Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I just got this brand new off eBay for an insane price. Unbelievable value they sound clear, good concise bass, smooth highs, nothing to complain about specially at this price. they feel the room wonderfully and I no problems with listening fatigue so far. I use an AMC 50w amplifier which is just decent and they still sound very good. they look good as well very nice build quality for the price, the Kevlar drivers look awesome. all in all very recommended.

wjack

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I've only had the Wharfedale Diamond 9.5's for just over 2 weeks, but I think they are a very enjoyable speaker to listen to. I've heard other people mention that British speakers have a laid back sound, and I'd have to agree on that with these Wharfedales. They have a laid back and smooth sound. They have a very good soundstage, and the bass while not window rattling, is very lively and tight. I've heard the name Wharfedale for many years, but never got the chance to listen to any, and now that I own a pair I'm glad I got them.

Asellus

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I bought these on special offer, from an Auckland Hifi Shop which was having an opening special. I've always kept an eye out for HIFI equipment being reduced, as I feel the enjoyment factor is increased if you don't pay top dollar for the latest and greatest.Additionally, for some reason, Wharfedale's, here in New Zealand seem to be heavily discounted, where other reputable speaker brands aren't to the same extent.
Anyway, I was looking for a relatively cheap replacement for my Bookshelf Energy 2.1 e speakers; the "pocket rockets". Not that there's anything wrong with these, but I've always felt a set of Floorstanders look like "real" speakers, and as my experience and enjoyment of HIFI equipment grows I felt the time had come to upgrade to the real deal.
First of all I auditioned a pair of Missions, I don't know the model but it was their entry level set at around $1200 NZ. Even though I've always fancied the Mission sound from auditions in the past, this time I was un-moved. There was little seperation from the voice from the orchestra on the demo disc, and I didn't get those hairs standing on your neck that you get when you listen to something you like.
By chance I happened to lean on a carton, and saw the price of the Diamond 9.5 reduced from $1199 to $399! At this price I just had to have a listen.
Even though I was standing way off axis from the centre stereo spot, I could immediately tell a vast improved as soon as the Diamond's were plugged into the NAD AMP and CD. The sound was "bigger", "fuller" and the seperation between the various elements in the mix much easier to pick out.
They look pretty good too, very slim, easy on the eye and the curved sides look very cool. Much like a piece of furniture in their own right.
So, how do they sound? Pretty darned good! I am running a Creative X-FI sound card, into a Yamaha RX 396 2 channel stereo receiver, and immediately after plugging them in at home, I was immediately impressed! The first thing that strikes you with a floortander is the bigger sound, you get glimpses of the "air" around instruments and the vastness of the auditorium. Stereo imaging is excellent, the sound, rather than being "funnelled" at you like a megaphone, comes from behind the speakers like a wall of sound. The advantages of this is you can play your music a lot louder, and for longer without getting ear ache or listening fatigue.Thus, this speaker has great "depth". A kind of 3D sound compared to a 2D sound you tend to get with cheaper Bookshelf and stand mounted speakers
No doubt contributing to these smooth sounding speakers, is the silk dome tweeter. Voices are silky smooth, maybe a little too smooth, as I find I have to turn the treble up to 10 past to get the high's where I like them. A boon on my sound card, is the 24 bit Crysalliser which adds a short dynamic surge to transients, such as cymbal crashes. Set to 5% this gives the Diamond's just a tad more "kick" to their rich, deep presentation.
So what's bad. Well nothing really. Ok they are not the most detailed speaker They would be a great match for smoothing out a bright sounding system At $399NZD these are a steal, and even at their full retail of $1199NZD they would be worth it, but I would compare the competition, such as Mission and Energy much more closely.But if you shop around more carefully you can get them for a round $599 in Auckland, and at that price, there's simply nothing that can touch them.

Josh with speakers

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.67 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $300.00 from Harvey Norman (New Z

Summary:
As a casual listener I wouldn't know what I was talking about if I went on about transperancy etc as do the evidently 'audiophiles' who have posted the other reviews about the Diamond 9.5s... all I know is what my ears tell me. I've always loved listening to my widely varied range of music on qulaity equipment - the term quality is obviously relative to your budget and your basis for comparison, in my case these speakers represent the most amazing quality I could have ever hoped for! As a responsible spouse I couldn't justify spending more than what I did on my sound system (translate to: she wouldn't let me spend anymore) so I bought what my ears told me were the best speakers for the best price. Regardless of the crazy clearance price I was fortunate enough to purchase these speakers at, these are without a doubt the best speakers around for the price - even at their recommended retail. To give you an idea of what I paid for them, their original retail price was $AU999 - which equates to about $NZ1100. I paid NZ $1000 for the whole 5.1 set (diamond 9.1 surrounds, SW150 sub and matching centre). This of course means that I got a sweet deal - as we would say locally. Little did know exactly what a good bargain I had got. Being a technophile I of course researched (i.e. google) the best way to care for new speakers with regard to running them in. Come to think of it, Wharfedale's user manual explained how to run them in properly, isn't that considerate of them? :-) I digress. After running in the speakers I decided I would test their capability with the 2001 space odyssey - sunrise theme (a classic!).
Well, what can I say? I believe the tears in my eyes said it all... I had indeed made very wise choice. Another tear jerker was the THX clip you get just before StarWars Ep3 - just amazing. Who would have thought I could get that much pleasure from my ears! Hahahaha.

Strengths:
Exacellent quality packaging. Excellent wire terminals - gold plated and bi-wire support. Every review I've read on the internet has nothing but praise for these speakers, especially at the price you pay for them. They look great too, the curved design is asthetically pleasing and the 'rosewood' veneer finish happened to match my new coffee table and end table perfectly, lucky me! These guys perform at twice their price range.

Weaknesses:
Call me biased, I can't fault them. Other websites reviews have only faulted them on things that you can live with for their price range.

Similar Products Used:
No real basis for comparison. Coming from HTIB type systems to being allowed (thank you dear) to finally buy something decent, this is like getting out of a minivan into a Mustang GT.

MatsudaMan

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $480.00 from AudioAdvisor

Summary:
I preface these comments with an explanation of what my tastes are in hifi: First of all, my number one priority is musicality. I could give a rats !@# how "neutral" a speaker is unless it sounds good! I've heard many speakers that look great on paper (ie. they're flat as a ruler) but sound just plain bad. If a speaker doesn't make me smile, I don't give it second and move on.

I purchased these speakers after listening to and auditioning many other floorstanders from companies such as Monitor Audio, Triangle, PSB, Paradigm, and others. I felt and still feel that the wharfedales offer a smooth and elegant sound that can't be matched be many at it's price range. While they aren't the most revealing speaker in the world, they offer a sound that never gets old or fatiguing, and a reasonably transparent sound. I think the biggest strength that this speaker has to offer is depth and scale to recordings - they play loud and give a great sense of size. Also, they offer incredible dynamics . When they're is a sudden dynamic shift in the music, they are totally willing and capable. Treble is clear and never crashy or overly detailed.

You will want good components to match the quality of the Diamonds. For example when I first had them, I paired them with a NAD c352 and Cambridge Audio D500se - that sounded pretty good. Later I got an Atoll in100 integrated and Arcam cd73 and wow was I blown away. They do need quite a bit of power to bring them to their potential.

If you want a speaker for under a thousand dollars that you can really listen to for hours at a time, these are definitely worth an audition.

Strengths:
Smooth sound, great scale/depth/dynamics, never fatiguing, affordable, get better with better sources and ams.

Weaknesses:
No the most revealing, big, need a fair amount of power

Similar Products Used:
monitor audio, paradigm, psb, B&W