Wharfdale Diamond - Pleb Audiophile speaker?

I've auditioned the warfedale diamond 10 series myself at a dealer here in denver and I was also very dissappointed. they look nice, but the sound leaves much to be desired. I immediately started listening to the offerings by quad, which were in the same room, they sounded much better.
there have been many posts on this about how great the diamond 9.1 bookshelf speakers are, but I have never heard them, I only auditioned the diamond 10 series.

Wow, dressed up white van speakers? Wharfedale - Britains oldest loudspeaker manufacturer? Thats a little harsh.

If you didn't care for the way they sounded, fine. But I certainly wouldn't call Wharfedale Diamond 10 series white van speakers! The Diamonds have been around through many incarnations and have been critically acclaimed worldwide. Just google them. Most reviews are foreign. Soon Wharfedale will be launching the Diamond 10 successors, the Diamond 100 line. Problem is they have a poor distribution network here in the USA, are not well known and have also produced some lower ranges that were real dogs. Ranges like the Zaldeks that not only sounded but looked like white van speakers. Really Horrible! But the higher ranges, Diamond, EVO II, Opus and now Jade are quality, very good sounding speakers. Especially the Opus and Jade lines.

The Diamond 10'S are value priced speakers and would compete favorably with the B&W 600 series. To compare them to the CM's would be unfair. But as a former Wharfedale owner, I would pit an EVO or Opus against a CM anyday and most likely would choose the Wharfedale.

BTW...the Quad L series are produced off the same assembly lines at IAG's (Wharfedale/Quad parent company) factory in China. My guess is that the drivers which are made in house by IAG, are the same in the upper Wharfedale lines and the Quad L line. They sure look alike. IAG is unique in that everything is made in house - drivers, enclosures, crossover networks, grilles, etc. Nothing is outsourced - all designed by Wharfedale/Quad in the UK and made at IAG in China from the ground up.

You asked for opinions on Wharfedales and the above is mine. Whether you love them or hate, they are not white van. And some models are truly outstanding.

I own a pair of Wharfdale Diamond 9.1 speakers, and they are a decent value for what they are, inexpensive bookshelf speakers that I use as rear speakers for home theater. I listened to them when I first bought them years ago, and thought they sounded pretty good considering the price (I think I paid $175?). I would not consider them as main speakers in a musical system though.

As Realremo also noted, I did hear a pair of Quad bookshelves later that I thought sounded better, but while I can't recall the price, I didn't think it would be worth the time/money just to upgrade some rear speakers for HT. The Wharfdale's that I have do fine for that.

A agree with Paraneer, I had the TOTL Opus for several months, great speaker for the money!

I think you already know the answer. Trust your ears!

Ellrotts, you are way out of line with your, "whitevan scam speakers," comment. I reviewed the Wharfedale Opus series for Dagogo.com and this is a legit company which makes very fine sounding speakers at a good price point. I have not worked with the Diamond series, so I will refrain from comment regarding that particular house sound.

However, you said, "Upon inspection of the speaker the [sic] appear to try to ripoff the woven Kevlar look but it appears the wover pattern looked like embossed plastic rather than a woven material of any kind.
Had a listen and the treble was dull and the bass was boomy."

Neither of these observations are absolutely determinant of the quality or lack thereof of the speaker.
-The appearance of the cones is hardly the marker of the sound; take a look around and you will see many, many different and unusual materials and applications for drivers. It sounds like you are running a visual comparison and trying to render judgmement based on what you see. That's hardly a refined way to deal with a speaker.
-The dull or uninspiring sound quite likely is largely due to the system. If the speaker is not to your liking, ask the dealer to set up a quite different rig with more brightness/liveliness. Perhaps different source or cables, or if it was a tube amp go to a SS amp. Hearing a speaker once in an unfamiliar rig is not grounds to pronounce them unfit for audiophile consumption.

I don't mean to bully you on this but you did come in here a bit like a bull in a china shop. A bit more understanding and tact may be in order. I have no skin in the game as regards Wharfedale; I'm not reviewing anything of theirs. I do agree that Wharfedale is not making an extreme speaker series, but neither are they charging for such. As concerns the B&W, I reviewed one of the CM series, the CM6 I believe, and if they were the subject of your ire I would chide you for ripping on them as white van as well. Frankly, the CM series has its own issues sonically, so don't get the idea that you're comparing a nearly perfect line in B&W to a suspect one in Wharfedale. Nothing could be further from the truth. :)

well doug, you showed me, Apologies if i offended you. I know what I heard and based on that I didnt think any amount of tweaking could result in such a vast improvment. Maybe it could I dont know, as soon as I heard them I wrote them off. On brief observation they look sleek and pretty well made and whatnot. on close inspection, veneer look sticker on craftwood as opposed to actual timber. and i would swear to got the cones were plastic made to look like woven whatever... this is what made me instantly think of a vhitevan speaker. In this particular setup they sounded like it too.

Im just trying to ascertain if these speakers are as bad as I heard or is there someting good that I missed.

I remember reading the B&W CM series is made of woven fiberglass, not woven kevlar of the DM series, so looks can be deceiving if that is your criteria for deciding if a speaker is good or not. If the 9.1 is $175 and the 10.1 is $350, what quad or B&W speaker compares to this?