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Dali Spektor 1 Review (Bookshelf Speaker)

Johannes AU

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I own this, powered by Yamaha WXA-50, plus a Yamaha NS-SW050 Sub, placed on my desk, kind of near field listening, I put them 1.1 meter apart, and at the center of the room, 2 meters from the front and rear wall, it sounds good for me, of course cannot compare to high end speakers, it is so small and well built. Bass is not good due to its physical limit, the sub helps a lot to produce it, and I like it. (cheap in price too)

Little more information from me as an enduser, I tried the KEF LSX before the Dali Spektor 1, I just don't like the LSX, it sound good but not my taste, the spektor 1 performs better in my room (no toe-in) from low volume up to 85-88 db.
 
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Eetu

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If listened 30 deg off-axis like the manual recommends they seem to be quite neutral (yellow line).
Screenshot_20210719_080513.jpg
 

Johannes AU

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Here in Denmark Dali Spektor 1 is cheap. You get a pair for about 220 US$. And remember here we have 25% VAT.
I have owned a pair and can confirm that they shall have a lot of power.


Yeah ..... I don't mean Dali not serious in their products, but they do produce some nice speakers for layman.
 

Chromatischism

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View attachment 142092
I use similar speakers, Dali Alteco, as Atmos ones(they are very popular on HT forums) . Great finish, Great off axis réponse, no bass(cut at 120 hz with Audissey). Perfect for Atmos use But...
I can't push them to 70 db on manual calibration with my avr Denon x4500h on 5.1.4 setup in my small room(4.5* 3.5*2.5 m), their sensitivity is way too low.
A pity...
Perfect for Atmos except no bass...hmm. Top/Height channels are full-range so sound quality improves with a speaker that can comfortably cross at 80 Hz with room to spare.
 

Chromatischism

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Thanks Amir.

For those not in the know, it's worth noting that Dali designs all its speakers to be listened off-axis -- the assumption is that the speakers will be positioned pointing straight forward, which is about 15-30 degrees off axis in most listening setups.

I don't mean that in just a vague sense as with many hifi speakers designed with living room listening in mind. They are rather explicitly say that toe in is not allowed lol. From the Spector 1's manual (also for several other speakers of theirs):

"The speakers are designed to meet our wide dispersion principle, so they should NOT be angled towards the listening position, but be positioned parallel with the rear wall, see Figure 2. By parallel positioning, the distortion in the main listening area will be lowered and the room integration will be improved. The wide dispersion principle will ensure that sound is spread evenly within a large area in the listening room."

Not sure what they mean by lowering "distortion in the main listening area" and I suspect they'd still sound a bit bright with no toe in anyway, since the on-axis sound is still getting reflected around the room, but interrsting

Though I don't think this means the speaker should be measured off axis, and there are some clear issues even if you pick, say 20 degrees off axis as a reference, it's worth keeping that in mind when evaluating measurements of Dali speakers.
@amirm, broadly speaking, when you do your listen, do you situate speakers according to measured performance, or do you just listen to them all head-on?
 

Johannes AU

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Good news here was dynamics. I could turn this little speaker up very high with no sign of heavy distortion. Two of them would do wonders to fill even a large space. So maybe there is something to that wood fiber!

Conclusions
The Spektor 1 objective response is not pretty with a broad and messy peak around 1 kHz and exaggerated highs. Subjectively though, I could not dislike it even without EQ. Its limits are farther than what I typically hear in small speakers. With EQ it becomes more pleasant but I personally could not warm up to them. I would save and buy a larger speaker with more bass.

As noted, I am not a big fan of Dali Spektor 1 but you may interpret its performance differently. So while I won't recommend them, I don't have strong reasons to object to someone buying them either./

Thanks Amir, glad you tested the speaker I already own, makes me understand more about it technically:)
 

SynthesisCinema

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Hope someone would send the new Oberon 3s for Amir or Opticon Mk2 range which will measure and sound very different. The dual tweeter is intresting, soft dome and ribbon.

Spektor range has also bookshelf speakers with 5,25" drivers and towers with dual 6,5" plus center channel with these tiny 4,5" drivers. But as mentioned this is Dalis budget range and what i have noticed at forums lot of people prefer the extra brightness for home theater systems from Dali and few other brands.

spektor-family-walnut-finish.png
 

outlookrt

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Considering these are the lowest level model speaker Dali make and are extremely popular mass-market (in the UK at least) they actually perform decently in my eyes. Alot of people buying these will use them on a bookshelf, firing straight ahead on either side of an a 'mini-system' or all-in-one or for improving tv sound. I'm interested in the Oberon rang myself, which even includes an on-wall model.

Would definitely consider Dali over someone like B&W personally.
 

kotmj

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Had the Spektor 2 for 6 months in a variety of rooms. I tried to like them, but didn't. With the other speakers I own, I often procrastinate getting up and doing other things, preferring instead to keep listening.

With the Spektor 2s I can stop listening anytime. Having sold them, I do not miss them.

I could not pinpoint any particular weakness about them. They just didn't engage me.

I bought them for the price, the What Hifi 5 star rating, and the strength of the Dali brand.
 

charleski

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the distortion target @86 dB is ~1.5% (fair) while it is 0.5% @ 96 dB.

I don't see how the target currently correlates to audibility either, as our sensitivity to distortion declines as the fundamental signal increases not vice versa.

Just something to consider in the future perhaps.
All these plots are really THD+N. It's probably worth keeping in mind that the distortion produced by a speaker isn't necessarily harmonically correlated with the signal, but includes products arising from the various resonant elements in the speaker's construction. As an extreme example, imagine there's a bracket inside which hasn't been screwed down properly and rattles.
 

abdo123

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All these plots are really THD+N. It's probably worth keeping in mind that the distortion produced by a speaker isn't necessarily harmonically correlated with the signal, but includes products arising from the various resonant elements in the speaker's construction. As an extreme example, imagine there's a bracket inside which hasn't been screwed down properly and rattles.

these non-linearities will be more obvious anyway if the targets were matched. right now almost every speaker in the world passes the first target and fails the second. except high-end Revel floor standers.
 

Hiten

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little confused...
how to compare Dali spektor 1 with jbl a130 distortion wise ?
 

Attachments

  • JBL Stage A130 Measurements Relative THD Distortion.png
    JBL Stage A130 Measurements Relative THD Distortion.png
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Eetu

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little confused...
how to compare Dali spektor 1 with jbl a130 distortion wise ?
The JBL's woofer has lower distortion, here's the equivalent graphs for the Dali:
Dali Spektor 1 Distortion vs Frequency Response Measurements Bookshelf Speaker.png
 

Hiten

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sorry my mistake. With the word relative i got condused. Both are same I presume. i.e. relative to fundamental.
Regards
 

abdo123

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Hi,

Here is my take on the EQ.

These EQ are anechoic EQ to get the speaker right before room integration. If you able to implement these EQs you must add EQ at LF for room integration, that usually not optional… see hints there: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...helf-speaker-review.11144/page-26#post-800725


The raw data with corrected ER and PIR:

Score no EQ: 3.0
With Sub: 5.7

Spinorama with no EQ:
  • Ascending reesponse
  • lots of resonances
  • Port!
  • poor Directivity
View attachment 142116

Directivity:
Better stay at tweeter height
Horizontally, better toe-in the speakers by 10/20deg and have the axis crossing in front of the listening location, might help dosing the upper range.
View attachment 142118
View attachment 142127


EQ design:
I have generated one EQ. The APO config files is attached.
  • The First EQ is Amirm's for reference
  • The LW EW is basically identical
  • The second, labelled Score, starts with the first one and adds the score as an optimization variable.
  • The EQs are designed in the context of regular stereo use i.e. domestic environment.

Score EQ Amirm: 4.1
with sub: 7.6

Score EQ Score: 5.3
with sub: 7.9

Code:
Dali Spektor 1 APO EQ Score 2 96000Hz
July192021-122329

Preamp: -2.3 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 55.58,    0.00,    1.25
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 113.02,    -1.95,    1.60
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 361.50,    1.47,    2.27
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1267.74,    -1.97,    2.51
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1847.30,    -2.15,    5.83
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 3640.13,    1.37,    0.86
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 7477.37,    -2.48,    1.05
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 15270.95,    -3.92,    1.45

View attachment 142111

Spinorama EQ Amirm
View attachment 142115

Spinorama EQ Score
View attachment 142114

Zoom PIR-LW-ON
View attachment 142112

Regression - Tonal flat on after EQ
View attachment 142113

Radar no EQ vs EQ score
Nice improvements
View attachment 142110

The rest of the plots is attached.

That's some really impressive improvements you get there! Thanks for sharing!
 
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