Wharfedale Sapphire 89 Floorstanding Speakers Reviews

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Not sure of year of issue, but I wanted to comment on the sound. I have a pair of Klipsch Forte's here that are fantastic speakers. These are next to them, and I can't tell which one I prefer. That's how good these are, much different from the Klipsch sound. These will reward you only when proper care is taken. It took a few hours to find the right cables, and combinations to help these a bit, but the only issue to look for really is the midrange honk at loud volumes. These can be slightly modded I understand for better sound in that area. Overall, despite the somewhat lackluster cabinet trim quality, these can be amazing speakers when setup correctly and matched with the right components. Long and narrow, with a nice footprint, they image well, and can put out a huge sound. Just takes good equipment and a good recording.

Price Paid:  $650.00 from online

Summary:
These speakers are a well kept secret. Though extremely good speakers, they have not been well marketed/advertised by Wharfedale of Great Britain. Even after a year of listening to them I cannot believe how MUCH I got for so LITTLE money. They are not small tower speakers and they are heavy....guess they must be heavy to keep them from physically moving around with the deep, clear, rich, concert hall-like BASS they deliver so effortlessly. Though I have a JBL sub...it is really not needed. I've turned the sub crossover really way down so the sub only produces just the deepest bass. Turning the sub off sometimes makes no difference in the overall effect. Mids and highs are clear, concise and beautiful. I replaced a Bose AM-7 system with these. Liked then so much, I bought a matching Wharfedale Sapphire center speaker and Wharfedale Diamonds for the rear surrounds. While music is my passion, I also use these wonderful speakers for Home Theater....WOW!!! Again....WOW!! Without exception, these are finest sounding speakers I've heard under $3000.00. My system is all SONY ES (mega-bucks at my level) and these Sapphire 89's do not hold any component back from its full potential. Can you get better speakers? Sure. If you are an audiophile, you would not want these...they don't cost enough. But if you agree that Value equals Quality divided by Price, there is no greater speaker value on the planet.

Strengths:
Where does all that BASS come from? Stylish appearance. Outstanding soundstage (close your eyes and try to find the speakers). Classy looking!!

Weaknesses:
Speaker grills are delicate but if you are careful you will not have any problems with them. Just leave them on or take them off....don't "play" with them. Of note, removing the grills reveals a finely designed appearance that appears to be made for no grill covering. COOL!!

Similar Products Used:
Acoustic Research AR2ax's, Sansui 3500's, Klipsch kg4's, Bose AM-7's

Price Paid:  $400.00 from ubid

Summary:
Let me start by saying that unlike alot of reviews that ive read i wasnt to skeptical about these speakers. The reasoning behind that is that i had listened to a set of modus 1.6s and heard to another set of opal 100s,so i knew that the brand name was respectable. I'f i did have any worries it was the fact that i had not heard any of the speaker from this particular model.When i recieved my pair of SP-89s right away i was worried the sticker on the side of the box said made in china,now with a toaster that wouldnt have bothered me but the mains in my home stereo system o-boy.So out of the box they came,after hooking them up and driving them not too hard for about 12hrs i thought id push them a little,so i turned it up,once i clipped past number 40 on the dial(sublime)i had a little reverberation on the bass drivers and i thought made in china ha ha.But i then approached the owner of the 1.6s and he told me give them time, best suggestion i could have gotten.These speakers got better day after day soon the depth of these babies just started opening up enourmously.Ive had them now for about 2 years and couldnt be happier with there range highs are high lows are really deep.So i hope that if any of you out there were thinking the made in China thing was a reason not to buy these dont my thoughts initially were the same. In the year 2000 they moved there production of Wharfedales to China,mine were made there, but that hasnt seem to have any effect on my friends opinion who owns a british made pair of modus 1.6s,he made the statment the other day "I Think these sound better than mine".To close this up these speakers are well made period.(besides the Crappy grilles of course but im sure you could find speakers for $400.00 with grilles that rate a 10 but then they would probably sound like crap, but they would fit nice)(SP-89 true blue drivers)Yamaha rx-v990 reciever,not Bi-amped YET.............

Strengths:
clairity,deep bass,price and not alot of people know how good they really are!

Weaknesses:
Grilles,grumpy old lady cause there too loud......

Similar Products Used:
Jbl,Klipsch

Price Paid:  $420.00 from Ebay

Summary:
These are the true quality speakers, sound is so good you won't believe it you paid only $400-500 for them. Build quality very good also. I'm using for music and Home theatre setup and couldn't be better. Thanks Wharfedale

Strengths:
Sound and build quality (Heavy speakers)

Weaknesses:
Nothing so far

Similar Products Used:
Polk,Pioneer

Price Paid:  $99.00 from Ubid

Summary:
I bought my Wharfedale Sapphire 93 speakers from Ubid back in July after my purchase of the Emerald 97's. I was so impressed with the Emeralds that I decided to try the Sapphire 93 for hopefully bigger bass. I was delightfully surprised. The Sapphire's are incredible! oustanding sound at all levels and plenty of bass (work fine without the sub). I ended up moving the emeralds into my office and currently use the Sapphires in my home theater room. If you are considering new home theater speakers, you can't go wrong with Wharfedale. The price is so reasonable for outstanding sound reproduction and the best thing of all is You spouse won't whine after hearing them.

Strengths:
Everything!!

Weaknesses:
Both grills were tough to install, I'm not going to dare taking them off for fear of having to put them back on.

Similar Products Used:
NHT, Bose, Kenwood