Customer Reviews

Wharfedale Diamond Anniversary Bookshelf Speakers (Real Rosewood Veneer)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I disagree with the audiophiles who say this speaker is good but not 'audiophile sound'. I worked in a high end audio shop for about three years part time in college and heard dozens of so called 'audiophile' speakers from Proac, Spendor, B&W, Polk, Stax to name a few and these compare with them all at less than 1/5 the price. Bass is tight, detailed and goes as low as most people need, Mid's are very good was excellent imaging at all volumes and the soft silk tweeter is one of the smoothest I have ever heard. These speakers sing! I listen to Led ZeP to Pat Metheny to Vivaldi and the Diamonds really sing. I bi-wire the Diamond's using a Audio Research pre amp and power amp (great stuff but overpriced), a ARCAM CD/DVD player(hard to find but worth it), Marantz 150 tuner (vintage but still the BEST), AR turntable (great table and low price)with Kimber Kable 4PR speaker cables. I don't believe in spending hundreds on cables, if you do you are wasting your money IMHO. Bottom line......these are 'audiophile' speakers at an unbelievable price!
Kudos to Wharfedale.

I received an email from Amazon a couple of months ago about these speakers and could not believe the excellent price on them. Wharfdale speakers (particularly the Diamond Series) have always rated highly on audiophile lists of great speakers, and to have the chance to own a pair of the Diamond anniversaries in Rosewood was too good to pass up. When they arrived I promptly hooked them up and set them on 24" stands. Testing them with all kinds of music at different volume levels, I could not make these speakers misbehave. At extremely loud levels they do get a bit "nasal", but this is completely acceptable in a speaker this size. I simply could not make them sound bad. When my subwoofer was accidentaly turned off, I did not notice it until I started watching a movie with lots of bass signal in it. The wood is lovely, the build is great, the connectors are top-notch, and the sound is always beautiful. The price is terific too.

These impressive Wharfedale Diamond Anniversary bookshelf-size speakers pack sound quality and clarity of speakers costing [$$$} dollars or more (believe me). Its outstanding bass response eliminates the need of a subwoofer. Ideal for applications where limited space is provided. I am very impressed with the soundstage that it set in my living room. These are clearly ONE OF THE BEST bookshelf speakers at ANY price. For complete audio satisfaction BUY THESE SPEAKERS. I would have to agree on most of these reviews. The only problem is the location of the grill mounting things, which are located just below the woofer surround and an inch away from the dome, but they sound better with the grill off anyways so it's not critical.

For the sound that comes out of these things, its price is a bargain. GET THESE SPEAKERS!!

Wharfedale listed a wide frequency response with a nearly unbelievable low-end spec of 40 or 50 Hz on these units. Well, believe it! This is the first set of smaller bookshelf units I have experienced (got my first Wharfs in 1969) that require no tone compensation, even at low output levels. Leave the loudness contour off; these units don't need that! Of course, you can use tone control if you want to color the sound. Close your eyes and these guys sound like much larger units. The soundfield is open, airy, and extended. The high frequency detail is extended, sweet, and non-metallic. No harshness here. Bose 301 look out!! The only shortcoming, if you consider it one, is that these bad boys use a lot of power. I recommend at least a good 35 WPC (watt per channel), DC capable, low distortion amp. Get something else for Pro-Logic surround rears--these are too good for that. The only indication that these are little ones, which occurs at high SPLs, is a tendency for the (quite loud) sound to become somewhat compressed--the soundfield doesn't increase forever; but they're still listenable, and distortion is minimal. Besides, you wouldn't want to hurt these future collectibles! The bi-ampable, gold plated binding posts are a nice surprise. The oak cabinetry is first-rate, with no filler or flaws. The things are so attractive, you can place them anywhere! The price is simply icing on the cake. Wharfedale is once again becoming a force in bringing high end audio to the masses....

I bought these blind (or deaf, I guess) based on the reviews and other info I found on the web about Wharfedale and the Diamond line. For the money, I am *very* impressed with the quality of the construction and the overall sound. There is a slight lack of clarity in the midrange, but I'm using these for home theater exclusively, so I'm not looking for these to replace my trusty old stereo speakers. They have a nice, tight bass response and true, crisp highs. At this price, I couldn't be any more satisfied.

Crisp, tight, open, clear - what else could you want? Bass? I had to completely cut my lowest equalizer band at 30 Hz to prevent feedback from my Audio Technica AT440 turntable cartridge. Even at that, the bass is quite strong and very nicely controlled. Any more and I'd be evicted ;) Percussion never wobbles, and you can hear the drumstick hit dry and crisp. Midrange is very suitable for brass solos, trumpets pop and shriek beautifully. Highs are quite fine and widely dispersed, and small background sounds and accompanying melodies and rythm were audible for the first time after owning some CDs and vinyls for years. Guitar? Yep. Any string instrument? Yep. Voice? Yep. All are clear, strong, and finely detailed and crafted. While some might think this entire description a little on the hard side, I find that the source material can actually develop all of its character and the softer notes are also reproduced quite pleasantly. Classic, Jazz, Rock, they do it all! My old Yamahas (nice, but not nearly as detailed) are now donated to the girlfriend ;) Oh - efficient at using amp power without twisting my remote controled Yamaha receiver they are as well. They bring out all of the above, while my Boston Accoustics were mushy and a bit thin sounding and could not digest their amp diet as well as the Wharfedales. I moved the Bostons to a vintage setup in the hobby room where they function much better on an old Optonica amp.
I am very happy with these Wharfedales, especially since, while speaker placement is crucial (and was outright impossible with other speakers so far), I can actually get away with having them in the bookshelf directly against the wall. The only thing that suffers a wee bit is the depth of the sound stage, but detail and all the sound from tight strong bottom to clear top is all there. Place them properly about a foot and a half from the wall, and are entering a club stage! What is of course MOST impressive, is the price tag. ...Suits me fine though. I love them. True beginner's High-End HiFi at boombox price. PS: after junking the Yamaha receiver and connecting my Anniversaries to a vintage Marantz amp, they are truly superb.

I am very pleased with these speakers. The sound is crisp and clear, and they can handle a good enough load to deliver full sound to the medium-sized room where I put them. They are also nice looking. I definitely think they are a value for the money.

I had the nice little Bose Accoustamass speakers for big, clear sound from my Left/Right/Center channels. I had the powerful Infinity subwoofer to thump the neighbors right off their sofa.

But what to buy to replace those ancient rear speakers I'd gotten for free with a so-so stereo so many years ago?

I didn't want to spend much money for mere rear channel sound, but I didn't want to compromise much quality, either. Frankly, it seemed a waste to spend any money at all back there.

Then I heard Wharfedale's Diamond Anniversery Bookshelf Speakers.

They look great, they sound great. And Amazon has a price you just can't beat.

Not only do my DTS and Dolby 5.1 movies sound better than ever, but my neighbors find me just a little bit more bothersome.

UPDATE: We've moved into a bigger house, and are now using these as our main speakers in upstairs living room. They sound so delicious, I realize they were wasted as mere rear-channel speakers back at the old condo. There's no better deal in bookshelf speakers today. Buy these.

Knowing the reputation that Wharfedale has had over the years I gave these tiny guys a chance. ...they finally made it to my home. I hooked them up to my Anthem AMP 1 tube amp and could not believe my ears! The bass extension was unbelieveable. I just could not understand how such a tiny box could fill my room with this much bass. I turned my sub off. I run a straight line W/ gain pre-amp system with no tone controls whatsoever, I can tell you the range of these little guys is impressive. Nice fit and finish, forget about the grill covers, you don't need them and man are they cheap. Make sure you have some nice stands for these speakers if you want to hear them at their best. Make sure you bi-wire these guys as well. Kind of a funky binding post for the spk connections, won't take spade connections but will take banana. the tweeter has some short comings, a little coloration around the 4 to 10 k range but hey I can live with that for this little money. Nice speaker and a great bargin for the money.

I was looking for a pair of decently priced, higher quality bookshelf speakers to use as rear surrounds for my home stereo system, and chanced upon these. I must simply say, my expectations were exceeded by far. These could easily function as main speakers, they have plenty of power at 125 Watts, and the bass response is genuinely great. The mids and highs are crystal clear, and I could not ask for more at what I paid, low to mid hundreds. The oak veneer and black grills look great, all in all a great buy. I would definitely purchase these again if I could do it over, although my ONLY complaint is the flimsy front grill, but as that has no impact on sound quality, I rate these 5 stars.