Tonal range, "trueness" of sound, ability to biwire them to your amp or receiver. Silk tweeter and kevlar drivers. They have nice wood veneer, too :-), so they look good. Great try-it-out-and-return-if-you-don't-like-it policy.

hmm, hard to think of any. I would have appreciated a little insert that told about how to "biwire" the speakers. Since that is far more common in the UK than the US, I was only familiar w/ it in concept, not practice.

I absolutely love my Wharfedale 8.4's--especially since I was going to get the 8.3's,but I got a special deal on the 8.4's at the same price. I recommend buying directly from IAG/Wharfedale, unless you are able to get a significantly better offer somewhere else. Shipping was free, they arrived quickly, set up was very simple. And buying them direct from the manufacturer means you don't have to put the sand in yourself, which all of the resellers have you do--in order to reduce shipping weight, I imagine. In terms of sound, the bass is incredible, so much so that when I expand my system, I am going to get rear channel speakers and skip the subwoofer. Unless you have a very large room, or like to hear the bass more than anything else, I recommend trying the speakers without the subwoofer before making a decision to add the sub. The trebles are extremely good, clear, and true, and are well-balanced with the bass and mid-range, so the music maintains the authentic sound of the actual performance. I have these connected to a decent, but not "audiophile quality" receiver--the panasonic sa he 9, to which I have a digitally connected a technics cd player. These speakers make it sound as though I have a much better system than I do. I think an audiophile on a budget would be extremely pleased with these speakers. (You will need to email Wharfedale and say you want the 8.4's since the U.S. site does not yet advertise them as of this writing --june 2002-- but they have them.) ONe more thing--I've listened to a lot of different kinds of music with these speakers--classic rock, techno/rave, classic Celtic, classical, baroque, swing, and jazz, and I've been impressed with the sound for all those styles.

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Tested Bose.

smooth highs, great upper mids, and nice bass for the price. nice finish and great looks.

lower midrange(baritone) is about 3-4 dbs lower.?xD;?xA;The lower bass range about 60-80 hz is upped ?xD;?xA;about 3-5 dbs, to make it sound so strong

For a budget speaker the 8.4's are a good deal. They have a smooth treble and great upper?xD;?xA;midrange and nice bass. They sound better than B&W 602.5 s3 but are no where near the?xD;?xA;603 s3. If your price range is approx $700 then this is a great speaker in that range. Their?xD;?xA;are alot of speakers out there that are worse from best buy/circuit city.

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B&W 603 s3, Dynaudio 62 & 72

Just about everything but they wont make tea or coffee.They perform way out of their price class and would satisfy the hard to please.Treble and base are both exceptional for a budget speaker and thats very unusual.Prepare to be very surprised on audition.

Like most speakers they require 50-60 hours of running in to truly free up. Nothing else and I am fussy.

These are a most impressive pair of speakers. The midrange, treble and base are just right and beautifully balanced. They are quite power hungry and will reward powerful amps.They are also exceptionally detailed for a budget product.Tonally,dynamically and rythmically rewarding.They are exceptionally well built and specified and a real step up from recent Wharfedales.They live up to the great press the other products in the Diamond 8 range have been receiving.

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Tested Emerald 97,Acoustic Energy AE 120 and KEF Q55.2, DB Dynamics 686F,and several models from Image with Morel drivers and these Diamond 8.4 were the best by far and the least expensive. How have

Good mid range, warm sounding Treble is just nice when pair with proper cable.

Bass is somewhat on the lighter side.

Cheap at this price range with Kelvar Drivers. It had very good sound stage but needs a beefy amp to drive it. IT is best to be on spikes without the baseboard. And position should be slight toe-in

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Valdus 400. Price is Singapore Dollars