Dali Helicon 400 or Acoustic Zen Adagio?

05-02-08: Mike60 said:
"I have owned the 400 and the 800mk2, with different amps, and heard them with many other amps. I disagree that they are amp sensitive. The sound good on an average amp, but will reveal the flaws to some extent, and they are superb with a great amp. I have also read comments from others that confirm dali's arent as amp fussy as other speakers. I would suggest above 100w will drive and control them very nicely in moderate room."

IME, 100 Class AB watts (Primare) was grossly inadequate. 200 watts was better and 500 watts was much better. I think they need 200 watts.

I'm going back with another amp to give them another chance. I'll take my Conrad JOhnson CA200, which should be almost 300 watts into the DALI load. We'll see if that doesn't work.

Dave

Dave,
Your Conrad Johnson will definitely have enough power!
I'm driving the Helicon 800s with 180w, and I think it is more than adequate. The lowest power I heard them driven with was an Ayre 70w and I would say that was not enough, so the answer for the minimum must be somewhere above that. More will always be better. Perhaps over 150w?
I do think that once you have enough power, the Dali's arent that amp fussy from my experience, and also from what I have read.
I had an experience with a 100w Primare on Dynaudio speakers, and we just could not get them to sing.

Yeah, the 100w Primare was clearly not up to the task with the DALIs, yet the Rowland 102 stereo amps was much better. The rowland 501s were way better.

I'll try again on Monday.

Dave

As an example, I know how these speakers sound driven with 180w of NAD M3 power and sound excellent (as a budget solution), but the base was not absolutely controlled. Very powerful base, though. Also know how they sound with a 180w Gamut amp, and the base is superbly controlled. same power...

There are two potential problems with the DALI's bass, IME. One is a high potential that the bass will be woolly and uncontrolled with some amps. This is easily controlled by many amps, but the user just needs to be aware of this and select an amp accordingly.

The other issue has to do with deep bass, below 50hz. Listeing to truly deep bass I've found the DALIs have difficulty producing the character of the notes (overtones) and gets into a one-note mode. Hopefully I'll have time to try it with one more amp today. I've got my Conrad Johnson CA200 in the trunk of my car and hope to get a chance to plug that in. It's around 300 watts into 4 ohms. If that doesn't fix the issue, then I'm going to think it's a resonance or crossover issue that can't be fixed. That'll be the fifth amp. It's not a power-need issue.

I'll report back soon.

Dave