Home > Consumer Reviews > Wharfedale Diamond Anniversary Bookshelf Speakers, Real Oak Veneer (Pair)

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.