Dali MKII 800: what amp / cables should I use?

Nice speakers! I heard them in a Cary room at one of the shows a couple years ago with the SLP 05, CAD 120S and 306 Pro. Really a nice sound in this room. Not "Hi-Fi" at all. Nothing stood out. I just wanted to listen. I don't recall the cabling setup. They (Cary) have a MkII of the 120S now; but I haven't heard it. I do know you'll want to set money aside to upgrade the tubes. The Cary KT88 amps LOVE the Genelex Gold Lion reissues.
I'm not familiar with your preamp; but the Cary gear was run balanced from source to sound, and those speakers were loving it.

Checkout:

McIntosh MC275 Tube
McIntosh MC401 Solid State
Manley Laboratories Snapper monoblocks Tube amp

any other comments? What about BAT vs. ARC? BAT 75SE? Anyone have experience with tube amps designed else where but coming from China (PrimaLuna, Vincent)? Comments!!???

I have my Dali Helicon 800 MkII's connected to a BAT VK300SE Intergrated Amp and the midrange makes my friend with a Mac MC252 powering B&W802D's more than envious. With your budget you can easily target the BAT VK75SE (tube) or perhaps a VK250 or VK255 with Bat Pack amps (Solis State). I find the bottom end tight and plentiful in my 20 X 35 room, and the highs are to die for, Bottom line BAT & Dali make for a nice match IMHO. Best of luck... and please let us know what you ultimately decide.

Broken wrote: Hi thanks for your thread. You mentioned that I should look at the 75se or 220/250 ss. If you were I I assume you would go for the tubes? Correct? I hears these are pretty high cost in maintenance... Comments?

The BAK Integrated is a SS amp coupled with a tubed gain stage pre-amp. The 6H30DR tubes (super tubes) are somewhat pricey ranging from $250/pair here on the 'gon, and upwards of $360/pair at tube stores. With a lifespan of 10,000 hours the cost is not so bad. Alternatively, ther are non DR versions of the 6H30 that retail for $25-$30 per tube.

I've not heard BAT Tube amps, so I can not in good faith make a recommendation on preference between their amps. A common theme often mentioned is that BAT ss amps sound more like tubes, and their tube amps sound somewhat ss like. There tube preamp reviews are genreally most favorable. Please let us know what you ultimately decide.

Hey guys, thanks for all your posts. I have finally decided on a BAT 75SE amp to drive my Dali 800 MKII

I got some nice hand-me-downs from a friend that I will probably keep for awhile... so here is my final system

Cary 303 CD player
Audible Illusions 3A preamp
BAT 75SE
Dali 800 MKII
Synergistic Research Galileo speaker cells
BASIK strings I/Cs (probably upgrade later)...

Will get the cables in soon... so i can't comment on the sound. at the moment, using some cheap cables

Congratulations on the BAT 75SE.

Keep us posted with the results.

Hello Broken,

BAT / Dali combo makes me want to listen to more music! I hope you have a chance to experience some analogue reel-to-reel tape on your system, should the opportunity present in the future :-)

Getting late into the mix, but it never hurts to add 2 cents for later readers.

I own a pair of the Dali 800s, and to be honest I listened to it a few years ago with a Macintosh tube amp, and it simply didn't have the stones to bring out the firm mids and lows that these speakers can reproduce. (Note: I also listened to it with a Mac preamp, but the sound wasn't nearly as precise and soundstage wasn't as well defined as a Cary pre and a Modwright pre that I also tested out on the system). However, I wanted to get more warmth into the system, so I opted for a Butler 2250 hybrid amp (solid state guts with the mellowing assistance of tubes) and a Modwright 9.0SWL preamp.

That pairing has worked out very nicely over the last several years (after rolling the tubes in the Modwright and getting their sweetening package) and is so listenable that I sit in front of the stereo for hours on end (which I guess is the ultimate goal and statement about a system). With that said, I'm also getting the itch to try a something a bit different with the amps (maybe some Bel Cantos or NuForce monoblocks) just to see how they drive the Dalis.

I noticed that some people in the forums here have mentioned that the 800s sound better in a larger room and the 400s in a smaller, but I don't agree. I've had the 800s in both small and large rooms, and I've noticed very little difference (maybe, maybe a slightly tighter soundstage in a smaller room, but that's pushing it). It's all about playing with the right positioning and putting in the right treatments (which, admittedly, took me a good 6 months until I was happy in either room).

Happy shopping...