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Dali Helicon 800
Dali Helicon 800
MSRP: $ 5995.00

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Rating
Reviewed by:

rsmcphee

(AudioPhile)

Review Date
May 17, 2007

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
4.80 of 5, 10.00 votes

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Review 1 of 1

Price Paid:  $7000.00 from ML AUDIO AND VIDEO

Summary:
I have owned Acoustic Zen adagio, Martin Logan VAntage, Martin Logan Ascent, Ascent i and Maggies. I never thought that I would ever see the day that I would try a cabinet and a regular tradition driver type of speaker. I heard the Dali at CES and was intrigued so I decided to procure a pair for my home theater. Keep in mind that my home theater is non traditional in a sense that it is also doubles as an audio system for music.

Here is what I paired the dali 800 with

- Conrad Johnson MET 150 5 CHANNEL TUBE AMP 150 WATTS PER CHANNEL
- Conrad Johnson MET 1 tube 5 channel pre-amp
- Dali C200 and S600 sub
- Source is Conrad Johnson McCormack UPD1 deluxe edition
- cables by Acoustic zen silver ref and absolute mix

The sound after 100 hours improved a lot. My amp seemed to get sweeter with time with the Dali 800. These speakers truly image and the midrange has the natural sound to it -- maybe the tube on the MET 150 makes the difference. I also noticed that the addition of Acoustic zen Hologram speaker cables took these speakers to another level. There seemed to be more details, better bass performance and intoxicating highs.

At full retail price, these speakers are very good. I have spent a lot of money on electronics in my time and by far these speakers made me shake my head --- they are simply fantastcic. The Acoustic zen Adagio were very good too but these are a step up from that performance. The adagio has that open sound on the mids just like the Helicon 800. The Helicon 800 combined what I love about the Martin Logans along with the full bodied bass responce. They are open and revealing of the source and music. Vocals are just fabulous--- Diana Krall, Stacy Kent, and Etta Jones and Dina Washington just seemed to be a regular live performers at my home now.

Another thing that I wanted to mention is the fit and finish ---simply say WOW! It looks very high end and quite nicely done. I love it and my wife enjoys the cosmetics as well

I am not rethinking of getting the Megalines ----I am quite taken by these speakers. Superb imaging, wonderul highs and solid bass foundation

Strengths:
Imaging, bass performance, mids and highs --- and how about those fit and finish simply a delight to look at

Weaknesses:
Power hungry....I recommend no less than 100 watts of quality amplification. Think Conrad Johnson, Krell, Simaudio and Pass Labs. It is expensive to make these baby sing and I guess for the retail price of these it is pretty much assumed that you have the funds to make them sing with quality sources, cables and amplfication

Similar Products Used:
ACOUSTIC ZEN, MARTIN LOGANS, MAGGIES 1.6, Thiel


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