Dali Helicon 400 or Acoustic Zen Adagio?

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

Sorry, but putting the Conrad Johnson CA200 "control amp" (somewhere over 300 watts into the DALI's 4 ohm-ish load) into the system did not fix the DALI's low bass extension issue. You really only hear it with extremely low notes as produced by synthesizer. Most acoustic bass comes through with no problem.

I don't think it's the room because the Vienna Acoustics are just fine in Sounding's large listening room. We put the Beethoven Baby Grands right inside the DALIs and they had no problem.

Dave

Dcstep, I actually found deep harmonic base to be one area that attracted me to the Helicons in the first place. In some respects, the mk1 was slightly better, but there were other compromises that I wouldnt go back to.
I use a few tracks for testing the extreme low bass including Bela Fleck's 'flight of the cosmic hippo'. Or try Sarah McClaughlin's 'i love you' (i think that is the track). Of course some orchestral pieces, and some Patricia Barber is good for this. Not sure what the frequencies are but they are low!
In my experience with quality amplification (especially high end solid state), the Dali's were superior to some of the others speakers in a similar price range. I tried Revel, B&W, Focal, and others.
I find the base a little thick and lacking in harmonics when they are too close to the rear wall, but as soon as you move them away, they come alive. Perhaps you should try this? Maybe it is just the combination of my system and room, and good cables with a tight bottom end also makes a difference. With some extreme high end cables, I got worse results in the base harmonics.

Dcstep, it sounds very much like this speaker doesnt suit your needs and equipment after 5 amps! I must admit I havent seen this issue in my experience with them, but after 5 amps, is it time to switch to a different speaker?

Thanks Mike. I'm using the Vienna Acoustic Beethoven Baby Grand which does everything I need for my current room.

Dave