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