advertisement


wharfedale diamonds

B

bulliporker

pfm Member
just been offered a pair of wharfedale diamonds 2s in excellent condition for absolutely no money are these the ones to buy or is it the mk1 what sound better i dont expect miracles , should i buy them or give them a miss
 
They were trendy for a while with the 'Flat Earth' brigade where they were recommended to go on the end of a system comprising NAD 3020 and an LP12/Ittok/ASAK. The source first system where you end up with the best sounding Wharfedale Diamonds. Personally I preferred good big speakers, competent amp and a Rega - much more fun.

Anyway, if you can get them cheap enough (bearing in mind they cost less than £100 20 years ago) they would be fun to play around with. You can't lose much.
 
I have a pair. I don't know the Mk1 Diamonds but I'd snap these up, especially if they're in good condition. They aren't the world's most transparent speakers and have a definite character, but they're pretty good communicators of the musical thread and are ideal for a small lounge or unobtrusive system. A bargain for free! :)

They're pretty old now and it's worth replacing the crossover caps. You can directly replace the small value cap with a polypro equivalent; I bypassed the large one with a 1 uF polypro.
 
Last edited:
I bought some Mk2s new in '86. They were OK for a student system but I replaced them with floorstanders and never looked back. Sound was rather dry and hard, definitely Flat Earth 80s style. I paid £70 new so unless they are coming for beer money I wouldn't bother, there are plenty better around for £20.
 
My first "decent" system was Lp12/Basik Plus/K9/Nait 1/Diamond 2s. I listened to it an awful lot to the annoyance of my landlord.

I learned a lot about source first when I replaced them with Kan 1s. I didn't enjoy the system half as much at first. I had some cash at the time and shortly afterwards bought my Ittok. Transformation - the system was perfectly in balance again and sounded wonderful to my ears. Anyway, if they're in good condition have them. In their day they punched well above their weight. Decent stands and against the wall helps a great deal iirc.

Cheers,

Nic.
 
I have a few pairs of them. Excellent speakers. Most people will consider them too cheap. You know that some people like to trot off the line up of their fabulous systems? Somehow it don`t impress when the end of the line are Diamonds..........cos they are only £30 quid on Ebay :DThey have more detail than a lot of big speakers.
 
I had a pair of Mk2's I thought they were great speakers on the end of an Audiolab
8000A, they seemed unburstable and loved to be thrashed.
 
Great little things.
I remember picking up a pair from the Tottenham Court Rd many moons ago and carrying them home in the tiny little box. Direct coupled woofer (like Epos) and ultra simple. Very engaging sound on the end of a good source and meaty amp, though they has some plastic cone 'quack'. Cost £65 IIRC.
 
HiFi Choice, issue 41 - Speakers.

Diamond 2 was recommended at £80pr. Response shape like Sara's on acid - eeek!!!!! No bass, severely humped up mid, trough at crossover then peaking up in the tweeter region. perfect for FE LP systems with an LP12 on the front ;)

Well below the test average on sound quality, boxy with thinned mid, it fleshed out a little when close to a wall and once got used to, you either loved or hated it.

I only new the powered "active" version and with a portable CD player feeding them, they sounded great.
 
I picked up a cheap pair of version IV Diamonds which the owner foolishly painted white! Sound decent though and I'd let mine go for just a few quid plus postage to make space and give someone an insight into what they can do...
 
DSJR said:
I only new the powered "active" version and with a portable CD player feeding them, they sounded great.
Click to expand...

I have a pair of these. Wonderful things. Mine are branded "Ferguson" as they had a bunch of them made to sell with their HiFi VCRs at some point in the 80s. However, the ferguson label only goes so far as a sticky thing on the grills. The speakers themselves have a W on them. Because people who bought VCRs weren't interested in these speakers they were sold off for a mere £50 a pair. A serious bargain.

When I was a contractor and working away from home fairly often, I used to take these, my WMD6C "pro" walkman and a bunch of cassettes with me when I was away and got very respectable sound quality in B&B rooms and the like.

More recently I used them as PC speakers in my workshop. Nice. They've been languishing in the loft since we moved, but ought to come out again.
 
DSJR said:
HiFi Choice, issue 41 - Speakers.

Diamond 2 was recommended at £80pr. Response shape like Sara's on acid - eeek!!!!! No bass, severely humped up mid, trough at crossover then peaking up in the tweeter region. perfect for FE LP systems with an LP12 on the front ;)

Well below the test average on sound quality, boxy with thinned mid, it fleshed out a little when close to a wall and once got used to, you either loved or hated it.

I only new the powered "active" version and with a portable CD player feeding them, they sounded great.
Click to expand...

Yup, definite character, all right. :D

I get boomy bass when I have mine too close to the wall, so I like to pull them out 7" in our 3.5m x 3.5m lounge (pardon my imperimetric tendencies) to enjoy leaner, though better defined, erm, midbasslines and much improved imaging with no loss of musical expression. Tilting them back, as recommended on the back of the speaker, smooths the response somewhat.

They do like solid stands and appreciate a firm-handed amplifier. I wouldn't describe mine as thin; however, they became less boxy after I installed a brace across the sides about a third of the way from the top.
 
ex brickie said:
I picked up a cheap pair of version IV Diamonds which the owner foolishly painted white! Sound decent though and I'd let mine go for just a few quid plus postage to make space and give someone an insight into what they can do...
Click to expand...

Great to hear you've been sharing the good news. :)

There was a fashion for white speakers for a time during the 90s. I seem to recall at least one of the Diamond series coming in a variety of colours. Does this ring anyone's bells, or am I thinking of another small speaker?
 
Durmbo said:
There was a fashion for white speakers for a time during the 90s. I seem to recall at least one of the Diamond series coming in a variety of colours. Does this ring anyone's bells, or am I thinking of another small speaker?
Click to expand...

Yes, that was the diamonds. However mine are in boring black vinyl "woodgrain"...
 
They were available in white/cream - around MkIII and the active versions had a light option too from what I remember. You could also buy coloured grills for the MkIII - mine where black ash with red grills and looked great on the Diamond stands - sounded pretty good too (Heybrook TT2, Mission Arm, Creek/Cyrus amp). I grew up with the Diamonds had mk1, mkII and the III's - that was a long time ago.

I tried to recapture my enjoyment last year - bought a pair of mkIII's in original box. When they arrived I got the impression the box had been underwater and 'dried out' - the cabinets are warping at the mitres, and the woofers feel as though their movement is restricted (rubber surrounds dried out) - needless to say I was disappointed with how they sounded too (on a Nad amp)- sometimes the past is best left where it is - good job I now prefer my Focals...

cheers C
 
I think there were a few that you could get sprayed up in high gloss primary colours at about that time. They looked good in the right room but in the wrong room it all looked a bit Fisher Price meets Early Learning Centre.
 
My brother had a pair of Diamond IV's driven by a Rotel 820BX set-up on a big desk. Produced a very tight sweet sound with an attractive bounce. No real bas though, but in a small lively room it was great.

I couldn't believe the difference when I swapped the cheap Marantz cd player for an Arcam Alpha Plus I had just bought just to see. I guess that was my first experience of source first.

Simon
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top