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Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 Review (Speaker)

thewas

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As some might remember in my recent review of them I liked them a lot but also criticised mainly their elevated treble for my room and taste which I could easily correct with EQ though.

Looking at them and my measurements I thought this might be a rare case were the usually audiophoolian biwiring terminals might be helpful which was confirmed by my listening and future measurements.

So I added on each side a 2.2 Ohm 10 Watt MOX resistor before the tweeter terminal instead of the "golden bridge":p as such a value usually drops the tweeter level around 2 dB on typical tweeters, such MOX resistors are typically used in good quality crossovers:

1712852733912.png


Before doing any measurement I listened to many songs from different eras and genres and noticed that now the tonality seemed fine for me, my room and taste for a much larger percentage of recording than before. Now the 12.1 sounded more like a typical good British tuning and older Dynaudios, a tuning where you just listen to records and forget thinking about tech. To verify the change I also switched from one original to one "modified" loudspeaker listening to pink noise.

Additionally I did some quick measurements, first a kind of listening window spatial average with the moving microphone method and no gating at approximately one meter distance from the front baffle:

1712853183714.png


As it can be seen the original has a bit elevated treble while with the mod its more a "british" with a tad subdued treble and presence region.

I also did an MMM comparison with both L+R loudspeakers original and modified at my listening position compared to the Harman experienced listeners curve which works quite well in my room:

1712853606306.png


Concluding this so simple and cheap mod works surprisingly well in my room and makes me enjoy the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 even without any EQ which is rather the exception. It might be interesting to give it a try also for other owners if they also prefer a more British voicing and if someone like a tad more treble they can try also 1 or 1.5 Ohm instead.
 

TheBatsEar

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I added on each side a 2.2 Ohm 10 Watt MOX resistor before the tweeter terminal instead of the "golden bridge":p as such a value usually drops the tweeter level around 2 dB on typical tweeters, such MOX resistors are typically used in good quality crossovers:

View attachment 363026
Clean, simple and effective. Love it :cool:
 

MAB

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As some might remember in my recent review of them I liked them a lot but also criticised mainly their elevated treble for my room and taste which I could easily correct with EQ though.

Looking at them and my measurements I thought this might be a rare case were the usually audiophoolian biwiring terminals might be helpful which was confirmed by my listening and future measurements.

So I added on each side a 2.2 Ohm 10 Watt MOX resistor before the tweeter terminal instead of the "golden bridge":p as such a value usually drops the tweeter level around 2 dB on typical tweeters, such MOX resistors are typically used in good quality crossovers:

View attachment 363026

Before doing any measurement I listened to many songs from different eras and genres and noticed that now the tonality seemed fine for me, my room and taste for a much larger percentage of recording than before. Now the 12.1 sounded more like a typical good British tuning and older Dynaudios, a tuning where you just listen to records and forget thinking about tech. To verify the change I also switched from one original to one "modified" loudspeaker listening to pink noise.

Additionally I did some quick measurements, first a kind of listening window spatial average with the moving microphone method and no gating at approximately one meter distance from the front baffle:

View attachment 363027

As it can be seen the original has a bit elevated treble while with the mod its more a "british" with a tad subdued treble and presence region.

I also did an MMM comparison with both L+R loudspeakers original and modified at my listening position compared to the Harman experienced listeners curve which works quite well in my room:

View attachment 363028

Concluding this so simple and cheap mod works surprisingly well in my room and makes me enjoy the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 even without any EQ which is rather the exception. It might be interesting to give it a try also for other owners if they also prefer a more British voicing and if someone like a tad more treble they can try also 1 or 1.5 Ohm instead.
Great idea!:)
I need to stop complaining about bi-wire/bi-amp terminals!;)
 

Benji L

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Jul 14, 2021
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As some might remember in my recent review of them I liked them a lot but also criticised mainly their elevated treble for my room and taste which I could easily correct with EQ though.

Looking at them and my measurements I thought this might be a rare case were the usually audiophoolian biwiring terminals might be helpful which was confirmed by my listening and future measurements.

So I added on each side a 2.2 Ohm 10 Watt MOX resistor before the tweeter terminal instead of the "golden bridge":p as such a value usually drops the tweeter level around 2 dB on typical tweeters, such MOX resistors are typically used in good quality crossovers:

View attachment 363026

Before doing any measurement I listened to many songs from different eras and genres and noticed that now the tonality seemed fine for me, my room and taste for a much larger percentage of recording than before. Now the 12.1 sounded more like a typical good British tuning and older Dynaudios, a tuning where you just listen to records and forget thinking about tech. To verify the change I also switched from one original to one "modified" loudspeaker listening to pink noise.

Additionally I did some quick measurements, first a kind of listening window spatial average with the moving microphone method and no gating at approximately one meter distance from the front baffle:

View attachment 363027

As it can be seen the original has a bit elevated treble while with the mod its more a "british" with a tad subdued treble and presence region.

I also did an MMM comparison with both L+R loudspeakers original and modified at my listening position compared to the Harman experienced listeners curve which works quite well in my room:

View attachment 363028

Concluding this so simple and cheap mod works surprisingly well in my room and makes me enjoy the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 even without any EQ which is rather the exception. It might be interesting to give it a try also for other owners if they also prefer a more British voicing and if someone like a tad more treble they can try also 1 or 1.5 Ohm instead.
Why only a 10 watt resistor? Would a 20 or 25 watt resistor be better for these speakers?
 

thewas

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Penelinfi

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Why only a 10 watt resistor? Would a 20 or 25 watt resistor be better for these speakers?
Internally they probably use 5W or 10W resistors. Yes, you can heat up the resistors a lot if you thrash the speakers, but by then you're also most likely blowing up the woofers or tweeters .
This outboard resistor would be much better cooled too
 

Benji L

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Jul 14, 2021
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As some might remember in my recent review of them I liked them a lot but also criticised mainly their elevated treble for my room and taste which I could easily correct with EQ though.

Looking at them and my measurements I thought this might be a rare case were the usually audiophoolian biwiring terminals might be helpful which was confirmed by my listening and future measurements.

So I added on each side a 2.2 Ohm 10 Watt MOX resistor before the tweeter terminal instead of the "golden bridge":p as such a value usually drops the tweeter level around 2 dB on typical tweeters, such MOX resistors are typically used in good quality crossovers:

View attachment 363026

Before doing any measurement I listened to many songs from different eras and genres and noticed that now the tonality seemed fine for me, my room and taste for a much larger percentage of recording than before. Now the 12.1 sounded more like a typical good British tuning and older Dynaudios, a tuning where you just listen to records and forget thinking about tech. To verify the change I also switched from one original to one "modified" loudspeaker listening to pink noise.

Additionally I did some quick measurements, first a kind of listening window spatial average with the moving microphone method and no gating at approximately one meter distance from the front baffle:

View attachment 363027

As it can be seen the original has a bit elevated treble while with the mod its more a "british" with a tad subdued treble and presence region.

I also did an MMM comparison with both L+R loudspeakers original and modified at my listening position compared to the Harman experienced listeners curve which works quite well in my room:

View attachment 363028

Concluding this so simple and cheap mod works surprisingly well in my room and makes me enjoy the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 even without any EQ which is rather the exception. It might be interesting to give it a try also for other owners if they also prefer a more British voicing and if someone like a tad more treble they can try also 1 or 1.5 Ohm instead.
I tried 1.5 ohm resistors but settled on 1 ohm resistors to soften the treble. Listening 3m away with carpeted floors. Has anyone tried port bungs with these speakers?
 

DSJR

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I tried 1.5 ohm resistors but settled on 1 ohm resistors to soften the treble. Listening 3m away with carpeted floors. Has anyone tried port bungs with these speakers?
Play some rell recorded male speech! Does the bass region of the speech frequency range have a boomy 'chesty' feel to it? Once noted, almost always heard in many speakers and my Diamond 7.2SE's have this 'feature' as a way of beefing up the low end, rather than cutting it off stone dead as I remember the tiny B&W CM1's doing. there's a UK eBay supplier of foam bungs with removable centers and my solution for these speakers (on a desktop near the wall behind them) was to use said bungs while keeping the inner 'holes' open. This 'dried out' the low bass a good bit so making the speakers sound the size they are, but the positive was a more natural lower midrange 'tone' on speech (I use this rig for radio as well as some music).

I don't know the 12.1 but have heard its predecessor (210?) a few times. Bass seems fine in fairness on this model. Track used was 'Time Tunnel' by Boris Blank. The sequencer does have 'notes' rather than a rhythmic bloat ;)

 
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