Dali Helicon 800 mk2 or Euphonia MS5

I own the 400s which I suspect are sonically similar to your 800s and I am always surprised that people describe them as overly warm--but you are not the only one, so I guess it is me! I think the Dalis are excellent.

I'm wondering what you're using to drive them...

From what I have read, people systematically find the Helicons to be warmer than the Euphonias, so it sounds like it could be a good move for you without moving too far from the Dali sound.

Thanks for the information Steidlguitars. I am running a Gemstone Blue Diamond amplifier with a Theta Casablanca II pre/pro and Kimber 8TC speaker cables with Zu Audio Oxyfuel interconnects.

I would say it depends on your room size. The MS5s generate some serious bass and I wouldn't want to put them in a tiny or mid-sized room unless I had some serious room correction in place. As it stands now, my MS4s are more than enough for my room, which is 17x21.

My feeling is that, and this may hold for the Helicons as well, that the Euphonia series is very sensitive to cable-matching (as a excellent neutral speakers should be), so you could play around with cables, or keep that in mind if you get the Mk. 2s or something from the euphonia series.

Depending on your room then, I would say the MS4's are a good move. I think the Mk 2s are great speakers (I actually like the high-gloss finish more than my alpi option, which was an add-on finish), but I think the MS4's are a step up, FWIW.

Mimberman, good point about the cables. I have never had speakers so sensitive to upstream changes as the Dalis.

So Hooper_ke if you have not tried cables on the analytical side of things, that might help move things in the direction you're after.

I've not tried the Kimbers you have; I have tried the Oxyfuel and although I was not crazy about it, I did think it leaned toward the analytical side.

Good luck.

Cables I've liked with the Dalis (and this can mean both speaker cables and ICs):

Harmonic Tech
Synergistic Research
Analysis Plus

I think the cheapest thing to do is play around with different cables. I'm not familiar with Kimber, besides from reviews, so that may be something to do. The Dali's are extremely revealing and transparent speakers. I don't think they like silver cable because of the tweeter configuration, but others may disagree. If you're finding the sound warm then silver may not be a bad thing here, though, so maybe that's something to keep in mind. I think and easiest thing to do is to change your speaker cable. Do some research and buy something you can easily resell and then your exposure is minimal.

I have the MS5's along with a Velodyne subwoofer. Amp is a McIntosh MC 7300 and a Mcintosh preamp C36, Nordost speaker cables, interconnects. I find the MS5's to be more revealing of source components than cables and they like power and a large room. If they are within your budget then you won't be disappointed.

Many feel that a high power amp (400+ wpc) will provide better control of bass which might decrease the warmth you're hearing.

If that idea doesn't appeal to you, you may be better off trying a different speaker manufacturer. It is my understanding that the Dalis all have a family resemblence soundwise.