I recently purchase Daline 6.1 after an exhaustive search of about 2 months.I listened to B&W 802's, PSB stratus gold's, Near's, NHT's, and a bunch of others. The Dalines sounded the most lifelike, revealing items in the music I have never heard before. I first took home the 3.1's (which BTW also sound great) but was concerned with their limited power handling capability. I am using and Adcom 555-II preamp and 555-II power amp to drive the speakers.
The 6.1's have the cleanest and lowest bass I have heard (rather felt in some cases) short of a sub woofer. The bass is strong and very clean. The highs are magical, crisp, fast, extended. The overwhelming sense I get when listening is the great depth of sound from the music. Needless to say they are fantastic to listen to. One down side - they need room from the wall. Given their transmission line design placement is critical but well worth it. Worth a listen and well worth the $2000+ you will spend.

Expensive mini monitors was the direction I was originally looking into. The Daline 6.1's have such a small footprint that they might as well be considered "small" in terms of the space they occupy.
These speakers are fairly efficient and have limited power handling ability. A modestly powered amp will drive these speakers quite nicely. I have listened to them in two different environments extensively using an Audio Research Classic 30 and a Pass Aleph 3--both rated at thirty watts a side.

Room placement is sensitive. You might consider the 6.1's to be "full range" as they are capable of reproducing very high quality low bass. (Down to the mid 30's anyhow.)

These speakers might be considered by some to be on the "dark side", but combined with the right electronics and a good source, they are definitely high end.

As dynamic speakers go, their place in an overcrowded market is justified.

Efficient, full range speaker

Might be bright on top with wrong electronics

I have been driving these speakers in a 2 channel system with a Golden Tube Audio 40 amp with very good results. Though I can't decide what to do with my moving towards HT: replace the GTA for an amp with more bass and risk additional brightness, or keep the GTA and not fully realize this speakers bottom end.

from NHT super O, 1, 2, VT2, 2.5i ,paradigm ref 60, 80 and 100, totem one, tabu, genesis .. .. etc. Those are excellent speakers. But I think this speaker is not only sound excellent, but also looks pretty, too. Try it. you will love it ( both the sound and look ).
Definitely five star for me. Hear it yourself.
I think you can get good price from www.audiolab.com. (from David)

Beautiful midrange and high end. Natural sounding bass. Low price tag. Appearance. Low power amps will do just fine.

Does not have the best resolution in the world, and some of the fine details of the music get lost somewhere.

In my system, I believe that these speakers are the component that is holding the rest of the components back. Having said that, I am happy with the speakers, especially how they look, but I do think that they could be better at certain things. My current system consists of:

Meridian 508.20 CD player
Meridian 501 Pre-amp
Pass Labs Aleph3 Power-amp

Purist Audio Design Cables
API Power Wedge Ultra Line Conditioner

I like the look of these speakers. They have a small footprint, and are elegantly finished. I will probably keep these speakers around for their look alone.

The Daline 6.1's sound very good considering their price tag. They have a very natural low bass that doesn't overflow into the midrange like some other floor standing speakers do. I wouldn't say that the speaker has thunderously low bass, but then again, my amplifier isn't exactly built with bass in mind. Other amps will definitely get more bass out of these speakers if that is what you are after. The midrange and the highs are the impressive thing about this speaker. The focal drivers(especially the tweeter) really smooth out the highs, and makes the music a lot more listenable. I can't handle a shrill, metallic-sounding tweeter, and the Daline's tweeter is anything but. The soundstage is OK, not great. The detail as well is a little disappointing considering the electronics I have. I must admit up front that the room they are in is far from adequate which I am sure is affecting the soundstage and focus as much or more than the speakers themselves.

My four star rating is reflective of its price/performance more than anything else. I don't think there are a lot of speakers that can compete favorably in the $2000 price range. There are definitely better speakers out there, but the Daline's are no slouches, and I definitely recommend taking a listen if you have the opportunity.

Similar Products Used:

B&W CDM-7, B&W CDM-1, Alon Petite, ProAc 2.5