Wharfdale 10.1 speaker: budget superstar or hype??

Rich and Ryder: You both make excellent points. I did consider the Paradign Atom V7, but felt it could lack even fair bass response. In addition, I have garden hose speaker cable for my main speakers which I would have to use on the Atoms; I fear the torque of a heavy cable, might lift and spin them around.

I have no experience with Wharfdale speakers, but the price is right. Though, I can understand Rich's reluctance about the 10.1 speakers if left unimpressed with previous models. I began this quest after reading the review of the Totem Dream Catcher in Stereophile which retails for approx $625; the Totems Arros were next on the wish list but are ridiculously priced even used, and its retail is belly laughable at $1675.

Two other contenders are in play after reading a review in "What Hi-FI" (which never fails to overrate Brit midfi speakers) are the Monitor Audio BX-2, the mag's 2011 budget speaker of the year at approx $450 retail; another source touts the KEF q300 at approx $600. I am familiar with the "house sound" of both, but need to dig up reviews on both to get other POVs

Rich's point about the expense of accumulating budget masterpieces is well taken, and shooting for a speaker that has "the sound you are looking for". A caveat for me is two: I am not buying anything at retail accept possibly the Wharedale's I would like to spend $350-$400 max for USED copies of the more expensive monitors mentioned above. They will only be used ocassionally to change up the sound and later placed in the corner when not in use; however, I want something very accurate, musical and can play loud without strain. That might be a silly tall order at $400 used.

Lastly, I had a chance of scoring a new pair of Dynaudio 2/6 on e-bay (retail is $800) I have heard them a few times and liked their neutral sound but including shipping, they would have ran $570, and I still needed a pair of 50.00 stands. I am sure the Dynaudio DM 2/6 is superior to the Wharedale's, but..... by how much. The latter would cost me $349 from Music Direct with free shipping until Feb.29, and with a a pair of $50 stands would total out to be $399, OK, it is $171 more than the Dynaudios total price....and....yes, it is not a substantial difference, but $400-$425 is my goal.....though I could wind up making the budgeteer's mistake of placing value over sound, and thus begin my audio curio case. Thanks, Guys.

"It becomes then, are the areas where they excel of importance to you."

Rich, I think that is a very insightful statement you made. I love classical music, and if a pair of speakers gets the tone colors of unamplified instruments right (especially violins), I'll gladly tolerate other areas of performance that might not be completely to my liking (i.e., imaging, bass extension, lower-mid clarity). Because no speaker that I know of does everything well, I think you really have to focus on the aspects of reproduction are important to you and make your decision accordingly. Great post, Rich!
-Bob

The amount of energy that Reina's review of the Totem Dream Catchers has generated.

In my tinkering with small speakers for my two ancillary systems (TV room and bedroom) a few years back, I actually saved my pennies for the real upgrade ... from Rega Aras (picked up NOS for $250) to $2150 Spendor SA1s. Guess what? I hated the Spendors (with tubes and solid state) in spite of a half dozen glowing reviews. I lived with the Spendors for a year and could not warm up to them. So one summer day, I walked into Stereo Exchange and listened to a pair of Totem Mites driven by a Prima Luna tube integrated (which I owned) and a McIntosh universal player. Fell in love with the Mites, even though I disliked every Totem I ever heard at a trade show. Go figure, but hey I thought that this should work out OK.

Get the Totems home and I can not recreate the magic. Why? Who really knows, but I may have hit on it a few months ago. I was playing the Stills Young Band's 'Long May You Run' on my different systems and it hit me like a brick ... there was absolutely no low end on the Totems. Over the years, I had grown very accustomed to having well reproduced bass as part of my listening experience (I owned AR 302's for 10 years ... 3 way speakers with 10 inch woofers) and had become less hooked on having only the best midrange possible. Also, adding a dedicated CD player (Emotiva), as opposed to using a universal player helped as well.

At the end of the day, know what you like and go after that with whatever your wallet can handle. Once you have been 'audiophiling' for awhile, you will find that whether you use your system every day or once a year, if you don't like the sound, you are not going to be happy.

And that is the challenge when looking at the budget overachievers.

Some words on the Dynaudio 2/6. I researched these speakers about half a dozen years or so ago. If my memory servers me correctly, there were 6 inch and 8 inch versions and they were modeled after Dynaudio's PRO speaker line. See this thread on the DM 2/6 .

@Bob ... thank you for the kind words. My dad owned a TV & Radio repair shop in Brooklyn. After 54 years, I am finally hearing what he was saying for all those years. If he were still around, he would have turned 90 last week.

Rich

The Totem Hawk is the best of the few Totems I have audition. Everytime over the course of 10 years and at 5 different locations, they sounded very good (and just right with a tincture of warmth), with outstanding imaging. I last heard them a few months ago in a small and cramped showroom, and the magic was there again. They actually outshown the Dynaudio 2/6, and the Rega RS-3. However, the very expensive Sonus Faber Guerini(monitor?) were better and crisper, and provided brick solid images.

I have been advised that the Forest speaker is/was the strength of the line, but like the Hawk, IMHO, grossly overpriced, which also jacks up their "used" ticket.

Overall, I disagree with Rich's comment on the first response. I think imaging is important to a speaker's task of conveying the musical event. The original large Advent was possibly the most tonally accurate speaker I have ever heard, but its imaging was almost non-existent, and highs were below adequate. Another vintage classic was the Rectilinear 3A, a large floorstander that was the easiest and one of the most musical, or euphonic speakers I have heard, but again imaging though better than the Advents was just adequate.

I think there are some "legit" budget masterpieces out there whose overachievement is often based on far exceeding the listener's expectations. I may say to myself "I can't believe 'that speaker' is capable of so much performance" I may be impressed and/or overimpressed, and that fills my satisfaction quotient....but that will only be temporary until one listens to say a "legitimately" good $1000-$1500 monitor, or a good $2000-$2500 floorstander that gives you exactly what you paid for. It may be just a well-designed "achiever", but it delivers quality sound with few limitations or faults.......Tricky business this audio hobby, but I guess that is why it is becomes obsessional.

If my 13-yr-old Wharfedale Diamond 7.3 2-way floorstanders are any indication (plus my initial impressions of the 1st-gen Diamonds 25 yrs ago), then I'd say the Diamonds have earned some of the hype. The Diamonds I've heard were fast, transparent, and evenly balanced. They sounded real enough to my 8-yr-old that he screamed once when the FM radio announcer's voice came over my Diamond 7.3's. It sounded like someone was in the room and it spooked him.

The 10.1 is probably a serious contender at $349, but it has serious competition in the Paradigm Titan and the lower cost PSB Alpha B1, and probably others.

Given that it's a powered monitor with a Heil-like tweeter, the new Emotiva Pro Airmotive.4 at $399 may be the better deal.