DALI Ikon 6 5.1 package review

Need plenty of room to breathe, but if you've got the space, these Award-winners will delight Tested at £2235.00

What Hi-Fi? Verdict

Elegant, potent and exceptional, this remarkable system is an almost ideal all-rounder

Pros

  • +

    Superlative sonic integration and a big, cohesive soundfield

  • +

    lucid and insightful presentation

  • +

    meaty dynamics

Cons

  • -

    Needs space to work at its best

  • -

    that’s it

Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.

We like Dali's Ikon 6 floorstanders: these elegant towers' full-bodied, beautifully cohesive sound plays all types of music well. It should follow, then, that a surround sound package based around such outstanding core components ought to at least have a fighting chance.

So it proves – and then some. This Dali system isn't just capable, or even merely good: it's outstanding in every regard, and a real treat for the ears.

The balance is delightfully even-handed, delivering everything from intense action-movie dynamics to barely audible surround effects with equal aplomb, while musically (as you'd expect) we've no complaints.

Every speaker in the Ikon package – the 6 floorstanders, the Vokal 2 centre channel and the On Wall surround speakers – employs a dual-tweeter array, featuring a conventional 28mm soft-dome design augmented by a ribbon tweeter.

This unusual set-up is designed to provide wider dispersion and better high-frequency insight when compared to conventional speakers, and in this application, it works to perfection: all five Dali speakers boast superlative reach, together creating a surround soundfield of improbable size and remarkable realism.

Plenty of power
The Ikon 6s are big speakers, able to reach down to a claimed 37Hz – but in this package, their low-frequency efforts are further reinforced by the aptly named SUB, a 250 watt active subwoofer with a forward-firing 30cm bass driver.

Although a ported design, the SUB has sufficient speed to keep pace with its urgent, articulate siblings: the result, when teamed with the powerful fronts, is a healthy level of sofa-shaking urge with V For Vendetta's excesses.

Weaknesses? Just one: this is a big system (save for the neat wall-hanging On Wall rears), and it needs room to breathe. We'd imagine that shouldn't be an issue in context: if you can find this kind of money for speakers, you'll likely have a big enough house to cope.

This is yet another Ikon success story.

What Hi-Fi?

What Hi-Fi?, founded in 1976, is the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products. Our comprehensive tests help you buy the very best for your money, with our advice sections giving you step-by-step information on how to get even more from your music and movies. Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms in London, Reading and Bath. Our coveted five-star rating and Awards are recognised all over the world as the ultimate seal of approval, so you can buy with absolute confidence.

Read more about how we test