Search for entry level floorstanders : Dali Zensor 7

[sam9s]

Sam9s - Even though your advice is quite accurate, I guess the fact remains that there are quite a few users (including me) who would end up using the same speakers for both movies/music because of various constraints. The usage would be in different ratios, but unfortunately (at least in my case), I do not have the luxury of ideally having two different set ups for music and movies, so I would also end up auditioning both movies/music, if I upgrade in the future.

Can someone explain how some speakers are better for music and some for movies? I can imagine that the more musical speakers may have a bit of mellowness to them but the ones for the movies are very transparent and neutral. I am really curious about this.

well lets put it this way, speakers might not be the exact precise reason for sounding different in movies/music, it might be the way the staging/Quality/precision of the sound we hear making the difference. But usually and generally, for movies one does not look for tonal accuracy, or precise mids and vocals. Most of us would look for cinematic staging, heaviness, bass, surround effects and clarity of the centre with dialogues.

Which is (again mostly as I said) completely opposite to when we listen to music, where music vocals, stereo separation, tonal difference (how warm or how bright) matters a lot.

It was again said that speakers which can bring out every note of the recording accurately will anyhow work good in movies, as they can cover a wide spectrum of sound, but my very personal experience in so many auditions I have taken, speaks differently. This might be again coz of the fact, how we (or I for that matter) perceive sound in different scenarios, as speakers high in music quality, for me, did not sound at all good in Movies, perfect example QUAD. (EPOS were still better) .....Baring few exceptions like Paradigm that for me were closest when it came to bridging quality in both Movies and Music. (Again absolutely neglecting elite brands like Martin Logan, Magnepan etc.)

 

[sam9s]

And as far as your frowning on mixing music and movies ............. I am sure you understand fiscal constraints. Keeping two separate systems, one for music and one for movies, is not feasible - dont even have the space in the house. So it has to be one system - and I have to strike a right balance with both. Just like one would want to drive a car which goes from 0-100 in under 6 secs, but still want 15+ kmpl.

As you pointed out, Polks are leaning a little too heavily towards movies. Dalis I thought were closest to the balance I wanted. Very sweet sounding, and with the 7s, very good oomph in the movies too.

Also, wouldnt you agree that 50k is not an inconsiderable sum of money ? If I was going to spend that much, I'd really like sound which would .... sound "worth 50k". Apart from the Boston Acoustics A360, none of the sub 50k speakers sounded any better than what I'd get from a HTIB. So I had to up my budget and look at 60-70k speakers

Yes I agree on the fiscal part as pointed out by Kneo as well, my frowning was more on the way you have judged speaker, mixing music and movies, like Wharfedale 10.4 they are not at all bad speakers, its just they are not good for movies and probably the best for Music under 40K range. I could not find any floorstands that sounded as good as Wharfedale under 40K fro Music.

When you say none of the spk sounded "worth 50", .....again its Music or Movies you are talking about .????? Coz for Movies I dont know, Polk sounds way better than even really high ended systems.

But I guess if you have to pick something which would sound good for both the lot, give a try to EPOS.......

 

[Raghav_K]

@grunthos: it came like this, zensor 3 pair was 27k, zensor 1 pair was 21k and zensor vocal for center was 18.6k.

Later i got the dali e12f sub for 46k.

I almost went for the zensor 5 for fronts, but then was advised against it as my listening distance was approx 8 ft and zensor 5 would be overpowering in a small setup. So went for zensor 3.. It has one of the 7 inch drivers from zensor 7 and the same tweeter, afaik.

 

[kneo]

well lets put it this way, speakers might not be the exact precise reason for sounding different in movies/music, it might be the way the staging/Quality/precision of the sound we hear making the difference. But usually and generally, for movies one does not look for tonal accuracy, or precise mids and vocals. Most of us would look for cinematic staging, heaviness, bass, surround effects and clarity of the centre with dialogues.

Which is (again mostly as I said) completely opposite to when we listen to music, where music vocals, stereo separation, tonal difference (how warm or how bright) matters a lot.

Thank you for the explanation. I guess for the 'average' user some speakers that can play music well but not slouch out during movies would be good enough. For speaker manufacturers, achieving that balance is also a challenge unless they advertise their speakers as being categorized for movies/music. Most speakers are advertised as music speakers, isn't it?

 

[sam9s]

^^That would depend on the priority towards Movies or Music. An "average" user might also want to have earth shaking movie effects, but can live with just decent music coming out of the fronts....

I am an average user and it was soon enough I realized that movies and music can not go together, if you want to have the best of both. I waited, added, saved, planed for like almost 5 years to have my own Movie HT and a Music set ups separately ... .... Its still WIP BTW ...

 

[kneo]

Your build is turning out to be great. I am following your build thread

 

[jsb]

@grunthos
more inputs on the dali7 please
and the rxr
cost of purchase and sourse
i would like to buy

 

[poppy]

@grunthos
more inputs on the dali7 please
and the rxr
cost of purchase and sourse
i would like to buy

JSB I had auditioned 7 recently thanks to @ grunthos post and it's sounds amazing both movie as ewell as music. The centre gives u superb vocal clarity in movies and FS gives u beautiful warm sound in music I am confused between B&W 684 and 7.

 

[grunthos]

@grunthos
more inputs on the dali7 please
and the rxr
cost of purchase and sourse
i would like to buy

I hope to do a long listening session on the Dali tomorrow since wife is out the full day hyeah:

So far consumption has mainly been TV shows with a little music thrown in. The Dali Zensor 7s have growth smoother in the past week, but I havent been able to burn them in properly because I havent been able to fix the AV cabinet (too much work pressure, hopefully Saturday it will be done) and I dont want to risk overheating of the Denon

What impresses me is the ability of the speakers to generate deep bass on certain tracks without any distortion of say, a piano track. Listening to Metallica's S&M is a joy, with diverse instruments of the orchestra kicking in and the room filling with Hetfield's guttural voice. And surprisingly, the music spills over to the other rooms as well. Maybe because it is the design of the house, but the tracks are quite enjoyable even if I have to step into the bedroom for a moment while music is playing

One unintended side effect has been that I have been almost completely shunning my mp3 collection (which forms the bulk of my music) and listening to FLACs only. There is a clear distinction between FLACs, which sound more full bodied, vs MP3s (even 320 kbps) which sound a little hollow. Though I am at a complete loss of how to find FLAC replacements for all my music, given most of it is hindi movies

On the video side, I played a 1080p rip of Unstoppable. It is a 2010 movie about a runaway train starring Denzel Washington. Throughout the movie there are trains running at high speed, with their distinctive click-clack - and assorted action pieces. The Zensors make the movie come alive, with the train sounds and crisp dialogies. I can only imagine how much fun it would be to have a full 5.1 set

My setup is a Intel Core2Duo based HTPC outputting to the AVR via HDMI (there is no video or sound card - onboard A/V)
My music is mostly MP3s and with few FLACs. Video is almost all 720p rips. TV is a 40in Samsung Series 5 LCD (non LED)

Price I have already mentioned before
I was quoted 70k for the Zensor 7 and 41k for the AVR. 1k for the cables as I only needed 2m for each speaker

My final total was 98k, so roughly 12% discount

The Den in Worli, Imperial Sound in Fort and Boomerang/AV Sound in Borivali are the Mumbai dealer's at KEI India website, who are official importers of Dali :: > Welcome to Kripa India <::

Imperial Sound were good to deal with but they didnt have Dalis in stock for demo
The Den initially seemed good but in the end werent professional at all (have explained in the original post)
Boomerang was good, no complaints yet

The prices did not vary across dealers - they were all offering the same prices roughly

 

[shibashis]

Somehow Dali Zensor series is beginning to be a 'clincher', in my meagre budget of 30K the Zensor 1s proved to be far superior than the competition.
As for sharing your experience, it was beautifully detailed and importantly gave a miss to the 'audiophile' chatter and expressed how it was. Thank you for a great and informative post.

 

[Raghav_K]

Somehow Dali Zensor series is beginning to be a 'clincher', in my meagre budget of 30K the Zensor 1s proved to be far superior than the competition.
As for sharing your experience, it was beautifully detailed and importantly gave a miss to the 'audiophile' chatter and expressed how it was. Thank you for a great and informative post.

Zensor 3 comes to 28k and within your budget, in case you haven't bought zensor 1 already...

 

[poppy]

Friends can u pl advice on AV part with Dali zensor 7 5.1.
1) Denon x2000
2) Marantz SR 6007
Keen on MMarantz but dealer says it's better with Denon pl help.

 

[mpw]

ask the dealer to make u audition both and then you decide. Not the dealer.

Sometimes dealers decide to sell.. you know..

mpw

 

[grunthos]

@poppy if you are willing to spend that much, try to see if you can get audiition of Cambridge Audio 551R. The sound quality of CA is much better than Denon/Yamaha and arguably Marantz. CA is also unfortunately overpriced in India. If my budget permitted it, I'd have paired the Dali with the 551R

 

[shibashis]

Zensor 3 comes to 28k and within your budget, in case you haven't bought zensor 1 already...

I actually bought Zensor 1s a couple of months back. Zensor 3 is more powerful, but apart from that I do not think there is much other difference, the price difference on the other hand is 6K. I opted for Zensor 1 and absolutely no regrets. At this price point, they are a real pleasant surprise, loving my life with them.

 

[poppy]

@poppy if you are willing to spend that much, try to see if you can get audiition of Cambridge Audio 551R. The sound quality of CA is much better than Denon/Yamaha and arguably Marantz. CA is also unfortunately overpriced in India. If my budget permitted it, I'd have paired the Dali with the 551R

How is your eexperience with the dealer .is it possible can u share or if u can PM would be really thankful to u.

 

[grunthos]

How is your eexperience with the dealer .is it possible can u share or if u can PM would be really thankful to u.

I didnt audition the Cambridge Audio. It was way outside my budget

 

[grunthos]

Couple of photos of my setup

 

[poppy]

I didnt audition the Cambridge Audio. It was way outside my budget

Sorry my question was how was the experience with dealer (boomreng).

 

[denom]

Vijay of Boomerang is quite a nice chap, what specifically are you wanting to know about him???