Whausaedale Diamond 9 Speaker System test.6

On the eve of 2005 British company Wharfedale presented Diamond 9, the next, already the ninth generation of endless line, the story of which began back in 1981. Diamond 9.6 are the top floor standing models of the new series.

TEST RESULTS

CONSTRUCTION FEATURES: Following the modern fashion, the speakers have curved side panels. It’s not only beautiful, but also acoustically beneficial, as the lack of parallel walls damps the parasitic “standing” waves that arise in the interior of the enclosure. At the base of the case there is a small wooden base with slots for studs metal cones are included with the speakers . All cabinet walls are MDF and braced with numerous struts. Surfaces are vinyl-covered with high-quality Rosewood, Beech, Cherry and Black Ash laminate, silver color option is also available. On the back of the speakers is a large reflex port with a plastic bell and a patch panel with the original herringbone arrangement of the terminals. According to the developers, this order of connectors makes it easier to access them in a two-cable connection. Gold plated and insulated with clear plastic, jumpers also gold plated. The terminals are coupled with simple first-order filters 6dB/octave , the scheme of which was dictated not by a desire to cut costs but by a desire to avoid introducing phase distortion into the signal, which always becomes a problem when using high-pass filters.

The speakers are equipped with four speakers, the different look of which suggests a 4-way speaker configuration. So it turns out: the three crossover points declared in the manufacturer’s technical specifications says that the tweeter works from 6 kHz and up, the midrange covers the 1-6 kHz range, and the two bass drivers distribute the rest of the bass frequency range among themselves with one more 150 Hz division frequency. The tweeter is powered by a 25mm silk dome and a powerful rare-earth magnet. The mid-frequency 50-mm diameter speaker has a very rare for budget acoustics design with a fabric dome membrane. This typically results in a much wider dispersion pattern and a fuller soundstage. Tweeter and midrange driver are combined together by a common metal cage and closely spaced for better temporal coherence of HF/HF sound. Both bass drivers have the same size 203 mm. The diaphragms of these speakers are made of black Kevlar and mounted with resilient MSBR surrounds. There is a phase “bullet” in the center of the upper bass driver, which captures the lower midrange area when in operation, and an inverted dust cup in the center of the “clean” bass driver. Both speakers are equipped with cast metal baskets of special alloy. The rear part of the baskets features a new open rib design that does not interfere with the output of the return wave and does not give any re-reflections.

AUDIO QUALITY: the sound of the speakers has a solid tonal balance. Across the full frequency range, from the mid-bass to the last octave the speakers give an unusually even, detailed sound with a wonderfully refined timbre structure. Precise bass speaker does not tolerate hum, even at high volume. The middle section is really good: soulful vocals and authentic timbres of grand piano, strings and brass instruments, with many fine nuances of sound, such as individual peculiarities of human voices and musicians’ performing manner. The clear, slightly ingratiating top unobtrusively, but intelligibly shows the rich entourage of percussion and orchestral silver. Sometimes the upper frequencies are a little bit lacking in sharpness. Speakers in general are characterized by a certain softness of sound, because even with all its relief bass can not be called very assertive and aggressive. Diamond 9.6 does not like brightness, so fans of the spectacular sound will have to work with the tone controls of the amplifier.

The stage, thanks to the domed midrange driver, is virtually flawless: it’s wide and deep, transparent and has good localization of images throughout the virtual space. It is also gratifying that the panorama manages to avoid hyperscale representation, and all objects in the scene have a realistic size.

The sound of the “British” can be called aristocratic with a minimum of embellishment and lack of detachment, the speakers are rarely musical – a real Hi-Fi.

PRICE: $729.

SUMMARY

AVAILABILITIES: Precise tonal balance, detailed and natural timbres, three-dimensional and well-drawn scene.

CONDITIONS: subjectively a bit softened edges of the sound spectrum.

CONCLUSION: Wharfedale engineers obviously did a good job and the new Diamond speakers are a worthy continuation of this esteemed lineup. With Diamond 9.6, in our opinion, has all the data to please an audiophile. They combine modern design, musicality of timbres and not bad dynamics. They effortlessly play any musical genre. The excellent quality of stereo panoramas will allow the speakers to successfully work in multi-channel DT systems.