Upgrading my home theater speakers - please review my choice

[trivisingh]

So I had posted before in an earlier thread about upgrading my old Sonodyne speakers in my 10 x 12 ft room to a new 5.1.2 system with a budget of around 2 lakhs... I had a demo of KEF, Dali, Q Acoustics, Polk and a few other brands and I seem to like Dali the best. Initially I wanted to go for KEF but after a demo at Pro-FX I didn't like them quite as much. Also what worried me was that quite a few of the shops were demoing the speakers through bluetooth or Air play, sometimes using my own phone. So I am wondering if that was the reason for some of the speakers not sounding as good due to quality loss. I might visit Pro-FX for demoing the KEFs again but for now I am leaning quite a bit towards Dali as my next speakers.

Another thing to note is that I had a demo of both the Oberon 7 and the Zensor 7 at The Shop and although they both sounded very close in fidelity, the Zensor seems to be more lively to me. Has anyone else heard both the Oberon and Zensor and can tell me which do they find better? Also the Zensors are cheaper and will definitely help me with my budget.

Anyways for now its gonna be either of the below 2 systems:

Dali Oberon 7 (Front L + R)
Dali Oberon Vocal (Centre)
Dali Oberon 3 (Rears)
Dali Alteco (Atmos)

OR

Dali Zensor 7 (Front L + R)
Dali Zensor Vocal (Centre)
Dali Zensor 3 (Rears)
Dali Alteco (Atmos)

Another thing I noticed that the Oberon is rear ported while the Zensor is front ported and I dont think I can place the speakers at too much distance away from the wall. How far do the rear ported speakers need to be placed from the wall?

I am still deciding on the Sub but will most likely go with SVS. I will take another demo of the KEFs to see if I like them over the Dali.

So what do you guys think of my choice and should I go with the Oberon or the Zensor? Any other speakers that you guys think that I should demo?

 

[Amarendra]

So I had posted before in an earlier thread about upgrading my old Sonodyne speakers in my 10 x 12 ft room to a new 5.1.2 system with a budget of around 2 lakhs... I had a demo of KEF, Dali, Q Acoustics, Polk and a few other brands and I seem to like Dali the best. Initially I wanted to go for KEF but after a demo at Pro-FX I didn't like them quite as much. Also what worried me was that quite a few of the shops were demoing the speakers through bluetooth or Air play, sometimes using my own phone. So I am wondering if that was the reason for some of the speakers not sounding as good due to quality loss. I might visit Pro-FX for demoing the KEFs again but for now I am leaning quite a bit towards Dali as my next speakers.

Another thing to note is that I had a demo of both the Oberon 7 and the Zensor 7 at The Shop and although they both sounded very close in fidelity, the Zensor seems to be more lively to me. Has anyone else heard both the Oberon and Zensor and can tell me which do they find better? Also the Zensors are cheaper and will definitely help me with my budget.

Anyways for now its gonna be either of the below 2 systems:

Dali Oberon 7 (Front L + R)
Dali Oberon Vocal (Centre)
Dali Oberon 3 (Rears)
Dali Alteco (Atmos)

OR

Dali Zensor 7 (Front L + R)
Dali Zensor Vocal (Centre)
Dali Zensor 3 (Rears)
Dali Alteco (Atmos)

Another thing I noticed that the Oberon is rear ported while the Zensor is front ported and I dont think I can place the speakers at too much distance away from the wall. How far do the rear ported speakers need to be placed from the wall?

I am still deciding on the Sub but will most likely go with SVS. I will take another demo of the KEFs to see if I like them over the Dali.

So what do you guys think of my choice and should I go with the Oberon or the Zensor? Any other speakers that you guys think that I should demo?

If you are going for floor standing speakers please check sensitivity of the speakers. I can see that your AVR is a Denon 2300 and it should prove adequate for your speakers. I am running a Denon 2500 with bookshelves at 8ohms and 86 db but I have connected 2 amps to it using line out converters. The result now is a much open and bigger sound. It shouldn't happen that the AVR becomes underpowered for the load that you are putting on it. If possible upgrade the AVR as well or provide for adding power amps to it. The higher the sensitivity of the speakers you select, the lower will be the load on your AVR. Just my opinion.....

 

[trivisingh]

If you are going for floor standing speakers please check sensitivity of the speakers. I can see that your AVR is a Denon 2300 and it should prove adequate for your speakers. I am running a Denon 2500 with bookshelves at 8ohms and 86 db but I have connected 2 amps to it using line out converters. The result now is a much open and bigger sound. It shouldn't happen that the AVR becomes underpowered for the load that you are putting on it. If possible upgrade the AVR as well or provide for adding power amps to it. The higher the sensitivity of the speakers you select, the lower will be the load on your AVR. Just my opinion.....

I have plans for upgrading my AVR as well but just not now....maybe next year. Anyways I will consider your solution if required.

 

[Nitin K]

So I had posted before in an earlier thread about upgrading my old Sonodyne speakers in my 10 x 12 ft room to a new 5.1.2 system with a budget of around 2 lakhs... I had a demo of KEF, Dali, Q Acoustics, Polk and a few other brands and I seem to like Dali the best. Initially I wanted to go for KEF but after a demo at Pro-FX I didn't like them quite as much. Also what worried me was that quite a few of the shops were demoing the speakers through bluetooth or Air play, sometimes using my own phone. So I am wondering if that was the reason for some of the speakers not sounding as good due to quality loss. I might visit Pro-FX for demoing the KEFs again but for now I am leaning quite a bit towards Dali as my next speakers.

Another thing to note is that I had a demo of both the Oberon 7 and the Zensor 7 at The Shop and although they both sounded very close in fidelity, the Zensor seems to be more lively to me. Has anyone else heard both the Oberon and Zensor and can tell me which do they find better? Also the Zensors are cheaper and will definitely help me with my budget.

Anyways for now its gonna be either of the below 2 systems:

Dali Oberon 7 (Front L + R)
Dali Oberon Vocal (Centre)
Dali Oberon 3 (Rears)
Dali Alteco (Atmos)

OR

Dali Zensor 7 (Front L + R)
Dali Zensor Vocal (Centre)
Dali Zensor 3 (Rears)
Dali Alteco (Atmos)

Another thing I noticed that the Oberon is rear ported while the Zensor is front ported and I dont think I can place the speakers at too much distance away from the wall. How far do the rear ported speakers need to be placed from the wall?

I am still deciding on the Sub but will most likely go with SVS. I will take another demo of the KEFs to see if I like them over the Dali.

So what do you guys think of my choice and should I go with the Oberon or the Zensor? Any other speakers that you guys think that I should demo?

Hi Trivisingh,
The Zensors have got good reviews on the forums & are well respected though I have not heard them. I was also contemplating between Oberon, Spektor & Zensor for wall mounted speakers owing to room constraints.
I emailed Dali & sought their advice. According to them the Oberon is more refined & a better option with their Soft Magnetic Compound (SMC) technology in the woofer to reduce coloration of sound & distortion. Hence went for Oberon 1's & Vokal.

I would also suggest you to hear the Oberon 5 which are award winning speakers & have been highly rated by What-Hifi & should suffice for your room. Here's the link, you can check it out.

Dali Oberon 5 review

What Hi-Fi? Awards 2020 winner. Superb floorstanders, right up there with the best

www.whathifi.com

 

[rpmahale]

Dali is one of the favorite speaker brand on forum and certainly Dali Zenser series justify that. In Mumbai you have lots of speakers brands options to audition. Make a list of similarly price speakers you wish to purchase and audition all of them. Don't purchase till you audition last speaker in your list. I have auditioned Dali Zenser 7, Warfdale Diamond 230 and Paradigm monitor 9 with Denon AVR x2000. To my test Dali was bright and little lean sound compare to WD and Paradigm.. you can consider Monitor Audio bronze 5, Elac debut F5.2, Paradigm se3000f and many more. Do homework and take your own time because the speakers hunt is amazing adventure and experience.

 

[trivisingh]

Dali is one of the favorite speaker brand on forum and certainly Dali Zenser series justify that. In Mumbai you have lots of speakers brands options to audition. Make a list of similarly price speakers you wish to purchase and audition all of them. Don't purchase till you audition last speaker in your list. I have auditioned Dali Zenser 7, Warfdale Diamond 230 and Paradigm monitor 9 with Denon AVR x2000. To my test Dali was bright and little lean sound compare to WD and Paradigm.. you can consider Monitor Audio bronze 5, Elac debut F5.2, Paradigm se3000f and many more. Do homework and take your own time because the speakers hunt is amazing adventure and experience.

Thanks for the advice. I still have some work to be done in my HT room which will take some time, till then I will try to demo more speakers and the ones you mentioned. Might go for some other brand if I find them better than Dali.

 

[metalmickey]

hi what was the quote given for all the dali's

 

[ravikumar-rotel]

So I had posted before in an earlier thread about upgrading my old Sonodyne speakers in my 10 x 12 ft room to a new 5.1.2 system with a budget of around 2 lakhs... I had a demo of KEF, Dali, Q Acoustics, Polk and a few other brands and I seem to like Dali the best. Initially I wanted to go for KEF but after a demo at Pro-FX I didn't like them quite as much. Also what worried me was that quite a few of the shops were demoing the speakers through bluetooth or Air play, sometimes using my own phone. So I am wondering if that was the reason for some of the speakers not sounding as good due to quality loss. I might visit Pro-FX for demoing the KEFs again but for now I am leaning quite a bit towards Dali as my next speakers.

Another thing to note is that I had a demo of both the Oberon 7 and the Zensor 7 at The Shop and although they both sounded very close in fidelity, the Zensor seems to be more lively to me. Has anyone else heard both the Oberon and Zensor and can tell me which do they find better? Also the Zensors are cheaper and will definitely help me with my budget.

Anyways for now its gonna be either of the below 2 systems:

Dali Oberon 7 (Front L + R)
Dali Oberon Vocal (Centre)
Dali Oberon 3 (Rears)
Dali Alteco (Atmos)

OR

Dali Zensor 7 (Front L + R)
Dali Zensor Vocal (Centre)
Dali Zensor 3 (Rears)
Dali Alteco (Atmos)

Another thing I noticed that the Oberon is rear ported while the Zensor is front ported and I dont think I can place the speakers at too much distance away from the wall. How far do the rear ported speakers need to be placed from the wall?

I am still deciding on the Sub but will most likely go with SVS. I will take another demo of the KEFs to see if I like them over the Dali.

So what do you guys think of my choice and should I go with the Oberon or the Zensor? Any other speakers that you guys think that I should demo?

Did you audition all these speakers with your gear/cables, at your place?. If yes, what gear did you use to audition, if no what gear did the dealer use to audition these speakers .
Thanks

 

[Monotosh]

Hi Trivisingh,
The Zensors have got good reviews on the forums & are well respected though I have not heard them. I was also contemplating between Oberon, Spektor & Zensor for wall mounted speakers owing to room constraints.
I emailed Dali & sought their advice. According to them the Oberon is more refined & a better option with their Soft Magnetic Compound (SMC) technology in the woofer to reduce coloration of sound & distortion. Hence went for Oberon 1's & Vokal.

I would also suggest you to hear the Oberon 5 which are award winning speakers & have been highly rated by What-Hifi & should suffice for your room. Here's the link, you can check it out.

Dali Oberon 5 review

What Hi-Fi? Awards 2020 winner. Superb floorstanders, right up there with the best

www.whathifi.com

I am using Oberon 5 as left and right , Oberon vokal as center , e12-f as sub, Oberon on-wall as surround and alteco as atmos + NAD 758v3 as avr... movie and music both sound very good in my 9x12 room.

But later on if you want to integrate a stereo setup in this HT setup(what i am planning to), Oberon 5 tower recommended Amplifier Power [W] is 30 - 150 W, if you choose a 200w stereo amps later(like NAD M33), it will be little more power for this, though people says little over head of power is good if you are not listening very high volume like 5 db or more , in that case over very long time of use it may damage the smc based wood fiber woofer. My AVR rated as 7x60w all channel driven and 110w power in stereo mode.

Apart from that in your 10x12 room Oberon 5 will Rock.

 

[insane79]

I am using Oberon 5 as left and right , Oberon vokal as center , e12-f as sub, Oberon on-wall as surround and alteco as atmos + NAD 758v3 as avr... movie and music both sound very good in my 9x12 room.

But later on if you want to integrate a stereo setup in this HT setup(what i am planning to), Oberon 5 tower recommended Amplifier Power [W] is 30 - 150 W, if you choose a 200w stereo amps later(like NAD M33), it will be little more power for this, though people says little over head of power is good if you are not listening very high volume like 5 db or more , in that case over very long time of use it may damage the smc based wood fiber woofer. My AVR rated as 7x60w all channel driven and 110w power in stereo mode.

Apart from that in your 10x12 room Oberon 5 will Rock.

Its a 2 year old thread lol. OP must have already bought the speakers..

 

[Monotosh]

saw it later .. cheers mate.

 

[Nitin K]

I am using Oberon 5 as left and right , Oberon vokal as center , e12-f as sub, Oberon on-wall as surround and alteco as atmos + NAD 758v3 as avr... movie and music both sound very good in my 9x12 room.

But later on if you want to integrate a stereo setup in this HT setup(what i am planning to), Oberon 5 tower recommended Amplifier Power [W] is 30 - 150 W, if you choose a 200w stereo amps later(like NAD M33), it will be little more power for this, though people says little over head of power is good if you are not listening very high volume like 5 db or more , in that case over very long time of use it may damage the smc based wood fiber woofer. My AVR rated as 7x60w all channel driven and 110w power in stereo mode.

Apart from that in your 10x12 room Oberon 5 will Rock.

It's an old thread & Trivisingh may be happily listening to his gear by now. Regarding playing a powerful amp with lower wattage speakers, I had emailed Dali as the Marantz receiver I have is rated at 125 watts rms @ 8 ohms 2 channel driven & the Oberon1's are recommended with amps from 25 to 100 watts . The Dali technical person replied that's perfectly fine as long as I don't crank up the volume too much which I don't in any case. Their advice was that a decent amp with clean power & more wattage than the speaker is better to have than an underpowered amp which on cranking up the volume may result in clipping & would be more harmful to the speakers.

 

[Naturelover]

The OP seems to have quit visiting the forum.
His last seen is July 2020.