So, after a lot of suggestions, picked up a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 225s...

Anyone have these? I won't have them until 11/1 from best buy, had to be ordered. I was considering the Elacs and the Bowers 686S2 but with the 6.5inch on the Wharfedale, seemed a better "Deal" at $450 - and it didn't hurt that I had $210 in Best Buy gift cards laying around! One of the questions is, since these are bottom ported, which is also a reason I got these, I can technically be closer to the wall can't I? I have very little space for the speaker placement since these are going in my lake house and the wife doesn't want speakers hanging out in the middle of the living room. Well, let's be honest, she doesn't want them at all, but I digress...

These are being paired with my "new" Bang & Olfusen 5500 Beogram CD, Beocord and Beomaster, and a U-Turn Orbit Plus TT - I'm on a budget here guys! And I'm using some barely basic speaker wire since it's what I had from the B&O system - very odd connection for speakers. If you have one, you know what I mean. I'm not sure if you can even upgrade the speaker wire since it has to fit into the tiny 2 pin din connector - anything larger than what I have doesn't look like it will stay connected to the din. Anyone else done this?

 

I think the Wharfedale Diamond 225 speakers are one of the best all-around bookshelf speakers for under $1000. The Elacs are good too, but to my ears they fall apart compared to the Diamond 225 in a side by side comparison of everything from low level detail and bass clarity, to realistic midrange and treble accuracy. To me, the Diamond 225 speakers are easy to listen to for hours on end. Great choice!

 

Thanks!

 

I've been recommending these babies to anyone in the market since I heard them at Music Direct several months ago. One of the employees was playing them as their office system. They have a unique appealing sound that is warm and engaging with a sweet airy top end without sounding veiled or lacking detail. Slightly "colored" but in a good way.
IMHO the easily beat the Focals, which do sound veiled- or the ELAC UB5s - which sound so neutral as to have no character. All IMHO of course but hopefully you like them.

 

Awesome! Now I feel I made the right choice. I couldn’t Audition them but I can always return them. Doubtful I will now!

 

I have Wharfedale 10.2's and they are very nice

 

I have a very old set of Canton Karat 100s which I always liked but realized the midrange and tweeter are both dead in one of them, so Wharfedale it is! Gonna take a week or so to get here.

 

Did they arrive? How do you like them?

 

Finalist for loudspeaker of the year.

Stereophile's Products of 2017 Joint Loudspeakers of the Year

 

I knew they had something special about the sound after just one listen!

 

And joint winner of budget component of the year. I hadn't heard jack about Wharfedale in years--maybe because they had spotty US distribution, but now that Music Direct is their distributor, they probably will make more rounds of the US reviewers circuit. I do like that they make everything under one roof in the UK, even their cheaper stuff.

 

Wow, sounds like 225's are a worthy successor to the 10.2's. I love my curved cabinets on the 10.2

 

Whoops, the Stereophile review linked above indicates that Wharfedale still produces everything under one roof but in China. That has not been my understanding. Oh well.

 

Finally hooked them up this weekend at the lake. I love them. They aren’t the same as my Bowers CM6s but they’re also 1/5th the price!

 

What is your understanding?

 

That they were made under one roof in the UK. In fact, that WAS the case—the cabinets, drivers, wiring, circuit boards were all custom manufactured by Wharfedale in their UK factory. These days, it seems that their factory is in China, although it still produces everything under one roof, according to their website.

 

I like the bottom porting since I can't move them more than a foot from the wall. I "think" bottom porting is better than rear porting for my situation. I could be wrong. either way, they sound wonderful

 

I love it when homework pays off enjoy

 

this is why I go to you guys for suggestions before buying. especially with Wharfedales, which seem to be hard to find to test before buying.

 

Congratulations on a brilliant purchase - I've had them since 2016 when ELAC's UB5 were all the rage and I could not get a set (glad that was the truth). Because these Wharfedale's are truly a good buy at $450.

Opinion after > 1year of ownership: The highs are not as extended as most higher priced, but the mids punch WAY above their price, with clarity and volume that must be heard. The lows are good enough for a 6.5" and I have no sub.

 

Has anyone compared the Wharfedale 225 to the Monitor Audio Bronze 2($378 a pair) and Dali Zensor 3($600 a pair) Speakers, which both get excellent reviews? I am cynical with Magazine/Website Awards/Great Reviews with potential influence from advertising.

I am about to buy Speakers to go with the Yamaha 7.2 AV RX-V681 Receiver/Amp, or potentially Yamaha AV A770 or Sony STRDN1080, if either are better compatibility with the Dali Zensor 3 Speakers(6 Ohms), should I decide to buy those Speakers.

It was too frustrating to find and expensive to buy an AV Receiver/Amp to have sufficient power to drive the 4 Ohms ELAC Uni-Fi UB5 Speakers for 5 Speakers in a 5.1 set up.

 

love my 225s but I will say my Bowers CM6s speakers are much better but 5X the price.

 

Not to hi jack the thread but I pulled the trigger on some diamond 240 floor standers this morning. Hoping I’ll be as happy with them as you are with the 225s. They should be here next week after Christmas. KILLER deal from MD right now too. It wound up being a little over 650 with the sale prices. Seems like quite a bargain for this much speaker!

 

How are you guys enjoying the Wharfedales? I’m thinking about getting the 225s.

 

This will be a weird recommendation, but I had them for a month, and was so impressed with them (and what a modern small monitor could do) that I sent them back to Music Direct and got the KEF LS50s. The 225s are an amazing value.