Incredible sound and quality solid wood cabinets.

Haven't found or heard any..

Just hooked up these Wharfedale Emerald 97 speakers up and I can't believe my ears. OH MY GOD! these speakers sound incredible across the board and they aren't even broken in yet. They are hooked up to a Denon-2801 receiver. I've owned JBL, Bose and NHT and none of these can compare to the sound that is coming from these Wharfedales. I'm glad that I read the great reviews and decided to purchase these at the ridiculously low price of $109.00 each at Ubid. They arrived to my front door in two days and were very well packed and in pristine condition. I highly recommend these speakers, you can't go wrong!! I'm impressed beyond belief!!!

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JBL, Bose, NHT & Kenwood

Soundstage, bass, looks, tonal character.

Can't find one yet.

I can't get over the sound/price ratio. I thought these were too good to be true until I broke them in and listened! Unbelievable at this price. If you are looking for a pair of towers and have a little money, these are worth at least $800.

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At least as good as 603 B&Ws, maybe better.

Eveything!!!!!!!

Not a ONE!!!!!!

This is one great speaker! Tremendous sound, even if you paid full pop for these speakers you would be getting your dollar value! And the speakers are not even fully broken in yet! Fit and finish is superb! The real wood veneer and cosmetics even impressed my usally stoic wife, and the sound blew her away! These are keepers! If you can find these speakers at a absurd price as I and others have, DO NOT HESITATE, PURCHASE THEM, you will not be regret your purchase! Be sure to couple these speakers with a comparable amp, these Emeralds, and you deserve it, and you will be rewarded with many hours of listening nirvana, both with music, and movies! More later!!

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Magnepan, Paradigm, Boston Acoustics, Mission, Polk Audio, PSB, Advent ect!

Imaging, Detail, Transparency, Craftsmanship, Price

Could use greater power handling but not a factor in 95% of cases.

Updated review: (original 2/15) It''s been almost two months since they first arrived...now fully broken in. The sound these speakers transmit is full, open, detailed and definitely forward. The imaging and soundstage are quite remarkable and easily adjusted through toe-in and sufficient clearance. After many hours of careful listening, it''s my opinion that there is very little in music style these 97''s cannot handle with great aplomb. Full orchestral works are not rendered with the greatest of satisfaction to my ear but then there are limitations to what even speakers as fine as these can accomplish with such demanding material. And perhaps Techno/Dance music a la Moby etc., is laid somewhat bare without the friendly cover of warm, fuzzy distortion. This is the reality of owning accurate speakers and a small enough price to pay. The true strengths of the 97 lie in it''s superlative tweeter and midrange. Vocals, either male or female, have a distinct ''live'' performance quality which never fails to impress. Piano and Violin concertos are rendered with such detailed clarity as to seem ''live'' as well. It appears the 97''s were made for Acoustic works and seem truly at home with such source material. As to the Bass, there is a strong output at the 40Hz-28Hz range which is quite helpful for those Home Theater systems not running a subwoofer. Because of these speakers I have been able to dial back the level of my sub and have finally rid myself of booming effects not natural to sound reproduction of any source. What remains, whether running the speakers as ''small'' or ''large'', sub (yes) or sub (no), is tight, musical bass, period. For HT effects, there is adequate ''kick in the pants'' for a sub-less system... remarkable considering the woofer size. I would reiterate as others have before me that these speakers like power, just not too much. They are (now) 6 Ohm, 125 watt and it seems judicious to match the power band to the speaker. Wharfedale makes many other speaker models which are designed for hard driving with high power input. The 97''s have an almost ''delicate'' sonic quality about them which does not lend itself to silly abuse. In summary, I don''t know anywhere else one can get this level of sound sophistication and quality of materials for this amount of money. These 97''s are worth many times their cost. Highly recommend

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Various JBL''s, Pioneers, Yamaha

very balanced, crisp and detailed sound.price paid for them.quality built.

none really. bass is limited at very high volumes.and the woofers may pop if too loud with the bass turned up.(give it time to break in)

i just got these wharfedale emerald 97 speakers, wow what a sound field that these guys produce.very clear and detailed balanced sound.not a tremendous amount of bass but enough to fit in the music.cant turn them extremely loud when you first get them because its says in the manual that they have to be broken in for at least 50 hours. i turned them up almost full volume with my denon receiver and the bass at 8 out of 12 and the woofer popped a few times. i dont suggest doing this.i would gradually test what your speakers can handle. over time i am sure they will be able to handle a little more amount of bass.if the bass isnt to high you can really turn them up. they are well worth the money that i paid for them. i could have paid a lot more somewhere else for the same quality speaker.it is well built and not cheap looking at all.the wood finish is great and looks very nice to the eye.they are not sheilded and are six ohms. but it says that it is fine to use them with an 8 or 4 ohm receiver.they come with floor spikes.if your looking for a good sounding speaker this is the one to buy because there isnt another place that i think you can get such a good quality speaker for the money. must have pretty decent equipment to drive them. they retail at 1,800.00.i got them for 296.00 dollars shipped.

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klipsch rf3,paradigm monitor, cerwign vega,advent

Clarity, vocals, music, and imaging

Bass... but how much bass could one expect out of towers.

These speakers rock for the price. They are just as good as yamaha''s (if not better) for half the price. They are not worth $1000.00 by any means. They are worth $400.00 for sure.

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Yamaha, Cerwin Vega

Rich, dynamic response. Pleasing to look at and jus the rigt size. Clean and crisp sounds that bring out much of what you''ve been missing due to your old mediocre speakers.

Somewhat muddy bass, but it really isn''t bad at all unless you plan to be blasting it with your newest rap album. If that''s the case, just buy a sub.

Great speakers! I''ve only had them for one week now and they aren''t even broken in yet, but they produce a remarkably clear and dynamic sound. Like a previous reviewer said, female vocals truly bring out its color. I popped in Diana Krall the other day and it sincerely shocked me that Speakers that I paid less than 3 bills for performed so well. I am not an audiophile and would not be able to give a technical description, but in my own words, they sound DAMN good! For those of you that are aesthetically sensitive, these are also great looking speakers. In addition, they are not so large that you have to build your room around the them, but they will fit comfortably into any nook you put them in. They are also solidly manufactured... they look and feel as if wharf''s engineers put a lot of time into their design, unlike some of their other speakers. If there is anything negative I can say about them, it is that the bass can be muddy. I highly recommend using a powered sub or if it isn''t practical for you to get a sub, bi-amping them with clean and abundant power. But it really isn''t bad at all if you use standard connections.

looks- build -sound-price-price-price

none

just got the mk4 model from ubid these are now 6ohm they used to be 8 they also made them more responsive there is a lot more speaker here than i figured for the money. they look nice-grills are ok(not to cheap) i just bi-amped them- man they sound sweet i bought these to replace my def tech bp6.they sound better and there not broken in yet 12 g wire is a must- used 16 on one 12 the other very noticeable cant wait for them to brake in technics sada10n -reciever toshiba sd2705-dvd cd bic 62clr -center warfedale emerald 97-front def tech bp6-rear dahlquist pdq1500-sub

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def-tech advent polk bose

Quality construction, Superb Drivers, Sonic accuracy, Detail

Not Magnetically shielded, Sound is probably too open and honest for some but hey! is that really a weakness?

(Just a note of initial review. Plan to come back later for a full one like some of the others.) I received the Mark IV''s in Walnut. This is good looking material with superb construction detail and my grills are not as delicate as stated in previous posts. The bottom plinth has been redesigned and looks great in matching wood. Even the very bottom of the plinth itself is finished! Talk about the little details! Now to the sound: this has to be one of the best tweeters ever designed. The sonic results are breathtaking and they haven''t even broken in yet. Initial calibration and testing through AVIA test tones show remarkable bass output for brand new woofers. After 80Hz the drop off is fairly steep (no 60Hz push) until 40Hz and then WHAM! Spl''s peg the sound meter needle set to 70Hz setting and continue down to 25Hz! Outstanding! A few notes of interest: the frequency response is now 30-20000Hz and the sensitivity is 88dB: my initial tests show them to be conservative on the first and just about right on the latter. These speakers like power and come alive when the juice is right. Altogether this 97 represents an unbeatable price/performance ratio. I am a very happy man. Also, Ubid was not a problem in the least even with the $60 S/H and from auction win to UPS Brownie at the door took one week.

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Pioneers, JBL''s

Excellent flat response, seamless sound with great detail.

I have not found any weaknesses.

This is a benchmark speaker in the under $1000 per pair category. The drivers are very good at reasonably driven volumes. I push mine with 120 clear watts rms with less than .2% distortion. The smooth, detailed, accurate and pleasing sound which they make is hard to compare. Many speakers are too bright or sound a bit muffled, yet these never do. They are almost a bit warm sounding never shrill or tiring. I have owned a pair of Vandersteen 2 CE''s which I consider a very good speaker. Yet, when the Emerald 97''s are used with a sub, I slightly prefer the sound of the Emerald 97''s. For those who know speakers, that says a lot.

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Too many to mention