The Wood Fibre Woofer and Hybrid Soft Dome/Ribbon Tweeter combined produce a seemingly effortlessly transparent image that reflects the passion and energy of a live performance across a staggering sound stage that extends across the entire room with a coherent and open mid-range – both epic and intimate.
Just under 90cm in height, the physical presence of the OPTICON 5 hardly dominates a room, but the almighty sound it is capable of emitting will demand every last iota of attention from the listeners inside it.
Complete with gold-plated bi-wiring terminals and in the OPTICON livery of White Matt Satin, Black or Walnut finishes and with high-gloss white or black front baffle, the DALI OPTICON 5 is the loudspeaker of choice for the avid audio enthusiast whose loudspeaker space comes at a premium.
Key Features
Proprietary DALI tweeters and woofers
Hand-assembled with in-house built cabinet construction
Unique SMC-based magnet motor system
Low-loss Wood Fibre Woofers
Hybrid Tweeter consisting of ultra-light Soft Dome and Ribbon Tweeter
Gold-plated bi-wiring and bi-amping
Soft Magnetic Compound (SMC) is a coated magnet granule that can be shaped into any form that you would want. SMC has many advantages, and used in a speakers magnet motor system it result in a significant reduction of distortion from mechanical loss.
SMC’s unique ability to deliver a high magnetic conductivity and a very low electrical conductivity delivers all the wanted qualities of a really good speaker magnet without the traditional downsides. The result is a significant lowering of the colouration of the reproduced sound.
In the OPTICON 5 woofer magnet motor system the pole piece is purely constructed of SMC. This important addition to the ferrite based motor system is paramount to the audio performance of the OPTICON series.
DALI has a long and well proven tradition for using a hybrid tweeter module. It is a combination of a dome tweeter working together with a ribbon tweeter for an amazing rendering of the high frequencies, and a dispersion of high frequency sounds that outperform all other tweeter technologies.
In our view, the Hybrid Tweeter Module is the perfect high frequency solution. Both the soft dome and the ribbon tweeter are free of artefacts, e.g. resonances and high Q peaks within their working range.
The Hybrid Tweeter Module features an extremely smooth and wide horizontal dispersion - one of our sound design trademarks. Even the detailing of the faceplate of the tweeter module is designed for optimal horizontal dispersion.
The characteristics of the Soft Dome Tweeter is low resonance frequency, high power handling, and exceptional headroom for high sound pressure levels and extreme excursions. It is rolled in carefully around 2.0 - 2.5 kHz, depending on the model. And the dome is allowed to operate up to its high frequency limit well beyond 20 kHz without being rolled off in the crossover.
Incorporating an ultra-thin magnetic fluid for cooling, the fluid has a very high flux saturation point for greater power handling. This also means superb control of coil movement - even at very high sound pressure levels.
The ribbon tweeter features a broad frequency band and superb dispersion in the higher frequencies. Gently rolled in above 10 kHz, the ribbon reaches full contribution from 14 kHz to well beyond 30 kHz, far above the audible range.
Equipped with a rear chamber fitted with rigid bracing, the ribbon is shielded from the disruptive influence of the woofers. The DALI ribbon tweeter is a true master in horizontal distribution of high frequencies, and a superb partner for the soft dome tweeter’s unique ability to reproduce frequencies from 2 kHz upwards.
The woofer for the OPTICON 5 is designed with a strong focus on DALI sound principles of low-loss, low distortion and low colouration of the reproduced sound. The ideal speaker plays just what the amplifier intented, with nothing added and nothing subtracted.
To meet these ideals every part in the OPTICON woofer is carefully chosen for its low-loss abilities. The cone is made from a pulp mix of paper and wood fibre that ensures very low surface resonance and gives the cones their distinctive colour. The cone terminates in a rubber surround that is chosen for its soft and very flexible properties. This gives the cone free movement with very low dampening effect, and leaves control of the cone movement to the WOOFER magnet motor. The rubber surround is attached to an aluminium chassis that, due to the properties of aluminium, offers almost no interference to the magnetic field surrounding the magnet motor.
The magnet motor itself consists of a large ferrite magnet that surrounds a pole piece made entirely of the unique material SMC. The pole piece and the ferrite magnet are secured between two soft iron plates. This forms a close to optimum environment for the 2 layer voice coil to work within. The voice coil is therefore able to transform the signals from the amplifier in to an undistorted, uncoloured and very well timed reproduction of the original signal, leaving the listener with a close to live experience.
Keeping the manufacturing of the OPTICON series firmly in the hands of DALI we utilize our large and efficient woodworking facility in Denmark to handle everything from cutting out the Medium Density Fibre board (MDF) cabinet to applying the vinyl. The mounting of the drivers and the final tests and approvals on each and every speaker is also handled directly at our own assembly lines in our Danish factory.
The front baffle on the OPTICON 5 form a rigid base for the drivers, which are screw-mounted directly into the 25 mm thick MDF. To ensure the best possible hold on the woofer and thereby integration with the cabinet, the 5 screw holes are placed along the arms of the woofer chassis. The tweeter module is held securely in place with 6 screws to eliminate vibrations and resonance. A rubber gasket is placed between the woofer and the milled out rim to ensure a 100% airtight fixture.
The baffle sports a black or white high-gloss finish, for a more exclusive look and feel. The slim-line design of the front baffle contributes to the stereo perspective. And the ‘clean’ surface is not only pleasing to the eye; it reduces diffractions to an absolute minimum.
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