Summary: I stole these!Evidentally not too many people have heard of Wharfedale.When I saw the Ebay listing and they were only 10 miles from my house,I knew I could pick them up for a good price and not have to hassle with a huge shipping charge.I couldn't believe it when the auction ended and I saw that I had won them for so little.I'd heard good things about them but had never listened to them.I was completely floored by the sound.I have a nice Denon receiver and what I thought was a really nice pair of Infinity speakers but these put them to shame.Unbelievable warmth and clarity,I have never heard anything so clear.When I turn up the volume,they just get LOUDER!The highs don't get "tinny"and the lows don't break up.The only thing that made me happier was when I sold the old Infinity speakers for $110.00 and realized that my upgrade had only cost me $25.00!
Strengths: Clarity,throughout the whole sound spectrum.Very solid cabinets with a baffle seperating the woofer from the mid and tweeter.Very tight bass.
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Summary: These are amazing! You unpack these and are immediately excited about the beauty of the real cherry wood finish. But the sound is even more beautiful.I recently upgraded to a pair of Emerald 99s.Most of my listening is 2 channel stereo.Both the 97s and 99s represent the very best bang for the buck value I have ever encountered! My Cherry Wood Emerald 97s are in absolutely MINT condition and can be purchased if anyone is interested!Email.... thebiggerthebetter@adelphia.net
Strengths: Beautiful build quality...Warm High end Audiophile quality sound!!
Weaknesses: None at this price level!!
Similar Products Used: jbl s310s,dcm timeframe..
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Summary: This is for the Emerald 99s. I happened across these fine speakers on ebay. I had been looking to upgrade, and these caught my eye. Did my homework, read the reviews and took the plunge. I must say that I am pleasantly surprised, and even more impressed that I was able to steal these for $200.00 The finish is rosewood, very pretty and real wood, construction and details are excellent. Gold plated binding posts with bi-wire capability (another surprise). These speakers deserve the best source you can provide, and love high current amps. Sound reproduction is effortless, clarity is outstanding, frequency response is very good. I have found that bi-wiring these puppies will open up the high end considerably for those who prefer electric music with an edge, but for primarily acoustic I prefer the smoother, mellow effect of single cables. The midrange performance of the 99s are incredible either way, vocals will reach right out and grab you. Bass response is very good, not earth shattering but sufficient for you 2 channel enthusiasts.I will say that placement is critical for the Emeralds, don't hesitate to experiment with creating the soundstage you prefer. I listen to most of my music CD direct, that is, bypass mode thru the pre-amp, no tone controls. These speakers will make you love a well mastered recording, or on the flip side, wonder just what the recording engineer was thinking.
Strengths: Value - impressive quality for the money
Midrange - Vocal and instrument clarity
Eye candy - a beautifully finished cabinet
Weaknesses: Placement critical, slightly directional.
Getting hard to find, what a shame...
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Rating Reviewed by: Ed (Unregistered User)
(Audio Enthusiast)
Review Date September 3, 2003
Overall Rating 5 of 5
Value Rating 5 of 5
Used product for 1 to 3 months
Visitors rate this review 4.20 of 5,
5.00 votes
Review 4 of 68
Price Paid:
$30000.00
from UBID
Summary: This is for the Emerald 99's. Got these from ubid in 2 days! Cost was $300.00 including shipping! I have these pups bi-wired into a Denon 3803, passing thru a stage 2 power conditioner plugged into a hospital grade outlet. Yes, one needs decent and clean power because garbage in turns into garbage out. Oh, on the wife factor. She yelled to get those d... things out of her family room when she first saw the size. But, I had a some of her favorite CD's and after a couple hours she had a satisfied look on her face (nirvana, I think). She turn and exclaimed, sweet mother of jesus, oh my dear god, I am hearing things I have never heard before. Neither had I, but the wife has been claiming she was tone deaf until she heard these speakers. The best bang for the buck I have ever spent. Mids and highs are great and I got the sub for the lows one needs for movie soundtracks. Have I heard better? Sure, for a couple of thou! And yes, I have spent my fair share of time in listening rooms going over numerous speaker brands. Break-in period was 50 hours just like advertised and only getting better.............
Strengths: mids and highs with great presence
Weaknesses: size, but I moved into a large house and was able to "give away" the Bose.
Similar Products Used: Bose, AR's, Infinity, Pioneer, Sony, Wharfedale
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Summary: I take the reviews here rather seriously as I believe this is the place where people give honest opinions about value for money. Hence I decided to invest $265 into a pair of speakers I had not auditioned before but $265 was not a big risk anyway and I thought they could be sold on ebay at a 20% loss.
Well they are definitely not going anywhere. I replaced my Klipsch RF3s with Diamond 7.2s because i felt the Klipsch was totally unmusical. My first impressions were that the speakers definitely lacked Bass and that they needed time to break in. I gave them a good 100 hours of break-in and now they are indespinsible. What stuck me was the clarity in the mids and highs. Pardon the cliche but I was definitely hearing things that I hadn't heard before. The low end had definitely improved. While I agree with Wharfedale's statement about placing these speakers anywhere I do believe that placing them appropriately definitely improves stereo imaging and bass response. The clarity of vocals on these speakers is amazing. I listen to a lot of vocal jazz and classical music and this speaker is made for jazz and classical music. Instruments come across in all their purity at you. The bass is nice and tight as intended for jazz and similar genre of music.
Lastly for all the rap or similar fans, you would definitely need a sub with these speakers and you'd defintely need one for movies. My sub now blends with these towers better than with my Diamond 7.2s. Anyway, I would defintely recommend these speakers to anybody.
Finally a word about the build quality. IMPRESSIVE! I have these in Cherry and the trim and finish is A-1. How in hell can they sell these speakers with the finish and components and cabinets that cheap?
Strengths: Excellent mids and highs with tight bass response and not too tall or bulky for a tower. Excellent build quality rivalling speakers 4-6 times its cost.
Weaknesses: I don't know if this is a weakness per se but you dedfintely need a sub but I also needed a sub with my Klipsch RF-IIIs.
Similar Products Used: Klipsch RF-3s, Diamond 7.2s.
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