OWNERS MANUAL
THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING DALI We know you cant wait to hear your new DALI loudspeakers, so well save the more technical stuff until later. That way, youll have something to read once your system is up and running. But first, unless you are experienced and confident in hi-fi matters, please take the time to read at least the sections on CONNECTIONS and PLACEMENT, before wiring your new DALI loudspeakers to your system.
BI-WIRING AND BI-AMPING We recommend bi-wiring or bi-amping for improved sound quality. To bi-wire or bi-amp, remove the metal straps before going on to the next steps. The top terminal pair on each speaker connects to the high frequency crossover section and the bottom terminal pair connects directly to the low frequency crossover section. To bi-wire (fig. 3), connect cable from one pair of terminals on each speaker to the amplifiers output terminals.
PLACEMENT Even small differences in the positioning of loudspeakers in a room can have significant impact on performance, especially on soundstage focus and bass quality. DALI loudspeakers are capable of exceptional performance in these and other crucial areas, but you must experiment with placement in order to find the optimum position. Fig. 5. Ideal height for listening Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules to follow, but here are a few guidelines.
THE LISTENING ROOM Your DALI loudspeakers have been designed to convert the incoming electrical signal to acoustic energy as accurately as possible. But speakers are only one link in the audio chain which begins with the quality of the recorded material, the turntable/CD player/tuner/tape player signal source, interconnects, the amplifier, speaker cables and finally ends with the listening room itself.
POWER HANDLING The power handling of a loudspeaker is very much dependent on the type of music it is called upon to reproduce at any given time. Since a music signal or film soundtrack simultaneously consists of a broad range of frequencies, it is not possible to define maximum power handling in meaningful terms. In the real world, large amounts of clean, undistorted power from a big amp is better than the distorted output of a small amp pushed beyond its limits.
DYNAMICS Unfortunately, too much attention is focused on the ability to play LOUD. Much more important for your musical and cinematic enjoyment is the ability to convey a natural sense of musical and home theatre dynamics. Dynamics is the capacity of the system to reproduce a sudden change in level (up or down) rapidly, cleanly and accurately. A system with good dynamics will present a realistic sense of the weight and scale of the musical event or film soundtrack even at low volume settings.
USEFUL NUMBERS There are lots of measurements which can be carried out on loudspeakers, not to mention a confusing number of incompatible methods by which these measurements can be executed. But, in terms of saying something meaningful about how a given loudspeaker will actually sound, only a handful of data specifications are of any real use. You should pay special attention to specifications for sensitivity and impedance.
