Home > Consumer Reviews > Wharfedale Diamond 8.3 Floorstanding Loudspeakers, Pair (Black Ash)

For the price, I truely believe you cannot beat a set of Wharfedale speakers. I considered purchasing the 8.4 model (the only difference is a second driver on each speaker), but for the small listening area I have, one driver per speaker, coupled with a good external powered subwoofer is more then enough. So, unless you're trying to power quite a large area, you should be fine with the more economical 8.3 model. The sound from these speakers is as excellent as the marketing materials claim, and they handle a lot of power with ease. I've bought all wharedale speakers to create my surround sound environment, and I'm much happier with the result than a lot of my friends who bought much more expensive all-Sony set-ups. In fact, some of my friends with much higher priced equipment have remarked that they wished they'd heard the wharfedale setup before blowing the extra money. Definitely a great buy!

I agree with James Michalak's review and give these speakers 4 stars. I was looking at surround sound speaker sets: either cubes and a sub or "real" speakers. I purchased the Wharfedale Diamond 8.3 towers, the Wharfedale Diamond centre, the Wharfedale Diamond 8.1's for the rear, and a Paradigm subwoofer.

I wanted our speakers to do double duty: movies and CD's. The speakers perform admirably in both. For the price the sound is superb; the highs and mids are crystal clear and the bass is punchy and fast.

It is true that you won't get copious amounts of bass from the 6.5 inch woofers. However, what you will get is accurate sound reproduction. Our music tastes range from AD/DC to jazz and classical. We can "crank" the volume to an almost uncomfortable level on our AC/DC and have ample bass, as can we on our classical, jazz etc. The key is to not adjust the bass control on the receiver beyond the mid or neutral point. Beyond that there is too much bass anyway. In addition, speaker placement makes a difference too. We experimented for a few days before finding the best distance from the corners and furniture.

Where the bass is somewhat inadequate is in surround sound movies, but then that is what the subwoofer is for. In the first two Lord of the Rings DVD's there are parts with deep and prolonged bass. Again the speakers can do the job, but they really benefit from the subwoofer for the lowest, house shaking lows.

In the end, you can probably buy cheaper, higher bass producing speakers than the 8.3's. However, what you gain in bass you may likely lose in accurate and clear sound. These are excellent consumer level speakers with a very reasonable price (in fact, all 6 speakers cost less than some of those cubes/subwoofer sets). If you don't want to take up huge floorspace with giant towers, but still want a quality sounding speaker, these speakers should be on your potential purchase list. The longer we have them, the better they sound.

By now most serious speaker shoppers have read some of the praise Wharfedale has garned regarding the retooling of its Diamond line of speakers. In my opinion, that praise has been well earned. Like all good speakers, the 8.3's posses the ability to reproduce recorded musical content accurately. However, the 8.3's ultimate strength lie in it's ability to produce a very wide and deep soundstage. Musical instruments seem to float in space without ever "wandering" or losing their correct position. Want a good demo? Listen to any track from Flim and the BB's "New Pants." Vocalists take on almost ghost-like attributes (you can hear'em, almost touch 'em, but you can't seem 'em). Dawn Upshaw's "I Could Write a Book" from her Rogers and Hart songbook is a great example of what the 8.3's can do with in this instance. You get the sense you're in a small club, maybe a table back from the stage. Close your eyes and you can see Miss Upshaw on stage. The tweeter has to take some credit here. It's capable of reproducing sound without being analytical. It simply reveals details better than many other speakers, some of which cost lots more.

I realize this is not a perfect world and the 8.3's are not perfect either. Their shortcomings? These are not big speakers. Not that big by itself means better. While they are capable of playing loud, they do have they're limits. They can be pushed too far and they're not too forgiving in this instance. To be fair though, these speakers are using only a six and half inch woofer and they do get the most from it.

Why four stars? They are not perfect, but I have to remind myself that these are really bookshelf speakers at heart and cost just [$$$]. Bottom line, used in the right location, with a good front end and not driven to extremes, the 8.3 is a winner. It's sure to deliver lots of musical satisfaction.

Actually, I just wanted to upgrade my Technics 770 mini-system to something more. And didn't wait anything great for such price... I bought pair of Wharfedale 8.3 for about $220. And was surprised on it's clear and strong sound (reciever Kenwood 8060). May be bass isn't enough for movies, but I think subwoofer can easily solve this problem. Movies are 5.1, aren't they :) I think it's really good choise for it's price segment.

P.S.: Sorry for terrible english, not my native language.

bought these when amazon had 'em [on sale]--inexplicably they went back up in price... For [the amoutn I paid], i can't complain, they're great as the left and right fronts for my home theater system (using a Yamaha HTR-5550 receiver, energy s8.2 sub, 2 cheapie KLH's for rears and a wharfedale diamond center channel). the manual is very skimpy, if that matters to you. the grill is pretty cheap and flimsy, as stated by others.
The sound is very rich, reproducing effective lows and highs. I'd highly recommend it...