Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
These are great speakers and you can pick them up cheap now that there is a new range of Diamond 10s out.
The best thing about them is mid and high frequency clarity, which is awesome. Lyrics of songs suddenly come through clearly, movie dialogue is the same.
They also have strong bass and very taut lower mids.
A word of warning though. You need a powerful and slightly warm amp to get the best out of them. I ran them for a year with a Pioneer A9 and found the transparency of the amp combined with the high frequency clarity of the Diamond 9.6s meant light and bright sound - not fatiguing, but lacking presence somehow. This might be why some reviewers suggest a sub to go with them.
I recently picked up a Marantz PM7200 and the extra power (it is 95 watts at 8 ohms compared with the pioneer's 50 watts) plus Marantz warmth has brought the Diamonds to life. No sub needed, just the willpower not to stay on the sofa listening to music all day.
Love them

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I purchased these directly from the distributor for $425 shipped brand new. One of the drivers voice coils were damaged and they overnighted me a replacement - very good customer service. Sound Import, LLC :)

My initial impressions of the speakers were OK at best - the reason being : I only had a 80wpc RECEIVER to power these. I immediately started looking for better amplifiers. I went through 4 different amplifiers before I finally found the one to match these speakers properly.

With the right amplifier (in my case the Emotiva UPA-2) these speakers really begin to shine. One area that the amp really seemed to have a major role in was twofold. 1 - The Bass, 2 - Soundstage. All of the amps showed the speakers ability to create an image of what was where, but the soundstage was VERY amp dependent. I will be most likely upgrading to the XPA-2 as I feel the UPA-2 (125x2) doesn't give these the BASS that I know they can have. You will really enjoy this speaker with any Emotiva AMP.

I also highly suggest getting a good 'flagship' DAC - preferrably one that is known for producing a good soundstage and/or forward sounding - this will really awaken a relativly laid back speaker like the Wharfedales. And an AMP that is known for a good soundstage will only multiply the imaging and 3D sound that makes expensive speakers cost so damn much!

For the price - these are an AMAZING speaker WHEN matched with the right equipment, they really will deliver for years to come. I only recommend going seperates; and if you buy right - trust me when I say you will not be dissapointed.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I purchased the Diamond 9.6 to replace a pair of Mission 34i's. They are finished in Cherry Vinyl Wrap which looks good, if a touch pinky red in colour. I paid £352GBP and I simply regard them as the BEST speakers I have ever owned! (I have been retired for 5 years now!) They look superb for the money,and after a few hours of running in for a couple of days they now SOUND Superb as well. Initially they were rather light weight, but now provide me with outstanding renditions of Classical Music (Orchestral, Choral and Solo Organ ) The sound is satisfyingly Warm and even tempered in the Treble,Rich in the Bass, and clear on Vocals in the Midrange . I do have a Subwoofer to augment the Bass - a Focal - JM Labs SW 700,also finished in Cherry Vinyl Wrap. I have had the Sub for 5 years, and would not part with it. It only comes in when playing solo Organ Works with plenty of Pedal Notes,and integrates Beautifully with the Wharfedale 9.6's. I have set the output frequency to 80Hz on my Denon AV 1909 Receiver ,and also on the JM Labs Sub. TheWharfedale 9.6's are a very worthwhile upgrade from my Focal JM Labs 715 Chorus Two and a Half Way main Speakers (now sold! )
On Balance of Sound Quality,Price, Finish and Aesthetics, I cannot recommend the Wharfedale Diamond 9.6 Speakers Highly enough!!

Price Paid:  $716.00 from ebay

Summary:
Purchased these to replace another pair of Wharfedales (Modus 1.6) that's a fine speaker in itself but I wanted a little more midrange. I had no way of auditioning a pair down here in my neck of the woods as Bjorns Audio is not a Wharfedale dealer. Unpacked them when they arrived there was a hole big enough to put my hand in and the styrofoam inside the boxes were virtually destroyed. How they escaped with just a small crunch on the corner of the base is beyond me! (thanks FedEx). The finish is better than I expected for this price range. They are slightly taller and wider than the Modus 1.6's also. Some of this new sound may be attributed to some other changes I made at the same time. Replaced my Adcom gfp-565 preamp with their gfp-750 model and replaced the general store rca's and speaker wire with all Dayton Audio interconnects, speaker cables and coax cable. The rest of my system consists of Parasound cdp-1000 transport and dac-1000 (op627 opamps, clock, voltage regulator, 24bit/96khz chip), 2 Adcom 545 amps (bi-amped), 555 amp running a 15" DBX sub, DBX 120x-ds (xover for sub) and DBX 2015 eq.
Out of the box they sounded terrible!! I was in shock. First though is something must be damaged internally due to rough shipping. Hoping for the best I let them play at a moderate level whilst I went to work for the next week. The sound got better and better by the day! Now they sing. The clarity in the midrange is dramatically better than my Modus 1.6's. Maybe the gfp-750 has something to do with it but I'm sure the speakers have something to do with it also. Treble is smooth and crisp, voices have a good sound without being "boomy", and the bass is fast and suprisingly deep for such a small driver. The two bass drivers must be crossed over at different points because you can actually hear vocals coming out of the top woofer and nothing but bass out of the lower one. For general listening I had to cut my sub off as it is not necessary anymore! Wynton Marsalis "the Majesty of the blues" and Harry Connick jr "Red light, blue light" are now stunning! I can't believe this is my stereo! The only downfall is now cd's that sounded bad before REALLY sound bad now. I've had more different brands of speakers and in different price ranges but I'm keeping these for a while.

Strengths:
Smooth sound of silk, good vocals, not boomy, no case resonance, a set of black chrome spikes included with speakers.

Weaknesses:
At this time and this price point, none whatsoever.

Similar Products Used:
Magneplanar MMG
Klipsch RF-5
Klipsch KG-2 w. SW8 sub
EPI floorstanders
JBL L100s
Wharfedale Modus 1.6
Infinty SM-120 etc. etc.

Price Paid:  $300.00 from Second Hand

Summary:
I bought these used for about 300 a pair. For that price, there is no comparison to these speakers. I owned a pair of Wharfedale 8.4 and these are definately a step up. Although I am no a fan of listening to music at loud volumes, I assure you these can play loud with easy. Presently I have them hooked up to a Parasound Amp/Pre-Amp feeding them 125 watts/ch -- And they sound absolutely amazing. The mids and the highs are exceptional. The bass I must say is very good, but I still feel that they should be supplemented with a sub (only for the absolute lowest frequencies). If your looking for great sound for the money, I think nothing else compares. i would highly recommend these speakers to anyone.

Strengths:
Excellent on the Mids and Highs,

Weaknesses:
Personally, I feel they should be complimented with a subwoofer.