright. The Zensors have very good bass extension and for someone on a tight budget initially, they can hold fort on the bass front for music and movies. The Vokal, being a fairly large centre with twin 5.25" drivers, belted out clear dialogues when a Tommy Lee Jones movie was played. Even with a low end Pioneer sub, the Zensors sounded awesome in the action sequences. By this time, I felt it was about time I bit the bullet and decided to go ahead with the Dalis. I had gone to so many speaker shops that even my little daughter started saying "appa no more speaker angadi (shop))! The people I was in touch for the Dalis (ivoryedge) were also actually talking to Mr Alex in DNI and I connected them both to figure out who does the billing etc and in the process, i get the speakers at the agreed price. So for the princely sum of 79.5k, I was getting the Dali Zensor 7s, a Vokal centre, about 5 mts of audioquest speaker cable, a HDMI cable from AVR to TV, installation AND importantly, moving my existing Denon HTiB to the bedroom with all associated drilling, etc.
Fast forward to the present. I definitely felt that the Dalis now sound very different in my living room (about 28' X 16') with the listening area about 20' X 16', but not in any negative way. Probably, owing to the bigger listening space, they sound a lot more open and airy. Also, even with the available area, the speakers dont have the luxury of an enormous breathing space and I did tweak placement to minimize any perceived boom. Owing to existing furniture, the Dalis themselves and a (very) accommodative wife, I struggled for the seamless integration of the sub with the overall sound. This is still an ongoing process as the sub had an irritating (I am told widespread) problem of not coming out of standby until a sufficiently large LFE signal was passed through. I solved this by pushing up the amplifier gain and decreasing the sub volume correspondingly. I am by no means a music purist though most in my immediate family and me have varying degrees of training in Carnatic music. A primary requirement for me when I decided to overhaul my AV equipment was the ability to render a wide variety of music from classical to bhajans to bollywood/regional filmi music to rock and have punch at extremely low volumes (not for classical though). To this end, the Velodyne impact 12 performs admirably though overall integration, I feel, could be better. I have so many AVR/sub related queries that I will have a flurry of questions being posed in various threads in the next couple of days.
I must add that this has been a journey of discovery and like photography, which is kind of a pet hobby of mine, this is addictive and not very easy on the wallet! On a different note, the Yamaha RX V475 is a great receiver and pairs well with the Dalis. One slight niggle I have noticed is that either the amp or the speakers (or both?) are not very forgiving towards low quality MP3 music. The Dali+sub combo also has a tendency to boom when watching downloaded MKV/DivX movies and a minor irritation for me is to constantly fiddle with the sub volume knob as I do not want to alter the AVR amp settings, lest I have a recurrence of the 'sub not coming out of standby issue".
The roadmap for the future looks fairly clear:
1. Some carpeting and heavy curtains to improve acoustics (will have enthusiastic support from the better half here!)
2. Change my existing music collection to higher quality audio - this will be a challenge to change everyone of them to say a FLAC)
3. Universal remote/alternative management like Yamaha scene buttons, etc. to democratise system usage. At present, my wife is overwhelmed by the number of remotes
4. Subdude or a DIY alternative to reduce sub related vibrations and negative effects
5. Zensor 1 sorrounds with tilting wall clamps as one entire wall is full of book cases
My 2 rupees here and I hope this aids other prospective buyers,
Cheers
Harsha
P.S. Will attempt to post some photos today
Hi All
Many thanks for the congratulatory messages. Just back from travels and have had very limited time with speakers but they rock! Saw a liitle bit of saving Private Ryan and the Velodyne impact 12 literally shakes the room withThe Vokals deliver crystal clear dialogues even when the voices are barely a whisper. Also, i actually dont prefer the sub for listening to music as the Dalis have more than enough bass - 2 channel stereo sounds super. I will try to post some pictures and impressions in the next day or two.
Very different sounding speakers compared to the QA 2050i, so will make sure some (layman's) comparision is also included.
Cheers
Harsha
Congrats ! i enrolled myself into the Dali Zensor club.
Bought its from DNI ORR Bellandur @ 75K
Last edited:
75k including vocal?
Yes ! It's including the zensor vocal
shriharsha.p
Member
Yes that is a great deal!
Wharfedale Linton Heritage Speakers in Walnut finish at a Special Offer Price. BUY now before the price increase.
