What Hi Fi Sound and Vision
15 AUG 2009
Wharfedale Diamond 10.1
Stereo speaker Product of the Year 2009
When we first tested the Wharfedale Diamond 10.1s we included the phrase ‘truly excellent’. So we wasted no time in trying to define what we meant by ‘truly excellent’ by testing them against established favourites and promising newcomers.
It’s with a mixture of pleasure and relief, then, that we’re able to report that these Wharfedales seem even more obviously excellent when surrounded by a group of their nominal peers.
Cheaper than their budget rivals but they don’t look outclassed in the retailer’s showroom. And then there’s the sound they make.
Unfussy about positioning
Plonk them down more or less anywhere – despite the twin rear-firing reflex ports, the Wharfedales aren’t fussy about room position – and the Diamond 10.1s have the ability to genuinely surprise.
Playing Roxy Music’s Re-make/Re-model, the balance struck between poise and exuberance seems inspired.
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It’s an expansive, well-focused and above all musical presentation of great precision and control, the Diamond 10.1s entering and exiting notes with confidence.
Dynamics are of the ‘bounding’ variety, bass extension is impressive; but not as impressive as bass tonality. Throughout, it’s the transparency and insight that sets the Wharfedales apart.
Timing and control
There’s no questioning the Diamond 10.1s’ ability. Obviously any speaker’s overall sound is a matter of taste, but where spaciousness, articulacy, timing and control are concerned, there’s not even a discussion to be had here.
Listening to Mercury Rev’s unhinged Yerself is Steam raises just about our only caveat: some other speakers offer a greater sense of excitement and abandon, where the Wharfedales seek to impose a more musicianly emphasis.
That’s about the best we could do as a criticism and, let’s face it, we’re reaching.
The budget speaker arena has been revitalised by the latest incarnation of a model that first saw the light of day in the ’80s.
If this is how far Wharfedale has come in the interim, we can’t wait to hear 2035’s entry-level offering.
Watch our Awards video of the Wharfedale Diamond 10.1
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