Dali speakers - Page 99

That that is a great price on the ilon2. The ikon2 and vokal2 for $1100 is a great price for that setup IMO.

Has anyone hear the Epicon 2 bookshelf's yet? My dealer has been saying how impressed he was with the Epicon line at CES this year. Any idea what retail is for a pair? They have them in Walnut, seems to be the closest to my Helicon 300 MKII cherry finish. Might pick up a pair.

thoughts?

Interesting note, the Epicon 2's are $7250 here in the States. In Europe after adding a 20% tax they are around $6000 a pair. Can't make this up....

Another update.
Yes, you’d have to pay the VAT and then we’d give you a ”VAT 407” form to get stamped by UK customs when leaving the UK.
You’d then post the stamped form back to us and we could refund the VAT.

Buy the Epicon 2 or any of them in the UK or Europe. Bring them home and get the VAT "tax" refunded. Save thousands a pair.
Even if you had to fly there, take the wife and enjoy a vacation on Dali USA!
Edited by Dr_Mark - 1/14/13 at 10:40am

^I'm not surprised the Dali dealer was "impressed". He's selling them! Seriously, though, I wouldn't be at all surprised that the Epicons are very very nice. They've all Dali's latest innovations and are their top-of-the-line. I've no doubt you'll hear an improvement over your Helicons.

However, if floorstanders are an option for you, you might consider Euphonia 4s as an even bigger (no pun intended) upgrade. Lately a demo or used pair can be had for around the $4K range. And the Euphonia SQ is quite exc. My MS4s were great, as are my MS5s.

Another option if you must stay with bookshelf: I've "heard" that the Euphonia RS3 surround makes for a very good bookshelf speaker (but have never actually heard them).

From what I can tell, the epicon 6 floorstanders in Europe are close to the same price as the bookshelves here. I might have to take a trip to Europe to check them out or bring a pair back. I just don't understand why the pricing is so out of sorts with Europe.

^A trip to Europe to buy speakers would be cool indeed. However, I wonder how the costs actually work out, for ex., if there's customs fees, other taxes, the shipping costs and adequate packaging. Epicon 6 should really be on a pallet.

I would break the pallet, insure the heck out of them, add them as bags. Pay the weight fine. So you would get your 20% VAT tax back, might get them through customs.

Don't be fooled by this apparent pricing disparity. Dali sells an adapter for $2000 to convert from 50 Hz to 60Hz voltage differences.

Huh? What kinda adapter are you talking about for speakers Man?

Ummm...I was kidding....

^Well now, that makes more sense, I'm glad you were jk. But I didn't get that you were joking either and might've responded to your post similarly to Feri (Mogorf). All's well, then. <-emoticons help convey nuance
Edited by SoundofMind - 1/26/13 at 3:31am

OK - so aside from the adapter thing. One of my MS4s started sounding bad - I mean really bad. Ran a frequency sweep - between 40 and 80 hz - the woofercone moved very visibly and made a rattling sound. Even though Auduyssey crosses over at 80 Hz - some sound still comes from the speaker.

So I talked to Steve - he tells me to go to Sound Organisation and talk to them. New Euphonia woofer is $650. I was glad I was wearing my brown pants....

They asked me if I had tightened the speaker screws recently. I was wondering what that had to do with anything. They told me that if the screws are loose, it can cause that to happen. I was skeptical, to say the least.

They go on to tell me that all the screws on all Dali speakers should be tightened annually. Never heard of this. Could not imagine it causing the audio disaster I was hearing.

Went through Center, right, left. Every screw was loose - easy to hand tighten a full turn. Turned it on - frequency sweep. Bad noise gone. Shocked, surprised, happy.

Moral of the story - get a star screwdriver and gently tighten your drivers.

Interesting on the loose screw thing.
I'm wondering if there's anything that would ensure that the screws stay tight.
I'm guessing they are not wood screws, i.e., being screwed directly into the baffle but some kind of threaded metal keeper.
If so, you could get some of the "weak" Loctite and put a dab around the tip of the screw and then screw it back in.
That should keep them tight but also allow them to be loosened if need be, which hopefully never needs to be done.

I didnt crank the screws at all - for fear of stripping them out. Just finger tight - about like a spark plug. I was surprised - every single screw - woofers and tweeters - were loose.
I know I have never done it in the ten or so years I have had the speakers.
Never even occurred to me to do it.
I could say that I heard a big difference in the soundstage or something - but in reality I got rid of an ugly sound and cant tell if they sound any different besides getting rid of the rattle.

Wow, cool, good work! I'm glad it was something so simple. BTW, never, with all the various models I've owned (3 Euphonia and 9 Helicons) have I come across one loose screw on a driver. And I too have never heard of tightening them yearly. (Though I do the recommended annual oil change and replacement of the 50 to 60 Hz adapter. )

So here's another almost-heart-attack MS4 story. I heard a nasty rattle from one of my MS4s right after I transported it by car. I'd purchased the pair used and was running some sweeps (No Audyssey, speaker set to Large/FullRange) to make sure it was functioning properly-it sure wasn't.
I checked the gold speaker wire lugs for loose nuts and all the screws around the drivers. All were tight. To my horror, I isolated the sound to the upper woofer.
Warning1: the squeemish should skip ahead to the happy ending.
Warning2 : do not try this at home-I am a trained speaker repairman (well, I was when I was 16 yrs old)

I tried to remove the driver. The screws all came out easily, but it refused to budge. No, they're not glued in, but they can become firmly attached to the baffle over the years. So I removed the tweeter assembly so I could reach in and gently push on the speaker magnet/frame. It still wouldn't budge. Frustrated, I gently explored inside to see if anything was loose. I could see very little but feeling around, I found one of the wire leads to that woofer had shifted during transport such that the cone rubbed on it. Pushed it aside.

Problem solved.

The woofers on the Euphonia MS4 are actuall held in to the enclosure partially by the magnets in the woofer. To get it out, you go in through the port on the back once the screws are loose and tap it with a wood rod.

^The first thing I did, having localized the vibration to the upper woofer, was to make sure the plastic port piece was not loose. Then I took a peek through the port. It didn't reveal anything and didn't appear to allow any practical access because of the small diameter. I didn't remove the plastic but from what I see tapping with a rod seems like a tricky proposition as it seems to me that the port doesn't align with the magnet assembly or metal basket. Especially if it's not a for-sure-to-be-replaced known bad driver, it would call for accurately placed gentle taps. Glad I never got to that point!

I don't know what you mean by "actuall held in to the enclosure partially by the magnets". Interesting...can you clarify?
Edited by SoundofMind - 1/27/13 at 8:20am

I had tried years ago to pull out the woofer. All the screws out and the thing would not budge. Called dealer - got Dali in on it.
There is some metal behind the woofers. The huge magnet in the woofers holds the driver in place - I dont know if that is on purpose or not.
Carefully putting in a dowel rod and tapping got the woofer out.

^Wow. Thnx for the tried and true tip. I hopeI never have to use that tecnnique in the future.

how are the mentor 8/6 speakers.can anyone who's heard them describe their sound.thankyou

Hey DALI owners, I need a little help. Do any of you have access to a current MSRP list or know where I can get one? I know Sound Org is the distributor, and maybe that is where I should go, but some companies prefer going direct to the dealer? Any suggestions. By the way, based on reviews and speakers sizes (looking for front floorstanders and a center for now, I would probably lean toward the Mentor, IKON or even Lector, but I know I'd prefer the Mentors because of the wood veneered cabinets, but my wallet might tell me something different. Any opinions appreciated. Thanks.

Sound org.com. Go to Dali. Then download the MSRP list.

Thanks DHF. Just what I was looking for. I know that DALI is a Danish company and some are built there and some in China. Is it Mentor and above that are Danish built? How about the IKON's? Thanks again.

The Ikons are build in Denmark If you watch the factory video they are creating the cabinets and building them there.

Good Day new CS-4 and a pair of MS-5s to match! Can't set them up until the weekend, but so freakin' stoked. Pics to follow...

Wow. You will be absolutely blown away by the Euphonias. Mine still do it to me. Enjoy. Share pix.

I've had the MS-4s for a few years and absolutely love them. I found a CS-4 in Alpi within driving distance and had to talk myself into purchasing the MS-5s he had, too!

J.

Funny, I was just going back throuh the thread to pinpoint when I purchased our MS-4s (almost 5 years), and came across this ironic post. Just thought I'd share...

J.

Congrats Jason, great to hear you're Dali love is still going strong, I sort remember you posting that...

Happy listening, and post some pics when you have a chance.

Dan

Ha! After I replaced my Helicon 400s with MS4s I had them pairred with my Helicon c200 CC. Soon I spotted some alpi MS5s 4 hours away. I was on my way as soon as I found out he had an alpi CS4 for sale as well. What a killer front end! The Heli w200s seem to keep up quite well as surrounds, helped by the subs of course.
Edited by SoundofMind - 2/16/13 at 6:38am

I also posted in the Monitor Audio thread-

Has anyone had a chance to compare Dali Ikon II speakers to Monitor Audio Silver speakers? I am particularly interested in impressions of how the Ikon 6's compare to the RX6's.

Thanks
Bruce