Полочная акустика — DALI RUBICON 2 C

The RUBICON 2 C is a wireless active stand-mount speaker from DALI in Denmark, developed from the passive RUBICON 2 and sold as part of the RUBICON C series together with the DALI SOUND HUB. DALI now lists the model among its discontinued products. French pricing for a pair with the hub was EUR 4,649, and buyers could pick walnut veneer or a black or white high-gloss lacquer.

Key specs that matter

Two drivers share the work - a 29 mm ultra-light soft dome tweeter and a 6.5 inch wood-fibre cone woofer on a low-loss rubber surround, divided at 2,600 Hz. Each speaker carries 250 W of discrete Class D amplification of the closed-loop, self-oscillating type and a Burr Brown PCM1796 DAC with balanced output. The rated range is 46 Hz to 26,000 Hz within 3 dB, with maximum output of 108 dB at 1 m. The bass reflex cabinet is tuned to 51 Hz. Each unit measures 353 x 195 x 335 mm and weighs 8.4 kg.

Engineering and use context

DALI describes the crossover as a hybrid, combining full active 24 bit DSP with a passive all-analogue section, in place of the purely passive network used in the RUBICON 2. Both drivers use the patented SMC pole piece, a Soft Magnetic Composite part that cuts distortion in the magnet system. The MDF enclosure is braced internally and vents through a large circular port on the rear panel. Music reaches the speakers over a proprietary wireless connection at 24 bit and 96 kHz with no bit-loss attenuation, and this link runs directly between the hub and the speakers without needing a Wi-Fi network. On the back panel each speaker also has an RCA input with 5 kohm impedance and 1,400 mV sensitivity, which feeds the internal ADC. Power comes from universal 100 to 240 V mains, maximum consumption is 325 W and standby use is 1.2 W. Rubber feet, a polishing cloth and a front grille are supplied.

Pairing

The SOUND HUB acts as the preamplifier and source switch. It offers one RCA stereo input, a 3.5 mm mini-jack, two optical inputs and one coaxial input, plus Bluetooth with SBC, AAC, aptX and aptX HD, and it sends audio to the speakers with latency below 25 ms. Adding the DALI NPM-1 BluOS module brings network streaming from local libraries and services such as Tidal, Qobuz and Spotify. Since the RUBICON 2 C contains its own amplification, no separate power amplifier or speaker cable is needed, only mains power at each speaker position.

Alternatives

The DALI OBERON 1 C is a smaller wireless active bookshelf model working with the same hubs and using 2 x 50 W amplification.