Dali’s Sonik floorstanders, side by side. Here is the Sonik 7 between the compact Sonik 5 and the flagship Sonik 9, showing what your money buys at each step.

The Sonik 7 is, for many listeners, the pick of Dali’s Sonik range, sitting in the sweet spot between the compact Sonik 5 and the flagship Sonik 9. It is the successor to the hugely popular Oberon 7, and it earns its place with one significant addition: Dali’s Hybrid Tweeter module, a soft dome paired with a planar ribbon, which is normally found much further up the company’s range. Combined with dual 7-inch drivers and a 2.5-way crossover, it makes the Sonik 7 a genuinely capable full-range floorstander for a medium or large room, at a price that stays grounded.

Brief product overview

A 2.5-way bass-reflex floorstander with a Hybrid Tweeter module combining a 29mm ultra-light low-loss soft-dome tweeter with a 17 x 45mm planar magnetostatic ribbon element, and two 7-inch wood-fibre Clarity Cone bass and midrange drivers with Dali’s SMC magnet technology. The hybrid tweeter is the headline: the soft dome handles the presence region for smooth integration with the midrange, while the ribbon extends the top end to 30kHz with air and detail, crossing over at 2,300Hz and 14,000Hz. Dual-flare reflex ports reduce turbulence for tight, extended bass. Frequency response runs from 36Hz to 30kHz, sensitivity is 88.5dB with a 6-ohm nominal impedance, an easy load, and Dali recommends amplification from 30 to 180 watts, with a maximum output of 110dB. The heavily braced cabinet stands around 1m tall and 20cm wide, weighing 16.2kg each, in four finishes.

How it sounds

The Sonik 7 has a wide, deep soundstage, lively dynamics and the composure to handle complex passages without strain, and the hybrid tweeter is what sets it apart: the ribbon adds an airy, detailed extension to the top end that the soft-dome-only speakers below it cannot match, while the dome keeps the crucial presence region coherent. The dual 7-inch drivers give it deep, controlled bass to 36Hz, enough to fill a medium or large room without a subwoofer. Reviewers describe it as balanced, dynamic and expressive but never aggressive, enhancing voices while filling a room with authority. At 88.5dB into 6 ohms it is an easy load that a capable mid-range amplifier of 60 watts or more drives comfortably, so it does not demand exotic electronics.

What we’d partner it with

The Onkyo Icon A-50 is a well-judged match: a compact streaming integrated delivering 110 watts into 8 ohms and 180 into 4, sitting comfortably within the Sonik 7’s range, with streaming across Spotify, Tidal and Qobuz Connect, AirPlay 2, Chromecast and Roon, an HDMI ARC input for a television, and Dirac Live room correction included with a measurement microphone, which is genuinely useful with a floorstander in a real room. Good alternatives from brands we carry are streaming integrateds from Bluesound, WiiM and Rega.

For vinyl, there is a choice to make, because both the amplifier and the turntable have a phono stage. The Technics SL-40CBT is a coreless direct-drive deck with an S-shaped tonearm, a fitted cartridge, a built-in moving-magnet phono equaliser and aptX Adaptive Bluetooth. You can use the turntable’s own phono stage into one of the A-50’s line inputs, or switch to the A-50’s phono input and use that instead; use one or the other, not both. As with the other Onkyo pairings, if you want your records kept entirely in the analogue domain, the A-50’s front-panel DIRECT switch bypasses its DSP.

On cabling, use a well-made speaker cable of appropriate gauge for the run; AudioQuest and Chord are the cable brands we stock.

Who shouldn’t buy it

If your room is small or medium, the Sonik 5 shares much of the same character in a slimmer cabinet without the ribbon tweeter. If your room is large and you want the fullest scale, the flagship Sonik 9 is a larger 3.5-way design. And while the Sonik 7 is easy to drive, its ribbon tweeter rewards a clean, capable amplifier, so it is worth partnering properly rather than with the very cheapest electronics.

Fit the supplied feet or spikes before positioning, using spikes on carpet. The dual-flare ports fire from the rear, so leave space behind the speakers; the Sonik 7 suits rooms of roughly 20 to 40 square metres. Set the A-50 up through the Onkyo Controller app and run Dirac Live with the supplied microphone once the speakers are positioned. Connect a television to the HDMI ARC input if you want one. For vinyl, decide which phono stage to use: connect the SL-40CBT’s line output to a line input to use the turntable’s built-in stage, or its phono output to the A-50’s phono input to use the amplifier’s, but not both. Use the DIRECT switch if you would rather the analogue signal bypassed the A-50’s DSP.