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Magico, Aerial, Dali

I have my next speaker upgrade narrowed down to the Magico V2's, Aerial 7t's, and Dali Helicon 400 MK2's. The only problem is I haven't heard any of them in my own system consisting of ARC LS17SE pre, and Bryston 4Bsst2 amp. I can get the Magico's for a decent price but they're still more expensive than the other options and the dealer will not let me demo at home unless I pay him. I thought this was odd and kind of turned me off to this dealer in general. Seems like for that kind of money in this economy the dealer should be willing to let a serious buyer demo at home.
I heard the 7t's on ARC reference and Levinson amps and was very impressed. Hard not to be with those kind of components. The Dali's are less expensive and I heard them on much cheaper gear but they still sounded fabulous. The dealer has arranged a demo later this week. If I went that route I'd have some money left over to buy a phono pre. I currently have the Aerial 6's and like their sound but they're not enough speaker for my room and if I sell now I can get the same amount that I bought them for.
Does anyone have experience with these three speaker's and/or companies? I am looking for detail, transparency, and realism. Any suggestions? Are the Magico's worth the extra money? I know it comes down to subjective taste, but is there a consensus on what the strengths are of each of these speakers?
minibox
minibox OP
12 posts
 
My room is 15X20 with an 8 foot ceiling. The aerial 6's did great in the small room I had them in previously which was 11X10, but I need something with a little more powerful presentation in this room. I also have the power on tap to do it with the 4b sst2
geh7's avatar
geh7
29 posts
 
Don't mean to hijack the question, but is anyone able to compare Legacy's to this trio? I believe I have a room issue as well (20x20 with a high ceiling.)
Thanks
mike60
275 posts
 
The Dali is a tremendous speaker in its price range that will probably work well with your equipment, IMO. I owned the 400 (not mk2) for many years with different front ends and it is tolerant of mediocre equipment, but responds nicely to a better front end.
brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
Minibox, As I'm sure you can imagine, the 3.7's are a much better speaker than the 1.7's. As it turns out, I auditioned the 3.7's and the 7Ts on the same day in the same room using the same superb front end. On the music I listen to, mostly orchestral stuff, I did not really miss the lower octaves that the Aerials bring to the party. I may add a couple of subs at some point, but its not a high priority for me. I found the bass on the Aerials somewhat tubby, but that could have been room placement issues. For me, there was something not quite right with the Aerials. The timber seemed off just a bit. The Wilson's hit instrumental timber dead on. I am sensitive to pitch and timber, to the point where something being just a tad off is a show stopper. The Dali's also got that right, as do the maggies.
With respect to WAF, my wife thinks the maggies look cool, and they are in our living room, 5 feet out from the back wall. She hated the appearance of the Wilsons, and fortunately, I had the good sense not to show her the Dalis and Aerials, both of which are just drop dead gorgeous visually. Any chance you could audition the Dali 800Mk II's? I really worried about the 400's with orchestral stuff. In the end, you are probably not going to go terribly wrong with any of the 3 you are thinking about.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,218 posts
 
Have you considered going with any of the higher sensitivity speakers? Your Bryston is a stout amp and I suspect would work well with any of the speakers you're considering, but conceptually there are limits to pairing low/mid sensitivity speakers with high powered amps. At least that's the thinking in some audiophile circles. I'm not sure I completely buy into this line of thought, but is interesting. Have you heard the Coincident loudspeaker?
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