Audiolab 6000A - Integrated Amplifier + Dali Opticon 2 Mk2 Stand Mount Speakers

Audiolab 6000A - Integrated Amplifier

An amplifier remains the beating heart of any high-performance audio system, but in 2018 a truly versatile integrated amp needs to cover many bases – digital and analogue sources, wireless connectivity for portable devices, a phono stage to cater for vinyl playback, amplification for headphones as well as speakers… That’s a lot to pack in, whilst keeping performance high and the price tag affordable – and yet, that’s exactly what the 6000A delivers.

The Sound Of Science

Outwardly, the 6000A bears strong resemblance to the 8300A with its rotary controls and large, central OLED display. Unlike its costlier, analogue-only sibling, it incorporates high-quality D/A conversion, enabling digital sources to be connected directly without an external DAC. It supplies four digital inputs, three line-level analogue inputs, an input for a turntable, wireless connectivity via Bluetooth and a dedicated headphone amp, in addition to its ability when driving loudspeakers.

Digital Circuitry

Much effort has been made to ensure the 6000A’s digital circuitry delivers the level of quality one might expect of a high-performance standalone DAC. As ever, Audiolab has turned to the ES9018 Sabre32 Reference chip family to perform D/A conversion, utilising ESS Technology’s 32-bit HyperStream architecture and Time Domain Jitter Eliminator to deliver ultra-low noise and high dynamic range.

No company knows more about making the most of this technically excellent, but challenging, DAC technology than Audiolab. If the circuitry that surrounds the ES9018 is not of sufficient standard, the resulting sound can seem a little cold and hard; treat it right, however, and the level of musical expression that this chip digs from the digital signal is captivating. Audiolab’s original, universally acclaimed M-DAC was one of the first home audio components to incorporate an ES9018 chip back in 2011, and the company has been honing its implementation ever since.

Analogue Circuitry

The 6000A’s discrete Class AB power amp stage delivers 50W per channel into eight ohms, with a maximum current delivery of 9 Amps into difficult loads. The output stage of the discrete power amp circuits uses a CFB (Complementary Feedback) topology, ensuring superior linearity and excellent thermal stability, as the idle current is kept independent of the temperature of the output transistors.
A substantial 200VA toroidal transformer, followed by 4x15000uF reservoir capacity (60000uF in total), helps the amp to maintain firm control of the music whilst enabling excellent dynamic range.

The preamp section is kept as simple as possible to maintain signal purity, with line input signals passing to a precision analogue volume stage. The latter covers the range from -80dB to +8dB in steps of 2dB and 1dB (step resolution increases with volume position). Much effort has gone into the physical layout of the 6000A’s circuitry, protecting the sensitive preamp section from noise interference. This, plus the use of independent low-noise power supplies for critical stages, helps to deliver a performance that rivals significantly more expensive analogue amplifiers, even before taking the 6000A’s impressive digital circuitry into account.

Turntables and Headphones

In recognition of the recent vinyl revival, Audiolab has included a phono stage for moving magnet phono cartridges – a high-quality, low-noise, JFET-based circuit with precise RIAA equalisation.

Similarly, an increasing number of people are using headphones for music listening, so Audiolab has incorporated a dedicated headphone amp with current-feedback circuitry. Its gain bandwidth and high slew rate ensure a dynamic, detailed and engaging performance with all manner of headphone types – more boxes ticked for this most integrated of integrated amplifiers.

Dali Opticon 2 Mk2 Stand Mount Speakers

Striking sound that can both soar and soothe is at the heart of the DALI OPTICON range alongside purity of image at any volume, rich detail and a sweeping soundstage - as always; designed in admiration of music. All models feature DALI's own unerringly accurate woofer and tweeter modules, plus our proprietary SMC (Soft Magnetic Compound) pole piece.

The OPTICON 2 MK2 is a mid-sized stand mount speaker. Its 61⁄2” Wood Fibre diaphragm, SMC magnet bass/midrange driver and 10 Litre enclosure enables it to achieve greater low frequency bandwidth and volume level than its smaller sibling. It features the same CALLISTO derived 29mm soft dome tweeter as the OPTICON 1 MK2. The OPTICON 2 MK2 is a natural for high performance stand mount audio in compact to medium size listening spaces where it has room to breathe and deliver its dynamic and explicitly defined performance.

Bass and Midrange Drivers

The OPTICON MK2 bass/mid driver magnet system
consists of a large ferrite ring magnet surrounding a pole
piece manufactured entirely of the unique DALI SMC
material. The pole piece and the ferrite magnet are secured
between soft iron front and back plates to create the
appropriate magnetic field for the voice-coil.

 

 

Reflex Ports

The newly introduced OPTICON MK2 Dual Flare technique
brings port design into the realm of aerodynamics with exit
and entry flares carefully designed to minimise turbulence
at the airflow rate expected from the port diameter and
tuning frequency. Dual Flare enables OPTICON MK2 reflex
ports to remain laminar and work effectively to reinforce
low frequency performance to a significantly higher volume
level than would otherwise be the case.

Manufacturing in Pairs

There’s many respects in which DALI stands out among the
crowd of HiFi speaker manufacturers, but one in particular
is our approach to pair matching – in terms of both
acoustics and finish quality.

Examine a pair of HiFi speakers from many manufacturers
and you’ll almost certainly see that they each have different
serial numbers, often some numerical distance apart. This
indicates that manufacturing may have taken place months
apart; perhaps even on different production lines. Examine
a pair of DALI speakers however and you’ll see that they
carry the same serial number, with just a simple extension
to denote Left or Right. It’s a simple approach that costs
very little, yet it results in huge benefits for the customer.