Dali Opticon 6 reviewed and measured...

[MarcT]

Home Theater & Hi Fi has a review just out for the Opticon 6. According to this reviewer, the measurements are quite good in terms of frequency response and excellent for lack of distortion all the way to extremely loud SPL.

https://hometheaterhifi.com/reviews...opticon-6-floor-standing-loudspeakers-review/

I have heard Dali speakers before and they seemed pretty bright to me, but perhaps that is a result of the Opticon 6's tweeter, unlike some other speakers whose HF response, according to the reviewer, drops off above 15kHz, does not drop off. The only fly in the ointment might be the bass response only really going down to around 50Hz. But they do also have the Opticon 8, which is rated down to 38Hz. Thoughts?

 

[graz_lag]

What I like the most from Dali is the "In Admiration of Music" five CDs set collection.

 

[Absolute]

Like most speaker measurements, those are pretty meaningless and can in no way be used as any indicator for sound quality.

 

[napilopez]

The Opticon 8 measured by soundstage network/ the NRC last month here. While of course you can't totally compare different speakers across the same lineup, more often than not it seems the measurements are pretty similar. The even dispersion up to 10Khz even at 75 degrees off axis is particularly notable.

 

[MarcT]

Like most speaker measurements, those are pretty meaningless and can in no way be used as any indicator for sound quality.

Hmm, I didn't expect to get that opinion on this site! If most speaker measurements are pretty meaningless as indicators for sound quality, do you choose speakers totally subjectively? I certainly place high priority on subjective impressions when auditioning speakers, but first impressions can be quite ephemeral, and it would be nice to have data to understand exactly how a speaker operates and reproduces the audio spectrum.

 

[MarcT]

The Opticon 8 measured by soundstage network/ the NRC last month here. While of course you can't totally compare different speakers across the same lineup, more often than not it seems the measurements are pretty similar. The even dispersion up to 10Khz even at 75 degrees off axis is particularly notable.

Interesting. If I read it right, it looks like the -3dB LF response is around 70 Hz. Can that be right? The Opticon 8 specs say it is -3dB at 38Hz.

 

[napilopez]

I wouldn't read much into that. If remember correctly, the soundstage measurements sometimes have issues in the bass depending on the speaker being measured, as the NRC's anechoic chamber quite small and only accurate down to about 80Hz without special calibration or a different metric that soundstage network doesn't purchase. Its results are most accurate for sealed box speakers with front-facing woofers. Everything else will likely display inaccuracies.

Check out Dr Toole's post #128 in this thread about the Dutch & Dutch 8C, which showed a wonky bass response in the NRC.

Edit: That said, Dali says +/- 3 dB down to 38Hz. In practice, that often ends up just being another way of saying -6dB.

 

[Absolute]

Hmm, I didn't expect to get that opinion on this site! If most speaker measurements are pretty meaningless as indicators for sound quality, do you choose speakers totally subjectively? I certainly place high priority on subjective impressions when auditioning speakers, but first impressions can be quite ephemeral, and it would be nice to have data to understand exactly how a speaker operates and reproduces the audio spectrum.

Poor choice of wording. I meant to say that "like most magazine measurements, those measurements are pretty meaningless.."

You would need comprehensive measurements of off-axis response to learn anything about speaker quality, so that review doesn't say much about objective sound quality. Also not sure if gated pink noise will be a good way to measure.

 

[Putter]

On the plus side I like the fact that hometheaterhifi.com is at least doing measurements, something that disappeared from Sound and Vision recently. I am a little disappointed that while the measurement seems fairly smooth that is the 10-20khz octave is down 25db!!! from the 50-100hz octave and yet the reviewer make no mention of this finding except to say Smooth and non-fatiguing sound while also stating Amazing treble extension. These would seem contradictory, yet are never explained.

 

[napilopez]

On the plus side I like the fact that hometheaterhifi.com is at least doing measurements, something that disappeared from Sound and Vision recently. I am a little disappointed that while the measurement seems fairly smooth that is the 10-20khz octave is down 25db!!! from the 50-100hz octave and yet the reviewer make no mention of this finding except to say Smooth and non-fatiguing sound while also stating Amazing treble extension. These would seem contradictory, yet are never explained.

I'm pretty sure those in-room measurements sloping down simply because of the pink noise no? No way the speaker has such a tilt by default. Even the room curve wouldn't slope so much downward, considering it was measured at 1m.

I also don't see 'smooth and non-fatiguing' and 'amazing treble extension' as being contradictory. That seems like exactly what a speaker should sound like. The highs are there, but they're not overbearing

 

[MarcT]

On the plus side I like the fact that hometheaterhifi.com is at least doing measurements, something that disappeared from Sound and Vision recently. I am a little disappointed that while the measurement seems fairly smooth that is the 10-20khz octave is down 25db!!! from the 50-100hz octave and yet the reviewer make no mention of this finding except to say Smooth and non-fatiguing sound while also stating Amazing treble extension. These would seem contradictory, yet are never explained.

Yeah, from the graph, it seems to me like the speakers would need to be toed in in order to hear the extended treble response. Which is weird, since the claim is that they should not be toed in. Maybe I'm not looking straight.

 

[napilopez]

Yeah, from the graph, it seems to me like the speakers would need to be toed in in order to hear the extended treble response. Which is weird, since the claim is that they should not be toed in. Maybe I'm not looking straight.

Again, considering how the Opticon 8 measures and the fact the author is recording from just 1m away, that slope seems to just be the effect of pink noise test stimulus. Here's what pink noise looks like when plotted.

Just like the Opticon 6 measurements, it's also down about 20dB from 100Hz to 10Khz. I've never measured anything using pink noise; I would've assumed the software would have compensated for the downward slope, but it appears not to be the case for these particular measurements.

 

[Erik]

The graph is from AUDIO magazine.

 

[VintageFlanker]

The Opticon 8 measured by soundstage network/ the NRC last month here. While of course you can't totally compare different speakers across the same lineup, more often than not it seems the measurements are pretty similar. The even dispersion up to 10Khz even at 75 degrees off axis is particularly notable.

Opticon 8s measured by Stereo-Magazine. Unusually flat FR and excellent Off-Axis response up to 10Khz:

And these go down to 33Hz (-3dB)!

 

[MarcT]

Opticon 8s measured by Stereo-Magazine. Unusually flat FR and excellent Off-Axis response up to 10Khz:

And these go down to 33Hz (-3dB)!

Yeah, a nice used set for a good price would be quite tempting. Sort of a poor man's Epicon 8!

 

[VintageFlanker]

Yeah, a nice used set for a good price would be quite tempting. Sort of a poor man's Epicon 8!

Yep. Also: Opticon 8 measure better than Rubicon 8.

 

[MarcT]

Yep. Also: Opticon 8 measure better than Rubicon 8.

Nice! The problem with the Rubicon 8 is that, if I'm going to spend that much, I'd like to get 8 inch woofers if I can.

 

[mykeldg]

Opticons are great. I upgraded from Kef Q350 to the Opticon 2 and they made the Kefs sound veiled and less dynamic (which the Kefs are not in general). They do all things better than the Kefs except sub bass (Kefs went down to 30hz while the opticons are just 49hz in my room)

I found them not bright but still very revealing and open. The Kef's metal tweeter sometimes made me get tinnitus, but on the opticons, I don't.

 

[solderdude]

Waiting for the Dali Decepticon to come out

 

[Azreil24]

Opticon 8s measured by Stereo-Magazine. Unusually flat FR and excellent Off-Axis response up to 10Khz:

And these go down to 33Hz (-3dB)!

And these are the Opticon 6s, measured by the same Stereo Magazine, which shows much lower bass response than Audio Magazine.

And this is the measurement from i-Fidelity which is more closer to Stereo Magazine's findings.

Looking to upgrade my Zensor 7s and I'm really confused about all these conflicting measurements