DALI Rubikore 2 Review

In this review, we will check out the all-new Rubikore 2 speakers by DALI. The pair goes for €2.598 Euro.

Disclaimer: DALI provided the Rubikore 2 speakers for this review. Headfonia and DALI are not related in any way.

Intro

I know what you’re thinking. This is quite a spin from the usual products we review on Headfonia. Speakers are a direction we wanted to take for quite some time now, and you can expect more speaker related content to be published here soon.

Without further ado, let’s dive into this rabbit-hole of HiFi stereo listening.

DALI

Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries is, just as the name spoils, a loudspeaker company from Denmark.

In 1980, Peter Lyngdorf has started HiFi Klubben in Scandinavia. This is basically an association of dealers spread in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Three years after HiFi Klubben was founded, Peter Lyngdorf has launched DALI to meet the demands for excellent value speakers by the audiophile community.

Soon after DALI was born, their DALI 2 was the most popular speaker in Denmark. Due to the high demand for their speakers, DALI had to move their production facilities out of Lyngdorf’s home into a bigger factory in Norager, Denmark. Since then, the factory has been enhanced multiple times.

DALI has pushed a couple of innovations throughout their history. They were the first to release a speaker with a hybrid tweeter setup, where they combined a magnetostatic and a classic tweeter in 1990. They did not only look at driver setup, as they have also developed their own cabinet material mix and their own wooden screws.

Since 2011 DALI is also producing their own crossovers, covered with a special material blend called SMC (Soft Magnetic Compound). This is said to cause better performance when it comes to blocking interference and distortion.

SMC is a coated granular material that offers very high magnetic permeability and very low electrical conductivity. It can be moulded into any shape or form DALI needs, and can also be applied on many different surfaces, like their driver magnets. Where it also enhances the diver’s performance and enabling lower distortions.

At DALI everyone takes also pride in their classy and elegant designs, which can be seen throughout their entire product range.

Rubikore 2

The Rubikore 2 is DALI’s latest bookshelf speaker, launched at High End 2024 as part of their Rubikore range. It is a passive speaker, meaning it will require an amplifier to power it.

Although it is a bookshelf speaker, I would not suggest you using it as such. The ported design of the Rubikore 2 asks to be placed at least 30cm away from any wall. For that purpose, DALI sells their own speaker stands, which is going for 129€ per stand (258€ per pair).

The Rubikore 2 uses a 29mm low loss soft dome tweeter and a 165mm mid-range/bass paper/wooden fiber clarity cone and SMC driver in a two-way crossover design. The mid-range/bass driver is a definite looker in my opinion, especially with its star-shaped design.

DALI recommends a burn-in period of 100 hours for the Rubikore 2 to reach their maximum performance.

On the back of the speakers is a generous bass-reflex port as well as the binding ports. The Rubikore 2 comes equipped with bi-amping/bi-wiring terminals, should you want to power the drivers individually. Though my mono-blocks at home do feature two individual outputs per block, I didn’t have the chance to test that myself, due to the lack of a second Audioquest Robin Hood speaker cable.

I want to quickly talk about the design of the Rubikore 2, because I think the maroon wood version, which I have at home, is absolutely gorgeous. The high gloss finish of them is simply perfect and I must admit, that at every chance I get I take a glance at the bass-reflex port and binding posts on the back. I love the attention to detail DALI took here. So hat’s off to that!

The Rubikore 2 is a moderately, yet compact, sized speaker. At 350 x 195 x 335 mm (HxWxD) it easily blends into the interior of my home. The speakers are available in four finishes:  high-gloss maroon (as seen on this website), high-gloss black, high-gloss white and walnut (matte). They come with non-magnetically atachable front grilles, a cleaning cloth (for high-gloss finished versions) and a quick start guide.

DALI recommends using the Rubikore 2 with amplifiers between 40 and 150 Watts output. My 700W PS Audio M700 mono blocks drove them beautifully with ease. The rated nominal impedance is 4 Ohm. At 87 dB sensitivity they should not be the most demanding speakers out there.

The Rubikore 2 can be bought at the local HiFi dealer of your choice for a price of €2.598 per pair.

The review continues on page two! Click here or use the jumps below.

Page 1: Intro, DALI, Rubikore 2

Page 2: Sound, Comparisons Pt. 1

Page 3: Comparisons Pt. 2, Conclusion, Summary