DALI Ikon 6 review

Not many speakers can match the Ikon 6’s combination of full-bodied midrange, treble sparkle and crisp timing Tested at £899.00

What Hi-Fi? Verdict

The Ikon 6s are great speakers – and 2004 Award-winners

Pros

  • +

    A generous and full-bodied sound that works well with all types of music

  • +

    decent build and finish

Cons

  • -

    These are big speakers and need plenty of space around them to work well

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.

Some products just sound right. We're not saying they are perfect, more that you can plug them into a system and nothing jars or distracts from the music's message.

Dali's floorstanding Ikon 6s are a great example. Yes, some rival speakers will offer higher levels of refinement and bass slam for the money. However, the Ikons have such a wonderfully open and fluid presentation that such things simply cease to matter.

Not many can match the Ikon 6's combination of full-bodied midrange, treble sparkle and crisp timing. Add an impressive sense of scale into the mix and it's no surprise that these floorstanders work well with music as wide ranging as Springsteen and Stravinsky. An essentially neutral tonal balance and strong dynamics help, too.

Good dispersion
The unusual twinned tweeter module, which uses a conventional soft dome augmented by a ribbon unit above 10kHz, produces a crisp, insightful performance and has good dispersion characteristics. The result is that you can enjoy decent stereo imaging from a wider range of listening positions.

We've only one caveat: the Dali Ikon 6s are big speakers, measuring a metre high, and sound best placed into the room. Provided you can find the space, we're sure you'll be equally impressed.

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