Laid back, excellent sound
sleek curved cabinetry
price!

-Vinyl venner (at this price though it is quite good)
-annoying British banana plug blocking caps on binding posts that have to be
removed

These speakers are a wonderful budget speaker. The highs are softer due to the silk dome tweeter, but still very clear and snappy. the midrange is where these speakers truly shine. the 2" soft dome midrange drivers deliver excellent sound for their price point. the two eight inch drivers are another high point as they are ported differently to low midrange and mid bass on the top woofer and low midbass to deep bass (28 hz) on the lower driver. These speakers also possess a rare attribute, these bass is equal to the rest of the sonic range when powered by a suitable amp(better than 150w). they can play quite deep effectively, thus when listening to music they will satisfy all but the bassaholics wthout a subwoofer. all four drivers blend together for a warm sound that can be played to exceptionally loud levels without being fatigueing. however, these speakers do not shine when played with very harsh material (IE metal), they shine beautifully when tasked with rock through classical though. they image very well for their price point and they blend with other speakers very well due to their laid back delivery. the cabinets are snappy in shape with the curved side panels, and the venner is very good for vinyl. I have seen better vinyl venners but never at this price point. The base plinths are a nice touch also, as they do help in distancing the tower from the floor to help minimize annoying floor vibrations that bring one out of the music. I would enthousiastically recommend these speakers for budget audiophiles who listen to any but the harshest material

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Martin logan Aerius i

Effortless, clean bass, natural mids, dynamic highs; good imaging; abundance of "musicality".

Cabinet fake veneer; soundtsage deep but does not extend much laterally.

For the last 20 years I’ve lived with a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 1s--the original Diamond bookshelf wonders. Sweet midrange, imaging, and uncannily musical. However, no top or bottom, and short on bite and transient detail. An upgrade was overdue by about 15 years. I listened to Focal JM Lab’s Chorus 716s, Orpheus Aurora Mk IIs, among others. It seems speaker design has come quite a way since the mid-eighties.

I read a review of the Diamond 9.6s in The Absolute Sound, which described them as having an exceptional ability "to float a stable image”, coherence from top to bottom, and overall performance well above their price point.

Anyway, I couldn’t find a place to audition them, so I took a chance and haggled with JB Hi Fi for a price of A$1,000 (along with a Wharfedale SW150 sub for A$600). They had to order them in, so the first time I saw and heard them was in my own lounge room. Crazy.

First thing, the “Cherry” vinyl finish looked a tad pinkish against the honey-brown timber in the room, but liveable. There are better approximations of fake wood veneer around these days (e.g. Focal), but Wharfedale’s version is tolerable. At 1100mm+ they’re taller than the class average of about 900-1000mm. They do have rather svelte cabinets with curvy flanks. A friend saw them and gave a wolf-whistle. They are heavy: far better value than bookshelf speakers in terms kilograms per dollar, if nothing else. The binding posts are plated with gold-coloured metal.

Out of the box they sounded pretty awful. I’ve had experience with the need for component break-in before (e.g. a Marantz CD player which I thought was a warranty claim for the first few hours), so I didn’t panic. After several hours they began to sing. My system is a Linn LP12/RB300/10X5 and NAD CD542 through a Naim Nait 1 integrated amp (another museum piece; but interestingly I walked into Len Wallis Audio--helpful guys--with it under my arm for some A/Bing and found it equaled or bettered the Musical Fidelity X-150 recommended by TAS).

The Diamond 9.6s really do have the ability to float a stable image. Vocals are convincing. I found I was consistently drawn into whatever was playing, even at very low listening levels. The highs sparkle without being harsh. The bottom end is extended, liquid, and tight. Out of curiosity I put on a Harry Potter DVD with a dramatic Quidditch/Dementors scene and the audio (with sub) gave me goosebumps. The sub is out for music though; the towers alone reach down to 30Hz or so, cleanly.

Incidentally, I tried the Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 bookshelf speakers at home as well. They were balanced, tight, and entirely disappointing. Musically, they were consistently uninvolving over multiple listening sessions. It was actually a relief to put the old Diamond 1s back in. So it’s not all good the Diamond family. I don’t think were faulty. How the 9.1s got Stereophile’s Robert Reina all steamed up beats me.

I’ve had them now for 6 months, and the bottom line is, I keep wanting to listen to music. I’ll finish with a recent rediscovery of a Holy Cole cover of Tom Waits’ Train Song (on CD, at that). It’s got highs, subtle detail, *her* voice, and a deep, complex bass structure. It had me gob-smacked when I first heard it. I played it to my wife who I’ve educated (ok, brainwashed) as to the superiority of a decent analogue front end. She turned to me and exclaimed, “That’s a CD?!”

The Wharfedale Diamond 9.6 floorstanding speakers are of modest pretensions, aimed primarily I think at the home theatre market, but I nominate them as a (possibly accidental) budget audiophile classic.

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JMLabs Chorus 716S; Orpheus Aurora Mk II and Mk III, etc.

- Bass resolution and clarity - Midrange and vocal depth - Price ... especially since Mr/Mrs Wharedale dealer will drop their price by 25% just by asking.

- Lack imaging and stereo separation available in similar priced stand mounts. - Could do with a little more treble clarity ... but as this price, who's complaining?

I've had these for several months now and my initial impressions is that Wharfedale has managed to smash the price point with a set of standmounts that manage to alter the sub AUS$1000 price point considerably. One of the obvious strengths of these speakers is in the bass detail. Having one of the 8" drivers ported for low frequencies adds the ability to drive more bass. But be warned ... these speakers deserve some space and solid inderfloor support to give there best. I had initially placed them on a wooden suspended floor using the spikes supplied. This resulted in some considerably annoying floor reverberations. I have since placed a large concrete block (from my local brick supplier) under each speaker to provide additional isolation. The midrange offers outstanding clarity for the price and provides good - not great - stereo imaging. I say not great, as they don't compare to a set of B&W DM602's, but then again, imaging can be a problem with floor mounts. Put in this context, then, you would not be disappointed. Treble is of excellent clarity for such a large speaker. Considering they are only running silk (rather than the norm of metal) domes tweeters Wharfedale certainly has sorted out this overall driver package. I am an audio enthusiast with a leaning towards surround sound and movie watching and they certainly fill this role by providing outstanding performance and resolution. However, I do enjoy the occassional stereo music moment and they can be trusted to hold up in this environment as well. My initial choice was to go for a set of DM602 S3s, but since JB Hifi offered such a discount (not something you're likely to find at a B&W dealer) the choice for me was easy.

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B&W DM602 S3 (heard but haven't owned) Wharfedale 9.1

Strong clean bass Excellent mids and highs not tiring (like my AXIOMS) Fit and finish lightyears ahead of competition Great high power ability

Grills a little cheap but so are many other speakers even much more expensive ones!

I bought this speaker to replace my M60 AXIOMS which I liked but found tiring because they are too bright for most music and had little bass. I have a sub but do not particularily like to use it with music which I listen 80% of the time. These speakers were way beyond what I imagined! Absolutely fantastic at this price range. The bass is outstanding and very clean. I never use my sub for music anymore and I like good bass.Fit and finish is much better than the AXIOMS (which I still have). I plan on upgrading to NAIM Nait 5i and CD5 soon but I don't see the need to change speakers as these are really hard to beat.

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AXIOM M60 PSB 5T JMLAB