Not sure of the model year but I just bought a pair of Wharfedale Sappire sp-89 floor standing loudspeakers from Goodwill for the whopping price of $29.95/pr. The cosmetic condition of these speakers were a little worn with damage to the speaker grills which from reading previous posts seems to be a problem.
I connected these speakers to my Denon and ran them as 'stereo'. They ran with my Klipsch subwoofer. I was amazed at the sound of these speakers. midrange and highs are very well produced. I was disappointed at the bass response but upon reading other reviews on this great site I remembered that I had set my front speakers to "small" on the Denon. I immediately changed the setting to "large" and popped in a CSN greatest hits CD into my Escient Fireball digital music server. I was in for a great surprise. Overall tonal response is excellent with these speakers. As a few other reiewers mentioned, I heard voices and instruments not heard from my previous set of front speakers. These speakers are without a doubt some of the finest speakers I have ever owned. As mentioned before, the mid-range reproduced music perfectly with extremely good balance with the highs and the amazing bass these speakers produce. I am extremely happy with these speakers. I have never heard such a balanced frequency response as well as these speakers and the soundstage is nothing short of excellent. These speakers rival others costing thousands of dollars and I was EXTREMELY fortunate to pay such a low price for such excellent speakers. Very impressed.

Not sure of year of issue, but I wanted to comment on the sound. I have a pair of Klipsch Forte's here that are fantastic speakers. These are next to them, and I can't tell which one I prefer. That's how good these are, much different from the Klipsch sound. These will reward you only when proper care is taken. It took a few hours to find the right cables, and combinations to help these a bit, but the only issue to look for really is the midrange honk at loud volumes. These can be slightly modded I understand for better sound in that area. Overall, despite the somewhat lackluster cabinet trim quality, these can be amazing speakers when setup correctly and matched with the right components. Long and narrow, with a nice footprint, they image well, and can put out a huge sound. Just takes good equipment and a good recording.

Where does all that BASS come from? Stylish appearance. Outstanding soundstage (close your eyes and try to find the speakers). Classy looking!!

Speaker grills are delicate but if you are careful you will not have any problems with them. Just leave them on or take them off....don't "play" with them. Of note, removing the grills reveals a finely designed appearance that appears to be made for no grill covering. COOL!!

These speakers are a well kept secret. Though extremely good speakers, they have not been well marketed/advertised by Wharfedale of Great Britain. Even after a year of listening to them I cannot believe how MUCH I got for so LITTLE money. They are not small tower speakers and they are heavy....guess they must be heavy to keep them from physically moving around with the deep, clear, rich, concert hall-like BASS they deliver so effortlessly. Though I have a JBL sub...it is really not needed. I've turned the sub crossover really way down so the sub only produces just the deepest bass. Turning the sub off sometimes makes no difference in the overall effect. Mids and highs are clear, concise and beautiful. I replaced a Bose AM-7 system with these. Liked then so much, I bought a matching Wharfedale Sapphire center speaker and Wharfedale Diamonds for the rear surrounds. While music is my passion, I also use these wonderful speakers for Home Theater....WOW!!! Again....WOW!! Without exception, these are finest sounding speakers I've heard under $3000.00. My system is all SONY ES (mega-bucks at my level) and these Sapphire 89's do not hold any component back from its full potential. Can you get better speakers? Sure. If you are an audiophile, you would not want these...they don't cost enough. But if you agree that Value equals Quality divided by Price, there is no greater speaker value on the planet.

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Acoustic Research AR2ax's, Sansui 3500's, Klipsch kg4's, Bose AM-7's

clairity,deep bass,price and not alot of people know how good they really are!

Grilles,grumpy old lady cause there too loud......

Let me start by saying that unlike alot of reviews that ive read i wasnt to skeptical about these speakers. The reasoning behind that is that i had listened to a set of modus 1.6s and heard to another set of opal 100s,so i knew that the brand name was respectable. I'f i did have any worries it was the fact that i had not heard any of the speaker from this particular model.When i recieved my pair of SP-89s right away i was worried the sticker on the side of the box said made in china,now with a toaster that wouldnt have bothered me but the mains in my home stereo system o-boy.So out of the box they came,after hooking them up and driving them not too hard for about 12hrs i thought id push them a little,so i turned it up,once i clipped past number 40 on the dial(sublime)i had a little reverberation on the bass drivers and i thought made in china ha ha.But i then approached the owner of the 1.6s and he told me give them time, best suggestion i could have gotten.These speakers got better day after day soon the depth of these babies just started opening up enourmously.Ive had them now for about 2 years and couldnt be happier with there range highs are high lows are really deep.So i hope that if any of you out there were thinking the made in China thing was a reason not to buy these dont my thoughts initially were the same. In the year 2000 they moved there production of Wharfedales to China,mine were made there, but that hasnt seem to have any effect on my friends opinion who owns a british made pair of modus 1.6s,he made the statment the other day "I Think these sound better than mine".To close this up these speakers are well made period.(besides the Crappy grilles of course but im sure you could find speakers for $400.00 with grilles that rate a 10 but then they would probably sound like crap, but they would fit nice)(SP-89 true blue drivers)Yamaha rx-v990 reciever,not Bi-amped YET.............

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Jbl,Klipsch

Sound and build quality (Heavy speakers)

Nothing so far

These are the true quality speakers, sound is so good you won't believe it you paid only $400-500 for them. Build quality very good also. I'm using for music and Home theatre setup and couldn't be better. Thanks Wharfedale

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Polk,Pioneer

Everything!!

Both grills were tough to install, I'm not going to dare taking them off for fear of having to put them back on.

I bought my Wharfedale Sapphire 93 speakers from Ubid back in July after my purchase of the Emerald 97's. I was so impressed with the Emeralds that I decided to try the Sapphire 93 for hopefully bigger bass. I was delightfully surprised. The Sapphire's are incredible! oustanding sound at all levels and plenty of bass (work fine without the sub). I ended up moving the emeralds into my office and currently use the Sapphires in my home theater room. If you are considering new home theater speakers, you can't go wrong with Wharfedale. The price is so reasonable for outstanding sound reproduction and the best thing of all is You spouse won't whine after hearing them.

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NHT, Bose, Kenwood

Detail, making the music sound real.

Occasional boomy bass.

Despite the positive reviews here, I was skepical. But we needed a set for the basement after our old Genesis's died from dry rot. As others have said, these speakers need a break in. After about 30 hours, the bass really bloomed. Just went speaker shopping today and listened to Klipsch RF5's and Sonus Faber Grands, and while they are marginally better, they cost $1500 and $3200 respectively for the pairs. The bass can be boomy at times, but other times it seems just fine. My wife and I have both heard things on these speakers (instruments in classical orchestra pieces) we have not heard from our other speakers. In short, at $340 a pair a great bargain.

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Klipsch RP3.

Definition, bass response, full and detailed sound.

Positioning can be critical

I've been looking to build a clear, accurate music only audio system and had hoped to spend about $1k on a set of speakers and about twice that again for an amp and CD player. Reality set in though and I knew I had to cut that in about a third. I'd had some Wharfedale Opal 50's before and knew the brand to be respectable, clear and strong performers. I decided to risk it on the Sapphire 89's and after the break-in period, about a month, I've not been disappointed in the least. On one song I've listened to for 20 years I now hear that there are two guitars playing wonderfully together instead of one. I can hear the strong separation of the bass drum from the rest of the bass line. Two voices are distinct and clear where I had though only the lead was singing. I can't say enough how critical it is to let these big boys run their paces and settle into a stable sound. Play them and play them and play them some more, until they sound the same day in and out. Mine had NO bass at the start. Then the ultra-low set in and after about three weeks the rest of the spectrum filled in so that now they've got great, full sound. Shove them around in the room too until you find a good configuration. Mine didn't sound good in the room until I had them separated by at least 8 feet and were at least 1.5 feet from the back and side walls. Bi-wiring made them fuller as well.

Bass, efficiency, and price.

Grill, a little bright

These things STOMP my KEF 105.2's!!! Not really, but as my primary video system speakers the due a great job. They take up the slack for my lack of .1 in my DTS. They are adequate in appearance and image better than most of these Bozo reviewers will give them credit for. Although not by any means a reference speaker, they give most tunes a pretty fair shake. Don't attach the grills if you want to show off the nifty blue drivers, once attatched, leave them alone! If you want speakers to admire their looks, buy something else! The tonal quality is a little bright, but a good amp and the right wire should tame it ( my kimber 8TC was too bright). Be sure to use the included spikes to tighten the bass response. All-in-all, a terrific bang for the buck!!

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everything ( used to work in a very high-end audio store).

everything sounds great on these speakers. clarity is great, sound effects and voices are perfectly reproduced. heavy bass for rap and deep enough to shake the floors. just listen to eminem's dvd after the break in time is up!!! floor spikes are nice too and they even give you feet for solid floors! bi-wireable..i just used a+b mains on my denon.

long break in time, but worth it. grills are a pain to put on.

Awsome speakers. if you want some nice, impressive main speakers then get a pair of these. but be warned, they do require about 30-40 hours of break in time like most wharfedales...so dont crank on them till the break in period is over....once they wear in though you can really pump up the volume with perfect clarity.

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definitive