Wharfedale Diamond 8 Speakers

Clearly a Super Value

by Mike McGann

For decades, we former colonists have managed to revere speakers from the old mother country, seeing them as models of precision and workmanship.Serious audiophiles at minimum acknowledge this, and in some cases, slobber embarrassingly all over themselves at the thought of British woofers. Not without reason, mind you, as I have exhibited my share of lust for the likes of B&W, Monitor Audio, Mission and so on over the years.

Wharfedale, which points out quite proudly its status as the top selling speaker line in the U.K., seems quite determined to get the attention of we Yanks. Instead of going for the obvious high-end speaker systems Wharfedale uses to battle its countrymen here and on the continent, we decided to look at a system, the Diamond 8 Series, designed to scare the bejeezus out of some of those brands you might find during a stroll through Best Buy or Circuit City. At a retail cost of $750, we scored four full-size monitors and a full-size center channel. A sub, of course, is extra, but I happened to have my Monitor Audio ASW 100 sub, which is a good match from a price and performance standpoint. Wharfedale does make a fairly similar sub, the Topaz SW 10, which costs $399, the same as its Monitor counterpoint.

As full-size monitor speakers, Wharfedale manages an immediate benefit over the smaller mini-monitor speakers found in this price range. With more interior volume, bass and mid-bass come much more easily. A quick look at the Diamond 8.2 monitor reveals a surprisingly hip look, somewhat akin to the much more expensive Infinity Interlude. Until you pick it up, that is.

While the Wharfedales use standard multi-density fiberboard construction, the material appears thinner and much lighter than virtually any other like-sized monitor I’ve reviewed in the last couple of years. Generally speaking, the stiffer a speaker enclosure is, the better the sound is, which was an immediate concern for me before listening. I’m willing to bet that the Diamond 8.3 towers, $50 more a pair, are a bit better behaved and probably a wise investment if your setup can accommodate towers.

Using a single 6 1/2-inch kevlar driver and a one-inch soft dome tweeter, the 8.2 ($299 a pair) is designed for bookshelf use, with a front port. Wharfedale suggests that they sound better when placed close to the wall.

The Diamond center ($199) has twin 5 1/2-inch kevlar drivers, with a single one-inch tweeter in the center. Rear ported, this center probably shouldn’t live in an enclosed environment. All of the Diamonds have gorgeous bi-wirable rear binding posts, looking very out of place on a speaker of this price range. Like the Infinitys, these are available in black and a bronze and maple finish, which is what we received. The fit and finish appear to be at least a step above what you’d find elsewhere in this price range. On the downside, the grills are kind of flimsy and are, in my opinion, best discarded, for both sonic and visual reasons.

As one might expect with kevlar woofers (kevlar is used in police bulletproof vests and racing cars because of strength and lightness), it took some time for them to break in suitably. Out of the box, there was little in the way of bass, and mid-bass was weak. High frequencies were pretty ragged.

An impatient person might have wanted to run these back to the store for a refund, despite the very moderate cost. As one used to the care and feeding of British speakers, I knew patience was a virtue. At first, I had to set the crossover on the sub as high as 140 Hz to remove the gap in bass and mid-bass. Slowly, I was able to slide it down, finally settling at about 60 Hz, as the 8.2s found their bass extension. With time, too, the tweeter became less shrill and settled into more ear-friendly behavior.

I tested the Diamonds with Rotel’s new RSX-972 receiver, reviewed elsewhere in this issue. Starting as usual with audio content, I popped Natalie Merchant’s Tiger Lily DVD-Audio into the player. In general, I was pleased with the result. Detail was above average and soundstage was nearly as good as I’ve come to expect from far more expensive speakers. As I pushed the volume up, above an average of 90 dB measured at my listening position, about eight feet from the front three speakers, sound quality began to deteriorate and become more harsh. Below that level, I found them to be generally pleasing, with good mid-range.

Better yet was the performance with stereo material. At volumes below 90 dB, soundstage was excellent. Listening to Mark Knopfler’s Sailing To Philadelphia, I was impressed at the detail of acoustic guitar and how well centered Knopfler’s vocals were. Much the same was true listening to Joe Jackson’s Night & Day II. All of the rich detail of the album shone through, as long volumes were kept below a certain level.

Even high frequency material, such as Vivaldi managed to hang together quite well. On my usual litmus test, Freddie Mercury’s vocals in “Somebody To Love” from Queen’s under-appreciated album, A Day At The Races, his soaring vocals, which have been the downfall of a number of tweeters, shone through, although they too became ragged as the volume climbed from 90 dB.

Even after a week’s break-in, the Diamond 8s continued to mellow, although at a slower pace. Some of the rough edges observed at loud volumes may become less of an issue, although I suspect that at least some of the problems are caused by the less-than-sturdy enclosures. I also wonder whether a rear porting design might help to take some of the pressure off the less substantial materials used for the enclosure.

Moving onto home theater applications, where dynamic range is a bigger issue, I worried about the Wharfedale’s ability to keep it together, especially during explosions and space battles.

Generally speaking, they performed better than I expected, although at times, the going got a little rough. Detail was good, though. During the opening sequence of Dances With Wolves, all of the effects steering sounded solid (not surprising with four identical speakers) and the dialogue was clear and intelligible. I was less delighted with the Borg battle scene from Star Trek: First Contact. As the Rotel pumped out explosions, the Wharfedales seemed to have trouble at times keeping up and some of the mid-bass sounds sounded a bit murky, especially in contrast to the bass pumping out of the sub. As volume levels increased, dialogue became a bit fuzzier, although again, it remained intelligible.

If it seems like I’ve pointed out a lot of flaws, you have to keep in mind the price of these speakers. My comparisons are speaker systems that cost two to three times as much. If compared to the little systems, or worse, paper driver speakers out there in the same price, the Wharfedales are nothing short of stellar. Unlike the tiny mini-monitors, these are solidly full-range and completely capable down to 40 Hz or so. As such, you could happily use a single pair for your stereo listening room.

An awful truth about home theater is that not everyone can afford to drop two or three thousand dollars on a speaker system. At less than $1,100 with the proper sub, these offer a great value. I can think of a number of systems, for a lot more money, that don’t sound nearly as good, look nearly as good or are as solidly built. Wandering the aisles of Circuit City or Best Buy, you can find a lot of them. Wharfedales are a bit harder to find, although a number of specialty retailers carry them. You can also order them directly from the company, via its Web site.

If you’re in the market for new, moderately priced speakers, make sure you listen to these. You can go with the herd and buy any number of speakers you see in the Sunday newspaper supplements, or you can chart your own direction and find something far more interesting from across the sea.

Are the Diamond 8s perfect? No, of course not. But they represent an excellent value for the money and a taste of premium speaker performance for a fraction of the cost.



Diamond 8.2 $299/a pair

Diamond 8 center $199.

www.iagamerica.com