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Dali Spektor 1 Review (Bookshelf Speaker)

Macfox

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On the other hand, because Dali speakers are meant to be used with no toe-in their use is limited to long wall setup in very wide rooms or when the side walls are treated. Unless one enjoys a "bright" balance and "wide" images and soundstage...
On the other hand, speakers that are only neutral when completely on-axis will have undesirable results when in a standard listening situation (in the middle of a square or even totally off axis when with guests). You can't don't want to always toe in your speakers to your exact listening position.
 

Macfox

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Thank you for this info!
If you want speakers made in Denmark, then Opticon and up are the way to go. And to be fair, the higher ranges have nearly all components (including cabinet and drivers) designed, made and assembled in-house in Denmark. Unfortunately, it's unrealistic nowadays to expect that at the Spektor series price level.
It used to be though. I have had both Dali Blue and Suite II series speakers that were made and assembled in Denmark. But like with (power) tools, musical instruments and other gear, the price point for made in Europe/US/Australia/etc. things keeps rising.
 

wave

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Hello. I live in Greece and I found those speakers used for 100€ - perfect condition, just taken out of the box to be tested. Was that a good deal?

Is there anything better at that price range?
 

MLaranjeiras

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I have just bought a Dali Specktor 2 together with the award winning ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2. Same price in Europe. All I have to say is that a great suprise is, for sure, the Specktor 2. While the ELAC are firm, well built, heavy, robust and neutral, like a floorstanding speaker on a small pack, the Dali Specktor 2 are like a fresh air or surprising view in your life. Is like a great surprise for an old man. While ELAC bass are strong, Dali surprises you with its smooth highs.
 

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SiamXIII

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Will VMV A1 with 10 watts into 8ohm be able to drive them properly in desktop scenario?
 

Mal

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And flaws we have. There are chaotic peaks between 1000 and 2000 Hz and too much tweeter energy above 5 kHz....

Enclosure is singing along together with the woofer, tweeter and port.

Horizontal beamwidth is not very smooth which is a shame as in this configuration with a small woofer, they should be able to do better:

Dali Spektor 1 Listening Tests and Equalization
This is a repeat of other speakers with "showroom sound" of exaggerated highs...
Another one bites the dust... this is the small, budget speaker I've seen garner the most positive reviews on the internet, but I'm dismissing any speakers with "exaggerated highs" from my list. Ho hum, I guess I'll have to raise my buy in price! What's the cheapest speaker that amir rates highly, in particular one that doesn't have ""showroom sound of exaggerated highs"?
 

ttimer

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On the other hand, because Dali speakers are meant to be used with no toe-in their use is limited to long wall setup in very wide rooms or when the side walls are treated. Unless one enjoys a "bright" balance and "wide" images and soundstage...
There is a certain charm to wide imaging and excessive soundstage, especially for some kinds of music. Also nice for settings with people listening from multiple positions.

I demoed a set of higher priced Dalis in my narrow room and the effect was interesting and not unpleasant. I can imagine Dalis working well in practice for customers who are not avid audio enthusiasts.
 

Eetu

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Another one bites the dust... this is the small, budget speaker I've seen garner the most positive reviews on the internet, but I'm dismissing any speakers with "exaggerated highs" from my list. Ho hum, I guess I'll have to raise my buy in price! What's the cheapest speaker that amir rates highly, in particular one that doesn't have ""showroom sound of exaggerated highs"?
As mentioned before, Dali designed these to be listened without toe-in, meaning 30 deg off-axis. Here's the response on-axis and 30 deg off-axis horizontally:
IMG_20230108_143844.jpg

A good budget speaker without 'showroom' sound? Perhaps check out the Emotiva B1+
 

nygafre

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Regarding the the low sensitivity of these speakers (I have the Spektor 2’s). I was in a discussion regarding a fellow that described the sound of his Spektor 2’s as sounding very poor when combined with his Cambridge AXA25 (only rated at 25 watts @ 8 ohm).

To me his results were surprising, as I thought the Cambridge still should be able drive the Spektors at least decently, but perhaps not to high SPL’s.

It could be that the Cambridge simply doesn’t cope well with speakers lower than 8 ohms(?), but the Spektors seems like they are not too hard to drive with a 6 ohm rating (min 5.1 for the Spektor 1) and relatively ‘ok’ phase angles?

Personally I prefer the Spektors on class D, but they have still sounded good with all amps I’ve tried them with (30-80 watt range, both AB and class D).

Btw, the fellow reportedly had great results when he switched out the AXA 25 to an Ayama 07. I still remain somewhat sceptical/puzzled that the Cambridge supposedly performed so poorly in comparison. Insufficient output stage on the Cambridge perhaps?

Appreciate input on this.
 

restorer-john

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Regarding the the low sensitivity of these speakers (I have the Spektor 2’s). I was in a discussion regarding a fellow that described the sound of his Spektor 2’s as sounding very poor when combined with his Cambridge AXA25 (only rated at 25 watts @ 8 ohm).

To me his results were surprising, as I thought the Cambridge still should be able drive the Spektors at least decently, but perhaps not to high SPL’s.

It could be that the Cambridge simply doesn’t cope well with speakers lower than 8 ohms(?), but the Spektors seems like they are not too hard to drive with a 6 ohm rating (min 5.1 for the Spektor 1) and relatively ‘ok’ phase angles?

Personally I prefer the Spektors on class D, but they have still sounded good with all amps I’ve tried them with (30-80 watt range, both AB and class D).

Btw, the fellow reportedly had great results when he switched out the AXA 25 to an Ayama 07. I still remain somewhat sceptical/puzzled that the Cambridge supposedly performed so poorly in comparison. Insufficient output stage on the Cambridge perhaps?

Appreciate input on this.

Every speaker sounds better with more power, as long as that power is clean and low noise.

Class Ds have tons of power, and can cope with driving the wildest impedance swings, so even when using a small 2 way, with a simple and easy to drive impedance, they just cruise along.

A 25wpc@8R amplifier is not remotely capable of reproducing the dynamic range of a digital recording, especially where the loudspeakers have 'efficiency' numbers on the low to mid 80s (dB/SPL@1W).
 

nygafre

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Every speaker sounds better with more power, as long as that power is clean and low noise.

Class Ds have tons of power, and can cope with driving the wildest impedance swings, so even when using a small 2 way, with a simple and easy to drive impedance, they just cruise along.

A 25wpc@8R amplifier is not remotely capable of reproducing the dynamic range of a digital recording, especially where the loudspeakers have 'efficiency' numbers on the low to mid 80s (dB/SPL@1W).
Thank you for helping clarify @restorer-john.

Maybe I was naive, but I did some simple calculations based on listening distance, sensitivity etc and figured that even 10 watts would be ‘enough’ to at least drive them to a moderate level.. and that therefore the Cambridge should be up to the job. The low sensitivity of the speakers/low wattage makes it unfeasable in this case?

Would things look different if the amp also had a, lets say, 50 watt rating into 4 ohm? Or would the low 25w@8 ohm still cause problems?
 

MLaranjeiras

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Regarding the the low sensitivity of these speakers (I have the Spektor 2’s). I was in a discussion regarding a fellow that described the sound of his Spektor 2’s as sounding very poor when combined with his Cambridge AXA25 (only rated at 25 watts @ 8 ohm).

To me his results were surprising, as I thought the Cambridge still should be able drive the Spektors at least decently, but perhaps not to high SPL’s.

It could be that the Cambridge simply doesn’t cope well with speakers lower than 8 ohms(?), but the Spektors seems like they are not too hard to drive with a 6 ohm rating (min 5.1 for the Spektor 1) and relatively ‘ok’ phase angles?

Personally I prefer the Spektors on class D, but they have still sounded good with all amps I’ve tried them with (30-80 watt range, both AB and class D).

Btw, the fellow reportedly had great results when he switched out the AXA 25 to an Ayama 07. I still remain somewhat sceptical/puzzled that the Cambridge supposedly performed so poorly in comparison. Insufficient output stage on the Cambridge perhaps?

Appreciate input on thi
 

restorer-john

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Thank you for helping clarify @restorer-john.

Maybe I was naive, but I did some simple calculations based on listening distance, sensitivity etc and figured that even 10 watts would be ‘enough’ to at least drive them to a moderate level.. and that therefore the Cambridge should be up to the job. The low sensitivity of the speakers/low wattage makes it unfeasable in this case?

Would things look different if the amp also had a, lets say, 50 watt rating into 4 ohm? Or would the low 25w@8 ohm still cause problems?

10 watts is loud, but it isn't dynamic and doesn't have the voltage swing reserve to able to accurately trace and reproduce dynamic swings, especially with Jazz, Classical and high dynamic range digital recordings.

10 watts @8R is only 8.94V RMS or 12.6V rails (say +/-15V rails with losses)
200 watts @ 8R is 40V RMS and 56.5V RMS or nearly +/-68V with losses. (total 138VPP swing vs 30VPP)

The swing capability and potential power difference is enormous. You don't have to use it, but the peaks for transients are there. Remember power is the square of voltage over load impedance.
 

nygafre

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10 watts is loud, but it isn't dynamic and doesn't have the voltage swing reserve to able to accurately trace and reproduce dynamic swings, especially with Jazz, Classical and high dynamic range digital recordings.

10 watts @8R is only 8.94V RMS or 12.6V rails (say +/-15V rails with losses)
200 watts @ 8R is 40V RMS and 56.5V RMS or nearly +/-68V with losses. (total 138VPP swing vs 30VPP)

The swing capability and potential power difference is enormous. You don't have to use it, but the peaks for transients are there. Remember power is the square of voltage over load impedance.
Thank’s, much appreciated!
 
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WDeranged

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When I got back into hifi a few years ago I had some old Mission bookshelf speakers but they sounded brittle and and small. I started looking for something that had a room (lounge) filling sound and the Dali Spektor 2s were often mentioned. I'd been listening to monitors on my desk for 20 years and I wanted to go back to something more forgiving and fun.

After two years with the Dalis I'm still happy. They certainly do sound bigger than they look and they do that magic thing where the stereo image goes far beyond the limits of the speakers. I'm starting to look for something bigger now but I wouldn't be too pissed off if I had to live with the Spektor 2s forever.

I'm driving them with a Yamaha A-S301.
 
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nygafre

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When I got back into hifi a few years ago I had some old Mission bookshelf speakers but they sounded brittle and and small. I started looking for something that had a room filling sound and the Dali Spektor 2s were often mentioned. I'd been listening to monitors on my desk for 20 years and I wanted to go back to something more forgiving and fun.

After two years with the Dalis I'm still happy. They certainly do sound bigger than they look and they do that magic thing where the stereo image goes far beyond the limits of the speakers. I'm starting to look for something bigger now but I wouldn't be too pissed off if I had to live with the Spektor 2s forever.
Agreed, I love them too! The Spektor’s just seems to sound good however you place them. Trying to upgrade from them is a dangerous game :D (you both gain and loose something)
 

WDeranged

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Agreed, I love them too! The Spektor’s just seems to sound good however you place them. Trying to upgrade from them is a dangerous game :D (you both gain and loose something)

I do worry about that. I've been dreaming of something retro looking like the Wharfedale Lintons but I might just explore Dali's larger speakers instead.
 
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