floorstanding

Actually, I just wanted to upgrade my Technics 770 mini-system to something more. And didn't wait anything great for such price... I bought pair of Wharfedale 8.3 for about $220. And was surprised on it's clear and strong sound (reciever Kenwood 8060). May be bass isn't enough for movies, but I think subwoofer can easily solve this problem. Movies are 5.1, aren't they :) I think it's really good choise for it's price segment.

P.S.: Sorry for terrible english, not my native language.

I agree with James Michalak's review and give these speakers 4 stars. I was looking at surround sound speaker sets: either cubes and a sub or "real" speakers. I purchased the Wharfedale Diamond 8.3 towers, the Wharfedale Diamond centre, the Wharfedale Diamond 8.1's for the rear, and a Paradigm subwoofer.

I wanted our speakers to do double duty: movies and CD's. The speakers perform admirably in both. For the price the sound is superb; the highs and mids are crystal clear and the bass is punchy and fast.

It is true that you won't get copious amounts of bass from the 6.5 inch woofers. However, what you will get is accurate sound reproduction. Our music tastes range from AD/DC to jazz and classical. We can "crank" the volume to an almost uncomfortable level on our AC/DC and have ample bass, as can we on our classical, jazz etc. The key is to not adjust the bass control on the receiver beyond the mid or neutral point. Beyond that there is too much bass anyway. In addition, speaker placement makes a difference too. We experimented for a few days before finding the best distance from the corners and furniture.

Where the bass is somewhat inadequate is in surround sound movies, but then that is what the subwoofer is for. In the first two Lord of the Rings DVD's there are parts with deep and prolonged bass. Again the speakers can do the job, but they really benefit from the subwoofer for the lowest, house shaking lows.

In the end, you can probably buy cheaper, higher bass producing speakers than the 8.3's. However, what you gain in bass you may likely lose in accurate and clear sound. These are excellent consumer level speakers with a very reasonable price (in fact, all 6 speakers cost less than some of those cubes/subwoofer sets). If you don't want to take up huge floorspace with giant towers, but still want a quality sounding speaker, these speakers should be on your potential purchase list. The longer we have them, the better they sound.

I bought Wharfedale 8.3 for $ 200 after reading all these reviews last year. I paired it with HK AVR 51 amp, and Marantz CD player. Just yesterday I finally go so pissed off with the wharfedale that I went and picked up infinity Studio Monitor SM 205's. They are an older model which they dont make any more but I got it unused from a store. And what a difference. the wharfedale could not handle bass, and music with fast heavy bass. The kevlar woofer in fact does not even recover from its instroke in time to start the next outstroke of bass. And mine is perfectly fine, no damages. Wharfedale is a sweet sounding speaker if you listen to only norah jones, and at low volumes.try switching it to a infinity sm 205 to really hear quality music, the frequency highs and lows, in pure, unrestrained way.no comparison, i really dont know why people are raving so much abt wharfedales. i will now have to donate my wharfedale to someone, since if i play it together with infinity, it is distorting the quality of infinity sound too. i myself believed that wharfedale was very good, till i noticed it was not taking bass at good volumes. try with Shaggy.now i really know the difference, and also the fact that it is not for someone for whom music matters a lot.