Sound, clarity.

Grills, overall product quality.

I too got caught up in the "UBid hype" of getting a high quality speaker for very little money, wouldn’t be the first time. It doesn't help matters when you have reviews, like some posted here, that give the Wharfedale speakers an over exaggerated, God-like image, when the truth is that these speakers are just barely middle of the road units. There is no mystery here.

The sound quality is good but not spectacular.
The construction is good but very common and not in line with many high-end units that I have seen. My Sony speakers cost 99.00 ea and sound every bit as good as the Modus 8's except for the tweeter, which is ear level on the Modus and below ear level on the Sony's.

When I opened one of the boxes, a tweeter had separated from its mount and one of the enclosures was chipped enough to make me consider returning them. Upon inspection of the shipping carton, I realized that the box containing the damaged speaker had been previously opened and the contents were not organized in the same way as the other box (plastic bags opened etc.). This is a perfect example of UBid selling return items as “new” and unloading substandard merchandise on the public.

I guess that “hype” is what it’s all about in today’s market, and consumers like my self seem to keep getting caught up in it all.
These speakers are “not” worth more than what we are paying for them on UBid and with the absolute rip-off shipping bill that UBid charges, the units actually are a poor choice in my opinion as are many items bought through UBid.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, infinity.

Price, Sound quality, crispness in music

the finishing

Great for the price, and very impressed with the crisp tweeters and thumping base, which, actually could do with a little more power and kick. But overall, extremely good sound. I am driving them with an Onkyo Tsd-474 Receiver, I would recommed something more powerful than that to get the complete sound effect. But basically, the sound is profound.

Price. Crisp, clear seamless sound. Nice design

None I've found yet

I cant imagine a better cost to performance value. I purchased these unheard based on reviews posted here, and I cant tell you how pleased I am that I did. A pair or these bad boys for $260 delivered from ubid, come on. Fortunately, I dont claim the audiophile snobbery factor, all I can do is report what I hear. That part is exceptional. Paired with a Denon 1700 in 5ch stereo, and you cant tell where the sound is coming from. Great sound stage both musically and in home theater mode. Excellent!! Spend $1500 for a pair of speakers if that defines you..but I guarantee the sound differences dont justify it.

My stuff:
Denon 1700 receiver
Denon DCM 370 CD changer
Toshiba 2109 DVD
Wharfedale Modus 8 fronts
Wharfedale Modus 2 surrounds
Wharfedale Sapphire center
B.I.C 1210 subwoofer
Monster cabled

Similar Products Used:

Infinity, Bose 301's...(I know...save it!)

New strength - Customer Support!

Hi, me again. This is my 3rd post on these speakers, and I contiue to be amazed. One of the tweeters went out (probably due to my doing). So I called IAG America, they handle the warranty. I had what was probably my best ever experience with any company about warranty service.

I can't tell you how good that made me feel. I will have no hesitations in buying more Wharfedale speakers from Ubid due to this. I recommend all of you do the same.

Great price point speaker and has attractive apperence. Best warranty service I have ever seen!!

Built in China, of course shoddy grill mounts

The sound quality is good, haven't broke in yet. I'm using bi-wire and stands. The included spikes are cool, but the grills are cheese. A suprising speaker from China and a great deal @ 247.00 per pair shipped! I received them and 1 crossover was defective and IGN shipped me a complete speaker out with drop tag for old one. Anybody that has had warranty issue (auction/mail order) knows this is a nightmare....well not with these guys 5 stars for IGN.

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B&W dm 305 Velodyne 12inch sub Adcom 555II Adcom GSA 700 (rear and Center) marantz DTS preamp Blah Blah Blah

This speaker does everything well

It does have a flimsy grill...just be easy with it and there's no problem

First off, for the price that these speakers are available at on Ubid, you'd be a fool not to get yourself a pair of these. These speakers leave my crappy Bose in the dust. After reading all the reviews for the Bose speakers, I just couldn't stand listening to them anymore. After a listening to them right before I hooked up my Modus 8's it was extremely apparent to me why there is so much Bose bashing going on--they have good reason to. Everything is so much clearer on these speakers. I've got a Velodyne sub working the bottom frequencies so I can't say what the Wharfedales would do by themselves, but they sound badass with a sub. Everyone else has cover the pros of these speakers in their reviews so I'm not going to repeat them. I'm just giving my letter or recommendation. Do yourself a favor if your looking for new speakers and buy these.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 301 IV (what shit)

These speakers are great. Sound City is selling these right now for $499 a pair. These retail for about the same as the MFM 5 for around $1200. The Modus 8 has very similar characteristics as the MFM 5. You can get the MFM 5 from online auction for around $300 a pair (amazing I know). These sound very clear, smooth, and has wide soundstage. Get them while you can.

My review isn't of the Modus 8, rather the One Six.. Its basically the same as the 8 except there is a LOT more bass output than on the 8. A subwoofer on a one six would be crazy! I work in a large warhouse, and thats where i had these things delivered. I immediately hooked the up to a cheap Sony prologic amp and found that those little 6.5" speakers could drive the deepest, smoothest bass loud enough to make that place sound like a disco...
Took them home and connected them to my Harman Kardon amp, replacing a Bose acoustimass system (crap, i know) and was in love. Its like my ears have lost their music virginity - all my music revealed details i had never notced before. Bass is best describled as low, power bursts of lite fluffy air - it feels like velvet tickling the inside of your lungs. It rattles you.
But the bets part is the way it makes voices sound flawless. You can close your eyes and imagine they are right there, singing in your living room.. I got the for $375 plus shipping from UBID... They don't always pack things well, but damn, if you see these up on their bid thingy, don't hesitate to get them!!!!!!

Sound for the Price

Flimsy grille, poor packaging on delivery

I must agree with almost everyone who posted a review here. I have had these speakers for nearly a year now. They do need about 30 hours of play to produce optimal sound and bi-wiring them makes an incredible difference. I picked these up on UBID like everyone else for around $220 shipping included, and what can you say? They are simply incredible for that price. The reason I say this is I recently auditioned Martin Logans. Now, I am not saying the Modus 8's are a better speaker than most of the Martin Logan's, BUT considering the Logans sell for anywhere from $2000-$8000 I simply could not EVER justify paying thousands of dollars more for the Logans when the Modus 8's produce comparable sound quality. Granted the sound stage on the Logans is incredible and they melt into the wall, but I gotta say my Modus 8's are pretty transparent also with a great sound stage. I have listened to B&W and KEF, and forget about it, the Modus 8's blow them out of the water for the price. They are equal if not better in quality and cost hundreds to thousands of dollars less. Simply wonderful rich detailed sound that fills my ears with joy! Someday when I make my first million I will move up to a High end speaker, but until then I will stick with these because they match and more often than not beat the pants off speakers in the $500-$2000 range. Get them on UBID, save some money, and have EXCELLENT, INCREDIBLE sound for next to nothing, how can you go wrong?

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch, Onkyo

Low price, rotating tweeter, extended (but boomy), sound quality is better than the sum of the parts.

Very poor build quality.. the grills are just the beginning. These are *not* what Wharfedale of England has offered us in the past with the Diamond series. The key seems to be "Made in China"

I was in a pinch... I re-did my HT setup and my surrounds, which are a fine quality "bookshelf" design, would not fit, so I sent looking for either a small speaker for the wall, or very narrow towers. I saw the bargain prices on various Wharfedales and bidding competition led me to the Modus 8 (also looked at the 1.6 and '87s). For just under $300 to the door I can't complain - these various models seem to be very common anyway.

First impression - I would have been ahead to buy the Bose 501 VI! One tweeter fell off, both grills were broken, construction is very, very lightweight (and I don't mean physical weight alone... these are cheaply built). Okay, at least they were easy to sneek into the house - no need to a hand truck here folks!!!

Second impression as I hooked them up - okay the Bose were way overpriced... but one of these rattled badly. This turned out to be a loose bass port. The other had no treble.. turned out to be a loose bi-wire strap. Not to sound snobbish, but I am used to true high-end speakers and kept thinking "what on earth has Wharfedale done to their brand and reputation??? - KLH's from Best Buy are built better!".

Third impression, as I finally have the bugs worked out and they are both working on the main channel - these sound amazingly good! The tweeter is sweet, the mids are nicely balanced and the bass is okay - a little "one-notey", but they do have a surprising extention. Power handling at the bottom is limited - these are not for kids who want to thump the block down, but when used within reason - these do provide a room filling bass with ease.

My ultimate opinion? While not even touching the realm of true high-end, these provide a budget sample of what audiophile sound is all about. I must add a couple caveats to the list for those of you who are interrested in a pair of these (and I suspect the other similar price range Wharfedales).. they are not built to take a beating, they are an economy speaker line which are for a mature crowd who is looking for respectable sound at a dirt cheap price. Also keep in mind that you might as well call for a new pair of grills (if nothing more than for when you do upgrade to better and am selling them) - if they aren't broken when you open the boxes, they will fall apart soon. While I still shake my head as I look at the shameful built quality, a also shake my head at how good these dirt cheap speakers can sound. My value and overal ratings reflect the extremes (build vs. sound) and take into account the amazing fall-apart grills and magical dangling tweeters.

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you name it!