We have tested the Dali Oberon 5 floor-standing speakers!

We have tested the Dali Oberon 5 floor-standing speakers!

Peter Lyngdorf founded the Danish company Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries in 1983. DALI is headquartered in Nørager, Denmark. The Oberon series quickly became popular with users thanks to its low price and advanced technology.

Dali Oberon 5

Specifications:

The specs: frequency range (± 3 dB) 39 – 26,000 Hz, sensitivity (2.83V / 1m) 88 dB, nominal impedance 6 Ohm, maximum SPL 108 dB, recommended receiver power 30 – 150 W, crossover frequency 2,400 Hz, tweeter 1x 29 mm soft dome, subwoofer / midrange speakers 2 x 5¼ “, bass reflex tuning frequency 43 Hz.

The Oberon 5’s compact, standing speakers are just 83cm high and just over 16cm wide, weighing 10.8kg. These sizes mean they will fit well in most rooms without being visually over-dominated like larger speakers. The speaker housing is made of MDF boards and you can choose from four looks: black ash, white, dark walnut and light oak. This construction resulted in a very rigid speaker box with solid transverse bracing. A removable grille adorns the front and a single pair of tie posts at the back. They are beautifully and carefully designed and manufactured, but at this price we only get a vinyl surface, not real wood.

The Oberon 5 has a pair of 13cm mid / deep speakers and a larger than usual 29mm soft dome tweeter. According to Dali, this is more efficient and requires less movement to a given sound pressure level – thus reducing distortion in the sound coil. It has ferrofluid cooling and comes with a membrane made of ultra light woven fabric. For mid / subwoofers, the brand-specific wood fiber / fine-grained pulp cone is used, which is said to provide high rigidity and low resonance. Design engineers have further improved the drive and suspension to optimise detail, clarity and dynamics. The three drive units are connected via a single-wire bidirectional crossover, resulting in a sensitivity of 88 dB / W / m and a nominal impedance of 6 ohms.

It is preferable to place the Oberon 5 speakers a little further away from the back wall. DALI recommends that you place the speakers at a distance of 15 cm to 80 cm from the wall and leave the speaker grille in place. The distance of the speaker from the wall determines the sound power, in fact, the more bass we get: in a larger room it sounded best around 50 cm and in the smaller one the ideal distance was 30 cm between the device and the wall. The speakers also come with spikes and rubber bumpers to help separate the speakers from the floor to minimise vibration.

The Oberon has 5 classic bass reflex designs with a rear-opening port. Its claimed sensitivity is between 88 dB, 39 Hz and 26 kHz. According to the manufacturer, the crossing point is tuned to 2.4 kHz and the bass sport is tuned to 43 Hz. With adequate sensitivity and a nominal impedance of 6 ohms, it is not difficult for most amplifiers to drive the Oberon 5 speakers, the manufacturer recommends a power between 30W and 150W.

In the production of Oberon, the company’s patented SMC magnetic technology is used; this was previously only used for more expensive speakers. The use of advanced soft magnetic technology is said to eliminate distortions. The center / subwoofer has a four-layer sound coil consisting of an aluminium core and a thin-walled outer copper tube, making it light and powerful.

Sound

We tested the Oberon 5 in a smaller living room with ideal acoustics, we used the pair of speakers with a Marantz SR6015 AV amplifier. Thanks to previous room acoustic treatment, we found no objection to the surround sound. Corner bass traps were placed in the corners, and printed acoustic panels and Art wood diffusers on the walls, thus creating a balanced, harmonious acoustics.

We first tested the speakers for music. While listening to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E minor, we felt as if the orchestra was playing this wonderful piece of music right in front of us. These speakers are sensitive, the music produced by them is also stunning, sound very pleasant. The Oberons conveyed sounds with dynamic subtlety, rhythmic accuracy, and clarity. We got extended, definite and full sounds.

We continued the testings with Goodboys ’fresh hit Cha Cha Cha, followed by a movie. We watched the 2019 movie The Favourite. We had a detailed performance, the instruments and the vocals were well distinguished when listening to music, and the dialogues clear, well understood in the movies.

The bold yet balanced high sound quality is in perfect harmony with the mid-range performance of the speakers.

The Dali Oberon 5 also copes well with low-level shifts, the bass sounds strong enough, and the subtle dynamics result in a pleasant sound. Despite its compact size, it is capable of adequate volume. The basses were sometimes a little too dominant, the otherwise vivid, definite highs being somewhat suppressed.

In summary

These Danish floor-standing speakers are small in size but still have a great sound. Slim and attractive in appearance, thanks to careful design and construction, they fit easily into any size and style of room, do not become too intrusive, neither dominate the space. In terms of sound, they have a spacious stage image, dynamics and corporeality. The speakers transmit any type of music superbly and faithfully, and you can listen to them for hours without hearing any flaws of the sound. The basses felt too dominant at times, the treble vivid enough, and the mid-ranges also sounded ideal. The sound could have been a little airier, lighter, but it depends on your taste. The affordable price make these great speakers a option for many.

G.H.

Written by Róbert Polgár