Floorstanding loudspeakers — DALI RUBICON 8

The RUBICON 8 is the tallest of the three floorstanders in DALI's RUBICON family, above the RUBICON 5 and RUBICON 6, and was designed and built by the Danish company around five drivers per cabinet. It reached the market in December 2014 at GBP 2,000 per speaker in the UK, or EUR 2,399 each in the eurozone, and the North American price was USD 7,995 per pair. The model has since been moved to the discontinued section of DALI's catalogue. Finishes offered were walnut veneer, rosso, high gloss black and high gloss white lacquer.

Key specs that matter

Three 6.5 inch woofers with wood fibre cones handle everything below the treble, joined by a 29 mm soft textile dome and a 17 x 45 mm planar element. DALI describes the filter as 2½ + ½ + ½-way, with transitions at 500 Hz, 800 Hz, 2,500 Hz and 14,000 Hz. Rated response runs from 38 Hz to 34,000 Hz within 3 dB, sensitivity reaches 90.5 dB for 2.83 V at 1 m, nominal impedance is 4 ohm and peak output is quoted as 112 dB at 1 m. The suggested amplifier band is 40 to 250 W. Each cabinet stands 1,100 mm tall, 220 mm wide and 444 mm deep, with a weight of 27.3 kg.

Engineering and use context

The staggered filter means the lowest woofer drops out first and the middle one next, so only the top woofer continues up to the dome, and the planar strip adds output from 14 kHz. Behind each woofer cone, a pole piece made of Soft Magnetic Composite forms part of what DALI calls its Linear Drive System, intended to reduce harmonic distortion. The cone material is light and rigid with a randomly uneven surface, which is meant to keep the diaphragm moving as a piston and to limit resonance across its area. Inside, every driver gets its own chamber so its tuning can be set independently, and three rear bass reflex ports tuned to 33.5 Hz are each positioned directly behind a woofer to reduce air turbulence. The hybrid treble unit spreads output widely from about 2.5 kHz upward.

Pairing

With the highest sensitivity among the passive towers of the range, the RUBICON 8 reaches high levels with moderate amplifier power, but the low nominal load still calls for a solid-state design with a stable current supply. Bi-wire terminals allow separate cable runs or bi-amping, and the supplied M8 spikes or rubber bumpers let the cabinets stand on carpet or on hard floors.

Alternatives

A smaller option within the same DALI tower range is the RUBICON 6, which uses two woofers in a shorter cabinet.