Floorstanding loudspeakers — DALI RUBICON 6 C

The RUBICON 6 C is a wireless active tower from DALI of Denmark and part of the RUBICON C family, which takes the driver set and cabinet work of the passive RUBICON line and adds the amplifier platform first used in the CALLISTO C series. The passive RUBICON 6 on which it is built appeared in 2014 at USD 5,499 per pair. In the US the active version was sold as a pair together with the DALI SOUND HUB for just under USD 8,800. It belongs to the DALI EQUI wireless ecosystem.

Key specs that matter

Four drivers form a three-way layout. Two 6.5 inch wood fibre mid/bass cones sit below a hybrid tweeter that joins a 29 mm soft dome and a 17 x 45 mm planar ribbon. Crossover points fall at 800 Hz, 2,600 Hz and 14,000 Hz, and the filter is a hybrid of full active 24 bit DSP and passive all-analogue sections. Each cabinet holds two 250 W discrete Class D modules of closed-loop, self-oscillating design - one feeds the tweeter module and the other the pair of cones. DALI rates the range at 37 Hz to 30,000 Hz within 3 dB and maximum output at 110 dB at 1 m. Two rear ports are tuned to 36.5 Hz. Each tower is 993 mm high, 201 mm wide and 381 mm deep, weighing 20.8 kg. Finishes are gloss black, gloss white and walnut veneer.

Engineering and use context

Signal arrives as full-resolution 96 kHz audio with no bit-loss attenuation, carried on the 5,725 to 5,875 MHz band over a link that works without any active Wi-Fi network. In the mid/bass units, an SMC pole piece wrapped in a slitted copper cap concentrates the effect of the composite, a Linear Drive approach inherited from the EPICON series. The wood fibre cones have a light, rigid and randomly uneven structure that spreads out surface resonance, and they sit in cast aluminium chassis with low-loss rubber surrounds. The dome and planar pair reach down to about 2.5 kHz and widen dispersion as frequency rises. A 25 mm front baffle and separate internal chambers for the upper and lower drivers stiffen the box, and port placement is chosen to keep turbulence low.

Pairing

Since amplification is built in, no separate power amp is required. Streaming and source switching are handled by the SOUND HUB, which can take an optional BluOS module, while an RCA line input marked ADC In on each speaker accepts a preamplifier or AV processor instead. The rear panel also carries an IEC mains socket, a power switch, a USB port for firmware updates and a Link Connect button. Metal outrigger bars with spikes or rubber bumpers are supplied for the base.

Alternatives

The DALI CALLISTO 6 C is another active wireless floorstander from the brand, with a similar dome and ribbon pairing and twin woofers in a 1000 mm tall cabinet.