These speakers are a good 10 years old, so are, literally, what they used to be!

£40 speakers with a £260 amp?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/9nm/LEPY-LP-2020A-Amplifier/B00C2P61FO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484929233&sr=8-1&keywords=LEPY+2020A

An appropriate pairing given the quality and price of both.

The speakers will sound massively better. Soundbars are useless. I recently got rid of a Lepai/Wharfedale setup for a Canton DM55 that cost £250. Doesn't even compare. Amazon collected the Canton from me yesterday because I couldn't handle the disappointment anymore.

Just reserved a pair in my local shop. Thanks OP

If you're looking for a PC amp try the Sound Blaster X7

Does anyone have a suggestion for a cheap amplifier to go with this?

I don't need a full blown one but i think a tiny one should be enough for this.

Try an S.M.S.L sa50 amp from Amazon. I've had one fir a good while now and it drives my Diamond 9's really well.

I've had one of these for nearly a year, it's rather good for the price (flubit ~£50):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TOPPING-VX2-Digital-Amplifier-Speaker/dp/B017LMP3E2

Heard Wharfedale aren't what they used to be in regards to sound quality but not sure if that's true.

These or the QAcoustic 2010i's for double the money? Are they actually better?

I would agree , with this! This is a good price for a great set of speakers!

What major advances have speakers made in the past 10 years?

Excuse my ignorance, but do these benefit from being paired with a separate sub?

lol .. None , I got some Mission speakers that are 20 years old , which will go on forever! Tbh , But not made in the UK anymore sad to say!

​haha I have some 1010i they're so good

​I'm still using my Mission speakers from many years ago too, with a Pioneer A400 amp. Still puts a shiver down my spine and makes my hair stand on end.

Ah .. I have the Pioneer A400 as well , great amp and still will be going strong in another 20 years!
With a Technics CD player and a Pioneer turntable.

Appreciate that input, thank you.

If only Richer Sounds has a competent delivery system, I'd have ordered stuff from them long ago. My local one is in a town center, parking is awful, not worth the risk.

I wasn't putting the speakers down with that comment, just pointing out that if Wharfedale have lost some credibility in recent times, these speakers probably predate that! These are probably just as good as any entry level speaker on the market atm, give or take, though imo they look a bit tired.

Fantastic speakers for this price, had a pair of diamond 9's for a few years now and are still great! BaRgAiN

The 2010is are likely to drop in price given that the 30x0 series has just released, plus there is always eBay. I picked up new 1010is for £49 a pair just after the 2010 released about 6 years ago and I think that's when the Wharfdale Diamond 10s released so it's surprising anywhere still stocks the 9 Diamonds :smile:

I bought a pair of these from RS about four years ago and I've seen them posted for the same prices more times that I can remember; are they ever more?

Pretty good speakers for their size, though. Mine now relegated to surround duty.

do you need a sub with this or is it good without.

I've had the 9.1's paired with a SW150 sub for around 7 years as my main lounge AV setup and for the price I paid, the sound is immense. Great speakers. Heat from me.

Bought these at Xmas for same price ,fantastic speakers and paired to my denon DM40 DAB, perfect for my needs ...may grab another pair!

snap, i have 1010is too :smiley: good speakers

Anyone know if I can use these as a PA system?

Looking to connect a microphone (somehow) so the audience can here me in a medium'ish room. Would this work and what connections would I require?

For my setup in my lounge I've got an old eltax 5 speaker set which I got from currys for about 100 quid 10 odd years ago (two floor standing, two small rears like these, and a centre front one). Is it worth me replacing the surrounds with two sets of these?

Recently lost my Sony APM's which lasted 27 years

The price of second hand APM's is insane (if you can find them)

Dabbled with some floor standing speakers which were rubbish so I sold them on and got some Pioneers from a charity shop for a tenner.

Happy days!

30 Year old Sony Amp still going strong (from the compact 58 set up I bought in 1987)

That's the thing... not too sure what good sounds like. Using them with an old Sherrod amp I got about the same time from rs... does the job, just don't know if it's worth investing in a new setup

Excuse my tech ignorance, can these be connected to a ps3 to play cd's through?

I would say find a local av shop which can set up a budget system for you to have a listen to and see if the effect is a lot better than you have. These should provide a similar experience to whatever they have in the sub £500 5.1 bracket. Tbh I'd be surprised if they weren't noticeably better than what you have at the rear, and for £40 it might be worth a gamble.

I'm sitting @ the desk now listening 4U 80's radio through a pair of 25 year old Diamonds.

iirc I paid c£100 for them in 1995 ish

an amp is an amp, they all pretty much sound the same, despite what some may say. Spend the month on the source and speakers

Given a decent power supply, this amp is leagues ahead of these speakers; literally no point in spending more for these speakers.

​You'll not need a subwoofer as well as these for 2 channel audio if you're listening to music primarily, they'll even handle reasonably low frequencies in films if they're in any way an improvement on the old 7 series :smiley:

>rule of thumb is if the main driver is smaller than 12" it'd probably benefit from a sub.

That's technically true (laws of physics and all), but irrelevant and misleading for this case. A sub that doesn't mess up the sound signature is going to set you back a minimum of £100, USED price. At which point, you wouldn't be buying these speakers. These alone should do better in the low-end than the vast majority of the 'subs' that come with satellite speaker systems (logitech and even worse). A bad sub is worse than no sub, particularly if music is your concern. So in practice, NO.


good without

Lepai lp-2020a+ does the trick nicely, I had the very same setup myself, with these speakers.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LEPY-LP-2020A-Amplifier/dp/B00C2P61FO/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

Alternatively, I've got my Lepai on eBay right now! :wink:

I would say "better" needs to be assessed using 1/ speakers comparison, 2/ your ears capability and their frequency response profile.

Weston does a good review of these bookshelves speakers for anyone interested. I bought a pair from richer sounds as well a while back at this price but ended returning them as they were smaller than i had anticipated and the amp (CA SR20) i have was an overkill for them. After narrowly missing out on a bid for Diamond 10.2's on ebay, i settled for a pair of 8.2 for £50 and they have served me well.

That man shouldn't be anybody's boss.

Yes, I was about to post this. I have this amp and these speakers with a chromecast audio in my conservatory. Great sound for £75

​ :confused::laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:

Riiiiight.

Err, Rubbish.

Although, to be fair, finding a really bad amp is an art form these days, as all the really cheap ones are based around all-in-one amp chips, so all sound pretty much the same.

However, go up in price bracket buy a little, and get a design with a proper power supply, and discrete power amps, and suddenly you WANT to listen all day.

BTW, all the people boasting of their 20 year old speakers??

Mine were made in 1973; at the time they cost £250, which in today's money would be ~£3-4,000, however another way of looking at it, in 1973, you could buy a new Mini for similar money.

I'm an old-time hi-fi person, bit of a hi-fi hoarder actually. I wonder though maybe things have changed with technology. Back in the day experts would spend hours discussing different amps in reviews but what if technology is such that amplifiers can simply amplify the sound that is there. Like it's not a difficult thing any more. That said I refuse to believe this £20 and is not garbage but who knows.

Excellent little set of speakers for £40! Heated.

Wharfedale speakers are still made by the original company in Yorkshire and have always maintained the quality and reputation afaik. They did allow Argos to sell cheap TV's and other stuff using the brand name about 10 years ago but they don't anymore, presumably because it affected their reputation.

Good speakers. Great price. Voted hot

TPA3116D2 2*50W Digital Stereo Amplifier Board about £6 of ebay then power with laptop psu
Works really well with these speakers
.Have one of these amps fitted inside some old Kef coda,s with psu and Chromecast Audio

Could my daughter play music from her iPhone through these please?

Got this deal a few weeks ago. Very good for the money. Look very well made as well.
Power these up with Chinese £45 amp and X2 xduoo audio player, and you will have hifi sound for £120. X2 player is size of matchbox, and is fantastic through headphones, FLAC APE, WAV or MP3. I do not use MP3 as quality is not brilliant. Only comment with playing to speakers via amp is feedback buzzing when player is not actually playing anything. Perfect with no noise when playing. Obviously nothing to do with these great speakers. For younger readers what I have mentioned for £120 would have been £500 plus 30 years ago (obviously CDs). Equivalent in todays money of £1233. Moneysorter website will confirm.

Really??? Did you actually just say that?

I still have my Pioneer SX-339 that needs some new speakers. Can I use these Diamond 9.0 6ohm speakers?

Pioneer SX-339 specs

A lot. Bass is a difficult thing to master correctly and the majority of speakers do not utilise bass to it's full extent depending on how low it can go (low frequency). When you just use speakers without a sub, you can lose a lot of the quality of the sound going to them and they can sound muddy and/or distorted. A dedicated sub handles that lovely bass and gives the speakers some breathing room. It's a must for home cinema. People tend to just whack the bass up full and think it sounds great, it doesn't. setting it up correctly can give you some epic booming bass without sounding like a chav in a soundoff driveby

Yes you can.

Not directly, no. You would need an amp

Ok thanks

Creek CAS4040 and Kef Coda II still going strong here although misses moans she wants some smaller and more modern looking speakers. Told her nothing can be had for less than £400 - usually shuts her up :smile:

This is a great solution for the Wharfedales in my opinion. Great bang for buck at ~£60.

Personally I would go for this one though, which is a little bit better: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Golden-Muse-M20-EX2-TA2020-20Wx2-Digital-Audio-Mini-T-Amp-Stereo-Hi-Fi-Amplifier-/311693323794?hash=item48925eae12:g:

I'm still using a pair of diamond 4s which are still going strong!

Gay speakers strictly for poofy setups>;O)
You want a real mans pair.......of Cerwin Vega floor blasters.
Now they show a poor amp up for what it is and what surround sound really is.

Most people have never really heard a proper 5.1 surround setup - once you do you will never want to watch tv without proper surround sound- its truly like being at the cinema and you dont need THX or full DTS either - I used to think all speakers were just the same till i went to the music room in Glasgow and sat in their test room and it blew my socks off!

What are people's thoughts on a pair of these with one of the cheap amps people have listed vs a £120 soundbar for TV and movies?

​I bought a cheap wharfdale branded car CD head unit in Dixon's in the mid/late nineties so wharfdale haven't been what they used to be for about 20 years at least. It failed in under a year.

If you want a true movie experience you have to pay for it - if you just want a bog standard audio cinema setup then these will do forget soundbars they are useless - you have to be able to move the speakers to get the right soundfield as everyone sits in different positions and rooms sizes.

It all depends what you want - do you want to feel like you are in the cinema with sounds crackling from all around soundfield or do you just want to hear whats on tv without surround - you have to ask yourself these questions before you go for a setup - If you really want cinema surround then you should go to Richer sounds or music room and experience it in their listening rooms - it will really blow your mind what can be achieved with the right sound gear and you dont really need audiophile quality thats for the audiosnobs who want to hear a mosquito fart on movies like the Predator! lol

£120 SOUNDBAR OR A £30 one from B&M wont make any difference to your ears believe me.

The speakers will sound massively better. Soundbars are useless. I recently got rid of a Lepai/Wharfedale setup for a Canton DM55 that cost £250. Doesn't even compare. Amazon collected the Canton from me yesterday because I couldn't handle the disappointment anymore.

Never believe what you read especially in WHAT-HIFI i gave up reading that rag years ago!

The soundbar sound itself was fine. Biggest problem was the lack of stereo separation. Just sounded like a good Bluetooth speaker.

Soundbars are meant for monitors with no speakers in the beginning even though Altec Lansing would disagree, not tv viewing really - they took the concept with Dell AS500 soundbar and then thought it would look good on a 50 inch plasma and all the trendies went out and bought them lol Never heard true stereo separation on a soundbar but im told some have cracked it.

I wouldnt waste money on a soundbar a good separates systems is always the best buy but then again some people dont have a large room to facilitate a proper setup - each to his own i guess!

Yes agree with you proper cinema surround system can be very immersive for movies
But will never be hi fi system it will never create sound stage like high end hi fi with 2 speakers

It was room size that made me switch. Sound sacrifice is too much though, getting Mission M3 5.1 setup instead as they're only 9cm cubes. Won't be as good as stereo, but better than the Canton!

Is there a particular type of power supply for the small amps, that is better than any other. I notice most of them come without a power supply.

Yes a good power supply dictates a good current with minimal ripple , spikes transients etc thats why the best ones come with external power units.

Will these work with ps3?

No, the speakers need an amp.

You could even need a DAC depending on the amp and how you wish to connect it to your TV/PS4.

Just try and avoid cheap chinese power supplies as they are usually rubbish and potentially dangerous.

Below is an example of a reasonably priced, reputable power supply. I used this power supply for my T-amp (Muse M20 EX2):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Genuine-CWT-Technology-Monitors-equipment/dp/B004HCCVLI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1485085435&sr=8-2&keywords=cwt+power+supply

I have seen reviews which claim that using a more substantial power supply (e.g. A 5A instead of 2A) improved their bass response.

No, these are passive speakers so they require an amp to operate (and possibly a DAC depending on the amp used).

An all-in-one solution for your daughter, which would work out of the box would be something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Z333-Multimedia-Speakers-Black/dp/B00YR92VMA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1485085826&sr=8-2&keywords=logitech+speakers

Thank you for letting me know.

Thank you, that was exactly what I wanted to know. I'm really intrigued by these mini amps and was unsure what power supply I needed. These look great. Thanks again

Wouldn't one with separate bass & treble controls be better though?

Thanks for the power supply recommendation - I always wondered about those very cheap ones & what would be a better alternative for a reasonable price.

Cambridge Audio TOPAZ AM1

Cambridge Audio TOPAZ AM1

Thanks but this is more expensive than the speakers and it has an output of only 1 speaker :smiley:

do you have any tips on choosing one of the small amplifiers. I've done quite a lot of reading but the problem is, how do you know one is getting good components. What I want is the most basic amplifier with all the budget put in to the component and a reasonable looking case. I know the price goes up and obviously the quality but how does one know that one is getting quality. Any tip or thoughts from yourself or anyone else would be much appreciated

The Amp being more than the speakers isn't uncommon at all, output is 1 pair of speakers

These speakers are rated at 75W RMS - RMS can't really be converted to 700W PMPO (inaccurate/false power rating), but I'd say your £10 amp is no more than 20 RMS (actual power rating) , so not even close to push these speakers.

Can do if you want, but it would be illogical & a waste of money getting 2x 200W RMS speakers if the amp can only output a max of 20W RMS :wink:

Shouldn't need to alter bass and treble controls on a well matched setup.

FWIW These are great little speakers. Nothing wrong with putting a £200 amp on them as well. They're perfectly capable in small bedrooms/studies and the tweeters and the carbon fibre mid/woofers would be detailed enough to show the comparative lack of distortion of a better amp to a far cheaper, lower powered one. Having said that, I'd buy audio equipment from eBay/Gumtree unless it has to be the latest tech (AV amps etc).

So you wouldn't recommended these as clearly inferior to the wharfdale speakers here
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/PAIR-6-BEDROOM-DJ-PARTY-MOBILE-DISCO-PASSIVE-SPEAKERS-300W-2-WAY-PA-NEW-/311782324771?hash=item4897acba23%3Ag%3AFYoAAOSwA3dYfmbU

No, but I would definitely recommend one of these to go with your £10 tinpot amp.

But, how many of those cheaper amps without bass & treble would one need to try before settling on a well-matched setup? Wouldn't it be easier, quicker & less expensive to get one that had these extra controls already?

I thinks it's more the fact that even if amps have this option (even more expensive ones than what's been suggested in this thread), it usually is at the expense of sound quality of the original source.

I wouldn't know about top end stuff as I've never had the pleasure of owning that but even on ones I have owned in the 100-200 price range, this has been the case.

Everyones ears are different however, so someone may not be able to perceive any difference in quality, while others will find it extremely noticeable.

To add to the above, I purchased these speakers and they sound very good (price taken into account obviously). They are smaller than they look in pictures and if anyone's looking to shake the house down with these speakers, they need to look elsewhere (and probably spend more if they want decent quality).

These produce accurate punchy base and we'll rounded music overall. I have them connected to a Cambridge audio a5 amp for reference. Coupled with the amp, they go louder than I'd need and easily fill a medium sized room.

Just collected some from the cardiff branch. Tried them out using Pioneer amp, they're not bad sounding but lack any major punch. Great rears or kitchen speakers but no good for main fronts or main system speakers. Can't complain at all for £40

I was in the same boat as you a couple of years back and after reading a lot of people's thoughts I chose the one in the link below but of course things may have changed by now. I went for one of the slightly more expensive amps with more power to avoid overdriving the amp, potentially leading to damage to amp, speakers or both but I believe they do a similar lower power model too. Only bought it to use in the kitchen but it's got to be one of the best hifi bargains I've come across since buying my first set up in the early 80's!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SA-98E-TDA7498E-Stereo-Digital-Amplifier/dp/B015J0P7VM/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1485834478&sr=8-10&keywords=smsl+amp

Thanks, that looks really great, looks like they spend the money on where you want it , no fancy stuff. I have always heard about clipping but I never realise how dangerous it is for ones speakers and I watched a few YouTube videos. That said I might give the next power level down , the ones that runs off 24 V. By the way how much background hiss is there with these amps? Thanks

As it was only for a kitchen set up I never really paid much attention but just playing around now and there seems to be no background hiss at all. I just paused the music and turned the volume control up to around the 2 oclock mark and it's silent from where I was standing.which was probably about 4 foot or less from ear to nearest ceiling speaker. If you put the model number into Amazon you will find an older listing for the same amp at a higher price. Worth looking at some of the reviews there as you'll see others that agree it's a very capable amp for the money. Take note of the bad review relating to the power lead though as he has a good point. It's a detachable kettle lead though so I just used an spare one from an old bit of hifi gear.