Dali OPTICON MK2 – The second generation…
With the Dali OPTICON Series, Dali Speaker A/S speaks of a heart of its loudspeaker programme, which shows how important this model series is for the Danish specialist. The company’s ambitions were correspondingly high when it launched this solution on the market a good five years ago, and they are still high now that it is presenting the latest, second generation with the Dali OPTICON MK2.
When Dali Speaker A/S launched the so-called Dali OPTICON Series about five years ago, the Danish loudspeaker specialist promised truly great things. With this product line, a particularly attractive entry-level line was to be established, which could already offer a first-class HiFi sound quality at extremely low prices and which was aimed at a very broad customer base. The Dali OPTICON Series was intended to provide products that could inspire people to enjoy high-quality music and film playback, where price should not be an inhibition threshold, and which is also very flexibly equipped for a wide range of tasks and can be integrated into any living environment with modern design.
After five years, this calculation has proved to be completely correct. It is not without reason that Dali Speaker A/S now speaks of a centrepiece of its loudspeaker programme.
However, Dali Speaker A/S is operating in a very difficult market segment, especially with the Dali OPTICON Series, because especially in the lower price range there is an immensely tough competition between the numerous manufacturers of loudspeaker systems. In this respect it is not easy for a company to successfully position a series on the market. Dali Speaker A/S was and is well aware of this fact, so that the company is not resting on its laurels with the success of the Dali OPTICON Series, but is now presenting a second generation of loudspeakers, the Dali OPTICON MK2 Series.
It is striking that Dali Speaker A/S has also deliberately made the second generation of this product line broad, even though the first generation comprises seven models, the second only six.
The new second generation not only includes shelf and floorstanding speaker systems, but also a centre speaker, so that the Dali OPTICON MK2 Series can be used for both HiFi and Home Cinema.
To be more specific, the Dali OPTICON MK2 Series offers two bookshelf speaker systems, namely the Dali OPTICON 1 MK2 and Dali OPTICON 2 MK2 solutions. There are also two floorstanding loudspeaker systems in the form of the Dali OPTICON 6 MK2 and Dali OPTICON 8 MK2 solutions. The new generation centre speaker is called the Dali OPTICON VOCAL MK2 and the Dali OPTICON LCR MK2 is a particularly slim wall speaker. Compared to the first generation, the third pair of floorstanding speakers, the Dali OPTICON 5, which was the smallest of its kind up to now, is “missing”. But let’s see, perhaps the last word has not yet been spoken here…
When presenting the new Dali OPTICON MK2 Series, Dali Speaker A/S explicitly emphasises the completely renewed design of the new Dali OPTICON MK2 Series. The new generation of speakers is available in three colours: white, ash black and tobacco oak. All three design variants are now finished with a matt surface, right up to the front panels of the tweeters, now made of matt black die-cast aluminium.
The new technical features of the Dali OPTICON MK2 Series are astonishingly comprehensive.
For example, the manufacturer initially states that the new generation is based on new chassis for the low and mid-range drivers. Of course, the red-brown wood fibre cones should not be missing, but these are special modifications of the cones used in the high-end Dali EPICON Series. A detail on the side, the cones have been dyed slightly darker than usual to match the new look of the Dali OPTICON MK2 Series…
Another essential feature of the new model generation is the optimised bass reflex system. This system now relies on so-called dual flare reflex tubes, which, according to the manufacturer, are designed as funnels both inside and out in order to reduce sound-damaging flow noise to an absolute minimum.
The same applies to all bookshelf and floor-standing speaker systems with their bass reflex systems that continue to be directed to the rear, but not to the wall-mounted speaker, the Dali OPTICON LCR MK2 and the Dali OPTICON VOKAL MK2 centre speaker, which is designed to be placed close to the wall. The Dali OPTICON LCR MK2 has reflex openings which are specially developed for this solution and which emerge directly in front of the wall, and the Dali VOKAL MK2 has reflex slits integrated into the baffle.
There is also news to report about the tweeters of the Dali OPTICON MK2 Series. The Dali OPTICON Series has already been relying on particularly generously sized tweeters for a particularly silky and fine sound, but now an even larger fabric dome tweeter with a diameter of 29 mm is being used, developed on the basis of the active Dali CALLISTO C Series. This is intended to achieve a higher power handling capacity with less distortion. In addition, a particularly low cut-off frequency of 2 kHz ensures an optimised adaptation to the mid and low midrange drivers of the Dali OPTICON MK2 Series models. With the exception of the two bookshelf loudspeakers, the Dali Hybrid tweeter unit with an additional ribbon for a particularly clear and spatial reproduction of the highest frequencies is of course still used in the new series.
According to the manufacturer, the new models of the Dali OPTICON MK2 Series should be available in specialist shops in the coming weeks. The two bookshelf loudspeaker systems Dali OPTICON 1 MK2 and Dali OPTICON 2 MK2, which are offered at a recommended retail price of € 399 and € 549 per unit respectively, will be the first to be launched. The two floor-standing loudspeaker systems Dali OPTICON 6 MK2 and Dali OPTICON 8 MK2 will be available at a unit price of € 949 and € 1,499 respectively. For the centre speaker of the product line, the Dali OPTICON VOKAL MK2, € 599,- and for the wall speaker Dali OPTICON LCR MK2 € 749,- per unit must be budgeted. As already mentioned, there are three design variants to choose from: matt white, black ash and tobacco oak.
Getting to the point
With the Dali OPTICON Series, Dali Speaker A/S has been operating in a very difficult market segment for the past five years, because especially in the lower price range there is an immensely tough competition between the manufacturers of loudspeaker systems. In this respect it is not easy for a company to successfully position a series on the market, especially in the lower price range. Dali Speaker A/S was and is well aware of this fact, so that the company is not resting on its laurels with the success of the Dali OPTICON Series, but is now presenting a second generation of loudspeakers, the Dali OPTICON MK2 Series.
Manufacturer: | Dali Speaker A/S |
Distribution: | Dali GmbH Deutschland |
Price: | Dali OPTICON 1 MK2 € 399,- Dali OPTICON 2 MK2 € 549,- Dali OPTICON 6 MK2 € 949,- Dali OPTICON 8 MK2 € 1.499,- Dali OPTICON LCR MK2 € 749,- Dali OPTICON VOKAL MK2 € 599,- |
Thanks for the overview. It baffles me that Dali decided to only make use of the hybrid tweeter above 14kHz. Not too much happens at that range. I would have liked to see a change here, so that one can hear/see the advantages of the broad distribution better. Also, I like the non-glossy finish they now have. Much more home cinema friendly.