Wharfdale Diamond - Pleb Audiophile speaker?


Looking for people opinions in Wharfdale diamond speakers, I live in a small town with one only okay stereo/ audio dealer, he was attempting to tell me what wharfdale diamond speakers are excellent, better than B&W CM series. Upon inspection of the speaker the appear to try to ripoff the woven Kevlar look but it appears the wover pattern looked like embossed plastic rather than a woven material of any kind.
Had a listen and the treble was dull and the bass was boomy.

I would never consider buying these, they struck me as over hyped general consumer quality surround speakers rather than 2 channel listening speakers.

what does anyone think, are they good? kind of good? or is it just a big advertising campaign to sell dressed up whitevan scam speakers legit to unsuspecting punters?
ellrotts

Showing 1 response by paraneer

Wow, dressed up white van speakers? Wharfedale - Britains oldest loudspeaker manufacturer? Thats a little harsh.

If you didn't care for the way they sounded, fine. But I certainly wouldn't call Wharfedale Diamond 10 series white van speakers! The Diamonds have been around through many incarnations and have been critically acclaimed worldwide. Just google them. Most reviews are foreign. Soon Wharfedale will be launching the Diamond 10 successors, the Diamond 100 line. Problem is they have a poor distribution network here in the USA, are not well known and have also produced some lower ranges that were real dogs. Ranges like the Zaldeks that not only sounded but looked like white van speakers. Really Horrible! But the higher ranges, Diamond, EVO II, Opus and now Jade are quality, very good sounding speakers. Especially the Opus and Jade lines.

The Diamond 10'S are value priced speakers and would compete favorably with the B&W 600 series. To compare them to the CM's would be unfair. But as a former Wharfedale owner, I would pit an EVO or Opus against a CM anyday and most likely would choose the Wharfedale.

BTW...the Quad L series are produced off the same assembly lines at IAG's (Wharfedale/Quad parent company) factory in China. My guess is that the drivers which are made in house by IAG, are the same in the upper Wharfedale lines and the Quad L line. They sure look alike. IAG is unique in that everything is made in house - drivers, enclosures, crossover networks, grilles, etc. Nothing is outsourced - all designed by Wharfedale/Quad in the UK and made at IAG in China from the ground up.

You asked for opinions on Wharfedales and the above is mine. Whether you love them or hate, they are not white van. And some models are truly outstanding.