While such character might have initial showroom appeal, it can become wearing after a time and is not what hi-fi ought really to be about.

Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 - idealo

Not real wood- the finish does look quite handsome, however. If they were wooden cabinets, the warmth would be even greater. As I mentioned before, I recommend the Wharfedale diamond 9.1 speakers mainly for smaller rooms, if you’re not considering building a surround speaker system. It's hard to believe that the original Wharfedale Diamond is now past its thirtieth birthday. All those decades ago, it was the Diamond speaker that proved, for the first time, that excellent quality sound could be achieved from a small, budget speaker. Since then there have been dozens of imitators, but the Diamonds remain amongst the best available. There are no fewer than six stereo pairs in the Diamond 9 range, but the 9.1 miniature is the one that's been grabbing the headlines.

Anniversary version of this popular speaker is excellent value

With the 9.1s, there is absolutely no need to spend the extra money for the 9.2s or the PacEvo 8s or PacEvo 10s. We’re still impressed at the ambitious engineering of these speakers. You’re looking at a true three-way design with an AMT (Air Moton Transformer) tweeter, a 5cm dome midrange and a pair of 15cm bass drivers. Add a carefully calibrated crossover and excellent build quality and you have a class-leading tower. Neutral tonal balance: not warm but also not cool, sounds like the frequency response from top to bottom is quite linear (maybe anybody has measurement data to correct or confirm my hearing on this?) As might be expected from its small size, the Diamond 9.1 is of below-average voltage sensitivity, at an estimated 85.5dB(B)/2.83V/m. However, its impedance plot (fig.1), other than a dip to 3.9 ohms in the lower midrange and a combination of 5.7 ohms impedance and –36° capacitive phase angle at 120Hz, indicates that the speaker should be fairly easy to drive. Last, and certainly not least, the 9.1s also look and feel like far more expensive speakers. Forget the bog-standard box design commonly used for budget boxes – these elegant standmounts boast curved, braced cabinets, cranking aesthetic appeal up a notch, and also helping reduce unwanted cabinet vibrations and dissipate any standing waves produced by the mid/bass driver.

Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 review | What Hi-Fi?

Fig.3 Wharfedale Diamond 9.1, acoustic crossover on tweeter axis at 50", corrected for microphone response, with nearfield responses of woofer and port, plotted below 300Hz and 1kHz, respectively. For those familiar with the 9.1s (who isn’t?) the Diamond 75 (supposedly their assigned name to distinguish them from the regular 9.1s) is cosmetically different. Wharfedale wanted to make a statement with these award winning mini monitors and a very bold statement they made indeed. I have to hand it to them for a job so remarkably well done. Just looking at the 75s, you cannot help but wonder if they (Wharfedale) made any profit at all pricing these small wonders the way they did. For starters, they come wrapped in a high quality real walnut veneer finish, champagne trimmed! The quality is so evident (from both touch and visual) that many testify it resembles the finish of the company’s flagship, Airedale! Wharfedale wasn’t kidding when they said the Diamond 75s are built to the highest standards. After having a pair of old Celestion Ditton 15`s for some time, i decided to change for some smaller stand mount speakers with a bit of style. These little Wharfedales have it in abundance, so i decided to give them a try. What Hi-Fi?, founded in 1976, is the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products. Our comprehensive tests help you buy the very best for your money, with our advice sections giving you step-by-step information on how to get even more from your music and movies. Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms in London, Reading and Bath. Our coveted five-star rating and Awards are recognised all over the world as the ultimate seal of approval, so you can buy with absolute confidence. The three-way drive unit array was made up of 3in, 10in and 12in units, with the two larger drivers being connected in parallel, and the tweeter crossover consisted of a single capacitor.I once used a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 75th anniv. Edition with Rotel RCD02 cd player & Exposure 2010S integrated amp. Now it has been replaced by Tannoy Mercury F1 Custom. In the time domain, the Wharfedale's step response (fig.7) indicates that both drive-units are connected in positive acoustic polarity. A slight ripple can be seen in the tail of the woofer's step, which, as the speaker's waterfall plot shows (fig.8), is associated with two resonant modes: one at 2930Hz, and one that correlates with the peak between 1 and 2kHz on which I commented earlier. Otherwise, this plot is extremely clean in the treble, again supporting BJR's comments about the Diamond 9.1's excellent tweeter.