small rear speakers in a surround sound system that has AR50 fronts warfedale centre 15" sony sub these little guys hold there own my amp quit both front channels leaving me my rear speakers only and i was still happy wih the sound awsome little speakers up there with the legendary old bose10 bookshelf speakers

Bass, price, build quality and sound compatable to much more exspensive speakers. Ability to make a so so receiver sound great.

Need some power to really shine. Lack of midrange? Treble can be alittle bright at high volume.

This review is for the black 7.2'S not the annervirsy model. Let me start by saying that comparing this speaker to highend or floor standing speakers just isn't fair. I picked up 4 of these for $165 including shipping (yes they were brand new) from an Ebay store. I spent months researching bookshelf speakers before my purchase. I listen mostly to rock, pop, and hiphop. Some of the music used to really test these were choices such as Pink Floyd, Roger Waters (heard stuff I never heard before in these albums) Also Madonnas Music And Ray of Light (very high Quality recordings) along with many others of this type of music. I don't do jazz or classical and beleive that not listening to these genres does not make you less qualified as a music fan although as far as how these speakers handle that type of music you'll have to look to other reviews. Ok now my system. I'm actually kinda cheap when it comes to shelling out my hard earned money. I want a very good product for the least amount of money(who doesn't) but as everyone knows the rule "you get what you pay for" comes into play more often than not. Having said this I use a Onkyo TX-8211 receiver hooked to my computer (no special soundcard) and play mostly MP3's recorded at 160kbps. I have all 4 speakers hooked up and they are positioned in the corners of my living room about 4 feet to top of speaker from the floor toed in. I'm using the original Monster cable also far from the best but for $88 for 100'the best deal I could find out there remember this is linking $70 a pair speakers to a $200 receiver. Where are we now? Oh yeah at $450 for the whole system excluding the computer which I already had. Less than most highend bookshelf speakers. Hows it sound? Breath taking!. I had some older Technics floorstanders that I always thought were good sounding speakers. They weren't! At first taking the 7.2's out of the box I was impressed buy the solid feel and the modern appearance. I hooked up one pair in the position I had he Technics in . I play my reciever with the bass and treble in the 12 oclock position with the loudness turned on. Fired up the new 7.2's and noticed right off that these could create very deep pronounced bass ( had to turn the bass setting down to about 10 then it was very pleseant). I do like hard hitting bass for it is a big part of the type of music I listen to. These will do bass very well! still tring to find the answer to how a 5 inch driver can create so much bass? Lacking mid range? Maybe but I always preferred a lower midrange in my music. The mid range does come up with addition of more bass . To my unprofessinal ear the bass and mid are very blanced. How about treble? well there lots of that also and adjusting it can be abit tricky. at real high volume on some tracks the treble is alittle to bright but at low to medium volume toed in as shown in the manual they create a very nice sound stage. As you know from other reviews they need at least a foot from the wall for the rear ports any closer and they will vibrate at higher volume. How loud do they play? my Onkyo is 50 high currant wpc rms. At half volume these will make yours ears hurt with very clear music reproduction and little distortion. I'm sure you could over drive these little speakers but who would want to listen to music that loud? How they do on my test music? Pink Floyd and Roger Waters sounded very very good The background sounds all Floyd listeners love are brought up to a level I have never heard before. I can hear and understand backgrond sounds I never heard before. Madonna did very good. the digital music really shows the ability of these speakers. It comes thru much louder than analog recordings. This is where the treble can have some problems. It's very bright a distorts at high volume but can be helped by turning down the treble setting on your receiver. This is only at high volumes. Remember that Madonnas recordings are very high quality and have a great deal of treble.

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Summary For the price of this speaker and if you listen to rock and pop you can't go wrong. if your into good clear music production get a pair. If you have $300 or more and are very picky about you

A marked improvement over the original. Bi-amp capability in a speaker in this size and price range is rare. Upholds the proud traditon of the British Mini-monitor. As with the orginal Diamond 7.2, sounds much larger than it is. Improved baffle design helps prevent the types of breaks that were common in the earlier Diamond 7 series.

Must be bi-amped to be used to full potential. Connectors spaced too widley apart for use with dual bannana plugs. Bi-amping jumpers (gold plated rods) get lost easily. The diamond 7 series are known to break the mounts holding the front and rear baffles together if even slightly droped, even during shipping.

I reviewed the "standard" Diamond 7.2 very favorably before. But I now wish to share my thoughts about my new Diamond 7.2 16th anneversary edition loudspeakers. I bought these as "New-old-stock" from the store (new a-stock system, but just hadn't been sold), for $150USD. The list price was $399.00 or something, but the dealer just wanted them sold. For the most part, they seem just the same as the regular D7.2, but with a nice wood finish, bi-amp capability, and a phase plug in place of a dust cap. But listening to them, side by side with the originals, with the same amps, souce, etc, you would think they changed nothing. Generally, the DAE (Diamond Anneversary Edition) sounded louder, went deeper in bass, and took more power before bottoming out than the D7.2 did. But they typically had the same tone and voice. I then decided to bi-amp the DAE, using a Denon DVD player as my source, a Denon AVR-5800 as a DAC and preamp, and four proffesional QSC 3402 power amps. Bridged, these amps are capable of delivering 1200 watts in to 8 ohms. I also used a proffesional Bi-Amp (that is the brand name) stereo crossover. Some may think me mad for expecting these little speakers to handle 4800 watts a pair, but I am ambitious, not stupid. I simply wanted to eliminate the amps as a source of distortion. I used my old standards for testing loudspeakers, including Eagles "Hotel California" from "Hell Freezes Over", a DAT mastered recording I made myself of "The Pilgrims' Chorus" from Wagner's "Tannhauser", and a mixed disc of Pop and country music. I must say, using this confiuration, I was truely amazed at the sound these little speakers could produce. At acceptable volume levels, I could close my eyes and I was suddenly transported to a live performance. I then decided to remove two of the amps and the crossover to single amp the speakers and once again perform an A-B test between the two different Diamonds. This produced about the same results as before, the the DAE going deeper in to bass and more resistent to bottoming out, but producing about the same sound as the D7.2, which is to say remakable, but not on the same level of my Modus 1.6 speakers, or my E-90s. So I will continue to use the Diamond 7.2s as I have for "around the house" music listening, but the DAE will be reserved for special critical listning, and will remain bi-amped, but using two Peavey CS-400 power amps instead of the monsterous QSCs. Sound is very warm and laid back. Bass is plentiful, but not boomy or overwheming. The seamless crossover between the woofer and tweeter creates an effect simular to that of the very best monitors. Some seem to poo-poo the AudioStealth enclosure as looking like cheap plastic, but I don't think they do. It looks better than many other companies attemps (even Wharfedale's; seen the Diamond 8 series yet?) to use a polymer or composite baffle. And perhaps more importanly, it works as designed, absorbing unwanted resonances and vibrations. As for the grill, I never have them on, so it is not an issue for me, but I still agree they are pretty flimsy. I do like the appearence of them when mounted though; a nice contrast to the rest of the paranoid-symetrical design of other loundspeaker baffels.

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Wharfedale Diamond 7.2, Wharfedale Diamond 6R, Tannoy Mercury, Bose 301, Wharfedal Diamond 8.1.

Amazing sound...really amazing...

I don't have enough rooms to put dozens of them to work!

Unbelievable performance from a speaker that UBID offers for less than 25 trips on the New York City Subway System (even @ $2 a ride). And that INCLUDES SHIPPING. These diminutive beauties boast a REAL WOOD VENEER FINISH in either ROSEWOOD, BLACK ASH or OAK, a front/rear baffle of some "secret" sound deadening material, a rear port, a soft dome ferrofluid tweeter and a little 6" wide polyplastic woofer (they claim they SQUEEZE chunks of rock into the plastic to stiffen the woofer). WHO CARES!!! The sound's the thing! These produce prodigious levels of TIGHT bass and properly positioned that bass is deep and WELL DEFINED. The tweeter produces SWEET, CLEAR HIGHS and together they all work together to produce fantastic music that satisfies completely. I have been unable to make these speakers cry uncle and I have put 30-45 watts (real watts) through them until my eyes water...They have to be away from walls, at least 1 foot MUST separate them from the wall behind...and if you can, make it 18". TOE THEM IN SLIGHTLY so they form a TRIANGLE with your EARS just beyond the meeting point of the tweeters. You get the MIXED tweeter signal and a true audiophile soundstage from nearly FREE speakers! Impossible to describe, though we are all trying! You MUST hear them to believe them. (And you still think Ashton Kutcher's gonna burst in!) I have several pairs in different configurations (maining my bedroom system, and backing my Emerald 97 HT system). Why would anyone want to spend 10-15 times the cost of these speakers for less performance? My wife says whenever I am listening to these in the dark she can see my TOOTHY SMILE I am so happy! I wasted YEARS with lesser speakers of "audiophile quality" only to find audio ecstasy in a little chinese made bundle of joy. GET EM ANY WAY YOU CAN.

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Wharfedale, Pioneer -sx vintage receivers, Nachamiche, Onkyo more Wharfedale...

Amazing punch on low end for such a small speaker. Gold plated bi-amp connectors, accepts banana plugs. Nice Rosewood veneer.

Front plastic moulding looks cheap. Cheap looking grill. Some sloppy glue work, but comes off. Asymmetrical grill and front moulding looks strange.

Amazing sound from a small speaker. Substantial puch on the low end. Very clear midrange, voices are well centered. Better sounstage compared to my old Rogers LS3/5A. Even though speakers say England on them, they are made in China. Very natural sounding, no harshness. Bass is not boomy, but tight.

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Rogers LS3/5A

Amazing bass response for such a small package. Vivid soundstage.

Very harsh mid-high response. Flimsy grills (what else is new?).

I listened to a pair of Diamond Anniversary 7.2's at my local retailer. In comparison to other models in the same price range (up to $500 CDN), the 7.2's had much better soundstage and more linear bass response. I did notice a bit of harshness in the mid-treble area around 4KHz, but the sales guy assured me that it was a combination of the their old CD player and cheap cabling. Given that I was offered a money-back guarantee, I chose to bring a pair home anyway (otherwise I would have walked away for sure). As soon as I placed them in my living room and hooked them up to my Yamaha RX-V800 receiver, I noticed that the mid-high range was exceedingly harsh. Having read other reviews here, I assumed that they just needed some breaking in. Thus I cranked up the volume and played as much music as possible for a week and a half straight. The harshness, however, showed no sign of abating. Even my 10-year-old Axiom AX2's were more listenable, if a little lacking in soundstage and midrange linearity. The 7.2's went back to the store, and my trusty AX2's were put back where they belonged. I have since auditioned many other pairs of speakers, and am saving my hard-earned dollars for a pair of B&W DM601's, which I feel are far better performers for not much higher cost.

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Axiom AX2

Smooth, open, natural, and detailed sound. Sweet and airy highs. Fast and serious bass. Very good tweeter and extremely rigid construction. High quality design

The grills! Rear-ported bass

These are one awesome pair of speakers! A striking smooth response along with a big, but tight bass response. Just like a big loudspeaker, but reduced in size. Puts most larger department store speakers to shame and easily rivals other bookshelf speakers in its class. How often do you encounter a speaker this small with a woofer diameter less than 5 inches that can honestly produce bass in the 40hz region? Believe me, these little guys do reach that 40hz low end with some weight. Given the overall low cost and high quality of these speakers, you are looking at a "best buy" in the $100-400 bookshelf speakers range today.

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Vintage Wharfedale Melton, AR, JBL

Excellent bass reproduuction. Great price

The grills are flimsy and extremely fragile. Bi-amp inputs in back are useless.

This review is for the Diamond Anniversary 7.2 speakers. I got them for a great price at UBID.com. However, watch out for the shipping charges! UBID kills you on them. Anyway: Construction:The grills on these speakers are the worst I ever saw. I cracked the flimsy plastic on both of them just trying to remove the shipping foam packing. The actual speaker construction is pretty strong. The back of the speakers have two sets of inputs, so that you can "bi-amp". I tried to hook two separate receivers to these speakers (I have rigs in 2 rooms that I wanted to channel out to these speakers) but I was unsuccessful. I ended up with horrible tinny sound out of one channel and just bass out of the other. I contacted Wharfdale and they were of no help at all. However, when I spliced the speaker wires together and ran both receivers through 1 set of the inputs I run the receivers at different times obviously), I had no problem. The 2nd set is a waste and it's a pain in the butt to wire into the poles and keep the gold "connecting bar" attached to both inputs to avoid the separation. But anyway, once that was all done... The sound is terrific. As that is the point of any speaker, I can't really complain. The bass is strong and very distortion free ( I have them in my basement and I can't even push these puppies to distort even at high volume). The rear port for the bass is very capable of handling high volume. Just make sure that you allow plenty of space in the back of the speakers (don't put them directly against a wall, they need some room to breathe). High end range is adequate to good. the speakers sound better as they get used. I have a pair of Polk bookshelves (the 25 model) and while I always liked those, the wharfedales are much better. At the prices offered by UBID and Amazon, it's well worth the purchase.

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Polk 25, Infinity bookshelfs

bass, upper end when pushed, decent imaging, hard to blow out with a sub-standard amp (reciever)

push on cover is easy to breack, Imaging and treble not that great unless speaker is pushed a bit.

For $100 , these are the best speakers I''ve auditioned, including Infinity and Polk which are twice the money! 1- great bass that doesn''t get overdriven (which means different things to a different system...... a Teacs 50 wpc system sounds great with these speakers, but sounds terriblbe when overdriven....that said, my home theater system amp, (a yamaha . 110 wpc x5, when overdriven, (to a point) sounds graet also. My point bieng is these are great speakers for what they are intended for_________loud **s rock''roll.......unsurpassed bass, decent midrange and great high end when pushed! If that''s not what your looking for then spend your extra $200 on Polks or Infinities______________and from experierence they will blow before the Whar''s. Just MY expierence____________spend LESS and get MORE_________ Mark

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Infinity, polk, various studio monitors($359 and upwards)

Can''t believe the deal on these. I have them hooked up to my stereo with a 120 watt powered sub. They sound 100x better than my Klipsch Hereseys (currently for sale). I purchased another pair for surround sound.