Dali Opticon 6 Or Kef R500

[jl151080]

I have a Cambridge Audio 740A amp and 740C CD player, currently with Mordaunt Short Avant 906i speakers. Having tried out the free Richer Sounds home consultation, where they suggest improvements, I'm looking to upgrade the speakers.

I've demoed various speakers, including the Monitor Audio Silver 300, Tannoy XT6F, Tannoy XT8F some Focals, and the Dali Opticon 6's.

My music taste is mainly classic rock /pop, and so far out of all the two speakers that stood out to me were the Dali Opticon 6's and XT8F's, though I think the XT8F's are too big for my room (10 x 15 ft).

I listened to some Kef R500s today at a Sevenoaks store and was thought they sounded good, though they were new and not run in.

I'm going back on Monday to have a second listen to the Opticon 6.

I just wondered what others thoughts were between the Dalis and Kefs?

 

[davidf]

The first thing is, are you auditioning these speakers in a similar size room to your own? If not, the comparison is null and void - all it will tell you is which you prefer between the Dali and the KEF in that size room. Also, personal preference aside, it’ll be down to which one presents the easiest load for your Cambridge.

With the room being 10x15 feet, the R500s would be the largest speakers I’d be looking at, and I’d normally be looking at something smaller.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

I think if your going to be looking at that level of speaker,the amplification needs to be raised a level or two to get anywhere near the best from them.

Also I think your room size might be more suited to a pair of high quality standmounts than floorstanders which will probably be overbearing and boomy if they are sited anywhere near a wall....which I'm guessing they would be with a room of such dimensions....very similar to my own room dimensions and floorstanders are a no no for me......but ateotd the proof is in the listening and you really need to try and dem as much as possible and at home in your room if you really do want the floorstanders.

 

[gasolin]

Mabye consider Q Acoustcis 3050

 

[jl151080]

Thanks for the responses.

I'm having a second listen to the Opticon 6's tomorrow at my local Richer sounds, and they have offered to bring them to my home for my demo, which I will do if they continue to impress me tomorrow.

i have heard that the opticon 6 needs to be paired with the right amplification. I don't have the budget to look into upgrading anything more than the speakers at the momment, so how the Opticon 6 performs with my amp may be an issue.

I tried the R500s at a Sevenoaks store, in a demo room similar in size to my lounge - maybe a little bigger. The sticking point there is they don't offer home demos, unlike Richer Sounds, so I'm unable to get a true picture of what they would sound like at home.

Standmounts are an option, though I haven't really looked into this because I've never had an issue with my Mordaunt Short floorstanders.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

The Dali’s are petty well behaved in the bass department but I felt that you need a good powerful amplifier to get the best out of them as well to get the most sonically and I also feel that Cambridge amplifiers do not sound that good with Dali speakers but this is just my opinion as you may feel different about this when you get your demo .

 

[emperor's new clothes]

I am obviously biased, but you will not go wrong with the Opticons if they suit your room plus electronics. Ask how many hours they have as take 100+ to sound their best.

 

[jl151080]

Thanks. I'll ask about the hours.

 

[jl151080]

I first demoed the Dalis last week in a demo room with a Cambridge amp, and they sounded better than the Monitor Audio silver 300s to me.

It'll be interesting to hear them again tomorrow.

My lasting impression of the Kef R500s is they were slightly overbearing with bass, so it will be interesting to compare this with the Dalis.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

I can not comment on the Kefs but can on the Dali opticon 6s as I used to own them and now own the bigger brother Dali opticon 8s but you will find that the Dali opticon 6s will be clear and detailed in there sound and smooth and easy to listen to .

you will find that different amplifiers will give a slightly different sounds with the Dali opticon range so just bear that in mind when getting a demo with them I found this with trying Arcam A19 , A39 , Rosken K3 the sound came across plain in my opinion except the Arcam A39 which did a better job .

but found the perfect match sonically is Yamaha , Marantz as Dali’s like amplifiers that are made in Japan

 

[jl151080]

Thanks for the info.

I'm going to take a listen to the Opticon 8s tomorrow just to compare, but will focus on the 6 as I think the 8 would be too big for my room.

 

[jl151080]

I had a home demo of the Opticon 6s yesterday, and was blown away by the clarity, and the improvement over my current Mordaunt Shorts. My order has been placed!

 

[insider9]

Really like Dali speakers and their outright musicality. Let us know once they arrive

 

[jl151080]

Thanks.

Will do!

 

[Blacksabbath25]

you see i told you they are good *biggrin*

 

[jl151080]

you see i told you they are good *biggrin*

You did indeed!

Now i’m probably going to have the bug to buy a new amp!

 

[Blacksabbath25]

What amplifier have you got now ? And when you had the demo with the Dali opticon 6 what amplifier was the dealer using?

 

[seemorebtts]

You made the right choice. The KEF are a bit boring compared to the Dali enjoy

 

[jl151080]

I have a Cambridge Audio 740a amp and 740c player.

When I demoed the Dali’s in store they used a Cambridge Audio 851, though nothing sounded great because the room wasn’t good acoustically.

When I had the home demo, the sales guy brought a Cambridge CX80 and a Roksan K3 amp. I didn’t like the sound of the CX80, perhaps due to its less power (80 Watts per channel compared to 100 in the 740). The Roksan K3 was ok, but not noticeably better than my 740 to my ears.

 

[jl151080]

Thanks! I’m looking forward to their arrival.

I I haven’t touched on it in this thread, but I also ordered the opticon 1’s as rear speakers and the vokal centre, so they should all sound great together!

(I use an AV amp to run the rears and centre for surround while the 740a runs the fronts).

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Yep that’s what I do I’ve got a Yamaha 1070 running a Dali opticon LCR for centre as the other Dali centre speaker is to big so I went for the LCR instead then I brought monitor audio FX silver for backs which are bi-pole and sound pretty good as they spread the sound at the back because I was going to buy the opticon 1s but thought they wouldn’t spread the sound like the Monitor audio do .

And then brought a SVS SB2000 which is a very good subwoofer and use my opticon 8s for L+Rs for film and music which I use my Yamaha A-S2100 and both the Yamaha amplifiers work pretty well together for films and music .

so basically I have a 5.1 setup for films and a separate setup for music on the same rack as well as a streamer a Yamaha wxc50 and a XBOX X for games .

 

[jl151080]

The speakers arrived yesterday, so I'm now having fun running them in! *biggrin*