Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Floorstanding Speakers

New DALI OPTICON MK2 Loudspeakers: A Danish for Your Morning Listen

DALI introduces six new loudspeakers for any lifestyle priced from $999 to $3,999/pair.

DALI Opticon 8 MK2 Floorstanding Loudspeakers Lifestyle

Who doesn’t love a fresh, warm danish in the morning with their coffee. The early morning after my 4 mile run in the dark is when I get some listening done in the home office and who wouldn’t enjoy some quality time with the new DALI OPTICON MK2 Series loudspeakers.

DALI has a strong track record of delivering high-performance passive loudspeakers and wireless active loudspeakers, so a complete refresh of the best-selling OPTICON lineup is welcome news for music listeners and the home theater fans.

DALI Opticon MK2 Loudspeakers Satin White Family
Left to right: OPTICON 1 MK2, OPTICON 2 MK2, OPTICON 8 MK2, OPTICON 6 MK2, OPTICON VOKAL MK2, OPTICON LCR MK2

The DALI OPTICON MK2 Series is comprised of six models – two bookshelf/stand mount models – OPTICON 1 MK2 ($999/pr USD MSRP) and OPTICON 2 MK2 ($1,499/pr USD MSRP), two towers – OPTICON 8 MK2 ($3,999/pr USD MSRP) and OPTICON 6 MK2 ($2,499/pr USD MSRP), a centre channel – OPTICON VOKAL MK2 ($799/ea USD MSRP) and a low profile on-wall LCR – OPTICON LCR MK2 ($999/ea USD MSRP). The DALI OPTICON MK2 initial availability varies by model and finish beginning in late February/late March 2021. 

Cabinets

The DALI OPTICON MK2 Series offers fresh, elegant aesthetics in three new finishes – Satin Black, Satin White (except OPTICON 8 MK2) and Tobacco Oak with new furniture grade grille fabrics matched to finishes.

Each OPTICON MK2 enclosure is designed to optimize rigidity and minimize panel resonance. The OPTICON MK2 25mm thick front baffles provide massively rigid foundations for the drivers, and the floor standing OPTICON MK2 models employ extra internal bracing to further ensure rigidity and practically eliminate panel resonance. 

DALI Opticon 8 MK2 Floorstanding Loudspeakers Cut-through
DALI OPTICON 8 MK2 Cut-through

Class-leading Performance

Benefitting from the latest in new technologies and innovations, OPTICON MK2 is designed, developed and manufactured at DALI’s factory in Denmark. All cabinets and drivers are built with a consistent focus on the DALI audio principles of low-loss, low distortion and low colouration. Each pair of speakers is built and tested at the same time to ensure acoustic and aesthetic consistency. The rigid, braced cabinet construction eliminates resonances and while minimizing colouration. 

SMC 

DALI SMC (Soft Magnetic Compound) is a coated magnet granular material that has many advantages when used in driver magnet systems. SMC’s unusual combination of very high magnetic permeability and very low electrical conductivity results in improved flux linearity, reduced magnetic hysteresis and a significant reduction in harmonic distortion. All of these SMC benefits together produce a significant measured and subjective reduction of low-level detail masking and colouration. 

Drivers

The EPICON derived cones on all OPTICON MK2 models are made from a mix of paper and wood fibre that provide a stiff, lightweight and well-behaved structure that ensures minimal break-up resonance and provides the cones their distinctive colour. The bass/midrange driver magnet system consists of a large ferrite ring magnet surrounding a pole piece manufactured entirely of the unique DALI SMC material. The OPTICON 8 MK2 uses a dedicated 6 ½” midrange and two 8” woofers. The OPTICON 6 MK2 uses two 6 ½” woofers, the OPTICON 2, VOKAL and LCR MK2 each use one 6 ½” woofer while the OPTICON 1 MK2 uses a 4 ¾” woofer. 

DALI Opticon MK2 Tweeter Exploded
DALI Opticon MK2 Tweeter Exploded

Soft Dome Tweeter

The new 29mm soft dome tweeter used in all six OPTICON MK2 models offers significant advances over the two different soft dome tweeters used in the previous OPTICON series. Its relatively small increase in diameter over the previous 28mm tweeter may seem a minor detail, however it results in a significant increase in dome radiating area which means lower distortion, higher power handling, and an ability to operate at lower frequencies. Use of the same soft dome tweeter across all six OPTICON MK2 models not only results in consistency of tonal character, but also enables similar crossover topology to be used on each model for consistency of dispersion characteristics. 

DALI Opticon Vokal MK2 Satin White Center Channel Speaker
OPTICON VOKAL MK2 center channel speaker

Hybrid Tweeter 

DALI has a long and successful tradition for engineering and integrating hybrid tweeter modules comprising a soft dome tweeter working together with a ribbon tweeter. The OPTICON 6, 8 LCR and VOKAL MK2 models use a new hybrid tweeter design that marries the new 29mm soft dome tweeter with a custom designed 17mm x 45mm ribbon tweeter mounted on a new cast aluminium faceplate for reduced vibration.

Improvements

  • Upscale aesthetics with new Satin White, Satin Black and Tobacco Oak* finish options
  • New furniture grade grille fabrics matched to finishes
  • New woofers and midrange drivers with full SMC driver pole-pieces
  • DALI EPICON derived wood fibre cones colour matched to speaker’s sleek appearance
  • New, larger diameter soft dome tweeter derived from the DALI CALLISTO
  • Hybrid, soft dome and ribbon tweeter on the OPTICON 6, 8, LCR and VOKAL MK2
  • New solid die-cast aluminum tweeter faceplate for reduced vibration
  • DALI Dual Flare reflex ports for a smooth, non-turbulent airflow through the speaker
  • Re-engineered crossovers incorporating upgraded, low-loss components
  • Optional bi-wire connection facilities on OPTICON 6 MK2 and 8 MK2
  • Tonal balance revoiced to maximise the subjective benefits of the MK2 revisions
DALI Opticon 2 MK2 Loudspeakers on Stands Lifestyle
DALI Opticon 2 MK2 Stand-mount Loudspeakers

Price & Availability

The DALI OPTICON MK2 loudspeakers are available from late February/late March 2021 in white, black or tobacco oak. All prices listed below are USD MSRP in 2022, which have slightly increased in some cases since launch.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. bahis oyna

    November 4, 2023 at 3:17 pm

    Sorry this happened, Chris. Something similar happened to me except I was tenting with my two young sons. The guy in camp across started a fire with pine boughs that melted our pup tent that we used for supplies. I went over to the fire and asked him to stop putting pine boughs on the fire. He told me off. Later that night my beautiful Woods canvas tent was shredded with a very large knife. My self and my boys had the tent come down on us as it was cut on three sides at about waist height. I packed up the camp and put the boys in the car. We left the site at midnight and went to find a motel. I still shake thinking of it. Tuan Roytek

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

You May Also Like

Floorstanding Speakers

In bookshelf, center channel or floorstanding sizes, the ELAC Solano 2.0 series loudspeakers bring their JET 6 Tweeter to your home theater.

Bookshelf Speakers

At $1,999/pair, the ELAC Elegant BS 312.2 Bookshelf Speakers are more deep than they are tall and come with colorful grille options.

Bookshelf Speakers

Do the Acoustic Energy AE100 MK2 Loudspeakers compare favorably with the competition below $500? They should be on your audition list for sure.

Articles

Build a complete audiophile-grade stereo system around the Acoustic Energy AE1 Active Bookshelf Loudspeakers for under $4,000.

Bookshelf Speakers

In celebration of the beginning of its 50th Anniversary, ATC is proud to announce the forthcoming release of an exclusive new active stand mount...

Bookshelf Speakers

At $1,299/pair, the Totem Acoustic LOON is the company's most affordable bookshelf speaker yet.

Reviews

Standing only 28-inches tall, the Q Acoustics M40 micro-towers soar over the wireless speaker competition priced under $1,000.

Floorstanding Speakers

Trickle-down technology from Bowers & Wilkins' flagship 800 Series arrives in select 700 Series loudspeakers with gorgeous new finishes.

Advertisement

ecoustics is a hi-fi and music magazine offering product reviews, podcasts, news and advice for aspiring audiophiles, home theater enthusiasts and headphone hipsters. Read more

Copyright © 1999-2024 ecoustics | Disclaimer: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.



SVS Bluesound PSB Speakers NAD Cambridge Audio Q Acoustics Denon Marantz Focal Naim Audio RSL Speakers