Our modern marketplace is frighteningly devoid of 'proper loudspeakers'. By that I mean that most speaker designers have to have one eye on the Home Cinema market these days when they set their creative juices flowing. They daren't come up with something that is absolutely accurate, because if they do it will show up the thin sound of many Japanese DVD players and AV amps! So instead, they come up with something that pumps up the bass to give a thick, bloated, 'comfortable' sound - a sort of sonic duvet.

This may well sound impressive with the average Hollywood blockbuster, which relies on thunderous bass to back up visual special effects but, it is woefully inadequate when it comes to reproducing music. A cello ends up sounding like a double bass, a bass guitar makes the same thud as a kick drum and timing is so corrupted that is sounds like the band have just been told that their mother has died.

However, every now and again a design comes along that bucks the trend - and the IKON 6 is one of the best for ages. This speaker sounds perfectly OK on Home Cinema, but its real claim to fame is that it reproduces music in a way that puts many of its competitors to shame. Instruments sound real and are projected in a convincing three-dimensional way, so that you really feel like you're right in the middle of a live venue. Detail resolution is also very impressive - spin a 'lyrically difficult' CD in your player and you'll be amazed at how previously muddled and unintelligible lines (yes I do like Tom Waits) are unravelled, giving fresh insight into the performance. I'm sure that this quality relates directly to the IKON's hybrid ribbon tweeter, which is pretty much unique in modern loudspeaker design. The clarity that this unit produces is beautifully balanced by a full and accurate low frequency output - there is plenty of attack and 'slam', without the dreaded 'Home Cinema boom'. It has to be said that the price and finish are exactly right too.

Whatever the reason for its success, the only thing that really matters is that this is a very 'together' design which really works. These Dali speakers represent a breath of fresh air in what has become a rather staid and predictable market. We like them a lot and so do an increasingly large number of journalists - a little bird tells us that the IKON 6 5.1 Home Cinema system just won a very big award!!