For those who are tight on space, the choice of speakers is pretty limited. One of our favourite options in this situation is the long-running Dali Menuet range. We originally reviewed them around a decade ago and they have remained essentially unchanged since then.

Rather than replace them, Dali has now added this SE model. It’s clear that the company didn’t want to mess with a winning recipe, so the changes are relatively subtle.

Build

On the outside, there’s a lovely Wild Walnut real wood veneer covered in an immaculately applied high gloss finish. It’s the only option at the moment, whereas the original version of this speaker still comes in four finishes – high gloss in either black or white, light walnut and something called Rosso.

The rest of the tiny 25cm tall cabinet remains unchanged. It’s about a big as a shoebox and feels immensely solid. Overall build is excellent, and we can’t think of a similarly priced alternative that does better.

The drive unit complement is the same as before. That 11.5cm mid/bass driver uses the company’s favoured wood fibre cone material, which is claimed to give a good balance between rigidity, low weight and damping properties. This unit has been designed to cope with wide ranging dynamics so the chassis design is as open as possible to help with airflow when things are really pumping.

At 28mm in diameter, the dome tweeter is fairly typical, but is claimed to be around 30 per cent lighter than similar designs, which helps in its ability to track the input signal.

The biggest change in engineering terms is the upgraded crossover that links the two drive units. This is now built on a higher quality circuit board that reduces electrical interference. The circuit features some pretty flash Mundorf capacitors, the type more usually seen only on high-end speakers costing many thousands of pounds. A set of high-grade single-wire terminals complete the design.

Compatibility

These Menuet SEs are rated at 86dB/W/m and have a nominal impedance of 4 ohms, so will perform best with an amplifier with a decent amount of grunt. We think something like Cambridge’s CXA81 would be a good starting point. You’ll need a similarly capable source, otherwise these Dalis will bite with aggressive recordings or partnering equipment.

They work best close to a rear wall. In our test room we settle on around 20cm out from the wall, but it pays to experiment. Go too far and the speakers start to sound a little insubstantial and lack solidity. Also, make sure you fire the Menuets straight ahead, rather than angling towards the listening position. Dali always designs its speakers to sound better when positioned this way.

Our review samples sound a little bright and forward straight from the box, but things settle down after we run them for a few days.