Dali Kore Floor Standing Speakers
REFERENCE AUDIO – WITHAM ESSEX
BOB’s Review Series - No 57 – Dali Kore Floor Standing Speakers
Introduction – The Kore floor standing speaker is based on a decade old design concept that Dali nicknamed the Eminent, but that prototype never made it into production whereas the Kore did and was first seen at the Munich High-end Show in May 2022. This is how the Danish brand describe these new reference speakers:
“The DALI KORE is the best speaker we've ever created. It's the culmination of everything we've learned in four decades of loudspeaker design and manufacturing in one outstanding loudspeaker”. They go on to say “The DALI KORE is the ultimate expression of our admiration of music. It's a visual and sonic masterpiece with ground-breaking technologies that break with tradition and push the boundaries of loudspeaker design”.
But at £70,000 a pair let’s hope they live up to that billing.
Technology – Featuring twin 11.5” (290mm) bass drivers and a 7” (178mm) midrange driver incorporating Dali next generation driver technology the size of the cabinet needed to house them certainly makes them a statement piece of furniture in any room lucky enough to house them. The upper frequencies are covered by a larger than usual 35mm soft dome tweeter supported by a 10mm x 55mm planner ribbon super tweeter. The Kore’s are nominally a 4ohm speaker load with a frequency range of 26Hz to 34kHz and a quoted 89dB sensitivity. These are BIG speakers at 1675mm x 448mm x 593mm (HWD) and weigh a colossal 148kg each and you can add a further 100kg to that for the packaging for each speaker. The substantial concrete resin composite plinth accounts for 34kg of this weight on its own. But at nearly a ¼ tonne each when crated they need serious thought and planning before delivery and set up. Fortunately, the speakers come with temporary casters fitted for ease of movement and positioning and the crates have built in ramps to ease unpacking. Once in position the built-in spikes can be lowered, and the casters can be removed and stored somewhere safe.
Like many drivers in Dali’s range of speakers the Kore’s bass and mid drivers utilise their distinctive paper pulp cones that have wood reinforcement with that distinctive deep red/brown colour. The crossovers come in at 390Hz, 2.1kHz and 12kHz. They have twin binding post terminals on the rear for bi-wiring or bi-amping if required but I listed in single wiring format. The user manual that comes with the speakers is one of the best I have seen, going into great detail about everything you need to know to get the best from them, including a positioning guide. Dali recommend placing them 3m to 5m apart, not in a corner, 1m to 2m from the rear wall and not toed in towards the listening position which should be located the same distance from each speaker as they are apart from each other in an equilateral triangle. A large room by general UK standards is therefore needed to sensibly house these speakers and I would suggest with a taller ceiling than the typical 2.4m house would be beneficial. Dali recommend at least 100 hours running in before they start to loosen up and sound their best from new and our demo pair had already been run in before I started listening.
System Components used in this Review:
Pre-Amp: Classe Delta preamp
Power Amp: Classe Delta Monoblocs
Streamer: Innuos Statement (Pre Next Gen)
DAC: BAT Rex 3
SUB: not required!
Leads: All by AudioQuest
Performance – Located and set up by Dali in our main listening room these are impressive and room dominating speakers at first sight and then again every time you look them. Standing almost 6’ tall on their casters they will dominate all but the largest of rooms they find a home in. The quality finish is unrivalled more than keeping up Dali’s tradition for superlative finishes. Ours are finished in Ammara Ebony and they come with grills, but I expect most owners would remove them.
Speakers of this size can generate prodigious bass and the Kore’s deliver on that big time. Only complete bass freaks would consider the need to add subs with these speakers. But surprisingly that is not their real appeal, their capability in the mid-range is just amazing with clear, detailed, dynamic and game changing presentation of vocals and instruments for speakers at or anywhere near this price point. They generate a wide and deep soundstage with great stereo imaging, something which large speakers often find difficult to achieve, often losing out to much smaller point source designs. But not so the Kore, they draw you into the full emotional content of the music and hold your attention and they do this at almost any volume level you choose. However, it’s the ability to underpin that fabulous midrange with deep and powerful bass that makes these speakers so rewarding to listen to and they do this without drawing attention to the bass, it’s just there doing its thing to hold everything together for your enjoyment. They are never fatiguing yet they are not overly warm, they are definitely in that Goldilocks zone where every aspect of the speakers presentation just gels together making them seems just so right. Listen to Cold Feet by Fink and that rhythmic bass that lays the foundation of this track lets the Kore’s do their thing whilst at the same time showcasing the detail in the mids and highs of this track. I’ve seen Melissa Etheridge live on several occasions over the years and three years ago she was at the 02 in London where she launched her new album The Medicine Show and I played track 6 ‘I Know You’ and she could well have been in the room doing a personal performance just for me, it was the best I’ve ever heard this track. The next track on this album ‘This Human Chain’ is another track underpinned by a rhythmic bass line and until you’ve heard it on the Kore’s you realise just how good it is, her vocals are so clear, yet that bass is not dominating the sound, but you know how much you would miss it if it wasn’t there. I suddenly found I’d listened to most of the album instead of just one track as originally intended. For a great bass experience from these large speakers I listened to ‘Way Down Deep’ by Jennifer Warnes and ‘Confession’ by Alleso, after which I had to stop for a coffee break. They can do all the bass you could reasonably ask for, but they don’t throw it at you.
Conclusion – Owning these speakers is not something for the faint hearted and although they are expensive, they are actually great value for money when compared with most other manufacturers high end offerings. You will need a big room to house these and to allow them to fully load that room with sound, I’d suggest something in the region of 6m x 9m as a minimum and preferably (read definitely) with a floor to ceiling height of 3m or more. They will work in smaller rooms, but they won’t give their best. Then of course there’s the weight issue and the size of the delivery crates meaning you won’t get them through a standard sized door when crated, we had to unpack our outside and wheel them in. They need space around them as noted above, especially at the rear to allow those big rear ports to breath so don’t be tempted to try and squeeze them in a small room.
They do need some power to drive and grip them and our Classe Delta solid state monoblocs at 600watts into a 4ohm load were more than capable. I wouldn’t be tempted to try and run the Kore’s on the end of amplifiers with valves in the power amp stage, they just won’t deliver the dynamic swing that these huge speakers can deliver and this after all is one of the main reasons you’d contemplate buying them.
I loved them and yes, they are a bargain. Come and have a listen to hear for yourself but be prepared to be astounded. If you are genuinely in the market for speakers at this price point and size, then also have your bank manager on speed dial!
Bob – Reference Audio – February 2023