Home > Consumer Reviews > Wharfedale Diamond 8.1 Bookshelf Loudspeaker (Black Ash, pair)

I bought these speakers from the only record/music-store nearby within 100 kilometers. They were planned to be put as rear-speakers, on a shelf. I heard about the speakers from Wharfedale's official website, and read a couple of reviews. They seemed to offer a lot.

So, I was stunned by the clear sounding frequencies, and by the low price, so I decided to take a pair.

It's not only the sound, in my opinion, there is some style in the speakers too : cool yellow kevlar-element and almost everything on the look (quite modernish), through golden text to the excellent looking wood material. And for WHAT PRICE!

Excellent choice, value for money is excellent, but the speakers need some performance by your amplifier. Of course, try before buying. I can promise, you won't be disappointed.

I've owned my Wharfedale Diamond Wharfedale 8.1s for over a year now. I previously had Polk Audio RTi4s and Klipsch SB1s which I thought were both excellent speakers (though very different in sound). I have a range of amplifiers and receivers and what I observed is that the Diamond 8.1 really needs a good amp to drive it or you get the "muddy" or "weak" sound other reviewers have complained of. Good amp doesn't mean "high watts" it means high current capability and amplifier stability across the entire frequency range. "Lesser" amps will have a hard time driving the Diamond 8.1s particularly as the speakers' impedance drops (from an already low 6 ohms) at the bass and lower mid-range frequencies, thus creating a really difficult load for most amps. What amazed me is how much better the Diamond 8.1s sounded with each increase in amplifier capability. The other speakers I have didn't reveal such improvements. This suggests the Diamond 8.1s are simply more transparent and revealing than my Polks and Klipsch speakers. This speaker features high-end drivers which may account for its performance. Wharfedale obviously cut costs on the veneer, grill, etc. to keep the price low.

Some tweaks that may help improve the sound of these speakers even further:
(1) Remove the plates which connect the biwired terminals together and replace with a short length of decent quality cable (I happen to use Monster cable which is also the internal wiring). This should improve all aspects of the sound immediately.
(2) Bi-wiring the speakers or bi-amping the speakers can improve the audio "soundstage", but really, the quality of the electronics driving the speakers is far more important.

Overall, I think this speaker is an incredible value, but needs a great amp driving it to shine. It's ironic that such inexpensive speakers really should not be paired with budget amps or receivers. I hope everyone who owns these speakers is able to get as much enjoyment from them as I do.

I really like these little speakers. All wharfedale products I've ever owned have always been above par and always impressed anybody that heard them. After seeing bad reviews I was a little worried that they made a lemon, but the one thing that nobody mentions with these speakers is that there's a very long break in period. My old wharfedale atlantic 200's took about 100 hours to break in. After that the entire frequency range sounded much better, especially the midrange. I'm noticing the same thing with the diamond 8.1's. After 20 hours of hard use they've already been mistaken for the kenwood 15" floorstanders they're sitting on.

Below is my review of the 8.1's slightly bigger brother, the 8.2s which have a little extra bass but otherwise are very similar to these 8.1s --- the 8.1s are often said to have a more musical and accurate woofer/tweeter balance though. If you have a good subwoofer the 8.1s might well be the better choice and are even more amazingly affordable.

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For a long time I had a very low opinion of this speaker, having only heard at a friend's house who runs them off a very cheap Pioneer 414 receiver and has them positioned quite poorly. After discussing these speakers on an Internet audio forum (ecoustics dot com) I finally decided to borrow them from my friend for a week and hooked them up to my digital Panasonic sa-xr55 and then to my NAD separates.

VOILA!!! It was really like day and night compared to how they sounded in my friend's living room. Both my Panny and NAD are light years better than his one hundred thirty dollar Pioneer, and these Diamonds blossomed. Excellent imaging, warm lush midrange (vocals), solid bass, and nice big soundstage. In short, they had the presence of an entry-level floorstander but the midrange delicacy of a fine bookshelf speaker. The tweeter was not quite as precise as my Ascend Acoustics speakers' during treble peaks at high volumes (above 90db) but the Ascends are by far the best bang-for-your-buck audiophile speakers out there.

I suspect that a lot of the poor reviews around here came from people with similarly crappy receivers who are relatively new to audio and don't understand proper speaker placement and room acoustics. See, the Diamonds are 6 ohm impedance and low 86db sensitivity so they do need more high quality current than your typical 8 ohm, +90db mass-market speakers.

Note I did not say "watts per channel" since most manufacturers today hideously overinflate their RMS numbers especially for their cheap entry level models. (Harman Kardon, Marantz, and NAD are the most honest; Sony, Onkyo, and Yamaha are the least.)

Another key point is that like most audiophile speakers, these Wharfedales are not deliberately designed to accentuate the bass and treble while rolling off the midrange (the V-shaped equalizer curve commonly found in most kids' systems) like the kind of speakers commonly found in boomboxes and mini-stereos that are aimed at kids who usually listen to rock, rap, and dance music often in compressed MP3 formats or off FM radio. Audiophile speakers are aimed more at people who listen to jazz, classical, instrumental, or vocal-dominated music which all benefit from a more neutral frequency response and full-bodied midrange.

So if you're looking for speakers to blast AC/DC or Snoop Dog, I'd recommend JBL or Cerwin Vega instead. If not, these Wharfedales are an incredible steal at this price and should provide you with years of enjoyment. (You won't enjoy taking the grills on and off but very few people ever do that anyways, so relax.)

These speakers are a great value. I've had them about two years now. They would be good for aspiring audiophiles, except they require a really powerful (i.e. expensive) amp to drive them properly. I use an old NAD 7600 and really get wonderful results. They are faithful, with a pretty level response across the whole tonal range, and the imaging is good.

I wouldn't say they look "cheap", but some of the auxillary parts are flimsy compared to more expensive speakers. As primary stereo speakers, they're in the sub-audiophile range but still sound great and are fun to play with. I would definitely recommend them for anyone who's interested in hi-fi audio but not really sure if they're willing to spend the thousands of dollars necessary to get a real audiophile setup.