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Wharfedale Diamond 10.7, any good for serious music listening?

post #1 of 19
10/2/11 at 5:49am
Thread Starter 
So I have a pair of these as the main speakers of my home theater system. I really love them in that role, but when I try to listen to music... The sound just isn't involving at all, bass lacks force, sort of sounds hollow I think. Instrument placement also sounds sort of wrong in depth. Source is PS3 and amplifier is Onkyo TX-SR608. I know that these are not top-notch for music, not at all. I live in a flat, so the walls could reflect some, but I don't find the room very echoing. Most of the problme seems to be in the bass department, I was thinking if the reflex ports caused it, but there's plenty on distance to the walls and I also tried blocking the ports, no noticeable change.

Now I'm considering something like Denon PMA-1510AE + Denon DCD-1510AE or something similarly priced from Marantz maybe. These are supposedly pretty tight equipment already, but are the speakers a huge bottleneck? Of course I will hear it with my own ears, but if it's hopeless then it's just a useless inconvenience for me and the audio store. Any opinions?
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post #2 of 19
10/3/11 at 6:20am

There expensive speakers and are meant to sound really good, I think you have the Onkyo configured wrongly or connected up wrongly or it's on it's way out.

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post #3 of 19
10/3/11 at 10:32am
Thread Starter 
It's definitely connected correctly, and the whole set is less than a year old. I always use "Pure Audio" mode for music so there's no options to configure really. I might expect too much though, and I have this feeling that the amplifier just isn't capable to produce the low frequencies well enough. These are just my thoughts, I don't know so I asked for opinions. = /
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post #4 of 19
10/3/11 at 11:21am

Are you sure theres no eq cutting out the lower frequences, and you don't have the receiver set to small speakers or anything.

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post #5 of 19
10/4/11 at 10:23am
Thread Starter 

Pure Audio mode passes all EQ settings, and I don't use EQ anyway. Speakers are set to large, and Pure Audio most likely passes that selection too. The system is wonderful when watching an action movie, but in music it just doesn't cut it. Strong bass in pop music sounds un-natural and more subtle bass drum for example lacks all impact.

 

EDIT: I still understand what the system is and what it isn't. It's not the same as my 10" subwoofer in my car, but the two 6,5" woofers in a reflex cabinet should still be able to reproduce bass pretty good. So my conclusion is that the amplifier just isn't up to the task?


Edited by TheOtus - 10/4/11 at 10:49am
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post #6 of 19
10/4/11 at 3:43pm

have you tried a different (better) source? 

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post #7 of 19
10/4/11 at 8:04pm
I suspect the double woofers give an impedance dip in the bass and your amp is, as you think, not up to it. I've heart that before on alikewise setup, bass sounds weird and out of phase.
The speakers have a quoted 90db sensitivity, so a good quality amp with modest power, say 50 watts should do it. Go for a simple dedicated audio amp if you can, otherwise, there should be ht receivers with good amp stages too.
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post #8 of 19
10/5/11 at 9:09am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lenni View Post

have you tried a different (better) source? 


Not yet, I might do that soon. I don't believe that it will do a huge change though. Onkyo's DAC should be beyond terrible if it's about it.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by dura View Post

I suspect the double woofers give an impedance dip in the bass and your amp is, as you think, not up to it. I've heart that before on alikewise setup, bass sounds weird and out of phase.
The speakers have a quoted 90db sensitivity, so a good quality amp with modest power, say 50 watts should do it. Go for a simple dedicated audio amp if you can, otherwise, there should be ht receivers with good amp stages too.


That's the same suspection as I'm having then. I'm considering, as said, something in the max 1000€ (around 1300$) price range and a similarly priced source, CD / SACD player most likely. I could live with two amps, even while it requires some sort of selector switch or switching between two cables to the speakers. With good connectors it's not an issue obviously.

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post #9 of 19
10/7/11 at 5:16am

guys,

I have these speakers conected to a Yamaha AS700 Amp + CDS700 CD player.

I have listened to many different setups before choosing this one.

I think they sound great together.

 

 

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post #10 of 19
10/7/11 at 8:51am
Thread Starter 

I tried the same set up with my Musical Fidelity M1DAC. It definitely didn't fix much, and I wasn't able to listen for long because there's something wrong with my PS3 optical output...

 

A-Dias, what do you consider great, is there something you can compare it to? I don't have a lot of experience from speakers myself so some compare to headphones would be appreciated.

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post #11 of 19
10/7/11 at 10:25am
Dacs and amps are solid state eletronics there all sound the same unless there is alot of noise or disortion from a badly designed 1, amps are a bit different and some will perform slightly better with certain speakers, the behringer a500 or samson servo power amps should drive your speakers well, there class a\b dual mono amps with plenty of power.
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post #12 of 19
10/7/11 at 1:51pm
Thread Starter 

You're saying that solid state amplifiers and DACs sound basically all the same? That's obviously not true and I'm not even going to bother commenting that matter any further.

 

However, the conclusion seems to be that perhaps I need a better amp to drive the speakers. I'm not sure at all if I want to invest in the speaker hi-fi though, I don't see Diamond 10.7's getting anywhere near my headphone setup within a reasonable price.

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post #13 of 19
10/7/11 at 2:53pm

i might be wrong but it sounds like the setting is for HT, not stereo audio.

 

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post #14 of 19
10/8/11 at 12:57am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cantsleep View Post

i might be wrong but it sounds like the setting is for HT, not stereo audio.

 


Yes, my current set up is for a home theatre. It was mentioned at the very beginning, and also that I know that the system isn't best suited for stereo. My previous post tells my final thoughts.

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post #15 of 19
12/1/12 at 1:29am

I bought these Beautiful Massive Tower speakers to full fill my desire of hearing quality sounding music. And I'm Glad i did these Wharfedale diamond 10.7 are Top quality speakers.

 

The receiver i purchased to drive my music into these was Marantz SR6007. Main reason was the quality of internal components are top notch compared to its sibling Denon as well as other brands (though little pricy). apart from that i use my mediamonkey playlist on my laptop through network option to enjoy my music and huge collection of songs.

 

One thing I will say is that all speakers need a break in time. and also the speaker configuration should be done properly. I used the Audessy setup (one of the reasons i bought Marantz sr6007) which does automatic calibration using a mic.  I have attached an old LG center speaker and use 3.0 setup to listen to music as i have not put a woofer . center speakers makes a big difference as the vocals are powered up and makes my listening experience . I plan to put a wharfedale Center speaker in future cos center speakers brings life to the music by making the vocals more visible. The Speakers have good bass but putting a dedicated woofer makes watching movies a better experience.
 

This is my view of the speakers. try attaching the center speaker and c the difference

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