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Powerhouse Floorstander with Extended Low Frequency Profile
The large-scale, floorstanding DALI OPTICON 8 MK2 is the powerhouse of the new OPTICON series. It combines twin 8” wood fiber cones with a 6-1/2” midrange driver, all incorporating DALI's patented SMC magnet system.
Thanks to its size and true three-way format, the OPTICON 8 MK2 combines immense low frequency bandwidth, volume potential and dynamic accuracy with the extraordinary detail and clarity that arises from the use of a dedicated midrange driver. High frequencies from the hybrid tweeter are explicitly detailed and informative yet simultaneously smooth and endlessly listenable.
The OPTICON 8 MK2 offers an extended low frequency profile that suits installation in large listening spaces with more distant room boundaries.
The manufacturing of the OPTICON 2 MK2 remains fully Danish - as with the MK1 series. Fully assembled at DALI's factory in Denmark - from components produced in-house or sourced from the best local specialist manufacturers and further afield.
New Hybrid Tweeter
The OPTICON 8 MK2 employs a new hybrid tweeter design that marries the 29mm (1.14") soft dome tweeter with a custom 17 x 45 mm ribbon. Both are mounted on a cast aluminum faceplate, which incorporates dispersion control detailing.
The ribbon element begins to contribute from 10kHz upwards, just as the response of the soft dome element is beginning slowly to fall away and become more directional. The ribbon element both extends the system frequency response towards 30kHz and contributes to keep high frequency horizontal dispersion wider than would otherwise be the case.
The new hybrid tweeter offers the best of both worlds – the clarity, speed and dynamics of a dome tweeter, with the very high frequency detail and smooth finesse of a ribbon tweeter.
The placement of the hybrid tweeter just above the woofers is done firstly in order to position the high frequency drivers near typical seated ear height. Secondly to take advantage of the smoother low frequency room response that results from spaced bass drivers.
Soft Dome Tweeter
The unique lightweight 29mm (1.14") soft dome tweeter is derived from CALLISTO C and offers significant advances over the tweeters used in the MK1 series. The relatively small increase in diameter over the previous 28mm tweeter results in a significant increase in dome radiating area. This means lower distortion, higher power handling, and an ability to operate at lower frequencies.
The use of the same 29mm soft dome tweeter across all six OPTICON MK2 models results in consistency of tonal character and provides consistency of dispersion characteristics. The MK2 soft dome tweeter enables crossover frequencies as low as 2kHz to be safely employed with no risk of distortion or power handling limitations.
Low-Loss, Low Distortion, Low Coloration Woofer
The OPTICON 8 MK2 combines two 8" bass drivers with a 6-1/2" midrange driver, all built around DALI's patented SMC magnet motor system.
Every component of the drivers are carefully designed for its positive contribution towards ideal performance. The diaphragms are made from a mix of paper and wood fibre that ensures minimal break-up resonance and gives the diaphragms their distinctive DALI trademark colour. They are terminated by rubber surrounds chosen for their soft and very flexible mechanical properties that enable free movement with minimal low frequency damping.
The driver chassis for each driver is manufactured in die-cast aluminum that provides extremely high rigidity and low resonance along with minimal extraneous influence on the internal magnet system. The mechanical design of the chassis is specifically engineered to provide minimal impedance to airflow while at the same time enabling extremely tight mechanical bonding with the speaker enclosures.
The OPTICON 8 MK2 driver magnet system consists of a large ferrite ring magnet surrounding a pole piece manufactured entirely of the unique DALI SMC material. The pole piece and the ferrite magnet are secured between soft iron front and back plates to create the appropriate magnetic field for the voice-coil.
The drivers were designed with a consistent focus on the DALI audio principles of low-loss, low distortion and low colouration. The ideal driver plays only what the amplifier requires, with nothing added and nothing subtracted, and at DALI we strive to design and manufacture drivers that approach the ideal as closely as possible.
Separate Internal Sections for Each Driver
The OPTICON 8 MK2 enclosure incorporates separate internal sections for each driver with non-parallel dividing panels suppressing internal resonance and also significantly aiding enclosure rigidity.
Each low frequency section is fitted with its own Dual Flare reflex port. Thanks to its size and true three-way format, the OPTICON 8 MK2 offers a level of performance unavailable from any other OPTICON model. It combines immense low frequency bandwidth, volume potential and dynamic accuracy with the extraordinary detail and clarity that arises from the use of a dedicated midrange driver. High frequencies from the hybrid tweeter are explicitly detailed and informative yet simultaneously smooth and endlessly listenable.
Reflex Port System
As a reflex loaded speaker, the OPTICON 8 MK2 employs the otherwise unused acoustic output from the rear of its bass driver to extend low frequency bandwidth and increase low frequency power handling. DALI revisited the port tuning to ensure that the subjective bass performance was absolutely optimized for its likely installation application.
With Dual Flare technique, the MK2 brings port design into the realm of aerodynamics with exit and entry flares carefully designed to minimize turbulence at the airflow rate expected from the port diameter and tuning frequency.
Dual Flare enables the reflex ports to remain laminar and work effectively to reinforce low frequency performance to a significantly higher volume level than would otherwise be the case.
Assembled in Pairs
Speakers used and enjoyed in pairs should also be built as pairs! DALI's manufacturing process is designed to ensure that stereo pairs of speakers are built and tested sequentially by a single manufacturing technician, using components taken in the same order from the same batch. It’s a process that helps ensure ultimate visual and acoustic pair matching.
SMC Technology
DALI SMC (Soft Magnetic Compound) is a coated magnet granular material that can be formed to almost any desired shape and has many advantages used in driver magnet systems. SMC’s unusual combination of very high magnetic permeability and very low electrical conductivity is exactly what is required for driver magnet systems and results in a significant reduction of electro-acoustic distortion.
SMC works primarily by minimizing eddy currents in the magnet system pole piece, which reduces distortion. SMC also improves flux linearity within the magnet system - reducing magnetic hysteresis. All of these SMC benefits together produce a significant subjective reduction of low-level detail masking and coloration.
Cast Aluminum Feet
The OPTICON 8 MK2 is supplied with cast aluminum foot components that can be fitted with either black chrome plated floor-spikes or, when installed on sensitive floor surfaces, vibration damping pads. Tools for attaching the foot castings and spikes are included.
A Passion for Detail
The OPTICON series has been at the heart of the DALI product line for over five years and has brought exceptional DALI performance into the homes of countless music lovers and audiophiles. But the time has come for the OPTICON to benefit from some new ideas and technologies, and to be refreshed with a new aesthetic. Welcome to the DALI OPTICON MK2.
Effectively updating and improving such a well-regarded high performance series as the OPTICON is a careful balancing act. How to enhance the existing engineering, aesthetics and performance without degrading or even eradicating the qualities that worked so well the first time around? The answers range from subtle revisions to more fundamental changes, but they have all been implemented the DALI way, with a continual focus on music reproduction, thoughtful design, stylish aesthetics, quality of manufacture and use of the latest technologies and ideas.
As with the original OPTICON series, an important element of the OPTICON MK2 is that it remains fully Danish in manufacture, built at DALI's factory in Denmark from components either produced in-house, or sourced from the best specialist manufacturers locally and further afield.
A Series That Caters to Every Musical Requirement
Just like its predecessor, the OPTICON MK2 is a speaker series that majors on clear, undistorted, enjoyable and coherent audio – perfectly complementing music, radio, streaming, TV or movie sources. A speaker series that caters to every requirement with compact stand or wall mount options, slim to more substantial floor stand options, and a center channel option too. The OPTICON MK2 series offers a speaker for every room and every occasion.
The DALI OPTICON MK2 series comprises six models and marks the point in the DALI passive speaker range where both performance and engineering ambition take a real step up and begin to speak the language of specialist, high-end hi-fi. OPTICON MK2 also introduces the renowned DALI hybrid tweeter, die-cast aluminum driver chassis, full SMC driver pole-pieces, and in-house manufactured enclosures.
Each OPTICON MK2 model is built around in-house manufactured SMC based bass/midrange drivers and employs either a DALI soft dome tweeter or the hybrid soft dome and ribbon tweeter for which DALI has become so well known. OPTICON MK2 models are available in three new finishes; satin white, satin black, and tobacco oak. (The OPTICON 8 MK2 is available in Satin Black Ash and Tobacco Oak only.) Grilles are covered with furniture grade cloth in black for the two darker enclosure options and light grey for the white enclosure option.
