Dellichord’s Australian Made FR6 Loudspeaker - Small But Mighty!

As a sister brand to Stereotech, the Queensland company producing audio-related furniture and acoustic treatments out of its factory in Murarrie, Brisbane, Dellichord is its new loudspeaker brand.

Founder Andrew Hutchison is a qualified electronics technician with 30-plus years of experience in retailing and importing premium hi-fi equipment. More recently, he's drawn upon his experience in loudspeaker and speaker stand engineering. Quite the craftsperson, aside from his love of audio, he's also been known to dabble with automotive design with his three-wheeled car, the Tri Pod 1.

For Dellichord's first product, the FR6, Hutchison's goal was to achieve "full-range sound with accuracy and detail". Also high on the to-do list was its ability to perform well in difficult acoustic spaces while creating a very easy to listen to sound in these acoustically 'normal' rooms. No pressure, then!

To this end, the Dellichord range of Australian-designed and manufactured Hi-Fi speakers is said to offer up music in an exciting and fun-to-listen-to way that connects on an emotional level.

The FR6 is a stand-mount loudspeaker, measuring just 385mm high x 230mm wide x 330mm deep, with a frequency response of 33Hz – 20Khz, and by all accounts to date, its output most certainly belies its compact size.

The FR6 is a deceptively complex little speaker. It employs two 165mm 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. For those unfamiliar, it looks very much like another drive unit but is not electrically connected, offering turbulence-free extra deep bass instead of a reflex port. 

Hutchison says, "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 Dellichord FR6 also employs a wide surround 29mm soft dome tweeter with a dispersion pattern that Hutchison says "at higher frequencies is also less likely to excite reflections in modern rooms". The tweeter also has its own small rear chamber, which imbues it with a very low resonant frequency, as the FR6 employs a relatively low crossover frequency of 1700Hz, we're told. 

As you would expect, the crossover (designed and assembled in-house) and its components employed are of premium quality, including metal film resistors, polypropylene capacitors and both air-cored and P-cored inductors. 

Hutchison added:

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. A further advantage of a stand is that it improves the already stunningly fast agile bass on offer from this 2 driver/1 passive bass system.

Further specifications are stated as 4-ohm nominal impedance, with 85 dB @ 1 watt at 1m Sensitivity, rated for 80 watts programme power. Dellichord recommends quality amplifiers delivering between 10 - 200w RMS for best results.

The cabinet is manufactured from Australian-made MR MDF and local species real wood veneers. The finish is clear satin over Queensland Walnut veneer, but other finish options are available. 

The Dellichord FR6 is available now and sells for $4,999 RRP, and comes with a 5-year manufacturer's warranty (conditions apply).

For more information visit Dellichord