What makes a good hi-fi loudspeaker?
Well although opinions vary, Peter Walker - the founder of our sister company
Quad, summed it up very nicely when he said you should get out exactly what you
put in. This formed Quad's philosophy which is '...the closest approach to the
original sound'.
The perfect loudspeaker should be like being in the studio, or at the concert
where the music was recorded. It needs detail, subtlety, accuracy, a good and
wide frequency response - above everything, it needs to be realistic. The speakers
in this section are all class leaders and give an incredibly realistic soundstage.
What might surprise you though is their affordability!
Choosing Wharfedale speakers means you get the finest sound quality available
at the price with the reassurance of a company that has been at the forefront
of audio engineering for nearly 70 years.
Wharfedale DIAMOND 9
Since its creation in 1981, the Wharfedale?s Diamond has enjoyed a formidable
reputation within the field of two-channel stereo reproduction. Regarded by journalists
around the world as the real entry point to hi-fidelity sound reproduction, this
has been reinforced by numerous awards and commendations.
Each component is designed as part of a whole, without a single ?off-the-shelf?
part. Every part interacts simply and effectively with the rest, to produce a
sound that is detailed, refined and supremely natural.
The new Diamond 9 is designed using the finest materials and technology in its
class Diamond 9, yet again, redefines the standard of reproduction available.
Whilst retaining many of the core features that made Diamond 8 successful, Diamond
9 introduces a raft of new features.
What HiFi? October 2004
"A bar-raising effort from Wharfedale: these are ridiculously good speakers
at this budget price level"
What HiFi? October 2004
"Thanks to their near-perfect driver integration, music sounds wonderfully
natural and transparent."
Curved braced cabinet
A strong, inert, curved and braced cabinet design to reduce cabinet vibration,
which reduces colouration, and encourages rapid dissipation of the ?standing waves?
created from rear cone movements reflecting inside the cabinet.
Gold-plated Terminal
Gold-plated contact areas and bridging strips allow firm connections, with offset
rear terminal posts for the widest possible choice of connection options.
Crossover
A simple crossover design can maintain phase coherency through the mid-range and
hence eliminate the negative effects that are introduced where driver correction
is needed.
Tweeters
The tweeters use high power 'rare-earth' magnets for high resolution and accuracy.
This provides the most linear and the fastest response possible response
Cast chassis
A special alloy, cast chassis design is incorporated across all diamond models
to virtually eliminate rear wave reflections from the chassis legs. This allows
air to move freely through the driver and have a more even frequency response
with much lower distortion.
Dome Midrange
The dome midrange unit on Diamond 9.6 and large centre channel results in improved
integration, greater drive-unit headroom, and improved dispersion.
Specification
- Bass 6.5" 165mm
B/M
- Tweeter 25mm tex
- Power 20-100W
- Nominal Impedance 6ohm
- Sensitivity 86dB
- Frequency 40-24k @ -6dB
- Crossover 2.0k
- Frequency Fb 40Hz
- Dimensions 223x800x301(height
on spike & plinth 850)
Wharfedale has been leading
innovation in loudspeaker design since 1932. Through the award-winning early
drive units and loudspeaker its, to famous marques such as the ‘Airedale’,
Wharfedale has brought n ow one of the fastest growing audio brands in the world,
we currently have manufacturing base of over 1.2 million square feet, encompassing
everything from capacitor manufacture to full production of over 600 different
drive units, we offer outstanding value through complete vertical integration
of every process and sub-assembly - even to the extent that we manufacture our
own tools.
Wharfedale’s UK team
of engineers design every detail of every product meticulously with complete
freedom to explore new technologies and materials. The results are clear to
see with significant technological and performance advantages over our competitor’s
products. Cast alloy
DPC* chassis; high resolution tweeters; Super Audio Capacitors; high-grade internal
wiring; Bi-directional KEVLAR“ woven cones; high-temperature double and
quadruple wound voice-coils and rare-earth neodymium magnet assemblies are just
some of the cutting-edge features we have included in our current ranges.
