Wharfedale Diamond 220 review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ค. 2024
- Wharfedale Diamond 220 is supposed to be a great budget speaker, so is it really? Written reviews with scores at iiwireviews.com/
You can also support the channel via Patreon: / iiwireviews
Diamond 220 on Amazon: amzn.to/323gu25
00:00 Intro and features
03:00 Sound
10:52 Summing-up and recommendation
Other gear used in this test:
KEF LS50: amzn.to/2ztRg0s
Monitor Audio Bronze 2: amzn.to/2WWfw4Q
Cyrus 8vs2
Arylic A30
#hifi #audiophile #speakers - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
I'm really impressed with how articulate your review is here. You're honest, you're not trying to oversell or undersell anything, you clearly have plenty of experience and a good vocabulary.
Much better than a lot of the far larger reviewers out there - thank you.
Nice touch to see you in person..Great speakers for new be audiophiles and a lot of bang for the bucks.
Great review, thanks for posting this and keep up the good work.
very detailed description, really useful - thx
Nice job for review, thank you!
I enjoyed this from you, very much!
Great review. I own these speakers and never really enjoyed them that much, even when hooked up in a 2.1 ch set up. I upgraded to the Wharfedale Linton Heritage and these are the ones for me for the next decade at least.
Thanks for the review, I purchase mine, and I love it, I got a modest AVR but now it sound great
Great review. On watching your video, I will be purchasing these speakers!!
Fantastic review. Found these recommended on AVS forum. Looking forward to purchasing and pairing with my Denon X3500 as part of a 5.1.2 setup
Thanks! Hope you'll enjoy them.
Thanks , i was looking at buying these to play House & Garage your review has steered me elsewhere thanks man 👍👍
i like this guy
Yea he's really good at listening, and then explaining what he hears. But he's also the type of person I could totally see plopping down next to in a bar, and having a great conversation with, right away. He has no pretentions. ✌️
Just bought a pair. Running them w/dual 8” subs. Too soon to pass judgement yet. I’m hoping for a good experience. Thanks for a thoughtful review. 😎👍🏼
Very well done review!
Thanks, like review of the SMSL d300 as well. I have the Wharfedale 240s and I see your description is very similar. I like that it is wonderful sounding, rich with detail, easy, and makes you want to listen for hours. Also worth mentioning, the detail was so good I got rid of a center channel speaker that couldn't keep up and movies sound better in just stereo. I like that the highs are rounded off a bit, as I returned SVS ultra/prime bookshelfs for fatigue with music. Great way of explaining their "total" sound, you're not noticing bass and clarity in the highs and missing mid-range for example. I'm most likely getting a 220 for a center, and then using for surrounds when I'm in a bigger space. Thanks again.
Another nice review Srboljub. Also it is nice to see you! I like your reviews of headphone HiFi equipment where your hands assist your vocal presentations very well. I thought that I had chosen the wrong reviewer when I saw you first in this review. However your pleasant vocal presentation soon confirmed that it was indeed you. I think that you have chosen the correct profile for speaker reviews, as they are so much bigger than the mini-components I am used to seeing you describe. So it helps to see you sit alongside the speaker and easily touch and point out the various items which you still describe so well. On the speaker itself, I have often wondered about the sound profile. You describe, in an easy to understand way, a quite complex sound structure. You also compare the properties of these lower priced speakers with higher priced examples in a way that newcomers, or just economically restricted buyers, would appreciate. We all would like the choice of speakers (and other components) with no price constraints. However, in the real world, so few have this luxury. So an appreciation of what to expect from a range of speaker prices is an important consideration for most people. This helps to avoid disappointment with choices and provides a good way to choose speakers in a given price sector. Thank you for your excellent review.
HI, thanks for your review
Thank you for an accurate review. I use mine in a small room for close listening. I really enjoy them. My favorite pairing is with a Pioneer SX 727.
I'm,e a retired sound engineer I know he was right about the bass I bought a pair just befor Christmas thinking I could give them an up grade .did not need to do much .just buy a set of rubber 8 rubber washers and place them on top of the washers they have put on or put two rubber washers on instead of the original ones.you will find the whole sound stage opens up and the bass will then surprise with out being over blown.. he is a great reviewer honest and true
I agree with you about the quality of the mid and high range from these speakers, I have mine connected to two 8 inch subwoofers running left and right channels separately, the subs are set to fill in the lower signals and leave the clarity of the Warfedales to do the rest>
U should make more speakers reviews!!! You’re very good thx 😊
Paired with 10" sub like I did they are very satisfying for most music. This review is spot on. I bought mine for the super realistic sound of vocals,and instruments in the midrange. Very realistic many guitars sound like the real thing in the room with you. I just loved the sound you could listen to these all day with no fatigue and be totally entertained with the wonderful detailed yet warm sound. If you are not running a sub also and listen to Electronic music with sub frequencies these likely won`t satisfy you.
So with a sub Electronic, Reggea, Rap, House and such genres will sound great? Planning to get a 225.
What sub do you have?
Good review because I have the speakers. I feel the same way. I am thinking of pairing them with a sub, and haven't decided what to do exactly. I want to keep with the same characteristics to enhance them, rather than disturb their good points. Just enough to get them more full-bodied for the music they're good with, and more varied material. I was thinking a tightly controlled sub maybe 8" down or side firing ported with about 60 watts RMS. I am using a 35 watts Cambridge to drive them now which works quite nicely for my purposes. I am also free-standing them a couple of feet from the wall.
Thanks for another great review.
Any chance for Teufel Theater 500 being tested? Literannly nobody has reviewed them so far, it seems.
Great review! I have a pair of these and can second 100% your opinion. Spot on.
Another awesome and detailed review.
Any plans on reviewing the Diamond 12.2 and the Linton 80th or 85th? I am researching speakers in the US$400 - $600 range and would love your opinion on them.
I got the Linton Heritage speakers and they are awesome. I can’t recommend them enough.
Hi Really I enjoyed the reviews, I have a query please sujjest the matching speakers with cyrus 3
This is fantastic!
Thank you, I have got a set of these to connect up to my old Marantz amp for my bedroom, I was able only to get some budget speakers and, without actually doing full research on the subject, opted for Wharfedale because a friend suggested them. I will be contacting them up tomorrow, but will look for advice on breaking them in safely before accidentally ruining them in ignorance.
You might want to check the inside of the binding post. Cable screws can loosen over time.
thanks for your review, regards from Chile !
I have this speakers for a couple of years now, they sound good but I think its time for an upgrade. Will Polk S20 sound better than this for home theater use?
Just subscribed. Thank you for such great video. I’m choosing between this 220 and q acoustics 3010i mostly for movies and occasionally music. Can you give some advise please? Thanks again
To me,Whafrdale is a better choice bcs of greater soundstage. QA 3010i is the smallest in the 3000 series,and sounds tinner. Also analitical. Wharfs sounds more "musical" over QA. Like in music,that goes for the movies as well. This was subjective,so take it with the grain of salt.Hope it helps.
Nice review. Is it okay match this with Aiyima A07? -Thanks
Rarely great review. Exactly what i felt and concluded when hearing them. Simply put, they are great for entering the hi fi world, lacks the natural feeling i.e. reproduction of how originally the music sounded when recorded. I can't understand how often people preferred them over bronze 2.
Thanks for your reviews. Have you ever used AMC products ( amps and dac) ?
Your welcome! I don't have any experience with AMC gear.
Do the wharfedale 220 perform good at low level volume? or does the speaker perform much better at higher volume? or equal at all volume levels?
Thanks!
Hi, would it be a good pair with denon ceol n4 picolo? Some rewievs say that these work very well together.
Cheers for the Video! Well since im sorta into Wharfies maybe you can tell me your opinion. Chosing now between the Wharfedale EVOs 4.1 and Adam T8V active monitors. Still have an older Yamaha so thought to upgrade to active speakers and worry about my amp on a later date, and grab also the EVOs later. Now i got a response, the Adam would not be "audiophile" enough, whatever that means. My current speakers are older big Magnat floorstanders, and i would like to have some sort of "audio" benchmark. The Adams have buildin digital amps and use the same sort of ribbon tweeter as the EVOs (thats what im interested most)... What do you think? Thanks!
Not sure I can offer any help in your dilemma since I haven't heard mentioned speakers. That said, I heard Adams are great bang for buck, but personally I'm more of a separates guy. Sure, it's more expensive but it offers more maneuvering space to fine tune things. Just my 2 unhelpful cents. Cheers!
Make sure you run balanced cables from a DAC to those Adams. They will pick up all noise due to being studio monitors
Excellent choice of speaker to couple with an subwoofer...like an Wharfdale SW150
Just picked a pair up for £30 tonight, cant wait to try them!
That's some crazy deal you got there. Hope you'll like them.
Bhai where did you get this for 30 pounds?
@@PuneetMehra Facebook marketplace
@@ashrana4642 ok. In India or UK ?
Hi
How do these W220’s compare to the Monitor Audio Bronze BR/BX 1 & 2?
Thanks
Hi Srboljub, I currently have an SMSL A300 amplifier, an SMSL SU 8S DAC, and Polk Audio TSI 100 speakers. Which speakers would you recommend for less than 300 dollars? Greetings from Argentina.
Thanks for the nice review, would you recommend it if I extra speaker for bass with 2.1 Amplifier?
It should work just fine with a good sub.
Thanks for another great review. Do you have any experience on Wharfedale Diamond 12 series? I wonder how Diamond 225 is compared to Diamond 12.2? Also what do you think about the comparison between Q Acoustics 3030i vs Diamond 220? Also I have found 3030i to be overly warmer than I would like and since you also mention Diamond 220 to be on the warm side, how do they sound compared to 3030i?
I really like the t-shirt by the way :)
Thanks! I haven't had a chance to try Diamond 12 but full 3030i review is coming soon so I'll compare them in detail with everything I heard. That said, if you found 3030i warm (funny enough it doesn't feel like that to me) you're almost certainly find Diamonds warm too.
@@iiWiReviews Thanks a lot for taking time to reply. I really look forward for your full 3030i review. I had listened 3030i with a DIY (not by me) tube amp and maybe it was the reason I found them warmer than I would like. One more question if you don't mind, does having a downward bass reflex port not help with easier speaker placement compared to rear bass reflex port speakers?
@@bynekm Real low bass actually radiates in 360 degrees around the speaker no matter the speaker's port placement. So if we talk about let's say 50Hz boom, the port placement doesn't change much. But there's a catch - It helps to some extent with upper midbass and lower midrange which are more directional and are coming out the bass-reflex too... and when those are cleaner whole bassline feels cleaner and more precise too. If these are fuzzy, the bass feels soft and without proper edges. So, you'll often hear from theory lovers that bass port placement is not all that important for the low bass, but in reality, it matters to our ears and our perception, and really makes front or down-firing speakers a bit easier to place.
Wow, I went all in for a simple question. :)
@@iiWiReviews Well, I am really glad that you went all in :) It really helps a lot.
I think I should share my experience with these loudspeakers. I recently bought them for my Aura Evolution VA100 II amp and i must say they sound absolutely f*cking amazing, especially for the price. If you biwire them like I did, then they really shine the bass, mids and highs sound really detailed exciting naturally warm ( I can't really explain the sound quality with words but it blew me away). When single connected they sounded dull and uninspiring and very dry. I would highly recommend if your amp has biwiring ports use them and thank me later ☺️
Hi Petar. Could you please show me what cable configuration do you use to get the best sound of this speakers?
@@nunoassiscardoso Hi Nuno, I'm using 4x 2.5m OEHLBACH 102 cables that means I'm using all the connectors on the speaker and all four connectors on my amp aka two sets of wire from every speaker. This is know as bi-wiring and it improves the mid and low frequencies but the down side is that it varies from amp to amp. Also you could mod your speaker by increasing the size of the vent google it moding Diamond 225 the same will apply here, but I must point out that anything you do is on your own risk - happy listening
I like your reviews. Can you review Proac Anniversary Tablette? Btw, I hate the Kef LS50. The sound signature is way off accuracy and so coloured.
Where good Explained Keep it up Bro
are they good at low volume for near field ? thanks
Just to feed my curiosity... Have you ever listened to the KEF LSX speakers? I was actually considering those before, but went for the 220's with sub instead, combined with the Yamaha WXA-50, for streaming.
I'm trying to justify my choice, since I actually didn't listen to the KEF's 😅
I haven't heard LSX but if you're happy with the sound (and 220s are really good speakers) just try not to think about the other thing and enjoy them. Easier said than done though. 😀
@@iiWiReviews You are not just a good reviewer but also a wise man (I believe you mentioned being an old soul😉)... I will take your advice 🙂
Hello from the Far East!Do you recomend this Diamond 220 for my 7year old Yamaha A-S500 integrated amplifier?
I never heard those two together, but knowing the sound of both houses, I believe that should be a nice match.
Owned these speakers for about a month. Could never get used to them. The highs seemed too rolled off, the rest seemed too warm for my taste. With the right material, they can sound good, but mostly they did not appeal to me.
For "cleaner" sound set spacers on 6.5 mm.
I don’t trust lots of audio Reviewers, but I can say you sound Trustworthy.
I have the Diamond 225 with the Onkyo 9150 . Would you suggest I go to the Kef ls50? It what’s your recommendations?
I love LS50 but it's a difficult one to recommend since it's kind of a diva - demands very good partnering kit, care with positioning etc. Only for patient and stubborn people. :)
iiWi Reviews any Amp recommendation for the ls50
@@altabriziyehya4735 The Audiophiliac recommends the Denon PMA-600NE, which I bought new in the UK for £299 and I'm really enjoying with LS50s. He has a bunch of other recommendations for amps here: th-cam.com/users/results?search_query=audiophiliac+system
thank you Anthony
Also have a 9150....and am looking for better speakers than the generic sony mini system ones I have now....Hoping the 9150 can drive the jbl 530?....Or else i might try the klispch 160???
These are pretty good I was forced to sell my klipsch.rpm bookshelf's and def tech d11. These are sweet mellow sounding and everything sounds.good threw there signature. Got em for a steal new. Great budget speaker check the bamars mod to the base port on the larger brothers.
Wondering what this means:
"check the bamars mod to the base port on the
larger brothers" ?
Tharbarmars channel adjusting the spacers between the bottom port. For for more bass extension
are good in low volume? or need to pump up volume ?
Hi. You said these are not so great for electronic music due to the lack of bass. Would a sub-woofer used with these make them better?
Of course, sub would fill the missing part just nicely.
So what is your alternative in this price range ? What’s best sounding standmount speakers according to you ?
In this price range, except this one, I also really like Q Acoustics 3020i - hope to review that one sometime down the road too. Choosing the best is probably mission impossible - I've heard so many great speakers and all of them have their strengths and quirks.
iiWi Reviews yep, true... many factors... I bought Elac Debut 6.2 recently and have to say they are good allrounders but also have impression that better (then TopoingbMX3 at the moment) amp will improve their dynamics and overal sound. Something is missing here;) Or maybe I should try Wharfedales 225, Mission QX2, Kef 150, Klipsch RP 160 or some Q Acoustics;) Thanks for informative reviews👍🏻
The Infinity Reference 162 are fantastic and go on sale for around $160 or so. You can tell they use aluminum drivers, but they really are a good starter speaker.
UPDATE, I have also purchased a pair of 225s, and because my Luxman amp has A+B speaker outputs, I run the 220s on A and the 225s on B., I can then switch between them depending on the style of music I am listening to or run them both together which really fills the room with sound.
Nice! I wish my amp had bi speaker outs but they don’t. I’m going to buy a switch box but it’s so annoying because it could potentially be a bottleneck.
Would be a Topping MX3 enough to power these speakers? I wanna put them in a small living room (16x13feet)...
Yes, it has enough power.
@@iiWiReviews Thank you, just one more opinion, I can buy this for 200€ or the Jamo S803 for 250€... I know you don't have the Jamos, but do you think they are worth the extra 50€?
Anyone think wharfedale 220/225 is a worthy upgrade instead of my currently b&w 686 s2? Also thank you for a very nice review!
No, that would in many aspects be the downgrade. Those B&W offer more resolution and crisper sound than these Diamonds. Wharfedale Evo series is more in line with your speakers. But both brands offer different tonality. Wharfedale is warmer and darker sounding, B&W is crisper and brighter, more edgy.
But in short, no Diamonds are not an upgrade to your speakers.
@@iiWiReviews I really appreciate your quick answer! Saving me an order and probably a return. Thanks alot!
Any chance at looking at some Dali speakers?, like Spektor or Zensor... there is very little on youtube about them.
I'll look into it... Basically waiting for good deals since my budget and this channel still can't support just buying gear full price and loss on it afterwards.
Are speaktor 2 better ?
Would pairing these up with a decent subwoofer fix the issue of not having a great deal of punchy bass?
I never tried it that way, but good subwoofer should definitely add weight to the sound.
for some reason not many people are reviewing Wharfedale speakers, probably they are not paying youtubers for long ads.
Diamond or qa concept 20?
For sound quality. Should I leave the grills on or off?
Off
The bigger Diamond 225's make up for some of the 220's shortcomings.
Like more low end but sacrifice the great mids to me the 225 has the shortcomings. I listen in mid size room and can add sub if needed, still would choose 220 though. I bought mine because I was sick of the exaggerated high and way forward lows trend.
Brate pomagaj. Mnogi kazu da je ovo bolje od 225 diamond...u konkurenciji su mi i audio monitor bronze 2...ali kad slusam njih nekako cujem grub, tvrd zvuk dirki, zica...to me nervira...kod wharfadala volim tu jasnocu, dubinu i kristalni zvuk..sta bi uzeo od ta tri zvucnika molim te?
Meni Wharf malo više prija karakterno jer ima puniju sredinu i prisutnije vokale što meni lično puno znači. 220-ici za moj ukus ipak fali basa malo. Može da prođe ako ti je soba manja i ići će blizu zidova/uglova da pojačaju malo to... Ako nije, onda bih na 225 ipak radije, da daju malo te mase zvuku.
Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 Bookshelf ive add theses
Get rid off cheap caps and resistors and it will be lush and clean and than add nice copper foil bypass to tweeter cap like 0.1uf and it will sound with no grain but sweet harmonics
Can you show show more picture of your listening environment ?
I've just moved to a different place but soon I'll make a whole video dedicated to my own experience with room acoustics and how I'm dealing with it.
I picked a mint pair up for 45 quid on fb ,I was lucky ,you dont need a sub with these ,there quite basy
Great deal :)
You can even buy them used for $200 now
Hi there,
Partially based on your review and speaker comparison, I purchased the Diamond 220's.
Coming from a Sony sound plate, any true stereo setup would mean an improvement for music playback. Although I am not an experienced enthousiast, I was very impressed by the performance of the speakers, and equally impressed by how well you were able to describe them in words. My compliments for that!
I was actually able to strike a great deal in combination with the matching WH-D10 subwoofer, which I use to complement the speakers in the low end. Although I mainly listen to Jazz, pop and some acoustic music, where a little less pronounced bass is no problem, I do love to hear the "belly" in a good upright bass solo.
To drive the speakers I use a Yamaha WXA-50 integrated amp with streaming. I believe it is a nice match.
Thanks for your advice. I think I will be a happy listener for years to come 🙂
Greetings from the Netherlands!
What i'd REALLY like to know is how come I can't find ONE, not even ONE, review of the newer Wharfedale Diamond 11.2 speakers on YT? They've been out for at least 2 yrs now I believe? Very very strange.
@@joriszsz95 Well thanks for that, but I was specifcally asking why there weren't any reviews of the 11.2 on TH-cam....internet yes, youtube no
Heck of a lot better than Andrew Robinson. & glad this guy isn’t married. Love to know his ethnicity as to his accent, I can’t pinpoint it. All in admiration for the record.
When explosions occur when watching movies my brand new Diamonds 220 sound like cracking, broken noise. Disappointed in them.
I don't noticed any crackling on Diamonds, better double check is something else is causing that. For example, I used to have similar problem long time ago but my video player on PC was guilty... It mixed 5.1 into 2.0 badly and it needed manual adjustment.
@@iiWiReviews I have checked all set-ups and connections I use Onkyo SR393 Receiver, still "cracking" - in my opinion they are sub-standard speakers.
@@Greggiexplore Well, I have the same speakers and do no experience crackling at all. Perhaps there is something with the soundcard, source material or amplifier.
Or, yours are damaged.
@@larswillems9886 Brand new (I have 2 sets..all the same)
I just ordered those for 99,95 euro, good deal?
Now, you're just bragging. 😊 Great deal
@@iiWiReviews thanks, yeah little bit bragging :) , I am checking your review about Arylic right now. I'm actually building my own speakers based on their amp boards. The Wharfedales will be another reference point.
Kakashi!
The one and only. :)
Wow, £119 in the UK. If I wasn't already being accused of "bla bla bla financially irresponsible bla bla" by my better half, I'd nab a set just to play around with... I take the viewpoint that better is always better, but a change every now and then is often what's needed when one gets the itch to upgrade.
I suspect these would make a nice little counterpoint "speaker B" to compliment my "speaker A" pair of Monitor Audio Bronze 2... When I fancied a change.
Good review, errrrrm - what's your name? It feels odd saying "good review iiwi" - It would be much nicer to know your first name so we can talk to you in the comments on a more person level. Perhaps sign off with it at the bottom of your descriptions? That's your business though - I'm just popping out suggestions.
Tarun at A British Audiophile has just reached 14k subscribers, and said his channel is now large enough that manufactures are happy to send him gear to review. It won't be long until you're there too. I'd guess another year or so perhaps? Who knows - youtube channels grow exponentially like a snowball rolling down a hill. Keep up the good standard and you'll be getting all kinds of stuff in the post for you to play with soon enough.
Great vid, thanks *insert name here*, and may your channel continue its upward trend!
Ps... Your review style is quite neutral and many people really like that approach.
None of this "oh wow, such a musical midrange, you feel like the singer is in the rom with you" nonsense. Just an explanation of how the speakers sound and compare with their competition. See both Darko and British Audiophile for proof that style works well!
Thanks! I'm kind of skipping mentioning my name cause I supposed it would be utterly weird to most - Srboljub Stojanovic (short Srba) - it's an old and rare name that even kids in my own country (Serbia) have trouble pronouncing. :) But I guess this is kinda non-personal so I'll probably start sharing it from now on. Thanks for your insight.
Cool! Nice to mee you Srba. How do you pronounce it? Seer-ba? Sir-beh?
Yeah that's the weird part it's just Sr-ba with slightly rolling r, not unlike the Dr in Drakula. :)
@@iiWiReviews A couple attempts at pronouncing your name - unlisted link only vids so as to not fill my youtube channel with a whole bunch of litle vids like this.
Attempt 1, yesterday...
th-cam.com/video/xKqPC9DiIKE/w-d-xo.html
Attempt 2, 10 minutes ago.
th-cam.com/video/RtaZZ_y7dcw/w-d-xo.html
You are the reviewers…..why do you constantly reference what Other reviewers say ?