Got my Wharfedale 9.5's.. First impressions

[KonfuSed]

Hi All,
Well at last after long time spent on the forum to find the best suitable candidate within my budget, all the agonizing waits, I got home my new Wharfedale 9.5's. I was supposed to get the deliver today evening but yesterday afternoon I just gave Vector Systems a call to ask and to my surprise Lokesh told me that the Speakers have already arrived and I can take the delivery. I was jumping with joy to hear that. So now only thing I had to do was wait impatiently till the clock struck 6PM so that I can start my fight with Bangaloroo Traffic to reach Brigade Road. Luckily was not stuck anywhere and reached Vector by 7pm. 2 of friends also joined me as they wanted to see the speakers. Lokesh opened the speakers infront of me and connected to his stereo setup. Again Don Williams crooned about the Gypsy Woman and I was ecstatic (I didn't get my CD's as I didn't know they'll be there today). Made the payment for the rest of the amount and came home as fast as possible. Luckily Bangalore traffic had some mercy on me and no jams yesterday. Phewww.
Oh btw, met another HFV'ian nSachin84 at Vector systems, he was auditioning the 9.2's. Nice meeting your Sachin, hope you've decided on your speaker.
Anyway, after reaching home I couldn't connect the speakers directly as the Italians were fighting hard with the Slovaks to gain a spot in the league of 16's. What a cracker of a match it was. Anyway after the match, with the help of my friends I was able to take out the beauties from their covers. Connected the spikes, spliced the cables (got DAC 16 AWG, 8mtr, 90rs/mtr) and connected the speakers. And then cometh Eagles to my room with all their equipments, singing in my room. Then comes U2 singing with or without you followed by a performance by Dire Straits. It was amazing. The sound was so clear and I could probably hear all the instruments separately. I dunno the technical terms for these but had an immensely satisfying session of music. The best comment was from my friend who said, " close your eyes and you'll feel that the they are actually here, performing in front of us". Never truer words being said. I wanted speakers which will sound really nice and these seems to be those speakers. And now is the burn-in period, so I can guess how good they'll be after some time. So the 1st impresssion, "I'm loving it" and seems like I'm gonna listen to music much more now.
Thanks a ton to all HiFiVi'ers for helping me out directly or indirectly for helping me to get un-confused;-) and get the music back to my life.
Regards,

 

[Kittu]

Hi All,
Well at last after long time spent on the forum to find the best suitable candidate within my budget, all the agonizing waits, I got home my new Wharfedale 9.5's. I was supposed to get the deliver today evening but yesterday afternoon I just gave Vector Systems a call to ask and to my surprise Lokesh told me that the Speakers have already arrived and I can take the delivery. I was jumping with joy to hear that. So now only thing I had to do was wait impatiently till the clock struck 6PM so that I can start my fight with Bangaloroo Traffic to reach Brigade Road. Luckily was not stuck anywhere and reached Vector by 7pm. 2 of friends also joined me as they wanted to see the speakers. Lokesh opened the speakers infront of me and connected to his stereo setup. Again Don Williams crooned about the Gypsy Woman and I was ecstatic (I didn't get my CD's as I didn't know they'll be there today). Made the payment for the rest of the amount and came home as fast as possible. Luckily Bangalore traffic had some mercy on me and no jams yesterday. Phewww.
Oh btw, met another HFV'ian nSachin84 at Vector systems, he was auditioning the 9.2's. Nice meeting your Sachin, hope you've decided on your speaker.
Anyway, after reaching home I couldn't connect the speakers directly as the Italians were fighting hard with the Slovaks to gain a spot in the league of 16's. What a cracker of a match it was. Anyway after the match, with the help of my friends I was able to take out the beauties from their covers. Connected the spikes, spliced the cables (got DAC 16 AWG, 8mtr, 90rs/mtr) and connected the speakers. And then cometh Eagles to my room with all their equipments, singing in my room. Then comes U2 singing with or without you followed by a performance by Dire Straits. It was amazing. The sound was so clear and I could probably hear all the instruments separately. I dunno the technical terms for these but had an immensely satisfying session of music. The best comment was from my friend who said, " close your eyes and you'll feel that the they are actually here, performing in front of us". Never truer words being said. I wanted speakers which will sound really nice and these seems to be those speakers. And now is the burn-in period, so I can guess how good they'll be after some time. So the 1st impresssion, "I'm loving it" and seems like I'm gonna listen to music much more now.
Thanks a ton to all HiFiVi'ers for helping me out directly or indirectly for helping me to get un-confused;-) and get the music back to my life.
Regards,

Congratulations :clapping:

Please post some pics :signthankspin:

Kittu

 

[suprateep]

congrats on thw wharfies - very VFM the 9.5. What is the other equipment you have paired it with. The DAC speaker wire is good albeit there are others if you don't mind getting for a price - audioquest for 250/meter is great. 4 meters should be okay for most setups.

Also give them some time to burn in - play them for 100-200 hours with a decent amp and source at low volume. Let them open up more with time.

Also IMHO I feel the 9.5 perform better with a sub - maybe that's in the list for future upgrades??

 

[vinod_david]

Congrats! - lovely speakers, now you can sit back and explore your music collection.

 

[spirovious]

Congrats & happy listening.

 

[KonfuSed]

Thanks @ Kittu, Suprateep, Vinod, Spirovious. Will post some pics soon. I'm waiting for my AV unit to come, otherwise the setup is looking quite pathetic with the stop gap arrangement

@Suprateep, thanks but as of now I'll keep the DAC's as they are kind of satisfying my needs. Thanks for the tip in Burn-in. Yeah, not increasing the volume that much now.
Current setup is OppoBDP-80 as source, Denon 1910 as Amp at Pure Audio mode. I've a sub (SW-150) but with pure audio, the sub is not working. I'll check with Stereo so that the low frequencies are fed to the Sub and see.
Future upgrade plan will probably to get a pair of surrounds and center for the movies. Also contemplating on getting a good CD player. Hope I find someone coming from US so that I can get that Emotiva ;-)
BTW, thinking of Bi-amping the speakers, will that be a better option? The cables which are now running 4 mtrs per speakers can be cut to 2mtrs easily. Should I do that?

 

[suprateep]

Thanks @ Kittu, Suprateep, Vinod, Spirovious. Will post some pics soon. I'm waiting for my AV unit to come, otherwise the setup is looking quite pathetic with the stop gap arrangement

@Suprateep, thanks but as of now I'll keep the DAC's as they are kind of satisfying my needs. Thanks for the tip in Burn-in. Yeah, not increasing the volume that much now.
Current setup is OppoBDP-80 as source, Denon 1910 as Amp at Pure Audio mode. I've a sub (SW-150) but with pure audio, the sub is not working. I'll check with Stereo so that the low frequencies are fed to the Sub and see.
Future upgrade plan will probably to get a pair of surrounds and center for the movies. Also contemplating on getting a good CD player. Hope I find someone coming from US so that I can get that Emotiva ;-)
BTW, thinking of Bi-amping the speakers, will that be a better option? The cables which are now running 4 mtrs per speakers can be cut to 2mtrs easily. Should I do that?

Emotive for your setup is a overkill unless you want to upgrade later on - keep the money and invest elsewhere - my 2 paisa.

A Marantz CD 63 is good enough - pairs well with the Wharf. Biamping and Biwiring - hope you know the difference. Biwiring does not help much - biamping is okay with really high end stuff - don't think honestly that you will get some benefits.

 

[harishchk]

Hei ,

Congrats , you've got an awesome piece of sound stage now.

Its a week now since i have received my wharfadales 9.5 , Even i took it from vector . I have Paired it with yahama 465 .

These speakers are awesome , with a great clarity and performance.Absoulutely magical , you now can hear a lot of unheard sounds in the same music

 

[KonfuSed]

Thanks Suprateep, let's see then. how much will the Marantz cost? And about upgrades, I don't plan to invest any more on speakers at least for a 2-3 years I hope ;-). Only upgrade I was thinking was a CD player now and an amp later(most probably a Norge)
Denon have Bi-amping capability with the extra two channels ( so I was thinking that I could try it. If their is no difference then I'll give that a skip.

 

[srikarkav]

Hi,

Congrats and welcome to the Wharf club.You have conveyed your excitement and joy precisely and i know it for a fact that its a great feeling. As suprateep has said go for a Marantz CDP like the 63se and a Marantz stereo amp(even used will do).Marantz pair pretty well with Wharfs.As i am konfused about your location i am not in a position to know if you can get used gears in your place

Happy musical hours!

cheers,
sri

 

[KonfuSed]

Thanks Harishchk, how much you got your Speakers for? Just wanted to know ;-)
Thanks Srikarav, keeping the marantz in mind and I don;t mind second hand as long as it's in good condition. BTW, that;'s lat-long of my area, i.e. Bangalore South

 

[harishchk]

KonfuSed,

I Paid 26K for the pair , How aout you ? how much did you buy for ?

And regarding Marantz , its a good cd player , i think in Vector systems they use marantz CD player , paired with denon amps for demos.

From where did you buy the DAC cables ?

 

[harryanthony]

Congraulation on your new purchase!!!
i have the 9.6, again picked it up from lokesh @ vector, he is a good guy to work with....

how much did your 9.5 cost you? , my 9.6 is about a year old, i got it for 25.5K.. at that time it was a very good deal.

Did you get the cables also from Vector?

Enjoy your new purchase..

 

[srinisundar]

Hi, You are no more Konfused,,, Good buy and congrats,,, anywhere u have quoted and I missed the price>>> please do post it also once again reconfirm the surround bipolar price alone...

 

[KonfuSed]

Harryanthony, that's an amazing price for the 9.6, I really envy you.
Thanks Srini, I got the pair for 26K. I wish I have made this purchase a year back ;-)
The Surrounds (9.CS) are quoted for 11k if I remmeber correctly, but I think they should reduce the price to around 9k.

 

[suprateep]

Thanks Suprateep, let's see then. how much will the Marantz cost? And about upgrades, I don't plan to invest any more on speakers at least for a 2-3 years I hope ;-). Only upgrade I was thinking was a CD player now and an amp later(most probably a Norge)
Denon have Bi-amping capability with the extra two channels ( so I was thinking that I could try it. If their is no difference then I'll give that a skip.

denon gives you biwiring not biamping - you might have fun doing that (in all honesty please do and have fun) but I am sure you wont notice any differences.

I would say a Norge 2060 (7.5-8k shipped) + marantz CD 63 (don't know the price) is going to keep you happy for a ling long time.

 

[harryanthony]

Harryanthony, that's an amazing price for the 9.6, I really envy you.
Thanks Srini, I got the pair for 26K. I wish I have made this purchase a year back ;-)
The Surrounds (9.CS) are quoted for 11k if I remmeber correctly, but I think they should reduce the price to around 9k.

i picked up the 9.CS about 3 months back, this was for 10k again from Vector.
how much is is quoting for the 9.6 now?

 

[KonfuSed]

denon gives you biwiring not biamping - you might have fun doing that (in all honesty please do and have fun) but I am sure you wont notice any differences.

It's actually Bi-amping, you can use the Surround backs to setup as Bi-amp to use as Bi-amping the speakers. Basically two different pair of amplifier output to the two diff pair of Speaker post. AFAIK, that's bi-amping, right? Bi-wiring will be from the same amplifier which is not the case here.

I would say a Norge 2060 (7.5-8k shipped) + marantz CD 63 (don't know the price) is going to keep you happy for a ling long time.

Cool, will keep this in mind when I'm going for upgrade.

i picked up the 9.CS about 3 months back, this was for 10k again from Vector.
how much is is quoting for the 9.6 now?

MRP is 40k, I think he will give around 13% discount on that.

 

[idlebrain]

Konfused,
Congrats on your purchase.You have an handful of weekend. Let us know your impressions on 9.5 with 1910 combo how it is driving. Have you demo'ed 9.6 as well while deciding on 9.5s? Review on your combo will be very helpful.

Thanks
Satya.

 

[KonfuSed]

Konfused,
Congrats on your purchase.You have an handful of weekend. Let us know your impressions on 9.5 with 1910 combo how it is driving. Have you demo'ed 9.6 as well while deciding on 9.5s? Review on your combo will be very helpful.

Thanks
Satya.

Hi Satya,
Till now I'm very much impressed, specially for country music and Dire Strait type music. The sound is very much revealing and clear. The vocals are sounding really nice. I'm not an expert or an audiophile, so my comments are purely my feelings about the audio to my ears. And it's sounding music to my ears as of now ;-)
I actually went there keeping 9.2 in my mind. So this was after I increased the budget by another 11k and I couldn't stretch any more. So I decided not to listen to 9.6 at all . I knew if I had listened to that pair I probably would've end up buying the 9.6 or buying nothing at all as I would've been totally confused. But I'll surely get a demo of the 9.6 once I go to get my surround and center. But that might take another 3 months.