Big, powerful and a great deal of fun – but they need to be in the right room
Regular readers will know that we are big fans of Dali’s Oberon series. The smallest floorstanders of the range, the Oberon 5, are particular favourites. These compact Danish towers have a combination of entertaining sound and fuss-free nature that has earned them five-star reviews and multiple What Hi-Fi? Awards, in both stereo form and as part of a multichannel set-up.
The range-topping Oberon 9 we have under test here super-size their successful siblings by adding a much bigger cabinet, a three-way layout, and not only extra but also larger drive units into the equation. Does that make them better speakers? We’re about to find out.
The Oberon 9 are huge speakers by price standards. They stand no less than 117cm tall, dwarfing most of their competition. Visually they will dominate all but the largest of rooms. At 26cm, they are wide too, making it possible for Dali to pack in a pair of dedicated 23cm bass drivers.
Being a three-way design, the Oberon 9s also have a dedicated midrange unit – an 18cm cone – and partner that with the 29mm soft dome that we have already heard and liked in other Oberon speakers. The midrange and bass drivers all make use of Dali’s trademark wood-fibre cones. This distinctive material is claimed to offer a good balance of low weight, rigidity and self-damping, and has been a staple in the company’s more upmarket speakers for many years.
The best of three
A true three-way design is relatively rare at this price and means that the midrange and bass units can be properly optimised to work in their specific part of the frequency range. The crossover points are relatively conventional, being set at 780Hz and 3400Hz. In contrast, the mid/bass unit in a two-way configuration is inevitably compromised by having to accommodate a broader spread of frequencies. Of course, a two-way has a simpler crossover network and so gains an advantage there.
That large cabinet is nicely made from MDF and covered in a laminate. While other models in the Oberon range are available in four different finishes, the 9 has to make do with just two: black ash or dark walnut. We have no issue with the quality of the build or the finish, though are minded to note that quite a few rivals at this price level are available in real-wood veneers.
The cabinet is split internally to give separate compartments for each of the bass drivers and the midrange unit. Each of these partitions is angled to reduce the build-up of internal standin
