Item: Wharfedale Diamond 8.3 Floorstanders
Rating: 1

helen highwater's review of Wharfedale Diamond 8.3 Floorstanders

“Like other people I made the mistake of reading What...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by helen highwater on 17/06/2004

Good Points
Good build quality, cheap and look OK

Bad Points
Sound awfull

General Comments
Like other people I made the mistake of reading What HiFi and believing the reviews of Warfedale speakers. So, I bought a pair of these Wharfedale Diamond 8.3 Floorstanders Stereo Speakers for my new Sony amp and CD player - which are both excellent by the way. Added some decent speaker cables, set it all up and listened. I was underwhelmed. The whole thing sounded boxy and there was no real depth to the music. I tried lots of different CDs - pop, classics etc and although there was a lot of variation, the sound was always false. Tried them in all sorts of places to no avail. I assumed it may be the CD or the amp, and just kind of accepted the situation.

Some years ago I ran a couple of KEF Cadenza's and they were up in the loft. So, a brought them down and linked them up instead of the Warfedales. Suddenly, there was sweet music again. Music with depth as well as beautiful pure treble. I cannot tell you how bad the Warfedales sound in comparison. OK, the KEF's are not quite as taught in the mid range but that is a very small price to pay.

Value For Money
Sound Quality
6 - 12 Months

Time Speakers Owned

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181340_Statechampion1978's Response to helen highwater's Review

Written on: 10/01/2005

Do Sony make good amps? I went into my local hifi store and found that they don't sell any sony amps. That should tell you something. Perhaps buying a good amp with a good quality cd player will enable you to get the best from these speakers which I think are excellent.

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Beemer's Response to helen highwater's Review

Written on: 08/04/2006

I am sorry you are not happy with the 8.3s
I have to agree we are all difefrent and should not buy just on the advise of expert ratings and test for ourselves after all, we all like different things but i must point out the sony amp and cd player are not helping the situation. i think if you connected them to a quality amp and cd player im not suggesting you spend a fortune as for the price of the sony units you could have used some entry level system from the likes of marantz and cambridge audio. in conclusion i feel the sony let you down and not the excellent quality and good value for money wharfdales....

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