They are beautiful but so are the JBL S-312s.

They will often leave you wondering "where is the music?"

I want to assist anyone tempted to buy this speaker from uBid while there are still JBL S-312s out there for sale.
There is no comparison between this speaker and the JBLs.
The JBL S-312 WINS in every category except for weight and size. I have A/B compared these speakers in the same room
with the same music with the same question in my head as you have: "which is the best sounding speaker?" The JBL has deeper and more musical bass, stronger and clearer midrange presentation and crystal highs - all of which leave you wondering if the Wharfedales are any more than an attractive press kit disguised as a piece of pretty furniture that doubles as a speaker. DO NOT BELEIVE THE HYPE! The Emerald EM-97s
struggle toward any noteable musicality. Good sound simply hides in them and never fully emerges no matter what the source. Yes, we burnt them in, wondering who it was that got burned in the end. The Wharfedales are mediocre speakers, no matter what corner of the room they are positioned in. Needless to say, we are enjoying a georgeous pair
of beechnut JBL S-312s, a speaker that we will enjoy for
quite some time. Forget the agony, buy the JBL S-312s and
live in ecstasy.

Similar Products Used:

JBL Studio S-312 Floorstanding Speaker, Klipsch RF-3s, Klipch Heresy IIs, Klipsch Fortes, The Advent Loudspeaker among others.

accurate sound reproduction, good bass for music

its virtue (neutral, slightly laid back sound) can turn off those looking for punch at high end - tweeter is slightly anemic

This is a follow up to 10/15 review.
Speakers are fully broken in now. Warm presense on mids, slightly elevated soundstage. Otherwise, neutral through most of range. Bass is not earth shattering, but only need to use sub (BIC 1210) for HT apps. Otherwise, bass is tight and very ample with most music. Great product for price.
What really made a difference was to upgrade from AR 16g speaker wire to IXOS 6003 13g gamma wire (via www.a4l.com). Wow!
Use to be skeptical about cable hype (thanks to Monster Cable bs), but not any more. At $1.55 foot, possibly best "budget" wire on market.
Fit & finish are truly furniture grade. My gfriend loves them, my friends covet them.

Similar Products Used:

wfdale sapphire 87

Great looks, great sound, THE PRICE. Bi-wirable.

Could use the addition of a subwoofer.

Bought these after reading the positive reviews on this site. I have no complaints of the workmanship or sound quality of the speakers. Simply amazing for the price paid, under $340/pair (that is new and WITH shipping). I really wanted a set of speakers that were not ported, but the price had me sold. They are a bargain at the $700 Amazon price.

I presently am in an apartment, so I wanted some towers that were of reasonable quality, that could use the addition of a sub in the future. These FAR exceeded my expectations of what I planned on getting. I'm hearing things that I have never heard before.

Like previously mentioned, I really wanted speakers that were not ported. So, if I have any complaints, it is that the bass sounds sort-of "peaky".

Price, build quality,bi-wireable,overall sound excellence with many different types of music,appearance.

Slightly muddy bass,inexpensive grill

Initially I hesitated in purchasing these,thinking that they would not be accurate enough for my budget audiophile system.The only reason I decided to go ahead without hearing them first was because of the great price. With an msrp of $1800 and still being offered at Amazon for $798 delivered,at $350 I had to audition them.It turned out to be the right decision. I can honestly say that they are an excellent speaker. A very fair price at $798, and at $350 they are a steal. First off they look like a fine piece of furniture. Beautiful wood veneer with a destinctive design.Better than that is that they sound very good to excellent with all types of music. The silk dome tweeter and the mid range driver are a perfect marriage, providing absolutly gorgeous sounds.They are surprisingly accurate with a very,very slight warm colouration. The bass seems to be a little muddy on some recordings,[the only slight weakness that I have found] but this in no way effected the overall enjoyment of these beauties. The stereo has been on for hours every day. These are a real joy to listen to.
Matched to:
Jolida JD1501 amp
Sony scd C333es cd changer
NAD 4155 tuner
JPS Labs superconducter+ interconnect
DH Labs Q-10 speaker cable

Similar Products Used:

JBL630T, Axiom McIntosh,Dynaco A-25

looks great, sounds great too.

power handling

I think EM97 is the best buy at its price range (<$1200).
It looks really elegent, classic, which adds to the feeling
of beauty when you listen to fine music.

The only concern so far is its power handling capacity. I use Yamaha HTR-5250 to drive my EM97 speakers. When I play one of my Jazz CDs with the volume knob point to only 11 o'clock(-15db) I can hear a overload noise, which is pretty scaring. At this volume level, I'd guess the average power is less than 5-10W, and the peak power should be less than
25-50W. I don't know why these speakers give that noise. That noise can be repeated on each speaker of my two EM97, as long as I set the seaker at the same load. So now I'd be very cautious whenever I want to incease the volume. I don't know how the guy who wrote last review could turn his 70W Yamaha amplifier to full volume. I think Yamaha's power rating is pretty solid. HTR-5250 rated 100W/CH, it is far more than enough to drive EM97.

Other than that concern, I think EM97 is an excellent speaker.

Incredibly Attractive, with Great Sound

Seem a little low on sensitivity

Well, first of all, I should say the speakers look just as good in person as they do on amazon.com. Fabulous!! They really complement the modern furnishing in our house. Also, I visited two major retail electronics stores a few nights ago (Circuit City, The Good Guys). There wasn't a speaker that looked better than the Wharfedales--at any price. And, they had some fairly pricey wood cabinet speakers on display ...

Sound--these aren't just for looks, after all! A good amount of bass and well defined high-notes. Very nice, indeed, and the best speakers I've ever owned. Having said that, I'll leave more descriptive analysis to audiophiles more sophsticated than myself.

I am driving the Emerald 97's with a Yamaha RX-570 receiver, 70 watts/channel, connected in a bi-wire configuration. Interestingly, I can now actually play the receiver at full volume (yes, unreasonably loud, but tolerable), something I couldn't have dreamed of doing with my old Acoustic 3311 Series ("white van") speakers. I imagine whoever makes the Acoustic speakers weren't lying about the sensitivity--95 db. The Wharfedale's have a sensitivity of 89 db, and suppose I may need to get a more powerful amplifier to fully realize the speaker's capabilities. Then again, I do live in a condo, and probably shouldn't do anything--like buy a more powerful amplifier--that might encourage me to play music any louder than I already do ;-)

I recently purchased a set of these speakers from an internet auction. I didn't realize the calibre of speaker that these were until I checked out Wharfedale's own web page. The only experience I had with Wharfedale's is these center channel and valdus series. These are their top-of-the line speakers. They are very audiophile in nature. Crisp, clean and very solid base. The music is very even, transparent and flat. My valdus 500's used three 8 inch drivers. These use two 6.5 inch drivers. There is no comparison. The emerald's deserve the flagship status. My other speakers for surround are infinity composition overture three's. They are good, but much harsher sounding in the mids and highs. I got these emerald's shipped to me (everything included) for 444 dollars. I couldn't believe it. Anyways, if you pay 2000 dollars for them, they would be good. The only draw back is that they are not very efficient and require a lot of power to drive nicely. I hope you have a powerful amp if you want to drive these.

Yes, this tower is the best of Wharfedale line-ups. As soon as I hooked this pair to my system, I was in love with the sound. I think this speaker sounds very close to the MFM-7 which is also impressive. What's better is that this speaker looks more high-end with a premium quality cabinet. Overall build quality is very nice. For around $500/pair from online auction, this is absolutely incredible.

Clear sound. Nice low and middle range. Looks good.

I really can't think of any.

I went to Stockholm to listen to speakers in the price range between about $500 and $1000, but ended up mostly listening to speakers costing about $1500. After listening to these speakers, I heard the Wharfedales, and these were
much better than for instance a pair of Dali speakers, I can't recall the name. The sound is clear, sharp, and the speakers sound extremely good when you raise the volume a bit. The low range is exactly as I like it to be, with a clear, punchy sound. The price of the speakers is also quite attractive. As a matter of fact, these speakers were awarded speaker of the year by acclaimed Swedish audio magazine "HiFi & Musik". My conclusion is that it's really hard to find a speaker with a nicer sound in the price range. BUY THEM!!

Similar Products Used:

HK 690 integrated amp, HK DVD 1, Van den Hul cables.