B&W, Dynaudio, Dali or what else?

Yes Avoid B&W's. But also not sure if you should stay with the ARC stuff. From my experience its beena grainy, smokey sound. Heard 2 different ARC systems.

I like your Dalis a lot, and easily preferred them over the 802Ds... That said, I also preferred them over the more expensive MS5s you are looking at too... So my tastes may be different than yours.

In the MS5s price range, I would take a look at the VonSchweikert DB99s (tremendous top to bottom sound, combined with high efficiency), the Tyler Acoustics Woodmeres (big sound, and big bang for the buck), the already mentioned Merlins are an excellent choice (not as much low-end extension as the other choices or the 800s, but super-high resolution 2-ways), and possibly the Legacy Audio Whispers might make a good change (they sound very different from the others on the list though). If you want detailed information as to my impressions about any of the above please feel free to email me.

Good luck,

---Dave

Dave,
I've heard the same thing(Helicon sound better than MS) from a few people in the past. Could you elaborate on why you liked them more a bit. I have only heard the MS4 briefly before.
I will get some info on the Merlin speakers since two or three of you have mentioned them now. What about Peak Consult. I did listen to their 2 way monitor last year, driven by Wavac gear. Sounded pretty sweet in my opinion. Obviousely not a bass champ either but a good Sub might help that.

Bartokfan,
No that you've bad mouthed the ARC amps. What would you replace them with?

It was a year and a half ago, so I don't know how well my memory can be trusted with the details (as I was on vacation in AZ when I heard both and did not take notes)...

But with that said... I remember listening first to a pair of McIntosh XT-28s that I just was truly impressed by. Then right afterwards in the same room, the dealer setup the MS5s and played the same tracks from "Allison Krauss Live" and I remember commenting that the MS5s sounded flat compared to the McIntoshes by a long stretch. Pretty much I felt the female vocals did not sound right to my ears on the MS5s... I also was not particularly impressed with the bass extension (although it could have been the music played on them).

Next up was the Helicon 800s, and a saxiphone track played that was absolutely phenominal... I thought the Helicons were the next step up in the Dali line until the dealer informed me of the various price tags of the speakers I had heard so far. When I heard the price of the 800s, I thought that they were a great value for the money, whereas the MS5s just had me shaking my head. I finally rounded out the session hearing the Megalines that were superb, but way out of my price range. Still it was worth a listen, as they were remarkable speakers, IMO. All electronics were solid state top-of-the-line McIntosh solid state, BTW.

Bottom line is the Helicon 800s drew me into the music, and really had me tapping my feet, enjoying what I was hearing... the MS5s left me cold, just not interesting me. *Maybe* they were more accurate... If so, I'll take "less accurate" in this instance any day, as it sounded more like I would expect at a live performance. Oh, and they also did the Allison Krauss album better too...

---Dave