Wharfedale Diamond 225 Loudspeakers review
Wharfedale, founded in 1932, means the company has been in the business of sound-reproduction equipment in the UK since the beginning. The Wharfedale belongs to the International Audio Group (IAG) that owns other brands like Quad, Ekco, Castle, Audiolab, Luxman, and Mission.
The Diamond 200 series comprises three bookshelf models (the 210, 220, and 225), three floor-standers (the 230, 240, and 250), and two magnetically shielded center channel speakers (the 220C and 240C). All Diamond 200 speakers come in Black Ash, Peral Walnut, Rosewood, or White Sandex.
- Worth the price
- Smooth and rich sound
- Good looking
- Wide soundstage
- Nothing at this price
Design
The Wharfedale Diamond 225 is a two-way bass reflex speaker, 14 inches high, 7.7 inches wide, and 10.3 inches deep. The weight is 14.3 pounds.
The cabinet is a sandwich of particleboard between layers of MDF, housing a 1-inch soft cloth-dome tweeter and a 6.5-inch woven Kevlar cone woofer. The cross-over between them is 2.3 kHz, and the frequency response is 45 Hz to 20 kHz (+/- 3 dB). The sensitivity rate is 87 dB.
The 1-inch tweeter uses a fabric dome and advanced ferrite magnet system that delivers fantastic midrange performance. At the same time, the 6.5-inch woofer has semi-elliptical break-up areas, whose purpose is to smooth the response through the audible range. The cone edges have a unique diamond pattern rubber surround.
The speaker’s cabinet combines layers of particleboard and MDF that damps the annoying resonances and blocks internal sound leakage. All sides of the cabinet have a wood veneer finish, while the baffle has a gloss black lacquer finish.
The down-firing port is between the bottom edge of the baffle and the speaker’s base, venting through a horizontal slot. This port position enables it easier to find a good place for the speaker in smaller rooms. The Wharfedale Diamond 225 can be single-wired, bi-wired, or bi-amped. There are two sets of binding posts connected by jumper plates, and they can accept bare wire, pin connectors, spade connectors, and single banana plugs. Bi-wiring or bi-amping the speakers will improve the bass and treble performance. If you decide to do so, you must first remove the jumpers between the terminal posts to not damage your speakers or the amplifier.
Bi-wiring will bring significant improvement in the transparency of the speakers. Bi-amping will allow you to use separate amplifiers for the high and low frequencies of the speaker, resulting in lower distortion and more excellent dynamic range.
The speakers don’t support any built-in mounting bracket, so you need an external structure to mount them on walls, or you can put them on stands, shelves, or other pieces of furniture with a flat surface. Eight self-adhesive rubber feet are included with the speakers to protect and isolate the speaker’s cabinet from the surface.
The grilles are not magnetic, so when removed, there are holes for the grilles that reduce the beauty effect of the speakers. There are individual grilles for the tweeter and woofer, so the whole speaker is not covered by them.
Sound quality
Usually, bookshelf speakers are not famous for deep, booming bass, so you can’t expect it from Wharfedale Diamond 225. You will not get your bones shaking with the 45 Hz bass region, but as mentioned before, you shouldn’t expect it. That is why subwoofers are for. But, anyway, the bass is clean.
For such small speakers, the soundstage of Wharfedale Diamond 225 is impressive, comprehensive, and deep. The presentation is enough to keep you engaged—the sound projects nicely in both directions. Although there is a bit of gristle in the upper registers at higher volume levels, the low end might feel soft.
The speakers handle well bass and midrange, but also have the ability to highlight delicate high ends and midrange detail. The voices come through clean, uncolored, liquid-ish in a way. Naturally airy highs are rich, and the full tone quality is the signature sound for these bookshelf speakers.
So maybe the Wharfedale Diamond 225 won’t throw the deepest bass or resolve the upper registers perfectly, but they provide weight, detail, and clarity in complex tracks. Maybe a little more speed and instrumental separation are needed to make the 225s perfect bookshelf speakers.
Verdict
Wharfedale Diamond 225 are great speakers and proof that everything good about high-end audio and beautifully reproduced music can be accessible to a broader audience. These speakers are capable of satisfying anyone who looks for speakers with fantastic sound, built by a well-known manufacturer, and all that for a reasonable price. They are far away from perfect but still more than excellent.
