B&W, Dynaudio, Dali or what else?

I would welcome you to my showroom in Jersey City, yes it will be a nice trip but in terms of the highest performing loudspeakers in the world I have alot of them.

I currently have the Dali MS 4 which are marevlous
I also have the Helicon 400 which are great but the MS 4 sound much better.
I have the Usher line.
I have the Von Schweikerts.
I have Escalante.
I have Acoustic Zen.

If it is out there and it sounds great and is reasonably priced it is likly I will have it.

I am open by appointment and I can accomodate any time that works for you including Sat or Sunday. So come on down I know we will be able to assist you in finding some really terrific speakers.

Thanks, Audiodoctor.com

Dave,
Thanks for the detailed description. One thing I want to add is that my 800's sounded kind of edgy and analytical for the first 100-200 hours of playing. Maybe the MS 5's you've listened to were brand new out of the box (my guess). This is sometimes the issue with demoes. The speakers have not been broken in (sometimes on purpose)and that gives listeners the totally wrong impression of how they really sound.

I would recommend that you find a Verity Audio dealer near you and schedule a demo. I auditioned them and Dali side by side last month and it was no contest. The Dali's reminded me of B&W, very forward and edgy on the high frequencies. The Verity's were more neutral, larger soundstage..basically to my ears more musical. The dealer assured me that they were broken in too.

Verity has some of the best speakers I've heard at their respective price points. Other speakers to consider would be Cabasse, Avantgard & McIntosh (the XRT-18 or above). All of those companies have speakers that have impressed me the first time I heard them.

to Matt Zak, I am a Dali dealer as well as many othe fine lines and I also used to sel the Verity Audio speakers.

There is no hardness of forwardness in the Dali's however, you can make them or anyother speaker sound shrill if you mismatch it. The setup you heard may have favored the Verity but I can tell you without reservation after having done this for 20 years professionaly that Dali builds some of the world's greatest speakers bar none! My friend Clement Perry of Sterotimes has the Dali Megalines which are unbelievable, but he has them meticulously well set up and he uses a sub.

I have the MS 4 with a subwoofer and they sound absolutly ammazing. The combination is around $16k but I would compare my setup with $25,000 speakers anyday of the week.

It all comes down to setup. I am using superb equipment, I have vibration control, I have room tuning gear, I have power cables and conditioners etc. High end is an art and you can not just switch speakers and claim one blows the other away without anylizing if your combination favored one or the other speakes intrinsic qualities.

I would invite you to hear my MS 4 and see for your self how good the speakers really are!

>>One thing I want to add is that my 800's sounded kind of edgy and analytical for the first 100-200 hours of playing. Maybe the MS 5's you've listened to were brand new out of the box (my guess). This is sometimes the issue with demoes. The speakers have not been broken in (sometimes on purpose)and that gives listeners the totally wrong impression of how they really sound.>>

I can't say for certain that this was not the case, as I forgot to mention that the dealer had just received a pair of high-end ML speakers that were unboxed right in front of me, and setup for break-in as I listened (and those definitely sounded edgy and analytical), but I just wrote off my impressions to them being brand new without break-in.

I can't say for sure whether the dealer had unboxed the MS5s earlier that day or around that time and did not tell me... But what I *can* say is that this was a private show room (all custom built and insulated to maximize the sound of the speakers in each room), and the dealer (owner/installer really) was super-knowledgeable and it would go against the grain to think he would make a critical error as to demo a pair of speakers that was not in its best light. Quite frankly, it was the best experience I have had at a "dealer." Still, can't be 100% sure, I guess...

---Dave