Best Buy

The Danish loudspeaker specialist DALI is currently launching one interesting new product after the other. A strategic focus is the „Oberon“ series, which is aimed at the discerning beginner and intermediate. We have tested the series’ smallest model „1“.

This is an attractive compact loudspeaker with a 130mm bass/midrange driver, a 29mm tweeter dome and a rear port. The speaker is, therefore, ideal for a small to medium sized room, a teenager’s room, a dining area, guest room, better garden house or weekend home. The Oberon series is intended to inherit and improve upon the „Zensor“ series. For the price-conscious beginner, there is already the even more affordable „Spektor“ series. So, to be accurate, after seven extremely successful years, “Zensor” has actually been replaced twice.

Wherever you want to properly listen to music and don‘t want to compromise too much, the Oberon has the edge. Here, DALI has really taken care of the tonal qualities. The Danes are actually time and again surprising their fans with loudspeakers that are hardly considered possible. So a little more budget is good for even further amazement.

On the one hand we have a fabric dome that is already capable of extraordinary dynamic performance due to its size and lightness, on the other hand the DALI-typical cone diaphragm of the bass-midrange driver is made of paper and – now– somewhat more subtle wood fibers. The distortion-reducing SMC concept, adapted from the larger loudspeaker series, for the magnetic drive that is „baked“ from the corresponding powder mass, is now expected to also score points in the 400 Euro class – yes even to cause a small sensation.  

The added value compared to Zensor is provided by technical progress, but also by the exclusive design, which is anything but cheap.