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

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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

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.

• Bookshelf/stand-mount speakers:
  • OPTICON 1 MK2 – $1,099/pr at Crutchfield
  • OPTICON 2 MK2 – $1,499/pr at Crutchfield
• Floorstanding speakers:
  • OPTICON 6 MK2 – $2,499/pr at Crutchfield
  • OPTICON 8 MK2 – $4,199/pr at Crutchfield
• Center channel speaker:
  • OPTICON VOKAL MK2 – $899/ea at Crutchfield
• Low profile on-wall LCR:
  • OPTICON LCR MK2 – $1,099/ea at Crutchfield