Wharfedale diamond 9.6 or KEF IQ9 or definitive bipolar tower

anooj30299301

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Alright friends(especially senior guys, please suggest and I am serious this time). Here is my plan. I am preponing my 5.1 plans from next year to do a purchase in next 1 month incrementally in aspan of 5-6 months.

Seeing Kumareshwar's thread on his take on Wharfedale 9.6 I went today to USK electronics, babukhan mall for IQ9 and Vector systems for Diamond 9.6 floorstanding with friend and couple of CD, DVD's.

KEF IQ9
The guy checked first if I have been there and then went ahead with the demo. KEF IQ9 sounded really really awesome. he quoted 70K for this down from 80K. He suggested going for KEF IQ5 when he heard my plan to buy a basic 5.1 receiver yamaha v463(reasons are - do not need HDMI now and no 7.1). He reasone this is small for KEF IQ9.

The KEF 5.1 packagge was run with LOTR, KILLBILL etc and well was truly truly nice.

Wharfedale Diamond 9.6
Well, this was quoted 36K and Hotel calfornia sounded nice.

Heard the 5.1 package and as Kumar said was quoted 80K(this includes front firing 125w sub)

In 5.1 demos(Final destination 3, LOTR, CD's I brought etc), subwoofer was a hude Dali and centre channel was high end Wharfedale one and not the actual sub. He said will not be much differences.

Well, now to my queries.Please put aside 5.1 and tell me only for 2.1.

I have a budget of 50-70k(trust me this is extended and cannot at all go over). I am confused totally. Not about my choices but my inabillity to see which is good.

As has always been said in so many threads, one has to listen and decide but this is very difficult, that's what I felt.This is a shame but I got no qualms admitting this.

My friends take was that KEF IQ9 was the better but the cost factor...For me I really could not decide which one I liked but know that both sounded different. No woofer is needed for IQ9 and the thump..etc was top. Wharfedale sounded little less.

Now I am fully dependant on your views guys. I am not an audiophile but see movies a lot- like most movies and can appreciate the change a sound brings to movies. BUT after listening to these speakers I donno... music is so much better. I know now I missed a lot in all these years....

I am ready to go for either. IF IQ9, then no woofer possible and for Wharfedale, yes I can.

Also, where can I audition Definitive Tech speakers - Bipolar towers in Hyderabad. Are these good? Is it right to club a Definitive sub(maybe 300-500w) to the above ones.

I know the above two are the best choices and then which should I opt. Purchase will be after two weeks only. trust me yur judgement shall prevail over mine.

One more imp. thing - KEf is at 8ohms and Wharfdale at 6ohms. Yamaha would be 8ohms(I checked Yamaha website. what the dealer said and asked me to go for Diamond 9.5). I have seen venkats explanation on this ohms thing.Will these affect the speaker performance and vice-versa.

The guy at Vector also offered 15% odiscount on display speaker - 9.6's pair on 36K. Is this good, I said no anyways but how do we know we get original piece.
and also suggested I take Denon 2307 which he is giving for 32K because 2308 & 2309 are out.

As always, thank your patience to read this. Waiting eagerly for suggestions.
 
IQ9 is the best of the lot you mentioned. And, the dealer is right in suggesting you that the Yam 400 series shall not be able to handle it. Plus the matching center is going to be too expensive and shall supercede your budget.

Keeping your budget and taste for movies in mind: I would suggest you go with wharfedale. The sub is needed even if you buy the IQ9's. The IQ9's does not have a built in sub and hence one is needed for movies.

Sumit
 
In 5.1 demos(Final destination 3, LOTR, CD's I brought etc), subwoofer was a hude Dali and centre channel was high end Wharfedale one and not the actual sub. He said will not be much differences.

'The dealer is lying betwen his teeth'. A huge Dali sub and a wharfedale 125W sub have no comparison.
I suggest you hear the actual setup that you are going to buy.

Sumit
 
Hey Sumit,

Thanks for taking time to answer my queries. Guys please help me in this.

Sumit The dealer told me he has a new but outdated piece of denon 2307 left which as I quoted elsewhere as 40500 is really being given for 32000.
Infact as you said and I cross checked 463 to be very bad choice and 663 to be good enough for pretty some time.

What's ur take on this - Should I go for Denon-32K(does not decode HD formats) or Yamaha 663 which is 40K. I have to think about it but I am sure will not have room for 7.1 and HDMi is a long gamble...

Also, do you think Polk will be better to the brands mentioned above. they are pretty cheap. Should I go for another demo on them.

thank you.
 
Hey Sumit,

Thanks for taking time to answer my queries. Guys please help me in this.

Sumit The dealer told me he has a new but outdated piece of denon 2307 left which as I quoted elsewhere as 40500 is really being given for 32000.
Infact as you said and I cross checked 463 to be very bad choice and 663 to be good enough for pretty some time.

What's ur take on this - Should I go for Denon-32K(does not decode HD formats) or Yamaha 663 which is 40K. I have to think about it but I am sure will not have room for 7.1 and HDMi is a long gamble...

Also, do you think Polk will be better to the brands mentioned above. they are pretty cheap. Should I go for another demo on them.

thank you.

Anooj:

The golden rule is too buy the Speakers first and then the amplification. So, think about the speakers and then we can figure out the matching amplification.

I would not recommend the Polk Audio to Wharfedale. Brit spearkers are better on overall tonality whereas the American speakers are more bass oriented.

Go with the whafedale fronts and matching center. Listen to these with Denon 2307 and Marantz 7001. Listen to both,stereo and multi-channel. Pick the one that you like better. Also, if you can spare the money then buy the surrounds from whafedale as well. This shall ensureno matching issues. However, with surrounds the mtaching issues are far lesser as compared to center.

You mentioned that your room is not big enough to accomadate 7.1 channels. With Denon and Marantz you can use the spare two surround back channels to bi-amp the fronts. This shall ensure that the fronts get the optimum power. However, I am not sure that wharfedales mentioned by you are bi-wireable.
Maybe the Yam 663 can do it too but I am not sure.

You will need the sub since you are into movies. I will not recommend the SW150. Max it goes down to is 35Hz. This is not impressive. You should go for SW300. However, I am not sure of the price.

You can go for a sub later on also. Infact, you should buy the sub later on. You can setup the fronts and center in your house. And, later on you can estimate the amount of bass and size of the sub that you can accomodate. There are other quite reputed sub manufacturers. You can take your pick as and when the time comes.


hey anybody else wanna help Anooj out?

Sumit
 
The Def Tech bipolar speakers are lovely...again I am not an audiophile, but I've listened to it at a cousin's place (he's an audiophile) where he has hooked them up with a Quad 99 CD-P and a Quad 909 stereo amplifier (both of which I agree are stunningly brilliant components, so my assesment of the Def Tech speakers was that much better for them)....the beauty of the Def Tech is that in addition to its lovely sound it is bipolar which means the sound bounces off the rear walls as well.....this is more of a "psychoacoustic" benefit than a pure audiphile benefit more along the lines of what Amar Bose used to talk about.....except that Def Tech also makes these speakers to a very high-standard unlike Bose.....on the whole it is quite an experience to listen to them, and i'd definitely suggest you try them out.....but I do think they are best for music and not for movies.....


Also, where can I audition Definitive Tech speakers - Bipolar towers in Hyderabad. Are these good? Is it right to club a Definitive sub(maybe 300-500w) to the above ones.
 
Anooj,

I have a Wharfedale 9.5 fronts, Wharfedale 9.0CC center, SW150 and WH2 bipolars - all Wharfedale, running off a Yamaha 661. I'm quite happy with the setup. Listening area is about 14'x12'. The whole setup cost me about 85k

I listen to a 60:40mix of music & movies. Music is mostly Indian classical, film songs both old and new.

I had auditioned the KEF IQ5 along with Wharfedales, and was impressed by the sound. They have a smaller form factor compared to Wharfedales. Aesthetically better than Wharfedale. They're more expensive, and so I had to drop them.

My criteria for speaker selection was to ensure I have a driver each for Bass, midrange, and a tweeter, with Bi-amp. The Wharfedales are warm sounding which is to my taste. The Yamaha pairs well with these.

Ensure you audition the speakers in 'Direct', Stereo and Multi-channel. Also once you narrow down to the final 2 choices, do a back-to-back audition. This helps decide while the sound is still fresh in your mind & ears.

MO, Bi-Amping should be a must have criteria, if you have floorstanders. So should your receiver support this feature.

I'm curious why dealers are pushig 9.6s so aggressively. For a small listening area, they seem to be an overkill.

If you buy Wharfedales, for surround as well, do consider the DFS, which IMO is better than the WH-2 I have, as it fires side-downward, unlike the WH-2 which fires side-straight.
 
Anooj;

There seem to a number of new or nearly new AVR and speakers on sale in this forum. You might get a good set withing your budget. Why don't you talk to these people?

If you are not able to buy one set from these people, then we will look at your choices.

Some links for you:

http://www.hifivision.com/sale/1811...-channel-imported-germany-sale.html#post14788

http://www.hifivision.com/sale/1801-brand-new-yamaha-rxv-459-wharfedale-9-5-speakers.html

Follow them seriously and see where it goes.

Cheers.
 
Re: Booked for Yamaha v663

Hi guys,

Well I decided to go for yamaha v663 seeing its features and suggestion here. I wanted to tell you guys after buying atleast the Wharfdale 9.6 and a sub(will audition Mordaunt Short, Definitive Bipolar soon) but Sumit had a good offer which I could not honour, so breaking the news anyway. It will be suppied in a week - ten days. Got it for close to 39K.


Ok another listening of JBL floorstanders at Infinity store, Pradz Imax.

JBL ES 80 -45k + tax(12.5%).
JBL ES 90 - 55k + tax
JBL ES 100 - 65K + tax


Of these JBL ES 80 sounded really good and has 2 8" woofer, the other two 12" woofers. I do not know which system connected to which but ES 80 was really good in songs, not movies.

Looks were really nice. They used Harman Kandon AVR - 137, 247 etc and stereo players too. JBL sub was huge and costed 45K, they said(250 watt)

Good enough but since movies clips used were not satisfactory....

My choices till now:

Wharfedale Atlantic ES500 - 27K (anybody know anything about this) Well Srinivas at Vector is not promoting this saying it has more effects in Bass. To be frank it sounded really good for thump. Any views on this?

What about ES 80 - any views?

I am 100% sure I need only 2.1 now and add centre sats later, though 663 potential is untapped. That's decided but which of these to take?

My view till now:

KEF IQ9 - tops(70K - will ask more discount)
Wharfdale diamond 9.6 - God just 36K (need to ask discount):D
Will revert MS Mezzo 2 and Definitive(?), Polk(?). Wanted to listen Sonodyne too but nowhere in Hyderabad I guess.

Then Subwoofer? How about pairing with ELAC s50 sub, AV MAX said could pair with any set.

Man, I must admit, this is becoming more and more complex for me, w.r.t speakers. Anyways, know Wharf's best bang for buck.

thank you all
 
Re: Booked for Yamaha v663

Wharfedale Atlantic ES500 - 27K (anybody know anything about this) Well Srinivas at Vector is not promoting this saying it has more effects in Bass. To be frank it sounded really good for thump. Any views on this?

The Yamha 663 is a good buy. congratulations!

I dont see any Wharfedale ES500 Atlantic models listed on wharfedale.co.uk.
Are you sure of the model ?

cheers!
Srini

Okay, after posting this found something on the iagamerica website. http://www.iagamerica.com/wharfedale/atlantic.htm. Looks to be a US specific model. However other than iagamerica, no other website has information about it including wharfedale.co.uk. so question is wether this is a current model.
 
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hi
for the price of iq9 you can get deftech bp7004 with 2 built in 10 in powered subs (300 watts) and they are absolute value for money if u can set them up properly since they are bipolar.
 
HI Everyone,

I'd recently purchased the Wharfedale Atlantic 400SE speakers. This is a very good speaker system, with a good sensitivity and performance. Excellent for music as well.

The reason why dealers are offering a lesser price is because this model has been phased out by wharfedale to give way for the zaldek & xarus series.

The Atlantic series is actually meant as a DJ kind of loudspeakers.

I'm using these speakers with the Onkyo HT-SR800 system, replacing the original front speakers.

I would like to take this opportunity to warn anyone trying to purchase loudspeakers as there seems to be a lot of counterfeit stuff in the market, sold even by genuine dealers. This is one reason why some dealers offer you a much lower price, mentioning that its a demo piece etc etc.

I saw one of the dealers doing some wood work in his shop, and as I was somewhat poor in comparison to what you would expect for such a system. The same goes for the performance, giving me every reason to suspect the dealer's integrity.

So at the bottom line: Please be careful when purchasing loudspeakers and be vary of counterfeits. The Wharfedale Atlantic Loudspeakers and even the diamond 8.4 are available for lesser price as they've been phased out, though they still carry a one year warranty.
 
A beautiful, well-constructed speaker with class-leading soundstage, imaging and bass that is fast, deep, and precise.
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