Dali Helicon 300 + Rel Stadium 3 or Euphonia MS 4?


Hi everyone,

This is my first post here.

My current system consists of Dali Helicon 300 (mk I) with the original stands, and musical fidelity A5 amp and CD player. I have a relatively large listen room (l x w x h: 5.21 x 4.57 x2.46 ft; 5.7 x 5.0 x 2.7 meters) and I listen to all kinds of music (from Diana Krall to Metallica).

Basically, I can either buy the rel stadium III (new) for a bit less then 2000 euros or exchange my current speakers plus 3000 euros for the MS4 (new).

There is also a third option which I did not discussed yet in details with my dealer. That is to buy a rel stentor 3 (demo model from 2005) for about 2500-2750 euros.

What would you do In my place and why?

I thank you in advance.
Nvp
nvp
I use a Stadium 3 on one channel and a Stadium 2 on the other and they are very good. But the main question should be how do you feel about the speakers yourself? No one can advise you concerning what type of sound you will like. I would guess that most of us will have definite ideas about which WE would like but we all hear different things. A good way to make a choice is to make a list of what you think are the advantages of each system and try to decide which ones are the most importain to you. I would not worry about buying used; I bought both of mine that way.
Hi Stanwal,

Thank you for your quick reply.

I forgot to mentioned, although it was a bit implied in my post, that I use my system mostly for music (99%). Probably, it is also important to list the street prices here in the Netherlands for the speakers helicon 300 mk3 with stands 4300 euros (per pair) while Euphonia is 8600 euros (per pair). Please note that I have the helicons mk1 and therefore I get a very good deal.

I like the helicon 300 a lot. They are very musical, produce a huge sound stage, have very nice highs and are also extremely beautiful (the least important). I have a single complain about them, a small one any way, they tend to over-resolve guitar distortion effects and as a result guitar riffs sound a bit polite. But as I said this is not very important since I really loved their musicality and the sound stage they produce, plus I do not listen to the likes of metallica that often these days.

Now regarding the euphonia MS4, I did not listen to them and it will be a bit difficult to get an audition. I know that they are supposed to be better then the helicons but still similar in character. It is therefore likely that I will like them. Thus, the question is how do they compare with the helicon 300/rel combo? Are they that much better than the helicons that it is worth to buy them instead of the rel? I am not a bass freak but I can't say that I do not care at all about bass either. (It is likely that the MS4 will have enough bass for my taste.)

Regarding the rel subwoofers. I had the stadium 3 and the strata 5 in my system for 2 weeks. Both at the same time. While there was not a big difference between the two subwoofers when listening to pop and rock music (because of the way I've set them up; clearly the stadium can go lower and louder), the difference was huge when listening to a jazz bass solo. The stadium was much better. Thus, I already know that I like the stadium 3 in my system. So, in this case the question is how much better is the stentor 3 compare to the stadium 3. Is stentor 3 going to work well with the helicons 300? I am asking this because I have read several times that the reference Rel subwoofers (studio and stentor) are meant to be used with large full range speakers.

Sorry for the long post. Also for typos, english is not my first language.
The REL will give you much more deeper bass and low details. I auditioned the 400's (mk l) and did prefer the bass response... more weight. In contrast, I used my REL B3 (from my Home Theater) with crossover set at 38Hz and 23Hz and with incredible results.

I would continue to play with the crossover. What is the setting for the crossover?
You are in Europe so have a look on Audiodata Soutien 2+. If set up properly can do wonders for 2CH listening provided the mains can go between 60-80 Hz with decent output.