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Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 Review (Speaker)

@Willem:
Exactly the bass on the Reega is lower but it's not a problem actually, the Wharfedales really had too much and muddy, the most invasive of all the brands I've listened to, incredible for a 12.5cm woofer!

I set the subwoofer to 70Hz and it works wonderfully with the Rega.

The only real problem is the aesthetic, they answered me from the UK and probably there is a stock of the first models with these aesthetic imperfections, I need to understand if they can be fixed under warranty and above all if I change the others they send me are free of them......

They are doing some checks and will let me know on Monday.
See you soon.
 
My Diamonds have a 2db hot tweeter starting from 3k all the way to 14k. Can i just EQ it down with a hp filter? I still dont understand this directivity thing on the graph.
 
My Diamonds have a 2db hot tweeter starting from 3k all the way to 14k. Can i just EQ it down with a hp filter? I still dont understand this directivity thing on the graph.
You can using a high shelving filter or just a suitable 2.2 Ohm resistor like I did:
 
You can using a high shelving filter or just a suitable 2.2 Ohm resistor like I did:
interesting, my measurements look very very similar to yours. i was surprised when the bbc dip was this deep with my second 12.2 sample i have now.
 
For me the highs were not a big problem.

On some recordings they were a bit "rough" but I did not feel the need to equalize them or put the resistor to attenuate them.

the only problem was the excessive presence of the bass that also covered the mid range, I could have solved it almost certainly by removing some turns from the coil on the Woofer, I did not measure the value but since it was 1 Mh I could bring it to 0.8 to have more mid range and decrease the bass ..... maybe it would have been the most practical solution, but having paid almost 400 euros I did not want to do all this work (different if the price was around 200 euros like outside Italy).

Now I got a pair of Emit10 on promotion at 500 euros, I am sure it will be a good speaker, at a slightly higher cost than the 12.1 I had.

The Rega kyte case is closed, no guarantee that they would send me back a valid product, among other things 550 Euro is a crazy price for a speaker made of 2mm thick plastic....a shoebox with a woofer inside would have been better! :)
 
@thewas

These are my measurements of the 12.2. Any idea where there is such a big drop at 800Hz already? Im happy with the measurements but the BBC dip is a bit too heavy for my taste (and it shouldnt be that heavy). Speakers are on a TV board angled slightly upwards to MLP.

Sweep

Screenshot 2025-01-24 111952.png



Moving Microphone Measurements
Screenshot 2025-01-24 112024.png
 
@thewas

These are my measurements of the 12.2. Any idea where there is such a big drop at 800Hz already? Im happy with the measurements but the BBC dip is a bit too heavy for my taste (and it shouldnt be that heavy). Speakers are on a TV board angled slightly upwards to MLP.

Sweep

View attachment 423456


Moving Microphone Measurements
View attachment 423457
Possibly from a reflection, you can check that if you place them as far as possible from other surfaces and measure them at 1 meter distance.
 
Mid and low frequencies tend to go behind the speaker on to the tv and reflect into the room. If the listening position is backed up to a wall it reflects again and can creates nulls and peaks. But the top FR looks quite nice and flat.
 
Mid and low frequencies tend to go behind the speaker on to the tv and reflect into the room. If the listening position is backed up to a wall it reflects again and can creates nulls and peaks. But the top FR looks quite nice and flat.
I think it looks a bit wonky. For comparisons sake here are Google Nest Audio (90€/pair!!!!) and Kali IN-8v2 at same location.
Screenshot 2025-01-25 224844.png
 
Exactly. I think everybody ( incl me) has those dips in that low fr region in the listening position, hence the room correction possibility. However, how much does that bother the listener, I'm not sure because determining the resolution of low fr ( room spec) is way harder than that bbc dip ( speaker spec).

Edit: in no way you get the dips out with room correction. I don't want to imply that that this feature is the be all end all solution. Room treatment and speaker placement might help. Or move the tv in line with the woofers , stuf like that.
 
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Hello, I just got a pair of whaferdale diamond 12.3. They are not sounding as good as in the shop, lack of bass mainly.

It is true that speakers have a break in period?
 
Hello, I just got a pair of whaferdale diamond 12.3. They are not sounding as good as in the shop, lack of bass mainly.

It is true that speakers have a break in period?
That won't really change much in the way of bass output; maybe check polarity of speaker wire and try different listening and speaker positions. Sometimes you can get a suck out right where you hear "bass"
 
Hello, I just got a pair of whaferdale diamond 12.3. They are not sounding as good as in the shop, lack of bass mainly.

It is true that speakers have a break in period?
speaker and listening position are more likely the issue with bass, even a few inches make a difference sometimes...
 
@FBech
Mine had too many of them.

Reason why I returned them (they covered the midrange).
Play them for a few hours, definitely increasing, being mechanical parts a bit of "running in" can help.

As already said also check the cables (positive and negative) and if you can bring them at an angle to the wall.
This should also help.
 
I am thinking for upgrading from the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 to the Dynaudio Evoke 10 speakers.
Anyone has experience going from Wharfedale to DynaAudio?
 
Hi.
I don't know the Evoke, I replaced the Wharfedale with the Dynaudio Emit10 (bought on promotion at 539 euros).

With Dynaudio we are on other levels, the bass is less bloated and more controlled, the midrange has more body and slightly more forward than the Wharfedale (for my tastes always too little) while the highs (Tweeter) of the Dynaudio are slightly less present, very beautiful and never tiring.

Generally speaking Dynaudio Emit10 is superior in everything, it is a slightly "hard" speaker the wooffer needs a lot of running in to soften, even the sensitivity of only 65db requires an amplifier with the right current to make them perform at their best!

I also compared them with Polk R100, the Polk as a medium-high range manage to give greater detail especially in the "micro" details of some instruments or musical nuances they are truly beautiful! but if you turn up the volume they become intrusive and annoying, which doesn't happen with Emit10.

But as I told you I don't have the model you're talking about, surely Evoke being the superior series compared to Emit I think you would surely gain even more in the medium-high range (compared to Emit) and in general dynamics.

If I have to find a fault with my Emit it's always the mid range, probably I have problems with my listening environment.....you have no idea, but I still don't like the mid frequencies 100%

Let's see if any user has had direct experiences to be of more help to you.
See you soon.
 
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