MORE FROM THIS BRAND RESUME The Diamond 220 has a neutral and open sound. It is compact and easy to install. It’s not a bass monster, but that’s not surprising given its size. The Diamond 220 offers a neatly finished appearance, good construction and lots of music enjoyment for a very low price.

PLUS POINTS Compact design Easy to install Smart bass port construction Very good speaker connections Neutral and open sound Excellent price / quality ratio MINUSES Layer View a on the thin side The British loudspeaker brand Wharfedale has a history that begins before the Second World War. The brand has a large portfolio of passive models, to which active and wireless models have also been added in recent years. Wharfedale builds speakers for the music lover and also serves the lover of multi-channel sound. In our test room is a pair of the two-way monitor model Diamond 227, the second smallest model of the Diamond 200 series. How is this speaker built and how much music enjoyment does the Diamond give 227 to the listener? A

Wharfedale: British speaker builder

Wharfedale’s history begins in 1932 as Founder Gilbert Briggs (1890 a???? 1978) is building his very first loudspeaker in the basement of his home in Ilkey, Yorkshire. In 1933, he set up a company near Bradford, UK, which focused on building drivers for loudspeakers. Business prospered and in 1945 a larger production location was moved into, called Wharfedale Wireless Works. During the war years, however, twenty employees had to be freed and deployed to make transformers for the Marconi company.

In 1945 a first two-way speaker system was designed by adding a tweeter. A large crossover was used as a separation filter. Speakers have always been the core product of the company, although forays into other products have also been made in the past.

Briggs sold his business in 1958 at the Rank Organization. Wharfedale has since had several other owners. Today Wharfedale is part of the International Audio Group (IAG), a Chinese investment company based in Huntingdon, Great Britain. Not only Wharfedale falls under the wings of IAG, but also the British audio brands Quad, Mission, Tag McLaren, Audiolab and Castle Acoustics.

Wharfedale: portfolio Wharfedale has a large portfolio of passive loudspeakers consisting of monitor models, floor stands and center loudspeakers. The company also offers active subwoofers, sound bars, active models and wireless models. Product line Elysian is the flagship product line.

Wharfedale builds modern speakers but also tries to serve customers with nostalgic feelings, for example with the Linton Heritage product line. Our test sample is part of the Diamond 210 product line which now consists of three members. The Diamond 210 and Diamond 220 to be two-way monitor speakers and the Diamond 250 is a three-way floorstander.

Wharfedale Diamond 220: compact two-way bass reflex speaker The Diamond 220 is basically a two-way bass reflex speaker. Wharfedale has done something special with the bass port. It is located at the bottom. The cabinet floats slightly above a base plate. There is an air gap between the cabinet and the base plate that allows the bass port at the bottom of the cabinet to breathe. The advantage compared to a bass port on the back is that the wall behind generates no or less strong interaction with the speaker. A bass port on the front takes up space. That space is not there at the Diamond 220. A bass port on the front had increased the size of the cabinet. Wharfedale’s chosen construction is smart and space-saving. The base plate stands on four supplied rubber caps with the shape of a half sphere. The user must stick them under it himself, in the appropriate recesses.

The panels of the Case of the Diamond 220, which, like its brothers and sisters, is available in a black and white version, are made from a sandwich of MDF and chipboard. A layer of vinyl with a wood grain structure that is smooth to the touch has been pulled over it. The baffle has a smooth and glossy finish. The measurements are 315 x 174 x 227 millimeter (H x W x D). The speaker terminals are unusually heavy for this price range, sticking out just under three inches. Anyone who would like to bi-wire or bi-amp should remove the flat bridges.

The drivers are fitted with detachable circular fronts with a thin cloth stretched over them. The mid / woofer has a diameter of 174 millimeter and features a cone made of woven kevlar. This material used to be only found in pricey speakers, but nowadays it is increasingly found in budget models. The tweeter is a soft-dome type with a diameter of 45 millimeter. According to the manufacturer, the magnets are larger than the previous generation. The magnets are made of ferrite. Not only is that cheaper than neodymium, for example, but it would also produce a softer sound, according to the manufacturer.

The frequency range is 56 Hz to 20 kHz (+/- 3 dB). At level 6 dB the relatively small Diamond 220 until 45 Hz. The crossover frequency is 2.2 kHz. Sensitivity is an average 100 dB (2, 83 Volt / 1 meter) so the Diamond 220 doesn’t need a powerhouse to make music. An amplifier with a power between 25 Watts and 100 Watt is fine according to the manufacturer. Average impedance is eight ohms with a minimum of 4.1 ohms.

Numbers don’t say much about the sound of a speaker. For example, a model that 25 kHz does not necessarily sound better than a model that â ?? ?? only ?? 25 can display kHz. By the numbers, the Diamond dives 220 not very deep in the layer, but this should come as no surprise when we consider the format and content (of seven liters) of the cabinet.

Wharfedale Diamond 220: test environment

De Diamand 220 â ???? s are alternately driven by different amplifiers. We have used a NAD 1100089, a Gold Note PA – 10 and a Yamaha AS 3200. We will not reveal the price of the Diamond yet 227, but we can already say that the amplifiers used are way above the price level of the Diamond 220 lie. All three amplifiers were therefore able to get the most out of it. Music signal was from a Gold Note DS – 10 and a Wadia 321 DAC.

The Diamond 220 â € s were approximately three to four meters apart, the distance to the listener was approximately four meters. The distance to the wall behind turned out to be not very critical. The Diamond 227 may be placed close to the wall. After all, the bass port is at the bottom. According to the manual, the minimum distance is half a meter. The bottom line is that the speaker shouldn’t be “locked up” ???? in a corner. Furthermore, according to the manual, the loudspeaker should be turned slightly towards the listener. This is also not very accurate, because the beam angle is approximately sixty degrees. We shuffled back and forth a bit, but the â ???? rightâ ???? The arrangement turned out to be largely a matter of taste. Incidentally, the speakers in a stereo setup should be placed no more than four meters apart. Otherwise the sound may become noticeably thinner, as stated in the manual.

We sit down and listen to music.

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