none - high's maybe OK

Borderline highs and mids - terrible bass

EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED. I already have them up for sale in the newspaper and am willing to take a significant loss to unload them. I was swayed by these reviews. I thought I could get a real good speaker at a real low price. As it turns out, I made a very bad purchase. And now I have to deal with getting rid of them. The people doing these reveiws either really do work for Wharfedale or ubid, or the speakers they owned previously have been such poor quality, that these sound good. They don't. The Saphire 89's are a waste of money. Borderline highs and terrible lows that cannot be overcome with a subwoofer. These so-called UK-made speakers are indeed made in China. Says so right on the box they arrive in. However, they do look good - if you're not concerned about the sound, buy them because they do look good. But there are better sounding speakers available in stores at even lower prices.

Similar Products Used:

MTX, Bose, AR, Infinity, Klipsh, JBL, Fisher, AAL

Great looks

bass, but not sure..

Received my new pair yesterday. Think maybe I need to break-in the speakers to get good bass response. The mids are good. My speakers have blue-drivers. Look good but I was wondering how dfifferent do they sound from the black-drivers. Any answers....

Iv jacked them to Denon-AVR 3300.

Sound quality

Grills do not seat well on the cabinet

First to Matt, I thank you for the sound quality review. I don't work for Warf but did buy their speakers. To bad you took to bashing instead of listening to them. When you finally get over being a victim, get a clue Matt, not everything you buy always arrives in perfect condition. My speakers did arrive in perfect shape.

I broke them in over the last 90+ days. When they arrived the highs, were sharp and tinny. The low end is bolstered with a 15" sub. After giving them time to break in the tweaters do sound much better. Are they worth the $2200 each listed UBID price. No but they do sound darned good for the price I did pay for them. I also recommend bi wiring them, it does make a difference in their sonic qualities.

Similar Products Used:

JBL, Klipsch, etc

Still testing

Still testing

(continue from last review here)

Today is my 3rd day to own the 89 speakers, still in break in period. The bass is much better, but still not as loud, as tight and as deep as Modules 1.6. When I stand in front of these speakers both 89 and 1.6 will shake my floor, but modules 1.6 also shake my pants, my body and my heart ! (weak hearter should not try) There is a great amount of air coming out from its computer designed big front hole !

I must agree with the comment from "Renato" below, "the female singers all sound like they're shouting. The voices are not built naturally, but rather they jump at you." I found out that its high is much louder than the bass and this is why the higher frequency voice is jumping at you. With 1.6, the high is not as high and not as loud but it mixes with the bass very well with very good seperation. For music, I love 1.6, but for movie I wish 1.6 could be a little bit higher (center speaker could help).

I also have to agree with the review by "Shlomo", "Imaging, sound stage is very good ,that much I'll give them"

As with the comment by "audiolover", I am sorry to confuse you. As you know, "more" or "less" are relative terms. It all depends on what you are comparing with. If you do not own modules 1.6 and Sapphire 89, then my comment will not make much sense to you. All the other review here are comparing Sapphire 89 with different speakers, so you should not use them as your standard. Different listener has different taste and one speaker does not fit everyone's taste. You must listen to the speakers youself. Also I am not comparing it with a 200W powered subwoofer which for sure have more bass. Since no one have compared the 89 and the 1.6 speakers, it is why I put my review here so people can have more info when they choose their speakers. I know I am totally not qualified but I hope it help a little.

So far I discovered one good thing. If I put both 1.6 and 89 speakers as front speakers at the same time (A & B on), they sound excellent ! I got the clear high (helped by 89) and deep low bass (helped by 1.6). The vocal is crystal clear and outstanding while the bass is thunderous loud and low. Wharfedale should consider transferring the 1.6 bass unit to Sapphire 89, or transferring the bigger tweeter from 89 to the Modules music 1.6.

From their web site, the next new model is the same style as modules 1.6. So I guess they are transferring the bigger and better tweeter to the Modules music 1.6 to improve its high.

I will be back with more report after more break in. My young son keep stopping me to test these speakers at high volume after his school and my wife is having some headache from these speakers too !!

Similar Products Used:

Wharfedale Modules Music 1.6 speakers, I owned these for about 3 months.

mid range and bass

reliability

Recently got a pair of SP89 from UBID at 217 each to replace B&W 602.
When I got it and hook them up, something good
something bad. The good speaker generates good sound
while the other one missing mid-range sound almost
totally. I used my YAMAHA 992's balance to tell how much
difference between the two speakers;
when I turned the balance to the full left, normal sound
came out of left; when right, only 1/5 of sound volumn came
of the right speaker. I am going to call IAG, thanks to
the one who sent out review in SP87 category about IAG
who is taking care of repair or replacement.

I know I can't just listen to one speaker along, but
the one working speaker is pretty impressive, even though
my son told me it is just louder.

5 for value, 4 for it's reliability.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 602

price, nice looking in the rosewood finish I ordered

upper frequency range. See below

Since I was working on upgrading my mothers audio system I figured if these speakers sounded better than my AR 48B's (fifteen-year-old speakers, just replaced the surround foam) than I would keep the Wharfedale 89's for myself and give my AR's to my mother. But unfortuantely they don't sound better. (And, as I have been discovering, most other speakers I've auditioned don't sound better either.) To my ears the Wharfedale's have a tinny (but not harsh) horn-like quality with regard to the tweeter. This is something I don't care for. Maybe it is no coincidence that the tweeter is back behind a horn-shapped part of the baffle. I suspect this won't be the case with their new Pacific line of speakers which have a different tweeter set up. Don't get me wrong, these speakers are excellent for the price. The midrange is good and so is the bass. For many people they will make for a great improvement over what they have now.

During the first week I downloaded (free for two weeks)Micro Lab's for Windows 95/98, spectrum anailyzer with oscilloscope software. With the audio from my computer fed to my Onkyo TX-DS747 audio-video control receiver into the CD input, I input different now known frequencies to the Wharfedale's and my AR's (A, B testing). This is best used as a test for low frequencies. Using a sine wave signal, The Wharfedale's do have good response down to the 30 Hz range specified. Of course, they will go lower as well, but in order to hear the signal you'll have to increase the volume. I believe this is true for all speakers.

By the way, with the exception of some rap music, like the Too Short I was testing, most bass is above 50 Hz. And on both speaker brands I tested, neither I or my girlfriend could hear a signal above 15,000 Hz, so don't allow yourselves to get suckered into buying audio equipment solely because of it's wider frequency range.

One more thing, the speaker grills are fine. One just has to place your thumb squarely behind the peg and push firmly until it seats all the way. It's not something to be taking on and off frequently. I hope this review will be helpful.

Similar Products Used:

Acoustic Research 48B, Mirage surround speakers.

Good sound.

None.

These speakers rock dude! These are the best speakers I have ever owned, way better than my Wilsons and Dunlavys. I have them hooked up in series to four linked Krell 400w per channel amps and these babies shake the house. I really like Wharfedale's concept of having many woofers and few mid-ranges and tweeters. I have found that the mid-ranges and tweeters tend to produce the weakest sound; always somewhat 'tinny' and high pitched. I hear the Wharfedale plans on gitting rid of the tweeter in the upcoming Sapphire 91s. That doesn't make any differce for me since I have been removing the tweeters in all my speakers since the mid-eighties. If you are a true audiophile you can't listen to anything but Wharfedale.

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Wilson, Dunlavy

Clear, detail high and mid.

Bass ??

I have listened to few speakers including Infinity Overtune 3 and Polk RT2000 (both with powered subwoofer). None of them give me more (or the same) excitement and happiness as the Modules Music 1.6 !! The life like and warm vocal, clear and detailed high and mid, the low, powerful and tight bass will totally melt you. Based on this experience, I decided to get a pair of Sapphire 89 model from uBid. For some reason its value is about 30% to 50% more than 1.6 at uBid. Actually the 1.6 is $300/pair more expensive at www.Wharfedale.co.uk ! I was expecting something much better based on the bidding value at uBid and also based on the feedback on this site. With its dual woofer, I was expecting a much powerful bass. With its bigger tweeter, I was expecting a louder and clearer high. But I am only 30% right. I got the speakers today, the boxes are damaged by UPS as usual and I have to help that lady, but the speakers are fine. After connecting to the same receiver. I am not too excited ! The high is louder but as clear as the 1.6. For the bass, it is at least 50% weaker than 1.6 although it has dual woofer (different type of driver). There is only about 50% bass coming out of this speaker using the same receiver at the same volumn setting comparing to 1.6 !! It is also not as tight and accurate as the 1.6. I am not sure if it will get better and louder after the break in period. If not, I may have to exchange them with 1.6 although I pay much higher than 1.6 at uBid !!! I will be back for more comment. The 1.6 was better even before the break in period.

You need to try it to believe that ! Any comment is welcome.

For now I can not give it a 5 yet and I need more time. If it does not improve after break it, I will give it a 3.

Similar Products Used:

Wharfedale Modules Music 1.6 speakers

price, incredible soundstage, crisp, sharp base

none (grille maybe, but who really needs to remove them very often?)

Wish I had found this review site BEFORE I purchased my pair (could've saved even more $) but I aint complaining-
I was looking to upgrade my speakers for some time and had been checking out the auction sites (hey, I'm frugal), and found these on a popular auction site. To think that you can get these for $250 a pair is hard to believe. No, I don't work for Wharfedale, and nobody bribed me to write this review. The speakers 'speak' for themselves: THEY'RE FABULOUS! Full sound that gives my favorite music an entirely new dimension(older Genesis, Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Pat Metheny Group,) I'm powering them with an Onkyo receiver (100 wpc) though they're rated to handle 200. You have the option of bi-wiring to drive midrange and tweeter separately from the base, but I haven't done that and don't plan to, as they sound incredible enough to my (discerning) ear as they are.
I've heard speakers costing a LOT more than you can get these for, in sound rooms in hi-fi shops, and these sound as good if not better than much of what's out there.
You can't go wrong with these!

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Bose, Technics

midrange, good imaging, looks, AV use, price

Are these pretenders? Weird bass that comes and goes - a gap in the response - soft, flat treble.

Having owned these now for 6 months I had hoped with running-in and with positioning, repositioning, and repositioning, that I COULD have them sounding better than they do.

These work well as AV speakers but not so for hifi. I have heard wicked room-shaking rumbles yet a clear bass note is absent. the tweeters are, I suspect, just cheap. (Maybe I can replace them.) My hopes are not realised: these are not exciting speakers.

I'd suspect incorrect internal wiring if the imaging weren't so good. I will try bi-wiring and an alternative amp before I give up on trying to improve them.

How can the reviews here be so polarised? Obviously all have bought at a good price, but something is awry with so many pleased, yet so many displeased.

Similar Products Used:

AR, Bose