Dali Zensor / Acoustic Energy compact

Heard both because I am in the market for some new bookshelf speakers. I was very impressed with the Dali Zensors, excellent imaging, limited bass but kept well under control. I think they were by being driven by an Arcam CD/Amp combo but I have poor eyesight so could be wrong. The AEs were good but not as good as the Dalis. It seemed to me that they were being driven quite hard, and the strain was showing. They were a bit smaller than the Dalis so would be less obtrusive as wall mounted speakers. I was hoping to hear some other small speakers from B&W, Monitor Audio etc for comparison but no such luck.