Wharfedale diamond 220 for Yamaha RX-V477?

sunilkm

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It has been more than an year I have been planning and reading all posts to setup an entry level HT and it is my dream! The usage is Music/movies 50:50 and will be setting up in the living room. Prefer warm sound signature as my musical preference is more on carntatic classical, jazz, south indian/hindi film musics etc.
These are the existing components:
Samsung 51F5500 Plasma
Pioneer BDP-160

Plan is to have AVR and pair of bookshelf for fronts to start as on budget.
AVR shortlisted is Yamaha RX-V477 ( Around 38-39k? ). Shortlisted Yamaha due to reliability and good service network in bangalore and other features like wifi,bluetooth etc are not mandatory.
Speakers ( Budget is within 20k, maximum 25k ) : Wharfedale 220 (23k.?)
Later on add center, sub and rear.
I already have Norge 2060 which is quite old but in working condition. I am thinking of buying the speakers only now and will use it with Norge 2060 for couple of months and then buy the AVR. I have checked with dealers in bangalore and Diamond 220 is not available for demo, but will get it within 2 days on order.

Please suggest if Yamaha 477 and diamond 220 is a matching combo because that is going to be the planned future use. RX-V477's power rating is 80w @6ohms and will it be underpowered for 8ohms rated diamond 220?

Diamond 220:
Sensitivity(2.83V @ 1m) : 86dB
Recommended amplifier power : 25-100W
Nominal impedance 8? Compatible

Yamaha 477:
Rated Output Power (20Hz-20kHz, 2ch driven) 80 W (6ohms, 0.09% THD)

Thanks a lot for the help and expert advice.
 
Thanks. Yes surely I will be taking a demo of yamaha rx-v477 but the diamond 220 is not yet available with dealers. If wharfedale is a good pairing for yamaha then I can visit only dealers having atleast the previous diamond 121 and rx-v477 for demo.
 
Yes surely I will be taking a demo of yamaha rx-v477 but the diamond 220 is not yet available with dealers.
AYlgpr
 
I have visited ProFX, Barton center this weekend to have demo of 477 and denon 1100w if possible. Only Yamaha 477 was available and 1100w was not there.
The demo setup was,
Yamaha 477 + Polk TSX330T fronts, Tsx110b surrounds and its matching center, PSW110 sub. My demo experience with other brands are very limited and I would like to put my experience in simple terms.
Movies: Played the opening scene of Dark knight rises and overall the experience was good.
But I felt the center channel level was low and asked him to adjust. Still I felt dialogues did not have the clarity expected.

Music : I have played few classical and classical fusion. Initially i felt the bass is overpowering the vocal and midrange. I have asked what was connected. He said psw110 and fronts. I wanted to listen only fronts and disconnected the sub. I was really disappointed to hear my favourite tracks which I listen regularly and I guess i had to blame the speakers for that. It was more on bright sounding and I felt the musicality was missing. I couldn't feel the enough bass from a floorstander of a decent size with dual drivers and the vocals sounded thin. I do not know what other ways I can express it. I was comparing to my modest and simple Norge2060+ OEM speakers which produced a more musical presentation.
The sales person too agreed Polk is having bright sound signature. I had to arrive in a conclusion that these speakers are good for movie presentation and could not satisfy me musically. ProFX do not have the wharfedales, dali, QAccoustics etc.
But KEF, Cabasse speakers were there and I was not keen as it is out of my budget.

Since I was not intereseted to buy Polks, did not ask the prices. But for Yamaha 477 he was ready to offer 10% discount on MRP. Did not bargain much as I wanted to demo from other dealers too. ProFx had mostly all brands of AVRs but the speaker choice was very limited options.

Regarding denon x1100w: It was out of stock and was not in the demo room. I have casually told him that I have read users are complaining about bluetooth connection problems. He agreed that some of his customers also complained about frequently disconnecting and unstable.
He has also mentioned that Denon was acquired by a US company and no more a japanese company. I am not sure and no idea on this news.
 
Last edited:
Confirmed by a dealer in bangalore that Diamond 220 will be available after April 20th and it can be booked. 121/122 is available for demo.
 
I auditioned the 210 at HifiMart in Mumbai. Much more on clarity as compared to the Polks, planning to go for the 220 though.
 
Thanks. Is Diamond 210 more suited for surround/rears due to smaller driver and size?

There is a price difference of 5K. 210 is 18k and 220 is 23k MRP.
 
Bravo, your review matches my observations.

i have been consistently telling in this forum, that Polks suck in music.
I got lot of comments from polk users, challenging it :)

The issue is that, most users audition speakers by playing a movie action sceens, which is noise more than music. A muddy speaker sounds great in that setup
 
Had a visit to HT Store for demo of wharfedale diamonds.
rx-v477 was not available and the below combo was connected in the demo room.

Demo-1

Denon x2100 + Wharfedale 122 fronts + diamond 10CM center + 10DFS rear
sw150 sub.

It was very pleasing to listen music in 122. The midrange was good and it was easy to ear and "warmer". I was wondering how such a small speaker produced the lows so well. Confirmed that no sub is connected and it was only x2100+ diamond 122.

For movies also it performed well. Played few with good surround sound effects.

Demo-2:

Since Dali zensor1 was also available I have asked to switch over ( Had gone through the specs and reviews/feedback on zensor1 before and this was also in my list to audition if i get a chance and within my budget)

It may not be fair to compare zensor1 directly with 122. Overall zensor1 was also good. But I felt the sound became more "thinner" compared to 122 or could be bass was on lower side. To my ears diamond 122 sounded much better than zensor1 for music.

Mr.Lokesh was very nice to deal with and he has told me that diamond 220 is the improved 121 with better cabinet and sound signature will be of similar.
 
I have contacted Vector systems in bangalore. The did not have any wharfedale bookshelf for demo. Only 2 yr old yamaha models. It was like he never heard 477/577.
Did not feel good when I talked over phone and I don't think will contact them again.
 
Hi Members,

I have finally decided to go for Wharfedale diamond 220 and like to know will it be good to have a speaker stands. I have the below options for speaker placement.

1) Keep this on AV cabinet. But the distance between them will be only 5ft and I think this is small to have left and right sound separation(?)
2) Wall mount.
3) On speaker stands.

In options 2 and 3 the distance between FL and FR will be 8ft. Hope this is good enough. I am ready to get speaker stands ( SoundFoundation's Nexus ) if that gives better performance.

Looking for expert advices. Please suggest the best option
 
Dear Raju....

Polk is an american made and it does not mean they are not fit for any music. Polk has it own sound signature which best suited for the below kind of music :-

1. Trance/Dance
2. Pop.
3. Rock-Roll
4. Hard- Rock with hard vocals
5.Soft rock/Country with thin vocals/guitar
6. Basically any music which does not require any "thick" vocals coming out.

It normally do wonders on majority of the western music. It is not muddy and I have felt it is well separated and very clean on high & mids. Only that its quality of the mid is different and the way it behave is more soothing for a different set of audition.
I have also heard when we audition the speakers it have thin mids but as time passes by the mids open up (for break-ins)....there are so many buyers who cliam than the mids improve as time goes by......check with FM here.

All said, if you need thick vocals, I would suggest looking for the KEF. They are the most warm & neutral sounding speakers.

Thanks,
Danish
 
Dear Raju....

Polk is an american made and it does not mean they are not fit for any music. Polk has it own sound signature which best suited for the below kind of music :-

1. Trance/Dance
2. Pop.
3. Rock-Roll
4. Hard- Rock with hard vocals
5.Soft rock/Country with thin vocals/guitar
6. Basically any music which does not require any "thick" vocals coming out.

It normally do wonders on majority of the western music. It is not muddy and I have felt it is well separated and very clean on high & mids. Only that its quality of the mid is different and the way it behave is more soothing for a different set of audition.
I have also heard when we audition the speakers it have thin mids but as time passes by the mids open up (for break-ins)....there are so many buyers who cliam than the mids improve as time goes by......check with FM here.

All said, if you need thick vocals, I would suggest looking for the KEF. They are the most warm & neutral sounding speakers.

Thanks,
Danish

I believe your post no relevance and value add to my query on speaker placement. Also wondering who is "Raju" ?
 
I am so glad to share that bought my first HT ( AVR + Fronts) :clapping:

AVR: Yamaha RX-V477
Fronts: Wharfedale Diamond 220.

Will be taking the delivery after 20th April.
Eagerly waiting..

Thanks a lot for the the help and guidance :clapping:
 
For excellent sound that won't break the bank, the 5 Star Award Winning Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 Bookshelf Speakers is the one to consider!
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