Dali Blue Owners Manual

Page 1
OWNERS MANUAL
Page 2
Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries
DALI is a highly respected manufacturer of loudspeakers for music lovers around the world. The factory in Denmark controls all facilities of the loudspekaer production, including the development and design of cabinets, crossover components and custom drive units.
With firstclass equipment and know-how, it is possible for DALI to develop and produce loudspeakers according to the highest subjective and technical stan­dards, while maintaining close tolerance limits.
DALI loudspeakers are developed subject to a wide range of technical parameters while never losing sight of the ultimate goal: to create loudspeakers capable of bringing all dimensions of music into your livingroom.
With this manual DALI wishes to ensure that you may enjoy the expertise and quality invested in your loudspeakers.
Page 3
UNPACKING
Most DALI models are delivered in pairs. The loudspeakers are typically marked (L) left or (R) right. Place the loudspeakers to the left and to the right as seen from the listening position. The DALI R1000 however, are marked A or B. In this case please check the paragraph about placement.
For the floor standing models spikes are included in the packing - please check this before discarding the packing.
MAINTENANCE
Use a dry soft piece of cloth (or a wrung up soft piece of cloth with a mild detergent) for wiping off the dust and grease from the loudspeakers cabinet. Please be careful when cleaning the loudspeaker units because the diaphragms are very sensitive.
The grilles can be vacuum cleaned and if necessary wiped with a piece of wrung up fluff-free cloth with a mild detergent.
BREAK-IN PERIOD
A loudspeaker is a mechanical device and requires a break-in period. During the first period of use you will therefore notice a gradual improvement of the sound quality of the loudspeakers.
Wear is not a problem for the DALI loudspeakers. Actually, regular use will only extend their life.
If the loudspeakers have not been used for quite some time, they may need a short break-in period again.
3
Page 4
CONNECTIONS
Always switch off your amplifier/receiver before changing any connections. Always use cables of the same type and of the same length for the left and right loudspeakers.
Always connect loudspeakers in the right side of the listening room to the output terminals marked (R) or (Right) on the amplifier and loudspeakers in the left side of the listening room to the output terminals marked (L) or (Left) on the amplifier.
Loudspeaker cables must always be connected in phase between amplifier and loudspeaker, that is from red plus (+) terminal to red plus (+) terminal and from black minus (-) terminal to black minus (-) terminal. If not all loudspeakers are connected in phase to the stereo or surround system, you will experience weak bass and diffuse perspective.
Whether you are to connect two stereo loudspeakers or a whole surround system you must follow the same guidelines. In the dia­gram (fig. 1) it is shown how to connect a 5 channel surround system by using single­wiring (bi-wiring and bi-amping can be carried out according to the directions below). A stereo amplifier has two pairs of output terminals called Right (R) and Left (L). You connect the right (R) and left (L) loudspeakers here. A surround amplifier also has outputs for stereo loudspeakers typically called Front. Furthermore, the surround amplifier has outputs for Center and rear loudspeakers Rear or Surround (fig. 1). Please check with the manual for your surround amplifier.
Fig. 1
Tighten all connections so that cables do not get loose (do not use tools). No loose strands of wires should stick out, as this may cause a short circuit and damage the amplifier. Re-tighten the connections now and then as the connections may get loose after a period of time.
Cable quality and construction does make a difference. Your should therefore always buy cable of good quality to ensure the best possible sound quality.
4
Page 5
Single-wiring
By single-wiring one cable is connected from the amplifiers loudspeaker output to each single loudspeaker.
On those loudspeaker models having two ter­minal pairs, the straps delivered with the loudspeakers must be installed between the upper and lower terminal pair: one between the two red terminals and one between the two black terminals of the loudspeaker (fig. 2). With the straps installed, it is recommended that you connect the cables from the amplifier to the upper terminal pair.
Bi-wiring and bi-amping
DALI recommends that you use bi-wiring or bi­amping on the loudspeaker models having two terminal pairs. Bi-wiring provides a more clean and undistorted sound. Bi-amping offers an even better improvement on these accounts as well as extended dynamics.
Before using bi-wiring or bi-amping, the metal straps must be removed. The lower terminal pair is connected to the bass section and the upper terminal pair is connected to the tweeter/ midrange section.
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Bi-wiring
For bi-wiring (fig. 3) one cable is connected to the lower terminal pair and another cable to the upper teminal pair of the loudspeaker. These two cables are connected to the same output terminal on the amplifier.
Bi-amping
For bi-amping (fig. 4) two identical stereo power amplifiers should be used. The output terminals of one of the amplifiers are connected to the lower terminal pair of the two loudspeakers and the output terminals of the other amplifier are connected to the upper terminal pair of the same two loudspeakers.
5
Fig. 4
Page 6
PLACEMENT
Even the slightest changes of a loudspeakers placement in a room has big influence on the sound. The spacious experience and the tonal balance will for instance be effected by this. DALI therefore recommends that you experiment to find the opti­mum placement. Notice that your DALI loudspeakers should not be installed in places where they are exposed to direct sunlight. In this connection, here are a few but useful pieces about placement:
Avoid objects between loudspeakers and
listening position. Obstructions not letting the sound pass through directly to the listener may cause a wrong tonal balance and influence the spacious experience negatively.
By critical listening the distance between left
(L) and right (R) front loudspeaker and between each of the loudspeakers and the central listening position should be the same in order to optain the best posible spacious reproducktion (fig. 5). DALIs Linear Directivity construction principle ensures that the tonal balance will be almost perfect, even when you are not listening from a central position.
The loudspeaker models having a bass port
on the rear panel should always be placed with free passage of air, otherwise, the bass level is reduced.
Fig. 5
As a groundrule, DALI front loudspeakers
should not be angled towards the listening position, as the loudspeakers with Linear Directivity have been optimized for perfect ho­risontal frequency response. The use of angling can only be recommended if the loudspeakers have to be placed extremely far from each other.
The center loudspeaker C1000 is especially
designed to be placed close to the large sur­face of the TV screen and you can freely choose between a placement either over or under the screen (fig. 6). The front of the loudspeaker should be flush with the screen.
The rear loudspeaker R1000 is designed to
hang on a wall at a distance of minimum 1,5 meter above the floor (fig. 7).
6
Fig. 6
Page 7
A placement on the side wall and with R1000 placed somewhat behind the listening posi­tion is recommended (fig. 8). tweeter unit in R1000 should be turned towards the listening position. Please notice that in case of side wall placement the R1000 marked A on the rear side label is meant for the left rear channel and B for the right rear channel (with rear wall placement this is the other way around). This way you ensure an angling towards the listening position.
The surround sound experience is ideal if the
loudspeakers are placed symmetrically around a central listening position (fig. 7). Spacious experience of the sound can definitely be pre­sent away from this central listening position. However, it will be less accurate.
Spend some time setting up the surround
amplifier correctly with e.g. the correct level in all channels. Surround amplifiers with adjustment of delay times or distances between listening position and loudspeakers should be set up thoroughly by giving the amplifier the exact informations. Follow the guidelines from you amplifier manufacturer, the process takes time but it pays off in form of a perfect spacious sound scenario.
The bottom
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
The stand/bookcase loudspeakers DALI Blue 1001 and 2002 should be placed and used in accordance with the same principles as mentioned above but we may add some pieces of good advice:
In order to achieve the best possible spacious
reproduction, the loudspeakers should be placed so that from the listening position you can just see across the top plate. This can be done by tilting the loudspeaker (fig. 9).
It is possible to place DALI Blue 1001 and
2002 high as e.g. in a bookcase, However, the loudspeakers should then be turned with the tweeter down towards the listening position in order to utilize the built-in qualities handling spacious reproduction (fig. 10). The DALI logo on the front grille can be rotated so that it may be read properly.
7
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Page 8
THE LISTENING ROOM
All listening rooms have their particular unique acoustic properties which has a big influence on how we experience the sound from the loudspeakers. Basically, it has to do with the way the room embraces the sound and then gets rid of it again, and you can do something about that yourself.
When loudspeakers are playing in a room, you will not only hear the sound directly, but also a number of reflections from the floor, walls and the ceiling. These unwanted reflections can be dampened by things in the room such as e.g. book cases, plants, carpets, furniture etc.
If the sound is on the bright side, soft things such as curtains, wall-to-wall carpets or spread carpets can help. If the living room has big window surfaces, closing the curtains can help.
The quality and amount of deep bass depends on the size and shape of the room. The bass is accentuated by placing the loudspeakers near a side or a rear wall. A corner position normally accentuates the bass even more, but it also increases the reflections from the walls. You should therefore experiment with different kinds of placements in order to find the sound balance you like best.
As a ground rule, you should avoid big, smooth reflecting surfaces close to the loudspeakers, as the reflections here will occur as phantom loudspeakers and will in particular destroy the spacious reproduction aspects. A plant, a wall carpet, or just a carpet on the floor in front of the loudspeakers can have a surprisingly big effect on the experienced precision of the soundstage.
Once you have found the best position you should make sure that the loudspeakers are stan­ding firmly and do not rock. As for the floor stan­ding models it is recommended that the spikes delivered with the loudspeakers are mounted in the bottom of the cabinet. On the stand/bookcase models, attach the rubber feet included.
8
Page 9
POWER AND SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL
A loudspeakers ability to play loud depends very much on the signal it has to reproduce. It will therefore be practically impossible to define an unambiguous maximum level so that the figure can be used in a sensible way.
In practice, however, you can say that a lot of pure, undistorted power from a big amplifier is better than a distorted signal from a small amplifier pushed beyond its limits. The signal from a distorting (clipping) amplifier contains far more high frequency information than an undistorted signal, which puts a heavy strain on the tweeter unit. More loudspeakers are therefore destroyed by small amplifiers working too hard than by big amplifiers practically idling.
By turning the tone controls up beyond the neutral position the strain on the loudspeakers and amplifier is increased considerably. Tone controls are meant for brushing up an old or a poor recording. DALI strongly recommends that you do not use these for compensating weaknesses in other parts of the system. Re­positioning the loudspeakers may be just what it takes to achieve a much more musical result.
Under normal circumstances an overload of the amplifier causes distortion (clipping) and reduced clarity of the sound. If you make sure never to turn up the volume beyond the point where the music remains pure and undistorted, usually you should experience no problems.
DYNAMICS
The focus is often solely put on how loud a loudspeaker can play, which is a pity because some of the biggest experiences in music and movies sound are found in the most quiet passages. Dynamics is the ability to reproduce these fine differences very exact and then to explode in a turmoil of sounds without distortion. DALI loudspeakers are able to reproduce these very fine details, partly because DALI use specially developed Low Loss loudspeaker units.
A system with good dynamics can reproduce a true picture of the quality and size of the music event, even at low levels.
Try listening at low levels. This can be a far more demanding test of the systems ability than playing flat out at full power. Background noises from the surroundings must of course be kept at an absolute minimum in order to experience the full dynamics of the system.
9
Page 10
USEFUL SPECIFICATIONS
A lot of more or less objective measurements of loudspeakers can be made. Unfortunately the specifications stated are hardly ever comparable, and it is even more rare that they tell you something about how the loudspeaker actually sounds.
DALI does not state the power handling of the loudspeakers, because this is a mis­leading and actually also not useable mesurement. Instead, DALI states sensitivity and maximum sound pressure level.
A lot of people take it for granted that a 100 Watt loudspeaker can play louder than a 50 Watt loudspeaker. Maybe it can, but the reason is not that it can endure twice the power. The difference is the sensitivity telling you how much of the output is actually used for producing sound and how much for heat. (It is like an electric bulb, where a 11Watt energy saving bulb glows with the same intensity as a 60 Watt ordinary bulb.)
Always remember: it is the sound that matters, and the best way to evaluate it is by using your ears.
Model:
Frequency response +/-3 dB [Hz]
Impedance [ohms]
Bass Reflex System Resonance [Hz]
Crossover frequency [Hz]
Recommended amplifier power (8 ohms) [W]
Sensitivity (@2,83V/1m) [dB]
Max. SPL [dB]
Placement
Recommended distance from rear wall [cm]
Height [cm]
Width [cm]
Depth [cm]
Weight [kg/lbs]
1001
69-24000
4
Closed
3000
25 - 80
87.0
106
Stand/
shelf
296
177
227
4.2/9.3
2002
41-24000
4
40.0
3000
30 - 100
88.0
108
Stand/
shelf
370
215
247
5.4/11.9
3003
42-24000
4
43.5
3100
25 - 125
90.5
110
Floor
10 - 100
750
177
249
8.8/19.4
5005
37-25000
4
36.5
3500
25 - 150
91.5
111
Floor
10 - 100
860
215
249
13.3/29.3
6006
39-25000
4
43.0
3000
30 - 150
91.5
112
Floor
10 - 100
970
215
342
18.5/40.8
8008
39-25000
4
32.5
600 &
3000
40 - 160
91.0
113
Floor
10 - 100
1.000
252
372
22.0/48.5
C1000
63-24000
4
58.5
3000
30 - 150
88.5
109
On top/
below TV
139
475
250
5.7/12.6
R1000
70-20000
4
75.0
3000
25 - 80
87.0
105
Wall
296
177
155
2.9/6.4
10
Loading...