Diablo Acoustics Model 6.(Brief Article)(Evaluation)

Manufacturer: Diablo Acoustics, website: www.diabloacoustics.com

Price: $3,000/pair

Source: Manufacturer loan

I dreaded writing this article. Why? Not because there is any significant flaw in these speakers--there is not. No, I dreaded writing this article because I knew that as soon as this article was completed, I would need to send the speakers back whence they came. I've had the opportunity to hear these units now for over a year in my system. Without equivocation I can highly recommend them to anyone looking for a top-notch speaker that can be listened to for an extended period without fatigue.

The Diablos are a two-way, acoustic suspension design consisting of a 7-inch Kevlar woofer sourced from Eton in Germany and a 0.75-inch titanium tweeter from MB. Both of these are very high quality drivers. The gold-plated, five-way binding posts on the rear of the cabinet are also of very high quality. The speakers ship with a grille that can be snapped in place on the front panel. The manufacturer recommends listening with the grille removed. There is also a mesh cover that fits over the tweeter dome, which Diablo suggests removing once the speakers are placed in their final listening locations. Diablo claims, and I can confirm, that this results in a slightly more open and extended top end with better imaging. The front panels of the speakers are sloped and the edges of the baffle rounded, presumably to provide a further improvement in the imaging.

By the way, the cabinet appearance is quite attractive. The composite material polishes to a high shine of dark gray color (Diablo calls it ebony) that will blend well in a large range of furnishings. Four other colors are available should your taste and decor dictate.

I experimented with a number of different placements in my main listening room and finally ended up with the best results with the units placed on their matching stands about 38 inches from the back wall to the front edge of the cabinet and about 9 feet apart on center. Previous systems placed this far apart in the room have tended to have a "hole-in-the-middle" effect with the center image. Not so with the Model 6s. Center fill is excellent and the image placement is solid across the soundstage, with no tendency to "bunch" instruments at the center or extreme edges. No toe-in was needed, although Diablo suggests it can be beneficial in some cases. The stands put the tweeter slightly above ear level when seated on the couch where I do most of my listening. This distance from the wall and the width are both somewhat greater than the locations that sound best with the Legacy Audio Studios.