[warnsey]

G'day my bro is looking at some new speakers and asked me for some advice. He has around $500US to spend. Our biggest problem is we cannot audition the majority of them because their not availible where we are. It's been narrowed down to these floorstanders.

Wharfedale 8.4: These get awesome reviews and are suppose to sound really good. Mind you wharfedale feels a bit like the new bose. They are available everywhere even department stores.

Mission M33i: Haven't heard these but they are talked about quite well on the net.

Mordaunt Short MS914: Suppose to be quite a full sound with nice clarity.

Paradigm Esprit: These sound nice and are quite a good size. Not to sure about paradigm though and can't find many reviews/opinions on them

If you have any experience with these please share or if you can reccomend any others share as well.
Cheers

 

[familyman]

one of my friends has a paradigm 5.1 system, 2 floorstanders are part of it and they sound amazing, even at super loud volumes. They make good stuff.

 

[warnsey]

Cheers.The paradigm's did sound quite nice.

I guess i should include his music preference. He loves his classical style music. So clarity is much more important than bass impact as well.

 

[Ticky]

Warnsey,

Given your brother's taste in music, I would urge you to consider the Wharfedales.

I recently bought the Diamond 9.1 for my parents. They are an exceptional pair of speakers for their price. The 9.4 should share similar sonic characteristics and achievements, ableit with better bass response given the floorstanding design and larger mid-bass driver.

I've had some experience auditioning Wharfedales (the previous Diamond 8 series) and speakers from other makes (Mission M series, Polk LS(?) series, Boston Acoustic, Canton, Energy C series, B&W 600 series, and KEF Q series) .

IMHO, the wharfedales would be a great choice for listening to classicial, vocals and, generally, more "relaxing" music. I think they have really good soundstage and mid-range vocals. The only flaw I had with the Diamond 8 series was the relative lack of "excitement" when reproducing fast paced music (hip hop, pop, trance, etc.). I also didn't like the design look of the Diamond 8 and the build quality.

However, with the Diamond 9, I found that the cosmetic has been greatly improved (beautiful in beech color and attractive elongated concave cabinet design) and so has the build quality (better quality grille and very good - for its price - bi-amp'able terminals). Also, the ported design seems to have added more bass impact to the speakers. Though, I did think that this came at the expense of some mid-range smoothness.

The missions are good, but I found that their sonic signature is a bit too flat and clinical for my taste. Music didn't sound very inspiring from these speakers.

If you can, try checking out the KEF Q series too. I find them to be quite nicely warm sounding - though some might find them too warm - and they do a great job in the classical and jazz department.

IMHO, go for the Wharfedales if you like music a bit relaxed and airy sounding. The KEF, if you like them mellow and warm.

I did listen briefly to a few mordaunt short bookshelves. IMO, they are much faster and brighter than the Wharfedale or KEF sound. I would think that the Mordaunts would do great for faster improv type jazz music.

I haven't had a chance to listen to Paradigms though.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ticky]

And er... yes, the Wharfedales might seem to be very "mass market" when compared to its competitors (and they are not Sony mind you).

However, I wouldn't compare them to Bose. In fact, I think the Wharfedales are quite the opposite - cheap and good.

 

[warnsey]

Thanks for the opinions Ticky. I think i'll tell him to go wharfedale.