Wharfedale Diamond 12 Owner's Thread

[gasolin75]

Yeah, these sneaky buggers at Wharfedale changed a few things quietly, the V1 as we call it had foam surrounds, the V2 has rubber surround and Wharfedale stated "it has no major sonic differences". The V1 also had some sort of a cup behind the tweeter, that cup isnt on the V2. God knows what else they changed.

That was the 11 series

 

[gasolin75]

Frankly based on the price, I'm not so sure where the 12.1 would fit in. 12.0 with a sub, or 12.2 with/without a sub.

I tell you that

12.0 are to small to be loud, with a sub it's more expensive than a pair of 12.2 if both are new (12.0 and sub)

For nearfield or pc (kind of is both in most cases) 12.2's are to big for most people to have the flexibilty of placement like the smaller models

So more bass,spl than the 12.0 and better placement options than the 12.2, rated max spl is just about the same for the 12.1 and 12.2's

If you have room problem with to much bass you can close the port on the 12.2 but wouldn't you like the bass extention to be as good as possible ?

12.1 f3 is 61hz thats pretty good (f6 is rated at 60hz)

 

[tw 2022]

Frankly based on the price, I'm not so sure where the 12.1 would fit in. 12.0 with a sub, or 12.2 with/without a sub.

I would ask you: have you heard the 12.1's with a sub vsd the 12.0s'

 

[gasolin75]

I have a pair of wharfedale 225s and I happily use apple music EQ-presets.

Im sure they don't sound the same as diamonds 12.2, the 225 still don't have much bass compared to many other speakers

 

[gasolin75]

12.2 don't feel too bassy at all. You can also plug the ports to reduce the amount of low end.
There's one more thing you need to know. 6" 12.2 is actually what all other manufacturers call 5 1/4 inches
But.. I'm not at all dissuading you from 12.1

12.2 is not 6" it's 6.5" or 150mm

 

[gasolin75]

Any old ofc cable will work the same and I doubt you'll notice anything over the stock bars anyway.
The signal in your amplifier runs through a lot of flat metal shapes. It runs through more flat metal shapes inside the speaker. What's changing 2% of that length going to do for you?

It does just about the same doing it with the pre out and main in on a older amps like nad

 

[gasolin75]

My old second-system Diamond 7.2SE's with 'buy wiring' terminals use the supplied solid brass rods (2mm diameter and maybe 40 - 50mm spacing?) as links. I'd not want to increase hf level at all, so the brass rods stay put and they look better anyway!.. Mind you, add-on fancy wire links do look better to some, so maybe as usual, it's the visual aspect that makes it sound better....

How many times when listening to music do you look at the binding posts '? NONE AT ALL, LIKE, NEVER

 

[gasolin75]

What length for the jumpers? I am looking at some but dont know, either 10cm or 15cm? I am thinking 10cm...?

I think she prefers 15 cm over 10 cm

 

[gasolin75]

One moment, please...

Some one mentioned they need long times to shine

I am using 12.0’s on my desk top at work. They are great, but they didn’t start out that way. Source is PC laptop running JRiver v29, Audioquest Dragonfly v1.2 with Jitterbug, Rega Brio R (older version bought used).

At first with the speakers right out of the box, this set up sounded decent at low volume, but closed in and shouty at moderate to higher volume. This lasted for a LONG time. Because I was in an office environment, they didn’t get cranked up very often, and I just assumed maybe the Brio wasn’t up to spec, or just wasn’t that good of an amp.

It took literally about half a year of low level playing and occasionally party level blasting for these speakers to come into their own. Now this system sounds absolutely remarkable from low level near field all the way up to near 90db. The imaging in near field with the speakers on either side of my computer monitor is spooky good. SO BREAK THEM IN FULLY BEFORE JUDGING - ESPECIALLY THE MIDS AND BASS, although the treble is also now extraordinary for a budget speaker.

A final note, these speakers are fully capable of distinguishing between DACs. I tried an Audioquest Dragonfly Red, and didn’t like, too bright with or without a Jitterbug inline. I tried the Brio/Diamond 12.0 system with a Chord QuteHD DAC, which retailed new for more than this entire system, and omg, the detail and the bass!

A second final note, a sub would help a lot, but you better get a good one that can keep up with these speakers. The bass that is there is great, but below 65hz it’s pretty much MIA. The speakers are about 6” from the back wall, and get some reinforcement, but no bloat even at high volume.

 

[crappypanther]

12.2 is not 6" it's 6.5" or 150mm

“12.2 has the same woofer size as my Eve Audio SC205 - 5 inches

which is why I sold them. I didn’t need another pair of 5‑inch speakers

 

[gasolin75]

How is it possible that there are still no measurements for the Wharfedale Diamond 12.2?! There is already a 12.2i, but still no measurements.

I'm trying to choose between the 12.2i and the Dali Oberon 3.

The Triangle Borea BR04 is even better for me, but the price is much higher.

Try hifichoice if you can read issue 479 https://www.hifichoice.com/content/wharfedale-diamond-122

​

Triangle Borea BR04 review

Bold, powerful standmounts with bass to spare

www.whathifi.com

 

[gasolin75]

“12.2 has the same woofer size as my Eve Audio SC205 - 5 inches

which is why I sold them. I didn’t need another pair of 5‑inch speakers

Did you forget to listen to them ?

 

[crappypanther]

Did you forget to listen to them ?

wtf?

 

[gasolin75]

I wanna try differnet speakers and wharfedal diamond 12.1 i and 12.2 i

Do to reviews it's wharfedale diamond

Germain review
More enjoyable music listening is not possible in this price range. The logical consequence: This British speaker will never leave the i-fidelity.net listening room again.

Persuit Perfect System RIDICULOUSLY GOOD Wharfedale Diamond 12.1

Diamond 12.1 i 295 euros

Diamond 12.2 i 455 euros 259 euros in uk but no shipping to Denmark

12.0 i not stock and to small to have okay bass, 12.2 i to big for a desk and expensive

wiim amp pro

I want to measure fr with my usb mic using the wiim home app but i think i only can do i can so it after room correction (no before and after, stock and room corrected)

 

[gasolin75]

wtf?

You didn't wanted them because it's only 5 inch according to you and you didn't wanted another 5" even when a pair of 12.2 (and i) are surpose to be 6.5", 150mm

But did you listen to them, to hear if they sounded good ?

 

[Petevid]

The original 12 series was designed by Karl Heinz Fink, I wonder whether he has had a hand in the latest 'i' iteration?

 

[gasolin75]

They only did bass improvements, damping and bassport, same drivers,cabinet and specs

I don't know about the crossover, i imagine they did do to single binding post

 

[gasolin75]

got my 12.1i

I do still have some midbass,low midrange problem when dooing room correction

pk 1 you can't se is 60hz 5.3 db Q 3.72

 

[gasolin75]

Sound

No roomfit (room correction) not much bass, since it lowers the deep voices, there is high room gain = alot of energy around that area where bas starts and the deep voices are

For a, im not rated at 45hz or lower at -6db, bass is good with roomfit, i think 50hz is minus 6-8 db, 75-100 hz a little "warmth" no 7-9-13,knock on wood port noise or anything i can hear that is not realted to the song, with the amoung of bass,extention and quality i wouldn't wanna have a pair of 12.0(i) as a stand alone speaker for nearfield

No roomfit as crappy as some cheap logitech,creative speakers

YMMV but room correction is madatory (at least for me)

Not angled, sound is very pleasant even after room correction, the sound is only a little bright from songs that are bright, there isn't the usually sparkle in the highs in the same way like the B&W 606/607 s1 and s2 or dali zensor,oberon and good full bass

Power, if you don't need to have roomfit or roomperfect or musiccast (yamaha) do as much enhancement in the bass as in my situations to hear bass (you have a good room) bass is good up to 85 % of the power a wiim amp pro has, mine is 85% so when the amp shows 100% it's 85% of the power the amp has + down to 20hz (35 ish might also have been okay) frequency range i used for room correction.

With roomfit (se picture in #398) i wouldn't give it all power (85% volume indicating 100%) with the most bass heavy song like Dub Smoke by Pitch Black just to have clean bass, if room corretion is a few db enhanced play as loud as you like, as long as it sounds clean,no distortion

Spl, party level it's just fine, last 15% from 85% to 100% is where it's get's about small party loud (italiobrothers is approved)

Some complained about uneven tweeter and glue, dirt on the speakers, nothing here

Still don't like the silver ring around the units but more subtle than q acoustics

 

[gasolin75]

“12.2 has the same woofer size as my Eve Audio SC205 - 5 inches

which is why I sold them. I didn’t need another pair of 5‑inch speakers

you can't really see it 11.5cm or 115mm (5 inch is 12.7 cm or 127mm)