What does a typical 40th birthday celebration involve? Cake? A tipple or two? Birthday cards about how old you are? If you're Dali, you forego all of the above and instead launch a new floorstanding speaker, Epikore 11. It shares some of the same technology you can find in the company's £70k flagship Kore model. Now that's a 40th celebration we can get on board with.
The key technology inside the speaker is SMC Gen-2. First introduced on Kore last year, it's the next generation of the brand's magnet material technology found in the bass and midrange drivers as well as the crossover induction cores.
The aim is to reduce hysteresis (unintended resistance to the voice coil, which can cause distortion), flux modulation and eddy currents in the magnet system, which should result in even lower distortion and better dynamics.
Dali has also borrowed Kore's EVO-K hybrid tweeter which combines a 35mm soft dome tweeter with an improved version of Dali's ultra-thin ribbon tweeter.
In addition to the tweeter arrangement, the real-wood veneer cabinet holds four 8-inch bass drivers and a 6½-inch midrange, all of which use paper and wood fibre for their cone construction. This midrange driver diaphragm has the same complex embossed geometric structure used in Kore to aid control and help lower distortion.
And those four 8-inch bass drivers? They feature large and powerful magnet systems that provide plenty of low-end rumble with low information loss. The SMC Kore crossover inductors feature the world's first SMC Gen-2 inductor cores, allowing lower DC resistance than standard air-core inductors, a shorter signal path and less vulnerability to crosstalk between the inductors.
The speaker's binding posts are new and include oversize thumbscrews to better grip bare wires and spade terminals. The die-cast baffles are made from acoustically inert and stiff materials to provide a solid platform for the drivers while eliminating cabinet vibrations, while the twin dual-flare bass reflex ports are designed to help the bass drivers deliver deep, distortion-free low frequencies.
Dali's Epikore speakers are available in three high gloss finishes: black, maroon and walnut, are set to launch in August this year and will be priced at £39,998 ($60,000 / €39,998).
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