Hello, I was at AK Fest over the weekend also. My impression of the D1's matches those of others already listed. I intended to ask Ty how many hours they had on them and never did. If they were not broken in it could explain the forward upper mids/low treble. The bass was another issue. Those speakers had plate amps on them specifically dedicated to the bass and they could have been turned down at any time. The plate amps are not standard for them, but I verified they were on the demo pair and turned on while in the room. I don't know why he had the bass turned up the way he did with them, but the problem could have been easily rectified.
As for the Grant Fidelity and the Fritz Carbon 7's, I thought them both to be well made and sound very good. The speakers in that price range that grabbed my attention were the Dynaudio Excite X 12's which to my ears had a superior tweeter to either of the above. The Dyn's also drew me in to the music a little better. On top of that, they are also less expensive. My opinions are based on limited auditioning under show conditions so take them for what they are worth. I thought the little Dali's were also very good but would take the x12's over them. I put a great deal of emphasis on tweeter performance and the Dynaudio models have had the best tweeters in their respective price classes. The Dynaudio C1's have had the best tweeter at the show regardless of price the last two years running IMO.
As for the Grant Fidelity and the Fritz Carbon 7's, I thought them both to be well made and sound very good. The speakers in that price range that grabbed my attention were the Dynaudio Excite X 12's which to my ears had a superior tweeter to either of the above. The Dyn's also drew me in to the music a little better. On top of that, they are also less expensive. My opinions are based on limited auditioning under show conditions so take them for what they are worth. I thought the little Dali's were also very good but would take the x12's over them. I put a great deal of emphasis on tweeter performance and the Dynaudio models have had the best tweeters in their respective price classes. The Dynaudio C1's have had the best tweeter at the show regardless of price the last two years running IMO.