Speakers: Color VS. Nuetral

Just saw the last two posts from begator and Jl35. Yes those points make sense. The enclosure is a bit small and when Peahctree showed off the Grand they did use the bigger speakers. I'm sure the Dalis can get more from some of the signature Amps as well but perhaps the best move would be a different speaker. I do enjoy the Current combination for the mellow side of music such as Fleetwood Mac , the Grateful Dead, or anything mellow -Sounds fantastic. Ridiculously flat and lack luster with anything heavier though. If anyone can think of a set of speakers which should go for $2500-$4000 used let me know your suggestions. What about Kef?

Puffbojie,

I have Aerial 7Ts and had a Peachtree 220, 220SE, and Grand integrated amp connected to them. I'm sorry, but the Grand was the worst combination and the 220SE was the best out of the Peachtree amps. The Grand can play "louder", but in my system, to my ears, isn't a musical amplifier. Eventually I sold the 220se, because I thought something was missing, but for the money the 220SE is very good. Just my 2 cents!

Puff, there's wisdom in some of Ricred1's words..."in my system, to my ears". Therein lies the rub - your system isn't likely to be the exact same as his (cables, source, media) nor is your room the same as his. And I'd offer that those elements are as important, if not moreso, than the question of the amp & speakers alone. You can take one amp & speaker combo, have it sound like absolute bat guano, then put it in a truck and drive it around the block to someone else's living room with different dimensions, furnishings, and source and have that same amp & speaker combo sound like heaven. So to some degree, choosing an amp speaker combo based on someone else's experience is like buying your pants based on how they fit other people.

Some details that I'm surprised nobody else has bothered asking...

- What size room are you working with, and how is it shaped?
- How is it furnished i.e. carpeted, tiled, curtains, glass doors, etc.
- What's your source? CD, turntable, lossy/lossless files on a server?
- Is a subwoofer part of the plan?
- How much flexibility do you have with speaker placement, and how much did you experiment with wall proximity, toe-in, etc. with the Dalis?
- What speakers in the past have made you happy? We all have tastes in equipment, a way that we want music to sound - for some people the gentle contact of drum brush sticks is most rewarding, for others it's the kick in the gut from a bass drum. You need to choose speakers based on your own taste and how you want the sound to move you personally.

There are some seriously smart and experienced audiophiles on this forum - many of them already participating in this thread. So getting some good equipment recommendations will be easy. The hard part is filtering through those based on YOUR room, YOUR source, and YOUR personal situation.

you might also be quite happy with the Aerial 10T - the last version is way under your budget...

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll have to schedule a field trip to listen to the Aerial collection and check out some other amps for comparison. Have a great weekend. Any others suggestions are certainly welcome.