Hi again.
This Sunday afternoon, I was able to push the known performance envelope that my 9.6 is capable of. Before the Pioneer LX82, I used the NAD T752 - which is no slouch when it comes to parameters in good audio performance - so I have a pretty good idea of how the 9.6 can handle things. As I said in my previous post, the Pioneer significantly raised the bar when it comes to virtually all known areas that audio reviewers are fond of: accuracy, musicality (BTW, these two are NOT mutually exclusive), transparency, pitch definition, soundstage height and width, etc. etc. you name it, this combination has it in spades.
Incredibly, all of these areas were again heightened by a simple tweak. Well, the Pioneer has a feature to biamp speakers, and the good news is, the Wharfedale can be vertically bi-amped: just make sure that you remove the gold colored jumpers from the two pairs of binding posts. So I put another line of speaker wire to the two top binding post and connected the ends to the unused Surround Back terminals of the Pioneer.
Skeptical at first because of the things I read in the internet that this tweak may or may not be useful, I fired up the Pioneer. Then music flowed and ebbed.... it is so ethereal and somewhat indescribable in its beauty that even my wife and my kids notice that the music became even more, ahh... beautiful (for lack of an appropriate description, hehehe). It is as if everything became even more clear and more focused by using a magnifying glass.
Then I put in my CD Torture Test - the Gladiator soundtrack and the mighty track number 1. You know how monstrously breathtaking the sound of this CD is in the right system. Heck, I know what I am talking about, I used to frequent the high-end saloons in Tokyo by bringing this CD for a demo and the store clerks obliged me with. One combination I heard is a Mark Levinson power amp, Esoteric front end and the snail-shaped Bowers and Wilkins Nautilus, but I digress...
Played at very high levels in my own house, whew, I thought I was in front of the massive AIR Studios Lyndhurst orchestra especially when I closed my eyes.
Waves and waves of palpable and intensely beautiful music flooded me that I became teary eyed. Amazingly, at high playback levels, I detected that there was just a tiny bit of distortion. Admittedly, the Wharfes came quite close to breaking up, but guys, this was at insanely loud levels, probably much more than you can bear. Still, I admired the composure of the 9.6 because you can still hear all the instruments very clearly, from soft passages to the thunderous crescendos. However, I must also give a big credit to the IcePower amp modules of the Pioneer. The several glowing reviews for this amazing receiver are just spot on.
So guys, please do yourself a favor: if you are contemplating buying these babies --- run, don't walk and buy the remaining 9.6 stocks before they ran out. Anyway, I heard that the stores in Manila are offering good discounts because they are phasing them out. Look past the successor 10 series towers which may or may not be that good when compared with the Diamond 9.6. By all means, partner it with a good amp of your choice and budget (NADs are good, despite their issues, trust me). Better still, if you can find a receiver or amplifier offering a biamping option, you have the good fortune to vertically bi-amp these speakers and elevate their performance to several notches. Probably you don't realize what these Wharfes are capable of. I can only assure you that they have my highest recommendation.
It is a rave again, guys, sorry.
