DALI Oberon 1 Bookshelf speakers
The whole Oberon series is made according to the canons of modern Scandinavian design - simple colors, clear forms, a little playfulness and the rounded grills, adding a sense of retro. The bodies are made of dense MDF, reinforced with spacers inside.
In the new line, it was decided to use the technology we already saw in older models. A large 29-mm tweeter with an ultra-light membrane is responsible for high frequencies; loaded on the bass-reflex a 133-mm driver with a diffuser made of proprietary, reinforced with wooden fibers, material helps it in bass and midrange.
The increased size of the tweeter provides better coordination with the MF/LF driver and plays in a wider range of frequencies than smaller models do. On the flange of the tweeter there are notches for better sound dispersion, and the driver itself is slightly recessed deep. The MF/LF driver uses a magnetic system based on SMC material, which, according to the company, allows reducing distortion by creating a more uniform magnetic field. Previously, this material was used only in the drivers of the older series.
DALI Oberon 1 are very tiny, neat loudspeakers and the company offers to listen to promotional materials firstly on the racks, but they will find a place on the shelves, as well as on the table, and, of course, they can be mounted on the wall. The racks that stood in the showroom turned out to be rather low for such small loudspeakers - only 60 cm. The dispersions along the vertical was not sufficient for the younger Oberon, so I had to listen to them sitting on the floor: so my ears were almost on the axis of the tweeters, a little bit lower.
The fact that you had to listen to the loudspeakers directly from the floor may have left a little imprint on feelings from the sound - in the first place, it seemed very friendly and open. Traditionally, tops dominate in DALI, but they do it correctly. So, the squeaky beginning in "King James" from Buckethead does not tear the ears, but at the same time it sounds harshly, coolly and expressively.
Quite surprising, but the character of DALI Oberon 1 is primarily rave. They happily throw out to the fore the medium and high frequency voiced details that electronic music abounds in, and at the same time, they work out the rhythm section clearly, without any unnecessary sound. With neoclassical violins, they can also cope and serve them fascinatingly.
The Upper-case of piano in calm tracks of BadBadNotGood is clean, but gentle and even a little intimate. A small size of the loudspeakers was very strongly felt on the saxophone in the same BadBadNotGood and 1/2 Orchestra - there was enough hysterics, but a lack of massiveness and assertiveness.
DALI Oberon 1 coped with the boost of epic in Wolfenstein and the new God of War. They managed very interestingly with lots of layers in the album The Fall of Math from 65daysofstatic, transforming it from a noisy mess of electric guitars, pianos and samples into a terribly detailed audio hallucination. But it was not so good with complex mixes with the presence of acoustic guitars: the ring of the strings run down into a very obtrusive shouting on the periphery, constantly pulling attention and not giving me to trace for the melody. So the increased detailing in the medium and high frequency range do not always play into the hands.
As a result, DALI released cool, small, inexpensive loudspeakers with a surprisingly large and perky for such sizes and price category sound. Yes, in this case, you need to think about the location, put them higher than the standard shelf speakers; otherwise, you will not feel their capabilities in full. But Oberon 1 show the character of DALI and the family features brightly - therefore, they are great for the first acquaintance with the brand.
