New speakers at last

[matth]

Aftre many months of research, soul searching and pleading with my wife for funding I purchased some new speakers last night...

Whafedale Diamond 8.3 x 2
Whafedale Diamond 8.1 x 2
Whafedale Diamond Centre x 1

All for the princely sum of $999 Australian... RRP = $1697 !!!

I know they are not audiofile stuff, but at that price and after reading som many good reviews on the Diamond series I just couldn't resist.

After what seemed like an eternity (actually 2-3 hours) whilst we fed, bathed and put to bet the kids I unpacked the speakers and wired them up - the first item to be played was U2 Live at Sloan Castle (DTS) and all I can say is WOW !!!

Considering the speakers are not broken in and I have yet to play with speaker locations, mass loading the sound was fantastic - I heard things in the sound track that I have missed all this time - Bono's voice was just so much clearer and defined - the soundstage so much better.

Next was a John Butler CD (Australian accoustic / rock guitar ) in 2 channel and I was blown away yet again - accoustic guitar through the 8.3's is fantastic, and his voice really came out... almost as good as being there for a live acoustic session.

I know I've been raving, but I just have to say that if you are on a limited budget (what family man isn't) these speakers are just fantastic... even when hooked to budget receivers like my Sony.

Give them a try...

http://www.area450.com/homecinema/speakers.htm

[nick4433]

"I know they are not audiofile stuff, but at that price and after reading som many good reviews on the Diamond series I just couldn't resist"

Wharfedale speakers are one of the sweetest sounding speakers I've heard and I do own the Emerald 97s. I have had speakers from Energy, Klipsch, Misssion, PSB and I can tell that the Emeralds are the most musical speakers I've ever owned. They are an absolute steal for the money and I am surprised that they are not that popular.

[markw]

I know they are not audiofile stuff, but at that price and after reading som many good reviews on the Diamond series I just couldn't resist.

Enjoy. In spite of what some would have you believe, you CAN get some remarkably good sound for a comparatively low price, if you shop carefully.

Over here in the states, we're learning that some of the best, fairly priced sound comes from north of the border in Canada from such manufacturer's as Paradigm, PSB, the API group, etc.... Different families with varying prices and, depending on ones taste, quite good sound that rivals other brands costing much more.

FWIW, I still have (and like) my Wharfedale W40C's, which I picked up in '67 running in a secondary system.

Enjoy...