First time floorstanders

[davidf]

There are many speakers on the market that have been designed to be immediately impressive. This gives them the edge in auditions, much like having a CD player with a slightly higher voltage output - Marantz were the pioneers of that. This causes people to prematurely dismiss speakers that either sound better, or could suit the listener‘s space at home better. Some speakers need time in order for you to acclimatise to what they’re doing. Amphion are a prime example. A quick listen and they’re nothing special, but longer listening sessions reveal their strengths, which are some of the most widely requested benefits from listeners looking for new speakers!

As for the standmount p/floorstander thing mentioned by Dom, despite liking floorstanders for their depth of bass with electronic music, I prefer to listen to standmounts as they move away from emphasising/over-emphasising bass to the detriment of detail. If you have an amplifier with bass/treble controls, slowly turn the bass up. Apart from the bass increasing, you’ll notice midrange and HF detail disappearing, becoming softer, evolving into a warm mush of sound. Standmounts generally avoid this, and sound punchy and dynamic, revealing more detail in the music across the whole frequency range, particularly detail in the bass which can be completely overlooked by a floorstander. The trick with a standmount speaker is not to try and force it to go as low as it can - just roll it off just before the bass starts to sound unnatural. One of the most informative speakers I’ve ever listened to are the Eclipse speakers.

 

[davidf]

I wonder what kind of HiFi Elon Musk has. Probably an Amazon Echo.

He strikes me as a Devialet Phantom man. And that’s not a compliment in any way, shape, or form.

 

[Dom]

He strikes me as a Devialet Phantom man. And that’s not a compliment in any way, shape, or form.

Now we are talking. Premium product.

 

[davidf]

Now we are talking. Premium product.

”Premium” in the same sense as Dyson and Beats? That’s what Phantom means to me

 

[Dom]

Lol, and Elon Musk probably.

 

[eazyryder]

Now after roughly 15 hours use the DALIs have really started to open up.
Vocals/Midrange is becoming much cleaner with better projection and soundstaging.
Treble is much sweeter and is really impressing me.
I had been listening to the DALIs for around 8-9 hours since I last compared to the A/Es and decided to switch speakers again to the A/ESs to hear any new differences since the DALIs longer burn in.
The DALIs have pulled away from the A/Es by a mile now and I can only see that gap widening with further running in.
Initially the A/Es sounded much clearer and cleaner but that’s definitely not the case anymore

 

[eazyryder]

Just an update on my floorstanders debut.
The DALI Rubicon 6 have been returned after 10 days of auditioning.
Treble and upper frequencies are reproduced beautifully on the DALI and bottom end authority and presence is big and well extended.
Its the midrange that was the sticking point for me.
Vocals are set back a little in the picture and with some albums can sound a little lost.
Electric guitar in particular is not as extended as I am used to and sounds less vibrant.
The DALI IMO seem to be all top and bottom with a weak middle
The bottom end (with certain recordings) can become unruly and take over the show on occasion.

Anyway now for the last 2 days, i have been auditioning the Focal Aria 926s at home.
And i know its early days, but i could possibly have found what i was looking for, fingers crossed

 

[insider9]

Focals are a different beast entirely. Interesting you didn't like Dalis but you've started from higher than most comparable speakers. Let us know how you get on.

 

[eazyryder]

Focals are a different beast entirely. Interesting you didn't like Dalis but you've started from higher than most comparable speakers. Let us know how you get on.

The truth is,
I love the basic sound characteristics of my A/E Reference 1s.
But I want a bigger presence and soundstage with a more layered and hard hitting bottom end.
Straight of the bat I could hear similar characteristics with the Focal.
But with added soundstaging and far more expressively layered bottom end that doesn’t overpower the mids and highs.
Vocals on the focal IMO are a big improvement over the DALI and have better weight and more emotion than the A/Es
After auditioning the over £3K DALI, the focals do sound quite the bargain

 

[Al ears]

Perhaps, if you like Focals the new Focal Chora 826 might be as good as 926 and a couple of hundred pounds cheaper

 

[Romulus]

May I suggest ATC speakers. ATC started of building monitors for studios and have evolved to 'Consumer HiFi'. Their speakers are usually focused to giving a sound that was at best intended in the studio, so all your basic requirements eg Timing, Dynamics, tone, timbre, soundstage, imaging and others are covered. If you like their sound and have your music collection, it is very likely you would want to rediscover your collection played through ATC speakers.