It is also where the price moved most: $900 against $599, a rise of 50 percent. Spread across the three speaker types, the new package costs $752 more than the old one before the subwoofer, up 26 percent on $2,848.
| FEATURE and SPECS COMPARISON | |  |  |
| Model | DALI Oberon Vokal | DALI SONIK CINEMA |
| Speaker Type | Passive Center Channel | Passive Center Channel |
| Enclosure Type | Ported | Ported |
| Driver Setup | 2-way | 2-way |
| Tweeter | 1-1/8" Soft-Dome Tweeter | 1.125" Soft-Dome Tweeter |
| Woofer | 2 x 5.25" Wood Fiber Woofer | 2 x 5-1/4" Wood fiber Woofer |
| Frequency Range / Low | 47Hz | 46Hz |
| Frequency Range / High | 26kHz | 26kHz |
| Impedance Nominal | 4Ω | 6Ω |
| Sensitivity | 90dB | 90dB |
| Max Power (RMS) | 150w | 150w |
| Crossover Frequency | 2600Hz | 2200Hz |
| Port Position | front | front |
| Available Colors | Black Ash, Light Oak, Dark Walnut, White | Black Ash, Natural Oak,White,Walnut |
| Finish | MDF/Wood-grain vinyl | MDF/Wood-grain laminate |
| Grille | Yes | Yes |
| Height | 162.0mm | 172.0mm |
| Width | 443.0mm | 572.0mm |
| Depth | 294.0mm | 215.0mm |
| Weight | 7.45kg | 9.82kg |
| MSRP(pair) | 599USD | 900USD |
| Check Current Price | Amazon | Amazon |
DALI Sonik Cinema centre speaker in natural oak, 572 mm wide with two 5.25 inch woofers either side of a 29 mm soft dome
The subwoofer: the same Sub E-9 F, thirteen years on
Both packages use the Sub E-9 F. It is a 9 inch long-stroke paper driver with a 170 watt Class D amplifier in a 307 x 288 x 311 mm box, rated 37 to 200 Hz and 111 dB maximum, weighing 11 kg. DALI introduced it in 2013 and it has outlived two generations of the speakers it is sold with. What Hi-Fi’s only two complaints about the whole package are both about this box: other subwoofers at the price dig deeper, and it comes only in black or white, so it will not match the oak or walnut finishes of the speakers. DALI offers the larger Sub E-12 F in the same range, which reaches 28 Hz with a 12 inch driver.
DALI Sub E-9 F Powered Subwoofer Speaker Key Specs
- 1 x 9" Paper, long stroke Woofer
- 37-200 Hz Frequency Response
- 170-watt RMS ( 220-watt Peak) Class D Type Integrated Amplifier
- 40 - 120Hz Low Pass Filter
- Stereo RCA/LFE Inputs
- Dimensions (H x W x D): 12.09" x 11.34" x 12.24" / 307 x 288 x 311 mm
- Read the Review
DALI Sub E-9 F subwoofer, a 9 inch driver and 170 watts in a 31 cm cube that has been on sale since 2013
Where the $4,800 comes from
What Hi-Fi quotes $4,800 for the four US pieces bought separately. Crutchfield lists the Sonik 5 at $1,800, the Sonik 1 at $900 and the Sonik Cinema at $900, which is $3,600, so the magazine is counting about $1,200 for the subwoofer. DALI does not print a US price for the Sub E-9 F on its site and none of the big US dealers stock it, so that is the one figure in this post I could not check directly. Even at the three-speaker total of $3,600 the US buyer pays more than the whole UK bundle.
The UK numbers are GBP 2,396 for the parts and GBP 2,199 for the Richer Sounds bundle. Australia is AU$4,596 for the parts. The US figure is the outlier, and What Hi-Fi says so itself: at $4,800 the package is still good, but it is no longer the obvious bargain it is at home.
What it asks of your receiver
Nothing demanding. The Sonik 5 and Sonik 1 are 88 and 86 dB, all five speakers are 6 ohms, and DALI’s recommended range is 30 to 150 watts for the fronts and 25 to 100 for the surrounds. Of the 58 home theatre receivers we hold, the cheapest five-channel models start at $400 with the Yamaha RX300A at 70 watts, and the Denon AVR-S670H at $649 and 75 watts is the sort of thing What Hi-Fi would pair it with. For a stereo amplifier to drive just the Sonik 5s, the amp-speaker matcher takes the 88 dB and 6 ohm figures and lists what we hold that fits.
DALI Oberon 5 in black ash, the 2018 floor-stander the Sonik 5 replaces, now open-box stock only in the US
Who this package is not for
Anyone with a big room. The fronts are 83 cm tall with two 5.25 inch woofers, and the subwoofer stops at 37 Hz. What Hi-Fi tested it in a normal living room and loved it there. In a dedicated cinema room, or anything over about 30 square metres, this is a system that will run out of scale before it runs out of quality. The Sonik 7 with 7 inch woofers is the next step up at $2,800 a pair.
Anyone in the US expecting the UK price. At $4,800 you are paying around 60 percent more than a British buyer for the same boxes. There is no bundle discount, and the Oberon package it replaces is now open-box stock only at Crutchfield, so you cannot simply buy the old one instead.
Anyone who wants a matching sub. The E-9 F is black or white. If you want the oak or walnut speakers, the subwoofer will not match, and the deeper E-12 F has the same two finishes.
What I take from it
DALI did not change the Sonik 5 or the Sonik 1 in any way a spec sheet can show, and it changed the centre a lot. If you own an Oberon 5 5.1 there is no reason in these numbers to replace it. If you are buying new, the Sonik package is what is on sale, and at the UK price it is a very easy recommendation. At the US price it is a good system that costs what a bigger one would.
Every speaker named here is on the DALI brand page, 57 models in all, and any two of them can be compared side by side.
If you have heard the Sonik 5 next to the Oberon 5, did you hear the difference What Hi-Fi describes, or did they sound like the same speaker to you too?