What Hi Fi Sound and Vision
10 SEP 2008
DALI Lektor 1
A 2008 Best Buy, the Dalis have the sort of vigour and fidelity that’s usually the preserve of pricier speakers
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Much as we've admired many of Dali’s loudspeakers in the past, we didn’t have especially high hopes for the Lektor 1s. After all, ran our reasoning, little budget boxes have never been the Danish firm’s area of expertise.
Removing the Lektor 1s from their packaging didn’t raise our expectations: unpromisingly small cabinets, pretty humdrum looks and build quality… we thought the review would write itself.
Of course, time has shown that, by the time the dust had settled in our listening rooms, the Dalis were confirmed as one of our favourite speakers of the year – which is why they made off with a Best Buy Award last month. It was like anticipating carol-singers at your door and Paul Simon showing up instead.
They’re an eager, engaging listen, these Dalis.
A run through Dudley Perkins’
Falling suggests that they’re at the opposite end of the scale to the B&W 686s: the Lektors are as short of low-end depth and authority as their cabinet size implies, but where the B&Ws are richly slothful, the Dalis are brilliantly vivid and rhythmic.
They punch through the dynamic shifts of the song with verve and enthusiasm, offering up levels of insight and detail that leave rivals scratching their heads.
A rhythmic appeal Nor is all this impressive energy at the expense of refinement. The tonal balance (that necessarily curtailed bottom end excepted) is even and without the top-end fizziness that some manufacturers persist in confusing with excitement.
Instead, though the horns blare and rasp through Dieter Zimmermann’s 100mph rereading of
Whole Lotta Love, the entire frequency range is tight, seamlessly integrated and timed with the sort of casual prowess that will humble many a competitor.
The overall signature is as rhythmic and appealing as a Mardi Gras parade. And on top of everything else, the Lektor 1s are not only comfortable when positioned close to a wall but they’re also compact enough to do so without causing major furniture upheavals.
If you can live with the fact that they don’t have the bass power of some of the other designs in this test, the Dalis are a musical and enjoyable a speaker as you’ll find at the price