{"id":1083,"date":"2018-05-05T14:19:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-05T06:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/famous-av.com\/?p=1083"},"modified":"2018-05-05T14:19:31","modified_gmt":"2018-05-05T06:19:31","slug":"wharfedale-diamond-225-review-at-the-absolute-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/famous-av.com\/?p=1083","title":{"rendered":"Wharfedale Diamond 225 – Review at The Absolute Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is the world I grew up in: iPods, ear buds, tinny laptop speakers. Most people my age don\u2019t think twice about their equipment, so long as it makes sound. Your average iTunes aficionado isn\u2019t going to shell out big sums of cash on stereo equipment, especially when everything seems to have speakers built in these days. Why bother?<\/p>\n

But there is good sound at approachable prices, fantastic sound really, the sort of sound that people obsess about. It\u2019s not a mystical thing; it\u2019s a visceral one; and younger people are finally starting to figure it out. Vinyl\u2019s comeback is proof of that. The iPod generation is ready for quality; it\u2019s just a matter of figuring out how to get it. And for me, it always starts with speakers.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing better than opening something new, which is probably why people watch videos of strangers unboxing hardware on YouTube. The Wharfedale Diamond 225s sat wrapped in plastic covers sandwiched between tight foam inserts at the top and bottom, keeping them secure in transit. When I finally got them up and out, I stared at the gorgeous rosewood-veneer boxes, with their black-lacquer MDF baffles and the small Wharfedale logo just beneath the woofer. I leaned back in my desk chair and thought: \u201cWow, those are pretty.\u201d They\u2019re clean, unpretentious, and clearly put together very, very well.<\/p>\n

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Wharfedale Diamond 225<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OK, the speaker grilles were a little weird. They\u2019re two round foam pieces with little plastic rods that snap in over the tweeter and the woofer, leaving the rest of the baffle exposed, as opposed to something that covers the whole front. It\u2019s not my favorite aesthetic choice, though it\u2019s not necessarily a bad one, either. Just a matter of taste, I guess. At least they\u2019re easy to remove, so I popped them off and forgot about them.<\/p>\n

The 225s are fairly compact, though deep and solid. Sound is always the most important aspect of any audio component, but you still have to live with these things, and it\u2019s easier to live with beautiful stuff. Fortunately, they\u2019re exactly what they need to be: simple and attractive. Clearly the people at Wharfedale know what they\u2019re doing, which makes sense, considering how long they\u2019ve been around. Wharfedale is a relatively large British outfit founded back in the 1930s, and they\u2019ve been a big name in British hi-fi ever since. The Diamond series debuted in 1981, and Wharfedale has been slowly improving the Diamond designs and sound without inflating cost, and that\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m looking for.<\/p>\n

The 225s list at $450, which is a price an actual human with a real job could potentially afford. If you\u2019re like me, and you\u2019re sick of \u201caffordable\u201d equipment pushing easily into the $1000 range, this review is for you. Fact is, the majority of people can\u2019t shell out the cash for the absurdly hyper-expensive audio equipment that clogs up most blogs. If we want to get the next generation to fall in love with great sound, I think it\u2019s about time to accept that there\u2019s some seriously good, affordable stuff worth writing about.<\/p>\n

So with all that in mind, I put the 225s on top of my cheap stands, hooked them up to my (also British) Cambridge Audio CXA80 integrated, and turned it all on. Truth is, my listening space isn\u2019t ideal. It\u2019s small, oddly shaped with a sloping roof, and my speaker placement is limited. They have to be up close to a wall, though fortunately for me, these Wharfedales were designed with that in mind. The slot-loaded bass port fires downwards, instead of back, minimizing room interaction. So don\u2019t worry about sticking them on either side of an entertainment system in the living room, for example, or squeezing them into a small office. Like I said, we have to live with these things, and space is sometimes at a premium.<\/p>\n

Diving into the sound, I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect. Bookshelf speakers typically aren\u2019t known for deep, earth-shaking bass, and the 225s are no different in that regard. They aren\u2019t going to rattle anyone\u2019s bones and dig deep into that 40Hz bass region, which is fine\u2014that\u2019s what a sub\u2019s for. Still, when I started with \u201cSparkle,\u201d the first track on Tatsuro Yamashita\u2019s City Pop masterpiece,\u00a0For You<\/em>, I got such a satisfyingly deep drop that I didn\u2019t find myself missing the lowest of the low registers. Frankly, I didn\u2019t find myself missing much of anything at all, especially when that clean, twanging guitar played its insanely catchy riff. The opening of \u201cSparkle\u201d features a heavy, show-stopping reveal, and the 225s were more than up to the task of reproducing that big moment. I was surprised by how much weight I was getting from these things, more than enough for my small listening space. I can\u2019t say how well they\u2019d do in a much larger room, although I suspect they\u2019d be up to the task.<\/p>\n

The other good thing about \u201cSparkle\u201d is the way Yamashita\u2019s voice is recorded. There\u2019s tons of reverb and space, his notes just drifting off into the background, and the 225s highlighted that nicely. For such small speakers, these things could create an impressive soundstage. Not the greatest, most spectacular presentation, but plenty to keep me engaged. Sound hung, drifting, projected nicely in both directions. At some points at higher volume, I noticed a bit of gristle in the upper registers, and sometimes the lower end felt a bit soft. I have to admit though, I was having fun just running through my favorite sides, one after the other, looking for any sonic detail that might be worth delving into. That\u2019s the best sign that a piece of equipment is working. These little boxes just seemed to get me.<\/p>\n

But I had to push the 225s, give them something challenging. That\u2019s the whole point of a review, after all, to see how these things really perform. I turned to one of the strangest and most complicated albums of the year, King Krule\u2019s\u00a0The Ooz.<\/em>\u00a0This double-LP is as idiosyncratic as it is fascinating. On the most basic, surface level, it\u2019s an experimental trip-hop masterpiece, but I think it\u2019s so much more than that. It\u2019s a sonically difficult album, with deep, rolling bass lines, up-tempo shifting beats, and Krule\u2019s own morphing, grinding voice switching registers at will. The 225s did not disappoint me. They had a solid grip on the bass, keeping up with the hairpin-turn bumps and rumbles. The horns blaring in the background of \u201cDum Surfer\u201d were rendered butter-smooth, along with that catchy guitar floating over the tight snares. I was drawn to the way the 225s made\u00a0The Ooz<\/em>\u00a0somehow more accessible. It\u2019s such an intricately layered album, and little details such as Krule\u2019s English slang could easily be missed if anything muddy got in the way. I could feel the details of his voice despite the heavy synths and shimmering guitar effects. The 225s did a great job of creating a solid soundstage with minutely differentiated pieces. These songs felt so simple at first listen, but it took a piece of equipment like the 225s to do this level of complexity justice.<\/p>\n

Finally, I wanted to hear how the Diamond 225s would deal with rich, complex upper-range vocals. These speakers could handle bass and midrange, but I was curious as to how they\u2019d do when it came to subtlety. For that, I turned to Moses Sumney\u2019s odd, pared-down, R&B-influenced album,\u00a0Romanticism<\/em>. Sumney\u2019s music focuses so much on his intense, wonderful, lilting falsetto, which nicely showcased the 225\u2019s ability to highlight delicate high-end and midrange detail as he moved through registers. I had a feeling the 225s would be plenty engaging with a softer sound, and I wasn\u2019t disappointed. The bass guitar on \u201cMan on the Moon (reprise)\u201d barely kept pace while Sumney\u2019s vocals played above it, yet through the 225s the layers of Sumney\u2019s voice came through clean, uncolored, and almost liquid. I didn\u2019t really understand this album on first listen, but as I went through it again and again on the 225s, I came to really love its low-key cleanliness. In the end, I think that\u2019s the real strength of the 225s. They weren\u2019t throwing the deepest bass or resolving the upper registers absolutely perfectly, but they had weight right where I needed it, along with the detail and the clarity necessary to resolve complex tracks into enjoyable musicality.<\/p>\n

These speakers remind me that the \u201centry-level\u201d isn\u2019t a bad place to be. Inexpensive components are getting better and better as high-end design trickles down into supposedly budget hardware. The Diamond 225s take everything good about high-end audio, the power of beautifully reproduced music, and they make it accessible to a wider audience. I believe the 225s would satisfy just about anybody looking for fantastic-sounding speakers designed by a respected manufacturer at a reasonable price. They\u2019re not perfect, but man, they\u2019re still more than good. I highly recommend them.<\/p>\n

Specs & Pricing<\/h3>\n

Driver complement:<\/strong>\u00a06.5″ woven Kevlar cone; 1″ soft-dome tweeter
\nFrequency response:<\/strong>\u00a045Hz\u201320kHz (+\/-3dB)
\nImpedance:<\/strong>\u00a08 ohms
\nCrossover:<\/strong>\u00a02.3kHz
\nLoading:<\/strong>\u00a0Bass-reflex
\nFinish:<\/strong>\u00a0Black, white, walnut, rosewood
\nDimensions:<\/strong>\u00a014″ x 7.7″ x 10.3″
\nWeight:<\/strong>\u00a014.33 lbs.
\nPrice:<\/strong>\u00a0$449<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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From The Absolute Sound by Drew Kalbach @ Apr 16th, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  This is the world I grew up in: iPods, ear buds, … <\/p>\n

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