Dali Helicon 400 & ProAc D40R

Two very identical floor standing speakers with 5 stars ratings.
If it happened that you have auditioned both, your feed back is highly appreciated.

 

The Dali has a warmer and softer sound. The ProAc is more transparent. Both are great sounding speakers.
-Bill

 

For those who can address this topic, I’d be interested to hear thoughts on power requirements and room size, if these factor into it. I’ve looked at these and leaned toward the ProAc but I have seen and heard comments that suggest I’m wasting my money without more power and a bigger room.

 

Rest of your kit, room size, sort of sound you are after?

 

I cant speak to the ProAc...but when I lived in Durham NC...right down the road from Cary NC...home of Cary audio....I listened to the Helicon 400 MK II/Cary tube amps on more than one occasion. world class is the best way to describe. I would say from other ProAc speakers I've heard in the past, two different sounding speakers. The ProAc is a British speaker, they don't always sound British to my ear and I would say they have a very transparent and open sound like a German speaker sometimes. But the Helicon was transparent with that ribbon tweeter as well as that dome tweeter...it was really airy as well but little more lush in the mids and just a wonderful overall presentation. It also had excellent bass response and female vocals could make you melt. This is not to take nothing away from ProAc...I'v just not heard that particular model.

 

Musical Fidelity NuVista M3 integrated
Amp. Nu Vista 3D CD player. Pro Ject Xtension 9 TT with Dynavector XX.2 cartridge. Nordost blue Heaven interconnects and Blue Heaven flat speaker cables.
Living Room is fairly large, 11 x 5 meters. And I mainly listen to Rock.
Thank you in advance.

 

NuVista, powerful....Hybrids! Very nice! Might be excellent with Helicons! Whats that amp...like, 250 WPC?

 

Yes.

 

Heard the Nuvista pairing at a show years ago and l am sure they were using a pair of Monitor Audio floorstanders to good effect, however cannot remember the model number.

 

Would this eliminates the other 2 speakers then?

 

I agree with this. I like both brands (I have a lower Dali model from the same era). I haven't heard the D-40 but I have heard several Proac models, most of them with M. Fidelity amps because they had the same dealer here. The Helicon was similar with the top of the line Euphonia models, both of these lines were great.

It's an advantage you have a powerful amp. I have seen Proac's driven with low watt tube amps but they come alive with lots of power. Judging from my Dali's, the Helicons will also like the power, especially for a large room. However, when I had tried the Blue Heaven speaker cables they had a thin sound I didn't like.

Have you found the Helicons new? They discontinued the line years ago.

 

Thanks Kostas,
In fact both speakers are discontinued.
They are demos at the dealer at 50 off original price. I bought the more expensive ProAcs, I found them a better match with my electronics.
Thank you all. Now I have an all British system. (Lol) . Thank you all.

 

Congrats!

 

How bout a shot of the entire system? Feed the beast!

 

There you go, sorry the IPhone can not do wide angle. The other shot is the other system.

 

Never mind all that how do they sound- they look very nice!

 

ProAcs are famous for their musicality, very neutral speakers, power hungry and a great match with the Nu.Vista amp.
I have the 2000 tablette monitors as well, both ProAcs are a keeper for sure.

 

What is the speaker cable you are using there.

 

Coincident CST on the ProAcs and Nordost Blue Heaven on the Dynaudios.

 

Thanks you, sir! Very nice!