Topic: Wharfedale Diamond 9 Series

[blackie]

ayun oh, diamond 9.1

Not only gorgeous looking, gorgeous sounding! Great Pic!

[dyerds]

ayun oh, diamond 9.1

Ang gwapo naman nyan.     

[tennisdude]

bilin muna tennisdude...di ka magsisi dyan....di ba blackie? hehe

Ok so i got my 9.5 on a stormy saturday night.  it was GOOD on their receiver, i said to myself, this better be good on my amp too having braved the storm and traffic in sshway.

i think i got my 12.5k ROI on the first 30 min listening to them.  i love them!  my wife is impressed too and that's a big plus. i think my front and surround upgrade (i'm looking into 9.1 and 9cm) will get a go-signal real soon . 

sa mga nang-udyok,  maraming salamat 

[squatt3r]

ok yang plano mo tennisdude. yan din gamit ko right now.

9.5


9.cm


9.1

[ramsey]

Lahat ba talaga ng Wharfedale ngayon sa China na gawa?

[barrister]

Yes, made in China na lahat. 

It's not a UK company outsourcing the manufacturing operations to a Chinese plant.  Wharfedale is itself a Chinese company now.

The Wharfedale company is owned by IAG (International Audio Group), a Chinese company that manufactures Wharfedale, Quad, Audiolab, Mission, Castle Acoustics, etc.

Wharfedale has only 1 factory, and it's in China.  According to Wharfedale, their factory is over 1 million square feet, where every component is built in-house (they even produce their own packaging).

[dyerds]

Yes, made in China na lahat. 

It's not a UK company outsourcing the manufacturing operations to a Chinese plant.  Wharfedale is itself a Chinese company now.

The Wharedale company is owned by IAG (International Audio Group), a Chinese company that manufactures Wharfedale, Quad, Audiolab, Mission, Castle Acoustics, etc.

Wharfedale has only 1 factory, and it's in China.  According to Wharfedale, their factory is over 1 million square feet, where every component is built in-house (they even produce their own packaging).

Thanks for the info sir.

Is there any difference in the quality of the speakers Wharfe makes now compared when they are still a UK-based company?

[barrister]

I would say that quality is the same as if the company never left the UK.  It's widely known that Wharfedales continue to enjoy high marks from professional reviewers. 

Quality remains high because Research and Development are still based in the UK.  Head of Engineering is British speaker designer Steve Hewlett, who spends 75% of his time in China where the factories are located, for close coordination with factory operations.

The fact that Wharfes are unbelievably cheap in the Philippines can be viewed as a plus or a minus.  For users like me, it's a definite advantage.  But for others, the cheap price is a turn-off, since the unprestigious image causes them to doubt the product's quality.

The popularity of Wharfes on pinoydvd will give you a good indication of its performance and value.  Wharfedale threads here are at least 177 pages long (82 pages for Wharfe Diamond 8; 95 pages for Wharfe Diamond 9).  No other speaker can even come close.     

[ramsey]

One thing that attract me to the Wharfe 9.1 is the price second the performance. P5500 sa tin pero sa abroad $350.

[JojoD818]

I used to build speakers din, we even had floorstanders and bookshelf speaker shootouts sa bundok years ago when bago pa lang introduced ang diamond 9 series... it so happened lang that the Wharfs have the most appeal to my ears kaya sila kinuha ko for audio. It's just a big bonus that they are relatively cheap here than abroad... 

[dyerds]

Yah! Lucky na rin tayo at mura Wharfe's dito. Kaya nung nag-build din ako ng ht there is only one speaker in my mind.  Yes, it's Wharfe!  I fell in love with this speaker the first time I heard it sing. Love at first sight ika nga. 

[squatt3r]

proximity wise, mas malapit tayo sa china kaya siguro mas mura 

[milken]

I'm planning to buy Wharfedale speakers:  9.5 (front), 9CS (center) and 9DFS (surround). Parang gusto ko palitan yung 9DFS with 9.1 for surround sound primarily kasi walang stand for 9DFS..dapat i-wall mount lang.  I haven't done actual comparison between the two yet. Ano po advice ninyo?

For the sub, so far I'm leaning toward Polk Audio PSW10 or 12 since I find SW150's bass unsatisfactory.  Any other better sub suggestion for 25 sq.m. room? budget P18T siguro (looking for best bang for the buck) 

[blackie]

My personal preference would be to advise you to get the 9.1's.  If it is wall mounting you are concerned about, with the DFS a good idea would be to plan ahead and consider how your wires will look like if you mount them on walls. You'd be better off hiding the wires of the 9.1's behind shelves, tables or wherever  you decide to put them on.  If you put the 9.1's on speaker stands, you can hide them more easliy than building a wall or a room just so that you can hide the wires of the DFS'. 9.1's has already won a lot of awards too. Not sure of the DFS.  Check out the gallery and see some of the members' setups whether they are wall mounted or on speaker stands,  Let your heart, budget, specs, personal preference, aesthetic considerations etc help you decide on these beautiful babies.

Cheersand hope this helps,

Black

[milken]

Thanks Blackie for the reply.  I just talked with the salesman of an av store earlier.  He told me that DFS is a better surround sound speaker compared to 9.1 since the latter is designed as a front speaker and not as surround.  I don't know if he's correct. The difference in price between DFS and 9.1 is small and you're right, a bookshelf surround sound speaker would look nicer than a wall-mounted speaker.  But I want to make sure that the 9.1 would also sound nice as a surround speaker compared to DFS. I'll be using 9.5 as my front speaker by the way.

I'll check out fellow members' setup as suggested.

[ericag_ph]

The manufacturer (Wharfedale) would recommend using the DFS instead of the 9.1 for surrounds (ie.  use dipoles instead of monopoles).
For that reason alone, I used DFS instead of 8.1.  ( I have Diamond 8s)

However, to put your mind at ease, 9.1 would do the job just fine.  The fronts and sub and center speakers are far more important than the surrounds.

Out of 600+ DVD origs, I can name with one hand, the number of titles I trully remember and appreciate the surrounds.
Such as:  Saving Private Ryan (landing on the beach), Star Wars, LOTR (Gandalf speaks Mordor in Rivendale), THX logo (Robot flying around - Toy Story),
certain DSP modes on my receiver when playing certain music.

Most of the time the surrounds just produce explosions ...so its really hard to appreciate the speaker. 

Oh, and for a while, I was using BOSE for my rear surrounds, while having Wharfedales for fronts...and when I finally changed to Wharfedale DFS for surrounds, I could hardly tell the difference

But when I used BOSE as fronts compaired with Wharfedales as fronts, the wharfdales
outperformed those same BOSE speakers at least 2x...day and night difference.

So whether you choose 9.1 or DFS or even BOSE    for your surrounds... you'll be fine     Just make sure your fronts ROCK!!!
And as advised above, try to demo them, see if you can notice any real difference.

[milken]

Thanks ericag_ph for the informative post. 

[ericag_ph]

BTW, here's my setup.  There are some links there that should help you further
http://pinoydvd.com/board/index.php?topic=55046.0

for the sub, my earlier research might help:
http://pinoydvd.com/board/index.php?topic=55822.msg601195#msg601195

you have a large 25sqm room, you will likely need at least a 12" subwoofer.

Thanks ericag_ph for the informative post. 

[blackie]

Thanks Blackie for the reply.  I just talked with the salesman of an av store earlier.  He told me that DFS is a better surround sound speaker compared to 9.1 since the latter is designed as a front speaker and not as surround.  I don't know if he's correct. The difference in price between DFS and 9.1 is small and you're right, a bookshelf surround sound speaker would look nicer than a wall-mounted speaker.  But I want to make sure that the 9.1 would also sound nice as a surround speaker compared to DFS. I'll be using 9.5 as my front speaker by the way.

I'll check out fellow members' setup as suggested.

Glad to be of help,

I have 9.6's for the front and am quite pleased with the match of the two

Good luck on the search

[allan1836]

I've been a loyal wharf user and started with a 8.1, then to a 9.2 and now currently using 9.1 as fronts for my a/v use. I enjoyed each model but one thing I noticed, each model has a slightly different tone. Apparently, the 8 series is probably quite different since it's design and box is different. But what surprised me is that the 9.2 and 9.1 has different tonal quality. Not only in the bass section (because of the bigger woofers of the 9.2) but also on the hi frequency!  I believe all of the 9 series uses the same tweeters but IMHO, I found the hi frequency of the 9.1 more natural and rounded than that of the 9.2.

Can anybody share their experience on the other models of the 9 series? 
   

[chocovim]

good day sir allan1836...

still remember me? im also the proud owner of a pair of diamond 9.5s.  love them. only regret is i live in an apartment and cant really play them loud.    january 1 lang pwede itodo. denon 2106 ang receiver ko.

[audiojunkie]

Can anybody share their experience on the other models of the 9 series? 
 

Sir alan1836, I used to own 9.5 but already sold to my friend. malinis tumunog dahil seguro sa better quality ang woofer materials,it has solid bass but a bit light that can be compensated with good quality SUB.

will not comment when compared with Paradigm Studio 60, weight and built only few factors that affects sound character of any speakers. 

Here's the pix side by side of Ref St60 and Dia. 9.5 (medyo malabo lang, I used celfon.)

[Ctlim]

looks like im one of the few who are not impressed with the performance of the diamond 9s. 

[-sniper-]

my diamond 9.1 finally arrived last saturday.  the cast is now complete:


                9cs
9.1                            9.1         



9sr                             9sr


 

[squatt3r]

congrats!

[reynold]

looks like im one of the few who are not impressed with the performance of the diamond 9s. 

You're not the only one pre, hehe for me ok ang sounds ng 9 series but only just like that, oks lang... nothing so special... i still prefer the Crystal Series (especially Crystal 40), despite of its low sensitivity (86db), these series are better than the 9 series in terms of clarity and Musicality, especially if you'll feed these speakers with enough power, kailangan lang talaga for these set of speakers ok ang power na ibibigay mo for them to show their full potential, that's why i'm still thinking if i'm going to replace it with the 9 series... and for the 9.1 naman, i love its sounds, i've heard it many times na rin but i still prefer my Onkyo Liverpool D200II over the 9.1 (specification wise better din ang liverpool for a bookshelf speaker, 38hz-45Khz, 89db, 6ohms, 150watts max) that's why hindi ko rin maibenta 'to kahit vintage na


Well, that's just my own opinion mga sirs

[gcfernando]

Hi,

Anyone used wharfedales for 7.1 setup?  Ano po ang mga model na ginamit ninyo? 
[/gmit ko teac ag15d avr, 9.5front,9cs center,4pc. 9dfs rear,dtx 15"sub.. pra ko nsa mlaking cinema

[nogie]

looks like im one of the few who are not impressed with the performance of the diamond 9s. 

I'm so blessed because of your dislike to your 9.5s, CTlim sold his 9.5s at a price of a "steal". Im still waiting for him to declare his Wharfe 9dfs "a piece of junk"  to (finally) complete my 7.1 set-up. These speakers are awesome with my Onkyo 605S!!

[milken]

I'm so blessed because of your dislike to your 9.5s, CTlim sold his 9.5s at a price of a "steal". Im still waiting for him to declare his Wharfe 9dfs "a piece of junk"  to (finally) complete my 7.1 set-up. These speakers are awesome with my Onkyo 605S!!

Wow, congrats.  I just bought Wharfedale 9.5, 9CM and 9DFS.  Sounds good enough for me.  Average lang sya actually.  I find Paradigm monitor speakers better but the price is way too high so I just settled for Wharfedale as my first home theater speakers.  Besides, I can use the savings to buy a 50" plasma.  At its price point, Wharfedale is good enough.

[JoeyGS]

Hey guys....congrats to all Wharf owners   Be patient as this babies also require a looooong break-in period.  That means that while you are contented with what you hear when its new,  it will still improve over time.  I have use the 9.5 for my stereo and am still retaining it.  Providing the Wharf with more power will make it sing more.

For the Wharf owners who have made tweaks please post your experience.....good and bad so we can learn and improve.

Wharfs are best bank for the buck.

Warm regards to all Wharfies