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Vienna Mozart or Dali Helicon 400 with YBA

Dear Sir;

My system consists of: YBA Integre DT, Music Hall CD25.2 and a pair of old Kef floor standing speakers, Kimber PBJ IC, room size is about 3m x 9m (10ft x 30ft)

I am in the process of upgrading my speakers to either Vienna Mozart Grand or Dali Helicon 400. I have demoed Vienna Mozart and was very pleased by their warm detailed sound. My listening preferences are alomst exclusively to clasical piano music and some female voices/opera, but once in the blue moon, I listened to Kraftwerk, Hotel Costes, etc. I am looking for very detailed but not 'digital sound' (hence YBA). Also, it's nice to have some reasonable emphasis on bass but I don't listen to heavy metal or rock so it is optional. Most important timbre are: grand piano sound, female voice, violin, cello, and some Kraftwerk-like-electric-sound.

In any event, how do you describe Dali speakers vis-a-vis Vienna? I read some review on Dali and many said they have a prominent bass. But I haven't heard of a single comment on Dali's treble and mid-range (while Vienna seems to have very nice treble and mid).

Any comment is welcome.
Thank you,
ipous
gregm
3,395 posts
 
A Bechstein grand -- that's a wow:)

BTW, you might want to give Verity speakers a thought. They're quite good at voice and (to a lesser extent) piano. But you do get the feel of what you;re listening to -- i.e. a Steinway, a Yamaha, etc...
buda
46 posts
 
Hello,

I own the Helicon 400s and just went through a number of cable swaps. The end result is I felt the Dali's are VERY cable sensetive. I loved the mids and highs with Audioquest Gibraltars but the bass was "boomey". I tried a double run of DH labs T-14 for fun and low and behold the bass was tight, accurate, and abundant. Not boomey at all. However the mids backed off a bit. To me the Dali's mids are recessed a bit anyway so, the DH labs would not work. I wound up bi-wiring DH labs on bottom and Gibraltar on top. I works very well for me. I have not heard the Viennas. I'm sure you will be happy either way you go.
ipous OP
21 posts
 
Hi Buda,

Thank you for your useful comments above. I am, however, erasing Dali from the shortlist of my next speaker selections. The kind of Image I get from Dalis is that they are brilliant but no more no less. I felt kinda similar feeling comapring betwen YBA Integre DT and Primare I20. While I20 is certainly a good int amp, YBA puts 'emotion' to it. So when I was listening some female vocals on YBA, it felt like 'music' and 'orgnic' rather than 'cd'. It's difficult to expalin YBA (hence people use the terms like 'YBA Magic'), but it's really a FANTASTIC player. So my speakers should not kill the magical quality which is inherent in YBA equipment. My choices are, as noted previously, Vienna and Triagle.
Best,
rotarius
431 posts
 
Seems like Triangle speakers would kill any "YBA magic" you are refering to. When I heard a pair of Celius ESW last week, they sounded clean and open but they also seemed too dry and thin and lacked depth. A little too "hifi" for my tastes.
kats
26 posts
 
My VA Bach Grands are excellent for vocals, horns, and piano. Great richness and timbre with detail also. Great recordings sound lifelike and not-so-great ones sound good too as the Bachs are a somewhat forgiving speaker. The only issue is if you want to get loud, which it sounds like you don't do very often. They are not a 'beefy' speaker. I also liked the Mozarts but the Bachs just sound more emotive to me.
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