Dellichord FR6

FR6 Details –

The goal was a large ‘full-range’ sound, accuracy and detail but also an ability to perform well in difficult acoustic spaces and create a very easy to listen to sound in these acoustically ‘normal’ rooms.

Of course, employing locally produced raw materials was high on the priority list and over and above the previous M6, we have added Binding posts from ETI Research (an Australian audio connector company, based in Brisbane), and all the timber in the enclosure including the veneer is sourced locally. The FR6 by Dellichord is designed and built in-house in Murarrie, Brisbane, Australia.

As much as the ‘look’ and the ‘feel’ is important ultimately with a loudspeaker sound quality must be the number one priority. In this regard, the drive units are of very high quality, as are the crossover components and the aforementioned ETI binding posts. It’s in the cabinet though where the real engineering has happened to eke out almost full-range performance from a mid-size bookshelf-sized enclosure.

The FR6 is a deceptively complex little speaker. Employing 2 mid-bass drive units (one hidden inside the enclosure in a compound arrangement sometimes referred to as ‘isobaric’) the other, visible on the front baffle as usual. Around the back is an oval passive radiator, looking much like another drive unit, but in fact, offering turbulence-free extra deep bass instead of a reflex port. This design was called on for a few reasons. Firstly an isobaric arrangement allows us to make the cabinet smaller for a given amount of low bass extension. Using a passive radiator avoids the ‘chuffing’ or port noise of a port while again avoiding having to make the enclosure larger to contain the port. These are the two main reasons the FR6 reaches deep into the bass like a largish subwoofer and yet can easily sit on a TV cabinet or bookshelf.

The tweeter is a wide surround 29mm soft dome offering a very sweet sound with every delicate detail of the music reproduced clearly. The dispersion pattern at higher frequencies is also less likely to excite reflections in modern rooms. It has its own small rear chamber which imbues it with a very low resonant frequency which is required as the FR6 employs a relatively low cross-over frequency of 1700Hz. Accurate third-order filter slopes on both the bass units and tweeter allow the tweeter to perform flawlessly in a distortion-free manner.

The cross-over is constructed (designed and assembled in-house) on a fiberglass circuit board. The goal being consistency so that stereo imaging is always as good as it can possibly be through the perfect matching of one loudspeaker to the next. The components employed are of premium quality including metal film resistors, polypropylene capacitors, and both air-cored and P-cored inductors.

Having stated you can just prop them on a shelf the FR6 will offer the most stable stereo image when sited correctly on a pair of quality loudspeaker stands. Adding a stand will improve the already stunningly fast agile bass on offer from this 2 driver/1 passive bass system.

Specifications 

Impedance – 4 ohm nominal

Crossover frequency – 1.7 Khz 

Freq response in-room – 33Hz – 20Khz

Sensitivity – 85 dB @ 1 watt at 1m

Power handling – 80-watt programme power. Can be used with quality amplifiers from 10-watt to 200-watt RMS

Drive Units-

Bass mid (2 of per enclosure) – 165mm – rubber surround – natural fibre cone – large magnet assembly and aluminium frame

Tweeter – 29mm soft textile dome

Passive radiator – 150mm x 250mm treated paper cone light weight, fast reacting.

Cabinet construction – Australian made MR MDF and Australian species real wood veneers

Finish –  Walnut, maple, black ash real timber veneer

Grille – Included – Magnetic

Dimensions – 385mm high x 230mm wide x 330mm deep (inc grille when fitted and rear passive radiator and terminals).

Weight – 11kgs (each)

Carton size – 59cm L x 39cm W x 37cm H

Designed and manufactured in Australia.