Dali Helicon Brochure

HELICON

HELICON

TRUE HIGH END

The new Helicon series from DALI presents music
in a way that pays perfect tribute to our motto:
”Magic Moments”. This is no coincidence. Just
looking at the Helicon loudspeakers, your first
guess would be that you are experiencing the
ultimate line from DALI, such is the style and
standard of workmanship. The gently curved
enclosures, so easy on the eyes, and the rich real­wood veneer, lacquered and polished to a high
gloss, spell luxury.

The components and techniques utilized in the
Helicon only confirm this impression. Multi-layer
MDF enclosures, cast chassis drive units, the very
special DALI® Tweeter Module, hand-assembled
and hard-wired crossover networks in separate
compartments and all the techniques and theo­ries developed and finely tuned by DALI over the
years.

Even the name Helicon was not chosen at
random, but carefully selected for its close asso­ciation with the art of music. Helicon is a moun­tain range in Greece occupying a very special
place in ancient Greek mythology. According to
the legends, this is where the patron goddesses
for science and art, the MUSES (hence MUSic),
had their home. There were nine of them, all

daughters of Zeus the god, each representing an
art form or science.
The ”Magic Moments” slogan goes to the core of
DALI’s purpose: the ultimate in music reproduc­tion. The unique principles that DALI incorporates
into each loudspeaker, serve to extract every bit
of information from the source and present it at
its most breathtaking. There is no purpose in
revealing all information if the result is clinical or
analytical. This is why we strive to preserve the
beauty and integrity of the performance, rather
than taking it apart and laying it bare. The differ­ence is striking, and the combination of resolu­tion and exhilaration is difficult to master. The
magic that results is so essential to us. ”Magic
Moments” perfectly describes what we strive to
present to you.

The techniques and design features of the Heli­con range are all of the highest standard.

THE ENCLOSURES

In order to combine rigidity and effective damping
of resonances in the enclosure panels, the core
material is made of several layers of MDF, bonded
together by adhesives under extreme pressure.
This makes the already well-behaved MDF (multi
density fibre) material even more inert and capa-

ble of suppressing resonance. Additionally, inter­nal brace panels are added. The result is a virtual
absence of coloration from the inert surfaces.

The exterior finish of the speakers is stunning,
with polished lacquer enhancing the very elegant
styling and real-wood veneers.

THE HELICON TWEETER MODULE

The DALI® ribbon and soft dome wide dispersion
tweeter module is the most visually striking fea­ture behind the grilles of the Helicon series. In
order to control dispersion and optimise resolu­tion while extending frequency beyond the limit
of human hearing (necessary for new ultra- wide
band-width DVD-Audio and SACD recordings),
we combined a 1" dome tweeter and a super
tweeter ribbon into one aluminium panel tweeter
block. This assures perfect stiffness and excellent
cooling, further aided by Ferro fluid in the voice
coil gap of the dome tweeter. Effectively, these
two units perform as one, offering body and lots
of air at the same time. This module is found in all
Helicon models.

THE NEW CONES

The 6.5” and 8” woofers are custom made for the
Helicon series, with new wood-and-paper fibre

composite cones and dust caps as well as high­acceleration- geometry profile cone shape. DALI
prefers light, stiff cone materials that react with
lightning speed to the signals, but pliable enough
for the inherent sound of the cone material not to
shine through. To achieve this, we have chosen a
new type of paper cone that contains unusually
long wooden fibres in carefully measured propor­tion. The fibres control resonance and permit a
more lightweight cone to be used.
A light coating then controls the few remaining
resonances. The cone curvature is optimised to
effectively transform the impulses from the voice
coil into faithful movements of air.

“LOW LOSS” WOOFER AND MIDRANGE DRIVE
UNITS

“Low loss” means that all parts or assemblies in
the drive units that may impart damping or brak­ing are either re-designed or done away with.
This means that even the tiniest signals are effec­tively converted into acoustic energy instead of
being lost to sluggish mechanics or resistance to
motion.

AMPLIFIER-FRIENDLY

One consequence of adhering to “low-loss” prin­ciples is that the speakers do not mask bad behav-

iour from the amplifier. Many amplifiers react
poorly when facing difficult speaker loads, and
a Helicon speaker would show this very clearly,
because it presents even these minute details so
accurately. In order to avoid this problem, all Heli­con speakers are designed to be benign ampli­fier loads. Amplification of the highest class is an
advantage with the Helicons, but more modest
amplifiers are also suitable.

LINEAR DIRECTIVITY

We have designed the DALI® Linear Directiv­ity principle into Helicon. Sound dispersion is
extremely even, permitting listening even at
extreme off-axis positions, but also resulting
in the speakers being relatively impervious to
changes in room acoustics. In short, they retain
their character even when moved from room to
room. And the sweet-spot effect is not nearly as
pronounced as commonly found, because the
more distant speaker does not suddenly sound
much lower or very different. This means that it is
not necessary to sit exactly in the middle in order
to enjoy a coherent “soundscape”. Unusually, this
is true even for the high treble notes, thanks to
the super tweeter ribbon.