Danish loudspeaker maker DALI just introduced three new models in their high-end EPIKORE speaker line to the North American market and we got a chance to hear them in action. The company held a press event in partnership with their North American distributor Lenbrook at high-end audio dealer Park Avenue Audio in Manhattan this week. At the event, DALI showcased all four of the EPIKORE speakers, from small but mighty bookshelf speakers to three different sized towers.
The EPIKORE 3 bookshelf, EPIKORE 7, EPIKORE 9 and EPIKORE 11 towers incorporate cutting edge speaker design technology first developed for the company’s flagship KORE tower loudspeakers ($120,000/pair USD). The EPIKORE 11 was introduced last year, but the 3, 7 and 9 are all new this year. Retail prices for each model (per pair) in US Dollars, are: EPIKORE 11 ($60,000), EPIKORE 9 ($40,000), EPIKORE 7 ($25,000), EPIKORE 3 ($15,000). For the EPIKORE 3 bookshelf speakers, DALI recommends the EPIKORE 3 Speaker Stands which sell for $3,000/pair.
At the event, in addition to hearing about the design details and hearing the speakers themselves on a variety of different music, I also learned that “DALI” is actually an acronym for Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries. No relation to the Surrealist painter. The company was founded in 1983 by audio design icon Peter Lyngdorf to keep improving the sound of loudspeakers for an ever-more demanding audience of audiophiles worldwide. The company has significant market share in Europe and Asia, and is working to expand its presence in North America.
Not content to work with off-the-shelf components, DALI does just about everything in house: they not only build their own drivers, crossovers and speaker connection terminals, but they bought a furniture manufacturing facility in order to build the cabinets (which are gorgeous, by the way). They have perfected a UV curing technique which applies and hardens the multi-coat lacquer on their wood veneers in just 45 minutes. They even design their own screws, which are conically shaped to apply perfectly even force to the drivers when installed into their cabinets.
DALI Senior Product Specialist Thomas Holm Peterson gave attendees details on the EPIKORE speakers and the technology the company developed in order to make them stand out in a crowded marketplace. He also demonstrated the speakers with a variety of difference genres of music.
The custom woofer and midrange driver cones are comprised of paper pulp for ideal stiffness and low resonance. All midrange and woofer drivers in the EPIKORE line incorporate DALI’s proprietary SMC (Soft Magnetic Composite) technology. SMC uses a ceramic coating process to coat individual grains of iron inside the driver’s top plate and pole piece to provide a highly magnetic compound with close to zero electrical conductance. According to the company, the use of this SMC material reduces “hysterisis” in the driver’s motor, thereby increasing overall efficiency while greatly reducing distortion.
All speakers in the EPIKORE line also include the EVO-K Hybrid tweeter array, combining a silk dome tweeter for the upper midrange to lower treble with a planar ribbon tweeter that kicks in starting at around 10 KHz, reaching full output at 14 KHz and above for the highest frequencies. DALI says this dual tweeter approach improves treble accuracy while also providing wide dispersion. So DALI’s “sweet spot” is larger than that of most competitors’ models. Bring a friend!
The company demonstrated all of these new models at the event. With music picked from a wide selection of genres from jazz to big band to pop, rock and EDM, the DALI speakers never failed to impress me with their effortless presentation, deep immersive soundstage and solid, extended bass. Even the little EPIKORE 3 bookshelf speakers were able to put out a satisfying amount of bass energy on EDM tracks like “Alive” by Deamau5/KX5 (one of my favorite demo tracks). If your space is limited, but your budget is not, the EPIKORE 3 bookshelf speakers make an excellent choice for stereo music playback. The towers offer similar transparency but extend the bass response, dynamics and soundstage depth as you move on up the line.
The high point for me was listening to the KORE flagship speakers. These elegant beasts were able to reproduce the dynamics of anything we threw at them without breaking a sweat. One orchestral piece included the recording of actual pistol shots as part of the performance. It is not easy to reproduce the attack of a gun shot with a pair of speakers but the KORE did that in a way that was both startling and immensely satisfying. But the KORE were equally at home reproducing the chamber ensemble Apocolyptica, performing covers of Metallica songs with a string quartet. The KORE are equally at home presenting the dynamics of a large orchestra or the intimacy of a small ensemble or singer/songwriter.
The DALI KORE feature a frequency response of 26 – 34,000 Hz (+/-3dB), a rated sensitivity of 88 dB and a maximum SPL of 118 dB. So yeah, they’d do a pretty good job of reproducing the sound of a jet flying directly over your head (if you’re into that). They also make music sound damn good.
The Bottom Line
Speakers that start at $15,000/pair and go up from there are only attainable to a small percentage of the population. But considering just how many different speaker companies compete in this space, the audience must be a bit larger than we would expect. DALI has established itself as a favored brand in Europe thanks to its elegant designs and impeccable sound. Based on what we have now heard and seen, we expect the EPIKORE line will help DALI to make inroads into the U.S. high-end audio market as well.
For more information: dali-speakers.com
Note: DALI speakers are distributed by Lenbrook in North America.
