DALI SPEKTOR 2 - Bookshelf Speaker (Black Ash) Bookshelf Speakers (Pair)

I bought these along with a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 220s and Wharfedale Dentons and spent about two weeks comparing all three of them. In the past I have been very happy with Wharfedale having owned the Diamond 210s (Happily on desk as the office), Diamond 10.7s (Sold) and Reva 4s (Currently in my theater setup). I wanted desktop monitors for a new room in my house that I would use for listening to music, mixing down old recordings, drinking whiskey... A sort of man cave. The Shootout: The Diamond 220s were a pretty balanced speaker top to bottom, but lacked excitement for me. The highs extended well past the Dentons, but not as high as the Specktors. This was not an issue for me because I already own the 210s and am very happy with them. It was the bottom end especially that disappointed me with the 220s. I have never liked their plinth port design (Also Featured on the Reva 4 which I also own, but absent on my 210s). It just sucks the life out of the bass of the speaker. It may make placement easier in a room, but what you are left with is a speaker with a lack in punch and presence in the low end. They have no authority. Kick drums are found bouncing around the room in every direction rather than slapping you in the chest. No. The Dentons were very warm and subtle. The bass was strong and very present. Mid range was excellent, and overall they were very smooth warm from top to bottom. They thrive with certain recordings and definitely prefer more natural analog material. Their notorious "Veiled" top end isn't so much veiled, the high details are certainly there, but you just have to find them. They don't jump out at you. I also must mention that to my surprise the Dentons did not image well. There was no wide sound stage to be found here. They were closed up and revealed no exciting center activity. All in all these speakers happened to be extremely well tamed and neutral, which for some professional and amateur engineers might be perfect. But I like to hear every detail in my recordings. I want every tiny mistake to be mine to find and correct, not the person down the road that happens to pick up a pair of the last speakers on my list and get a glimpse of what is really behind the "Veil". The Specktors are an exciting speaker. Their new tweeter that features an unusually thin and lightweight soft dome material was what originally drew me to them. I read about their new "Thin and light" approach on their website and thought "This sounds like a great design strategy. I need this.". Their woofer design also had me sold before I even submitted my order. I read that they are crafted from a mix of fine grained paper and wood fibre pulp. "F***, sign me up." I thought. I like my highs to be detailed, extended and transparent. Thin and light sounds like the way to get there. I like my lows to be warm and full and natural. Paper/Wood fibers sounds like the way to get there too. I was excited. When they arrived they were pretty much what I expected. The cabinets were unimpressive, which for me is usually a big problem. I consider myself a decent craftsmen and build furniture from time to time. I always appreciate a beautifully finished real wood veneer (like my old Monitor audio Silver 6s), but I was not aiming towards beauty for this room, so they were fine. As soon as I hooked them up I was impressed. I drive them through a modest Teac UD-301 and Adcom GFA-535ii straight from my Mac and they sing beautifully. Full and present bottom end with a real good punch. Crisp, clean and incredibly transparent highs. Great imaging. Honest and humble mid range. I am very happy with their performance. But I feel that their greatest strength, especially as this price point, is their ability to bring you right into the music. Their is no veil, there is no space whatsoever between you and the music. The vocals are right there. You can reach out and touch them. They are dead center and sound as if you might feel the wind from their breath. I believe it is this accuracy at the highest of highs of our very limited hearing spectrum that brings these vocal and instrumental details to the forefront. I and I believe that "thin and lightweight" were the building blocks of that strength.

The Dali Spektor 2 is an amazing little speaker. Sweet, transparent, detailed highs without any hint of harshness. Warm, inviting mid-range and decent bass for a 5 1/4 inch woofer. It sounds bigger than its size would indicate. I've owned a lot loudspeakers over the years: JVC, Polk, Klipsch, Pioneer, Bose, KEF, and Ascend, but I think these Dalis are probably my favorite. They provide a wide sound stage with a lot of detail without being too clinical or sterile like some reference studio monitors. The cabinet and craftsmanship is about what you would expect in this price range for speakers made in China, not horrible, but nothing to brag about either. Sensitivity is on the low side, at about 85 dB/m/W, so you will want a beefy amp to drive these. Currently, I'm using my old Denon AVR-X5200W (140wpc stereo into 8 ohm loads), but I'll pick up separates at some point. I listen to classic rock, grunge, acoustic, instrumental jazz, classical, and movie soundtracks, everything sounds great on these speakers. I like these so much that I'm going to pick up some Zensors and possibly Opticons down the road. I only wish that Dali had more distributors in the U.S., as their speakers are tough to find and the prices are a bit high even with the current exchange rates for the USD.

One of the best sounding speakers I have ever heard!

You won’t find better speakers for this price. The highs are great without being too bright, the mods are perfect and the bass driver is amazing for a bookshelf speaker. It excels at every type of music.

I bought the DALI after reviewing many reviews online for best speakers under $500. Build quality and sound quality being the 2 most important factors. Sepkor's are to complement the Martin Logan Aeon I electro-static for front channel and cinema i for center and REL T9i subs. I haven't broken them in yet but I compared the sound output with my B&W 705 S2 using Parasound Halo A21 amp/P3 preamp. Indeed the reviews were correct, the details were amazing and I didn't mess with "toe in" placement of the Sepkor, lined them up in parallel. The Sepkor sound was not as lush/rich 3D like 705S2 but good enough to hear all of the details at mid-range/high frequencies for netflix movies. I am looking for a proper speaker stand to mount these on to try out on my 5.1 channel system. With the current speak mount made out of veneer would, the sepkor 2 doesn't produce enough volume driven by SONY STRAZ-3000ES AV receiver. I am considering to get SANUS speaker stands to provide more sound isolation. Thanks for reading my reviews and any feedback is welcome :).

Love these speakers. Got great reviews on HiFi websites and they were correct.

The best word I can use to describe the sound quality of these speakers is "presence." I have them hooked up to a Sonos amp in a smallish room. They can really rattle the windows if I'm choosing to rock out, but they sound incredibly precise and detailed when I play something more intimate. A solo violin recording was crystal clear -- I felt like I could hear the bow hairs vibrate on the strings.

Boss speakers, totally worth the splurge!

No defraudan, son lo que esperaba o más, profundidad en los graves y definición en agudos. A espera de lo que podrán dar de sí cuando hagan su rodadura de unas 50 o 60 horas de funcionamiento. Además el vendedor solucionó de manera satisfactoria una duda.

The speakers arrived safe and sound and well packaged. They sound great. Very balanced sound. I am not using any eq in the signal chain

Worthy for each a penny paid. It's a Magic and perfect clarity of voice and Music. Bass is wonderful. Can't believe output from this Bookshelf Speaker.

De är otroliga. Verkligen värda priset. Har en annan högtalare ( audio pro bt5 ) och den är sämre än bara 1 av dessa. Så när man har 2 så är ljudet otroligt

Una delicia con esta marca DALI de lo mejor en audio