Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 Review (Speaker)

[Schlippwhip68]

Look at the bottom of Amir’s review. The 12.1s hold their own against speakers costing $1,000.

And, as I like to point out, those $1,000 speakers will cost you £1,000 in the UK, but the 12.1s are only £250, and can usually be had for £225.

Yes, I might be replacing my now sold 12.2 with the 12.1 soon, down to room size.
I tried the 3060s sub from Q Acoustic yesterday but I’m afraid after just 5 minutes it was reboxed and ready for return. Nothing more than a low end confusion in regard to bass. Nothing clean at all, awful sound. My Wharfedale SW150 sub was way better and cheaper.

 

[gasolin75]

There is a new 12.1i with single binding post, specs are the same in every arear, is the single binding post the only difference beside mabye crossover ?

DIAMOND 12.1i

Since its launch in 2020, the Wharfedale DIAMOND 12 Series has received widespread praise as a standard for performance and value in affordable hi-fi speakers. After over five years of consistent success, awards, and positive reviews from audio enthusiasts and critics alike, the DIAMOND 12 Series...

www.wharfedale.co.uk

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

Good spot. If anyone is after a pair, Richer Sounds are selling the old vanilla ones off at £179 a pair.

Only black oak and light oak left.

This is crazy. Given Amir's initial comments, given that he compared them very favourably indeed to speakers from his favourite brand costing £1,000+, you have to say £179 is an absolute steal.

 

[gasolin75]

+ wharfedale SW-150 which is in stock where i live

Under £400 total should be possible if it wherent for the fact that the 12.1 is out of stock in Denmark

a pair of active yamaha HS-7 cost the same or a little more (most has an amp for passive speakers + a sub or something to use with a pair of active speakers)

 

[Schlippwhip68]

+ wharfedale SW-150 which is in stock where i live

Under £400 total should be possible if it wherent for the fact that the 12.1 is out of stock in Denmark

a pair of active yamaha HS-7 cost the same or a little more (most has an amp for passive speakers + a sub or something to use with a pair of active speakers)

Really liked my 1st gen 12.2’s. Not sure if I could sit and listen to a pair of HS7’s as long as a Hifi rig to be fair. The HS7’s are built for exposing production error in an recording studio. One phrase I heard for the Yammies goes like this ‘the HS range do not lie’.

They literally are ‘acid test’ speakers which are not designed for comfort, though use them right and they produce such ironically.

 

[ricardomontalbahn77]

Really liked my 1st gen 12.2’s. Not sure if I could sit and listen to a pair of HS7’s as long as a Hifi rig to be fair. The HS7’s are built for exposing production error in an recording studio. One phrase I heard for the Yammies goes like this ‘the HS range do not lie’.

They literally are ‘acid test’ speakers which are not designed for comfort, though use them right and they produce such ironically.

The diamond 12.1 is an excellent speaker imho. Hard to fault anything on them. The review pretty much is in line as Amir puts them up against the Revels as well. I have them and quite enjoy them along with my Polk R200 (similar sound signature) and MA Silver 100 7g.

 

[gasolin75]

Yamaha HS-7 was just a random pair of speakers (i have owned) to compared what you also could get for 400 euros (or how much they cost in £)

Atm they actually costs closer to 500 euros ( £435) then 400 euros (£349)

 

[InsideTheWire]

WOW, wish I could have gotten mine at that price. I've had mine for a couple of years now and love them.

 

[gasolin75]

I godt the discount (20%) on the 12.2i 's so i ordered a pair

Wibelink you can't use with a sub, no speaker cable you can use do to the binding posts and i have my wiim ultra at fixed volume so i use my amp to adjust the volume do to being much smoother when i adjust the volume the streamer feels like theres a resistance when using the volume knob

My room corrected 12.1i's is down but 6-7 db at 50 hz

Specs for the 12.1i's

yes it is 50hz not 60hz and feel it's deep and punchy Room corrected the 12.2 i specs should be possible (next level bass extention)

Here's the specs for the 12.2i

 

[voodooless]

View attachment 516330

Be carefull! That is a lot of boost below 60 Hz! 6dB of gain is 4x the power requirement. That is a significant stain on the 150mm woofer.

 

[gasolin75]

No problem, i know what my speakers,amp can do

 

[DanielT]

I godt the discount (20%) on the 12.2i 's so i ordered a pair

Wibelink you can't use with a sub, no speaker cable you can use do to the binding posts and i have my wiim ultra at fixed volume so i use my amp to adjust the volume do to being much smoother when i adjust the volume the streamer feels like theres a resistance when using the volume knob

My room corrected 12.1i's is down but 6-7 db at 50 hz

Specs for the 12.1i's

View attachment 516329

yes it is 50hz not 60hz and feel it's deep and punchy Room corrected the 12.2 i specs should be possible (next level bass extention)

Here's the specs for the 12.2i
View attachment 516331



View attachment 516330

But those are ported speakers, right? Then it hardly does anything to boost up or lower FR before they roll off because they roll off so steeply. You can't conjure up something that doesn't exist from the beginning, no potential to play with low bass boost, so to speak. For that you need sealed boxes that roll off flatter. Then play, tinker with Linkwitz Transform /EQ:

Note that the Linkwitz transform only works for sealed boxes. It's not suitable for ported boxes or for open-baffle speakers.

Linkwitz Transform

miniDSP is a leading manufacturer of Digital Audio Signal Processors for the HomeTheater, Hifi, headphone and Automotive market. Join our large community of Audiophiles, Engineers and DIYers using our innovative products.

www.minidsp.com

 

[gasolin75]

Not shure what your trying to say

The 12.2's are bigger and has lower bass extention

standard specs, the 12.2i's just have more bass extention what my FQ responce is room corrected you can se in #509 (WHARFEDALE DIMAOND 12.1 i)





Some say the 12.2 makes a difference in the bass compared to the 12.1 https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/wharfedale-diamond-12-owners-thread.26041/

I own a wiim ultra streamer + a decent mic

 

[rsqt]

The tuning frequency of the bassreflex pipe ist about 55-60Hz. If you go far under this frequency the driver runs out of control and bassreflex turns into a "box with a hole". That means very fast rising of movement and THD.

 

[DanielT]

Not shure what your trying to say

The 12.2's are bigger and has lower bass extention

standard specs, the 12.2i's just have more bass extention what my FQ responce is room corrected you can se in #509 (WHARFEDALE DIMAOND 12.1 i)

View attachment 516333

View attachment 516332

Some say the 12.2 makes a difference in the bass compared to the 12.1 https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/wharfedale-diamond-12-owners-thread.26041/

View attachment 516334


View attachment 516335
I own a wiim ultra streamer + a decent mic

See @rsqt answer above.

Since ported has a rolloff of around 24 dB after the tuning frequency, :


...it means that if you are trying to boost up below the tuning frequency you need to boost up it up like hell BUT that will only lead to you gaining a little more
lower bass at the expense of significantly increased distortion.
A ported speaker is simply not built to boost up below the tuning frequency. It is in the design principle, physics around it.

Boost, EQ up or down before the tuning frequency, of course, test what you like but below it, nope.
(although, as usual, always make sure to have power headroom during EQ operations)

Speaking of stressing the system. Keep in mind if you boost via WiiM RoomFit, lower the output volume from your WiiM to avoid digital clipping:

Guide for Managing Volume and Headroom on the WiiM Mini (Measurements)

This is a small excursion into volume and EQ headroom on the WiiM Mini (and by extension, likely other WiiM products). WiiM Mini Firmware: 4.6.805929 WiiM Home Version: 3.5.1 For all tests, I used a -1dBFS Measurement Sweep, exported from REW and played back directly via the WiiM Home App...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[gasolin75]

The tuning frequency of the bassreflex pipe ist about 55-60Hz. If you go far under this frequency the driver runs out of control and bassreflex turns into a "box with a hole". That means very fast rising of movement and THD.

I know

Distortion only happens alot if you play very loud or just music that is distorted

The 12.2 is surpose to sound better but generally it has much lower bass extention, which also helps making it sound bigger because it plays deeper bass

Played Ghost Rider - Make Us Stronger on my 12.1i, full power (vibelink) it's not distorting at normal adjustment of the app,amp,streamer, no boostede volume other than room correction, all was 100%, bass was moving alot and i heard some artifact or limit in the right channel but it wasn't excatly distorting, just super loud, didn't feel much of a harmonic distortion

Most of the time i keep volume under lowest spl they use for harmonic distortion 86db.

Bigger speaker can have lower harmonic distortion than smaller speakers

As you can see even high end speaker have alot of distortion under 50-60hz (why it's around this hz i don't know)

would you stop buying one of those speakers that have harmonic distortion under 60hz and play loud ? I don't think so, not all have space (or the money) for canto reference floorstand speakers or magico M9 (1000 pound each) or børresen M8 for a million euros


What i wanted to say before i got a pm Even bookshelf speakers that costs 10 og 20 times as much as my speakers have high harmonic distort under 60hz at a volume of 96 db

My speakers do play 100 db or more super close to them when they do mabye 80-86db peak at 1 meter

 

[gasolin75]

See @rsqt answer above.

Since ported has a rolloff of around 24 dB after the tuning frequency, :

View attachment 516342View attachment 516343
...it means that if you are trying to boost up below the tuning frequency you need to boost up it up like hell BUT that will only lead to you gaining a little more
lower bass at the expense of significantly increased distortion.
A ported speaker is simply not built to boost up below the tuning frequency. It is in the design principle, physics around it.

Boost, EQ up or down before the tuning frequency, of course, test what you like but below it, nope.
(although, as usual, always make sure to have power headroom during EQ operations)

Speaking of stressing the system. Keep in mind if you boost via WiiM RoomFit, lower the output volume from your WiiM to avoid digital clipping:

Guide for Managing Volume and Headroom on the WiiM Mini (Measurements)

This is a small excursion into volume and EQ headroom on the WiiM Mini (and by extension, likely other WiiM products). WiiM Mini Firmware: 4.6.805929 WiiM Home Version: 3.5.1 For all tests, I used a -1dBFS Measurement Sweep, exported from REW and played back directly via the WiiM Home App...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I don't know what the tuning frequency of my speakers is

Lowest room correction adjust bass at is 59hz (12.1 i), minus 4 db (according to asr) is at 60 hz and bass port is peaking around 60-65hz from the older 12.1

Guess what, i can make room correction adjust bass down to 20hz or a little less, so frequencys under that limit is not "room corrected"

The 12.2 over the 12.1 you buy do to bass extension not spl or or max power handling


Peaking at 70 db (1 feet closer to one speaker it peaks at 82db, most of the time peaks are closer to 75db than 82db) i think for everyday use i will be fine

 

[DanielT]

I don't know what the tuning frequency of my speakers is

Lowest room correction adjust bass at is 59hz (12.1 i), minus 4 db (according to asr) is at 60 hz and bass port is peaking around 60-65hz from the older 12.1

Guess what, i can make room correction adjust bass down to 20hz or a little less, so frequencys under that limit is not "room corrected"

The 12.2 over the 12.1 you buy do to bass extension not spl or or max power handling


Peaking at 70 db (1 feet closer to one speaker it peaks at 82db, most of the time peaks are closer to 75db than 82db) i think for everyday use i will be fine

A little hard to see the scale on your RoomFit sweep, but it looks like it starts to drop around 60 Hz..ish..:

Ported drops by about 24 dB/octave at the tuning frequency. So if we check around 30 Hz (one octave). It certainly looks like it has rolled off around 24 dB.


With all this said. It doesn't have to be that way because your room affects the bass response/FR.

If you are curious and have the opportunity, take them outside in a free open field and measure them. Preferably with a properly calibrated microphone, for example UMIK-1 (plus microphone stand) + a proper measurement program like REW:

REW room acoustics and audio device measurement and analysis software

REW is free software for room acoustic measurement, loudspeaker measurement and audio device measurement and analysis

www.roomeqwizard.com

Or wait until, for example, Amir or Erin have done proper measurements on them....if no one else has already done so?


You can try your EQ experiments, but if it sounds bad, skip it and be careful with your new speakers. You don't want to ruin your woofers. Play at a low volume.

 

[gasolin75]

My woofers can handle it

 

[DanielT]

My woofers can handle it

...and do your ears think there is enough volume after your EQ operation?

Also, didn't you buy a subwoofer recently? I don't remember exactly. If so, you should do the opposite. That is, unload your speakers from operating below 80Hz-100Hz.