Hi. I live in the UK. There is no one over here like you. I have learnt so much from your channel. When promoting new products, the companies focus on telling people about the cabinet, the drivers and the tweeters. No one mentions the guts. Even the big review companies like what hi fi, rarely mention the quality of the crossover, so thank you for saying how it really is. You are offering a great service. 😊
Danny is great, and does a great service for his customers and viewers. On your side of the pond there's Tarun, the "British Audiophile"...he has a similar no-nonsense approach to general audiophile equipment, music, and cables. He at least tells it like it he sees it, and doesn't seem to be swayed by big name brands or cost.
We need someone to do it for amplifiers and dac.alot of marketing on high end hifi.you only have to look at pro audio amplifiers better value for your money.because less margins in pro market and the people buying them want better value for money.
I got a pair of the Pedest'ale Tower speakers, I was a little blown away by the fact that I bought them from Danny, personally, over the phone. I live in a 2x2 apartment with my teenage son. These are very articulate and athletic speakers. I'll be tweaking for a long time with these speakers. Happy Happy Happy
Wow! I have a pair of 1980's Paradigm 9SE and paid at the that time $850 for the pair and still like them alot. It was shocking and very eye opening to see anyone put such poor workmanship into a $6400 a pair speaker. I would love to have my speakers updated if it is worth the time and effort. Really appreciate your expertise and honesty in your videos!
I never knew Paradigm to be a troll manufacturer, as they are normally known to give a good value speaker for the price. But, I also didn't know they had a $6k+ speaker. But looking at it and the results brought forth here just exemplifies that greed even extends to Paradigm. It is a sad shame. But, then again, if you feel the need to spend $7k just for a pair if speakers, then you have to have your head examined. For a set of tower speakers, you shouldn't have to pay more than $1.5k for a decent set. Most his end manufacturers troll you and will rake you across the coals. DO NOT give in to them. If you do your rrsearch, you can get more for far less. ...Over 6k for a speaker... Ridiculous! I don't even spend that on a whole system!
@@marcfavell Well, you have to look at what you are buying a speaker for and first and foremost, it is the sound quality. I almost NEVER buy a fancy looking speaker. In fact the fanciest speaker I ever bought was a pair of Klipsch RP-600m's. Those speakers ARE nice to look at, but the cost of the looks isn't really reflected in the price. Using another example. Sonus Faber. Here they put more into the aesthetics of the cabinet, and you pay for it too. Yet, that leather looking covering? Yeah, its fake. Sonus Faber does have a nice tweeter if you like speakers on the bright end, but their woofers are no better than what you find in a typical (approx) $400 pair of speakers. So, I am thinking they are doing a bit of trolling here simply because they have a nice looking cabinet. Then there is a company that makes a speaker that looks like it is a airport bathroom trash container, with the rounded top. Now, I don't care how good it sounds, or even how much it is, but there is NO WAY, I would be putting those obtuse looking things in my listening room.
It would be great if you had a list of speakers made with good parts and that measure well. It could help us navigate our buying options in different price categories. Or am I dreaming in color? 😋 Thanks for the video!
The real trouble is finding pictures of the internals for most speakers. Many smaller boutique brands will likely have better parts than typical manufacturers, but generally speaking, most speakers available on the market are going to be about form over function. A beautiful facade with nothing on the inside but the bare minimum.
let's agree to disagree. Danny said the X- over upgrade wouldn't fit and a real pain to try to put back in. I like my X over near to the amp as possible in its own box
@@BootJamesOut Disagree all you want. You do have a valid point, but it doesn't change what Danny said - which was also valid. In this case, he made no mention of doing an external crossover - which in many ways I would prefer to an internal one. However... on a floorstanding speaker an external crossover is no issue for some of us. On a "bookshelf" or stand mount speaker having a separate crossover would likely be a real pain to deal with and a crossover mounted externally on the speaker would likely not be aesthetically acceptable.
@@wingsounds13 I still plan to upgrade the 225 with an external XO mounted on back of the speaker, or in a separate base that will match the speakers finish.
@@ericharrelson32 hello folks. What's that saying ' there's so many ways to cook an egg' have you all seen The Loudspeaker Cookbook. It's a must read for any speaker builder. Its a hobby for me it turned into a business just like Danny's almost. They bring over their speaker for a inside wire upgrade to the same from amp to SB. Next week new x over parts. Next month its designing a speaker form the drivers of their choice or go for what we're doing. Use same woofer and a pick of this or that tweeter in own box. they took both because the x over outside in its own box too, plug and play. Same as tone controls BTW multi strand and solid core wiring they both offer a different tonal balance signature. My son like a .2 mh and I like a .4 mh across the tweeter 2 or 3 order x over. so many way to cook an egg. I call this adjustments that caters to the moods and feelings one is at in that moment. Why dress the same for years. ride easy
JP I'm going to say my top line the right way. I been in forums were some members. ( Can't even agree to even disagree) on anything. As the site rules was. if the topic's goes to hell so does the site. I believe Danny has the paid site at different price points per month. I still learning something new each day on my life. I don't run a site or build anymore. I was 16- now 61+ Ride Easy some day I'll be in a different speaker box. I love life so much I'll die for it. 6hz down
I run old Paradigm Monitor 7s, CC350, and mini monitors in my home theater, and they have served well. I think they were made a little better back in the day. Having said that, I blew the tweeter in my center channel last year which gave me an excuse to explore the construction. The drivers and cabinet seem quality, but the crossover was mostly garbage. The leads were decent gauge and soldered through the board, and the tweeter crossover had an air core. Everything after that was down hill. Iron core, sand cast, electrolytic, etc. As an aside, Paradigm does not stock their old metal dome tweeters, so they tried to upsell me to new speakers. Claimed there was "no suitable replacement" for the tweeter. Turned out there was a nice textile dome out there that lined up perfectly with the paradigm mount. Sounds a lot smoother and warmer. Have you done an episode on the old Paradigm Monitor series? I might be interested in upgrading the crossovers in my front three speakers. Thanks for all you do!
Canadian here I love paradigm speakers especially the new Founder 120H are amazing for the cost honestly I was listening to them at froends house 30k or more
Paradigm Signature S6 is neither their top model, nor currently available. Its an older speaker from Paradigm and its been discontinued for several years now. Quality research from GR Research!
@@dannyrichie9743 I get that Danny, but you could mention that your talking about a 30 year old discontinued speaker. Its important context for your comparison.
I'd have to disagree with your take on the diamond 225...it won budget component of the year from both Stereophile and the Absolute sound in 2017! I own them (in fact two pairs) and find them to sound terrific just the way they are, even with the grills on they still sound good. Maybe I'm deaf...maybe Stereophile and TAS are deaf. Read the stereophile review of the 225's...all three reviewers, including Herb Rechert and Art Dudley, both of whom I respect a great deal, thought very highly of this speaker. The point being, they liked them "as is". I think I'll trust their opinion, in fact it is verified by my own ears. The fact that you seem to have to toy with each and every speaker you get your hands on in order to satisfy "your" ears, does not make the end result better to someone else's ears. Variety is the spice of life...if you don't like a particular speaker then move on to another, stop butchering everything. Wharfedale's Peter Comeau did a terrific job with these speakers. The port on bottom that you claim does little to nothing Is false. It is what contributes to this speakers unbelievable bass response. I'll quote stereophiles Art Dudley in his foot notes....Footnote 2: "I later checked the Wharfedales' bass extension using Stereophile's first Test CD (Stereophile STPH002-2), and was astounded by the amount of useful response at 31.5Hz-though I heard nothing a third of an octave lower (25Hz)." Lastly, the woofer material is Kevlar, not paper or pulp....pretty easy to find that info. The soft Dome tweeter is also unique to this model as it is within a wave guide. It Is a unique speaker and was later copied by Elac.... You buy a certain speaker for its unique sound attributes, not to screw around with the inherent design of the speaker, and alter or ruin it. it was designed by a person with far more knowledge of sound reproduction. You are getting a damn good speaker at the current sale price of $299....originally $449.
Do you even believe this guy? He isn't even able to tell a kevlar woofer from a paper woofer. The 225 are great, but the 230 are even better, they have deep enough bass to not need a sub. The 240 doesn't make that much sense because they reach down to 3 Ohm impedance and offer almost the same bass as the 230, which only go to 3.7 Ohm. The 230 have the best parts of 225 and 240 (high enough impedance and low enough bass)
What are you so twisted about? He said they measure well and are a decent speaker for the money. And he didn't "toy" with them, he specifically said there was nothing he would recommend changing. I think that's pretty good praise for such a cheap speaker.
I'm hoping that these videos become popular enough that it forces manufacturers to at least spend $25 more on crossover parts for speakers over $1k per pair. I get it with the cheaper speakers but there is no excuse for having to be paranoid about what is lurking in the cabinet of expensive mainstream speakers.
As a Canadian I'm ashamed of the parts in that Paradigm. I almost bought the Persona 3f, glad I didn't. They are straight up ripping people off. My god 15 dollars of parts on the drivers. Super mad.
I own (recently bought) the almost identical I believe of the Wharfedale speaker you have there. I might have a smaller version, but on the video their scale seems the same. I think I paid $250 new for the pair. I matched them with a Cambridge Integrated amp I picked up refurbished rated at 35 WPC. The amp I was a little concerned with on various fronts. Low power, and any lasting defects. I got pretty lucky with it, and it works pretty well for my use. I first wired it up using nothing special, zip cord short length to the bottom posts with the supplied jumpers. I decided to take advantage of the extra posts and wired them appropriately, and I am convinced it made a discernible difference. Left that in place. I wasn't worried about speaker wire as antenna because it's dead silent. The amp is having virtually no problem driving these slightly inefficient speakers. Even sustained high listening levels don't get the amp anywhere near hot. I'll tell you what I did do. I broke a conventional rule of using identical wire for HF and LF. I went with 14 AWG garden copper zip for LF, and a 16 AWG prepared cable with banana plug terminals. I was a little concerned, and am concerned with phasing/tone/coherence etc., but up to this point with several listening hours in I'm pretty satisfied. I'm getting a little high fidelity out of this office system for low investment. I don't use half the volume generally, and my source is typically a modern phone with blue tooth through a little decent quality streaming device. It's an A/B analog very basic unit that is pretty musical for what it is. What it can't do, and these speakers aren't suited for is rock-n-roll, and/or poorly/old engineered music. The system was never meant for that, so I'm good.
Wharfdale Diamond 225. Exact speaker I own. I've found it to be very well-rounded and enjoyable to listen to. And I paid a little over $300 for it, not $599.
I also have D220 and D225 and love them. I have not agreed with this guy on any of his reviews for these or other speakers. The fact that he has to interject his opinions on other non related matters I also find irritating. Wish I could block him from my feed.
@@weaselpopperhe offers subjective review. He is right response is good with grilles off. Cheap parts. Owners don't like hearing criticism of what they own.
Yep that's something I would do, too. I was like 14 doing my very first upgrade on the replacement stereo speakers because the new Telefunken system back in the 1970s I was having so much fun listening to it they returned it. So on the cheesy 5" full range driver I replace those with ones that had a wizard cone. There's a fun video on RUclips my mama said I could
LOL no Audio store will allow you to do that! they’ll probably end up calling the police on you! The only way for you to know what parts are in a loudspeaker is if you have a friend or acquaintance who has a pair and you ask that friend if you can come over and her and remove the drivers and check out the quality of the parts on the crossover board. Or do a deep dive typing in GR Research and RUclips and the search window to watch all of his videos he’s reviewed close to 100 loudspeakers!
First time catching you online and like your work. Just regarding improving parts quality: Im betting that if a company spends $15.00 more on parts that's a $100.00 price jump.
I almost bought the Paradigm model 10 years ago. Boy, am I glad I didn't! Thanks for the indepth review. I always wonder why other reviewer on the web do not do the kind of measurement/analysis you do?
i really likes the wharfedale when i first got them a few years back, i got them for 230 dollar new. they inspired me to get back into hifi :) with a little NAD d 3020 integrated amp. not been used in this room for years. now this video got me to hook them back up, and now i have a much better electronics, proper separates with nad c 298 poweramp. even with all this bottlenecks removed, it sounded like travel radio in comparison to what i had in my room after the 225's i even sorted the port issue with it being to small of an opening and grilles removed. sometimes you dont notice much improvement as you got up in price in hifi, if you do it gradually. but when going back to my once great beginner speakers its not what i remember. I still have to recommend them to anyone finding them for 250 dollar or less. as its an discontinued model now. it was amazing starter speaker for me for sure.
I would love to hear what you think about FOCAL speakers in reference to quality and performance. Thanks for sharing, you really make it easy to hang in there to the end.
I have one pair of Diamond 220 . They sound good and are not a problem for a Marantz amplifier. I have one pair of Diamond 230 . They sound good , are sensitive to the room placement and not a problem for my amplifier ( valve push pull el 34). Those speakers have a very natural sounding midrange. It is a pity that you cannot tweak them .
use the double binding post to see the full potential of these speakers. I have the upper 225 and 230 plus a 230Center...one amp running 5 tweeters and the other one running the woofers. it's insane how loud and clear they can get that way
@@matasaina2011 i have 5 speakers with double binding posts, so 10 binding posts total and I run each tweeter from the 5 speakers through one amp and the other posts from the woofers through another identical amplifier
Saw on another channel where someone changed the spacers on the bottom to be a little longer, maybe 10mm long (on the Wharfedale 225). Said it tightened up the bass.
What got me thinking is that, if all it takes is a few bucks worth of extra components to make the best speaker that wipes the floor with its competitors, why don't they do it? They will most definitely sell more units and build a better reputation. There must be some other reasons here other than cost cutting.
Most people are content with average sounding audio. Think of all the under cabinet radios, mini bluetooth speakers and bose products sold. These type of upgrades are aimed at folks who want to improve even good or great sounding speakers. Just my take.
Probably because there are very few people that are both rich and stupid enough to buy them. The more people that rally against hi-end audio trolling, the better. Manufacturers have to know they can't charge as they please for something that clearly isn't worth their asking price.
The paradigm Signature C6 has been discontinued a while now and cannot be bought new. The equivalent for this price range would be the Founder 100F at $3250ea I'm curious as to what cheese is in the newer models and if they have improved upon these much older models. Much has changed since these older speakers where developed when it comes to their testing facilities to improve upon the next models. Just an FYI.
The shop has been full the last couple weeks. Even on the weekends so he's been having to move into the listing room for some quiet space. Thankfully, we're finally caught up on most back orders now, so it's a lot less crowded. But I agree, I'm digging the look of the darker mood of the listening room too.
Ripped off by a Canadian company that can simply ship them over the border and claim the Paradigms are made in Canada. The wharfdales are made in China
And I have too! I’ve demoed loudspeakers that performed well, with that said no one wanted to buy them! I also had Loudspeakers that sold for $7500 made in Denmark with good performance, now looking back on all these loudspeakers designs I have no idea what the quality of the internal wiring. crossover network! I’m going to make the assumption that they all pretty much had cheap crappy parts and cheap crappy low conductive internal wiring regardless of price! Also the biggest problem with buying a Loudspeaker today is the honesty of the manufactures SPL rating, it may state 90Db at 1 SPL into 6 Ohm Load. but would you really don’t know if there’s one driver in the Loudspeaker cabinet that drops to 2.8Ohms making it extremely difficult for most amplifiers to drive anything less than 4Ohms! your amplifier may overheat and shut off. you’re going to scratch your head wondering did it shut off? what’s the issue? Then box it up and send it to the manufacture located in the US for up to $100 shipping cost or Canada double the price because you have to pay duty going in and out of Canada!
Used to sell Paradigm and they sounded nice. So disappointed at what was inside the several years and model cycles old top model offering. With the company founders' back in control I wonder what is inside the current range middle and top models?
I had a chance to hear some this past summer and they sounded better than the ones that I purchased from them 10 years ago. I would be surprised if the parts quality was any better though. But who knows, we'll have to wait until Randy pulls one of the new ones apart.
Hi Danny.. I hope you could do a video on Inductors.. I mean Low DCR Iron Core (for Midwoofers) vs. Higher Quality Air Core But Higher DCR (also for Midwoofers).. Pros and Cons..
So looks like the Wharfedale 225 is actually a much better deal than the Paradigms: Price per performance ratio so to say. I saw elsewhere there is a few tweak for the 225, bump up the spacer at the bottom so it “breath” better through the port…. Take off the grill as you have already measured it and also replace the bu wiring clips with better wires. Looks like that would take it up a notch or two and pretty easy modifications. So I just order a pair knowing it is just as good as a pair of speaker 10 times more expensive. Thank you for your expert observations.
Wow the spectral decay was fantastic on all 3. Super good frequency response the way you do it with less than 5 db variables. What are those engineer thinking about putting those cover plates in front of the drivers? Do they always have to at least screw up one or 2 things in their designs? Seriously and then charge a lot more for them? Danny this video broke my heart! I love Canadian speakers and looked at that paradigm it looked amazing, what a disappointment with the cross over , whith that kind of money spent on the speakers who can afford to upgrade them, there is no more money left lol. It's really hit and miss with speakers some speakers are very good at a budget price while other very expansive speakers have a hard time to blow away a good set? Your video helps a lot with choosing speakers, making them better at what ever price they are, concepts company uses, simple mod , big upgrades etc. Who ever though a piece of felt could improve a 6400 dollars paradigm? I am a hour drive away from where they make paradigms, I dont think ill be able to sleep well tonight? Paradigm I hope you are looking at this video and be the company you were once!
From South Africa here. I wish I could send you my speakers to look at, but at the price for courier fees alone, it would never be worth it. Buying there and sending here might be cheaper lol. I would love to send you pictures of the crossovers of my speakers, but I'm scared I might damage the speakers or boxes trying to remove it. Thanks for your honest reviews! It's quite an eye-opener to see how even at expensive prices for speakers, we still get taken for a ride.
It does have me wondering though. Should I buy the Klipsch RP-600M for $400/pair on sale knowing I can spend another $230 and get them sounding great using Danny's kit or take a chance and buy the Polk Reserve R-200 at $750?
@@iggypopisgod9 maybe, but I don't have much free time anymore, so I'm not sure if or when I'd ever get around to building and putting in new crossovers... Just wish there was a sub-$1000 set of bookshelf speakers that sounded reasonably neutral with a bit of detail and micro dynamics and used decent crossover and driver components in a well braced, non-resonant cabinet, and sounded good and full at both low and loud volumes. Arrgh...I don't think any exist.
Hey Danny, could you let us know your thoughts on how the various speakers actually sound as well as the tech aspects. Really appreciate your detailed critique.
Looks like everyone can make 6k cabinet trying it 100 times. This is mind blowing review. It can't be understood. I can imagine somebody really hate You, but don't worry we love ...
I've always built my own speakers. Having worked in the HiFi audio/electronics industry for 25yrs I learned an awful lot about speaker manufacturers. There's a simple rule for run of the mill speakers sold by popular audio retailers and that is look at the advertised price and then work out what 15% is.......that's pretty much the factory manufacturing cost (before FOB and taxes, profit etc) This would put the Paradigm at about $960 build cost...but there are exceptions of course. This is why building your own is far better value on so many levels.
I have a 8 foot center channel I made myself. It is at 1.33ohms ran from an old Yamaha receiver. I've never had a problem. The internal fan has only turned on after watching movies back to back
I buy speakers, including wharfedale, that I enjoy listening to. I have never bought a speaker so I could look at the measurements. Those wharfedales and paradigms are amazing speakers to hear music .
Danny is awesome! He’s the only person that I’ve heard or seen on RUclips or read about that does what he does! I’m at a high-end audio dealer I’ve been in business since 2010 that’s 11 years and now I’m Gun shy of bringing on any new manufactures loudspeakers, for fear that I’ll be selling a customer an expensive loudspeaker with crappy parts and crappy performance! I have an order in for the NX-Extreme DIY loudspeakers because all the reviews that I’ve watched on RUclips tell me that the speakers have amazing performance speakers and they don’t drop below 8Ohms! So it’s easy for pretty much any amplifier out there to drive them even if they’re tube amps with only 10 W per channel!
Wharfedale diamond 10.1 was my altime favourite speaker i bought new for a mere 90 bucks or so. It was hooked up to a 45 watt Nad amp. Then one day i hooked it up to a 90 watt Yamaha- wow the sound quality improved significantly. Just goes to show sometimes more power matters.
This definitely was an interesting review and comparison of speaker components across a range of price points. Really got me thinking about speaker quality and resulting performance in a way I have not in the past. I am in the market for the next set of speakers, something better than what I have now, but not sure how to go forward as what manufacturer really is putting quality components on the inside?
I have a 25 year old pair of Warfdale diamond 7 speakers I use on my desktop and I love them. Danny can you explain how impedance works in a speaker and what makes for a low impedance? Also can you explain WHY you can’t do anything to change the impedance? Does it have something to do with the magnetic coils on the speaker drivers? Thanks.
@@dannyrichie9743 and please explain why it varies with the frequency the drivers are playing. Most non-electrical engineers would think it would be a static "across the board" value like measuring the resistance of a resistor....
@@rosswarren436 In an electromagnetic speaker, all work done (moving the drivers) is powered by the current flowing through the driver voice coils. The power (P) is P=Re(Z)*I*I where Z repressent impedance and I is current. Acoustic, and electrical resonances (cross-over and voice coil interactions) do show up in the impedance spectra as "peaks". The ohmic resistance component from the copper wire and resistors is flat with frequency but takes part in the interaction of voice-coils, inductors, and capacitors.
@@kklarqvist883 yes, an old college professor of mine said that speakers were more or less simply electrical motors. But I always wondered why the impedance varied with frequency, and why say a speaker rated at 8 ohms dips to 4 ohms or sometimes even less. Music is complex, usually consisting of many tones, not just a pure one at a certain frequency, but it still gives you pause about pairing amps with them if you listen to EDM or progressive rock where they are sometimes single, loud frequencies in the music. It astounds me watching Danny tear these speakers apart and finding the manufacturer spent about 85% of the money on making them look good and only about 15% on trying to make them sound good. Crazy.
I'd like to put new parts in my speakers, but they work perfectly fine. The thought of having to pull them apart without screwing it up, and de-soldering a bunch of stuff, then re-solder new parts in seems daunting. I might end up with a mess. I'd like to send him my speakers, make the changes, and charge me for his time and markup.
Thanks for steering me away from the Diamond 225. Would the Diamond 12.2 be any better i wonder? Conventional rear port, so easier to modify the crossover I guess.
There's nothing wrong with the 225 as is. It's a wonderful sounding speaker for short money. The 12.2 is almost twice as much and only in the same performance arena.
I wish I stayed in the USA however my residence is in Bali /Indonesia and sending speakers to you would be rather expensive. Would appreciate a List of speakers in any price range that doesn't need an overhaul. I appreciate your Videos keep going..
Great videos and really appreciate the straight talk with no sales BS. Have you ever measured the Matin Logan motion 60xt? I have a pair and love them but wonder what upgades they could use.
hey, just wondering. Isn't changing the crossover parts or like basically the parts inside the speaker changing the sound of the speaker and how the manufacturer people to listen to it?
That is their comeback line they use hoping it will stop people to even think about. As we have to remember that their an business as with any business the main goal is to make money. Now if your true friends acted like this, now would you really want to hang around them. its like buying bottle water that is from the same lake as you get at home.
They call it messing around with their Artwork. At lease please put some cheeze on the pizza to call it a chezzze pizza. Some ice cream company couldn't call their ice cream because there was no cream in it.
The Paradigm top models are Performa series with berillium mids and tweets. Mid, tw section have passive crossover, but the best one has classD amp for the rather not regular woofers. I heared the cheapest tower and liked the lack of distortions and colorations. The Paradigm people don't believe in magic crossover parts, but instead have one of the largest anechoic chambers in North America, even bigger than NRC one.
Can you guess what the crossover was in the late 90s value paradigm atom and Titan v2 speakers? That’s right, it was a tiny electrolytic cap zip-tied to an iron core inductor, then held to the front baffle with a single screw and some crappy glue. (And a tiny sand-cast resistor on the tweeter on the atom, probably because the smaller midwoofer was naturally quieter.) Any guess what the wood was? Particle board on the sides, MDF front, plastic back panel. How much bracing? None. How did they sound? Great for the price: not truly a flat response by any means, but a very fun sounding speaker that soundstaged fairly good and sounded great turned up. They sounded slightly better than the current monitor XT line from Polk, and certainly better than the infamous T15, especially in the high mid/treble range: (my Polk XT15s are a bit more hissy and narrow in the treble than the identical-sized Atoms.) That’s amazing considering the crossovers in the Polks are far more complex, and the entire thing is braced MDF!
Sorry, did I get this right, the video was released yesterday and it a review of a Paradigm speaker that is minimum 10 years old and not in production anymore? And the Wharfdale‘s are also out of production and obsolete? Does that make sense?
I don't understand the condemnation of the Wharfedale, so it does look like it uses basic quality crossover parts, and the measurements look good all around, spectral, linearity, dispersion. So you are getting a good sounding speaker for the price. Getting an amp that drives a 4 ohm load isn't that hard. I have an SMSL Infineon based desktop amp which can deliver into 2 ohm loads and doesn't cost a fortune, and would make a good pairing with this speaker for a smaller room.
I honestly thought the wharfdales had concentric drivers from looking at them. So, am I right in saying the waveguide merely looks like a mid driver, loads like a mid driver, as in meant to look like a mid driver? It reminds me of the fake tweeter days circa 1980s.
in a two way with the woofer crossed over at 1700-1900hz would you let a laminated core inductor with low DSR or is it too high and best to use an air-core one?
Hi. I live in the UK. There is no one over here like you. I have learnt so much from your channel. When promoting new products, the companies focus on telling people about the cabinet, the drivers and the tweeters. No one mentions the guts. Even the big review companies like what hi fi, rarely mention the quality of the crossover, so thank you for saying how it really is. You are offering a great service. 😊
Danny is great, and does a great service for his customers and viewers. On your side of the pond there's Tarun, the "British Audiophile"...he has a similar no-nonsense approach to general audiophile equipment, music, and cables. He at least tells it like it he sees it, and doesn't seem to be swayed by big name brands or cost.
What HiFi is owned by the big manufacturers. I would not trust them to play a role in my purchase decision making.
We need someone to do it for amplifiers and dac.alot of marketing on high end hifi.you only have to look at pro audio amplifiers better value for your money.because less margins in pro market and the people buying them want better value for money.
Because the crossover is harder to understand. Though it is possibly the single most important thing in the build.
@@hugobloemers4425 big advertisers gets better reviews
I got a pair of the Pedest'ale Tower speakers, I was a little blown away by the fact that I bought them from Danny, personally, over the phone. I live in a 2x2 apartment with my teenage son. These are very articulate and athletic speakers. I'll be tweaking for a long time with these speakers. Happy Happy Happy
“Tweaking” with your teenage son may not be the best phrase. :/
What are Pedest'ale Tower speakers?
@@holdencaulfied7492 Google them.
Wow seeing the response difference from just taking off the grills on the Wharfdale speakers is kinda crazy
Wow! I have a pair of 1980's Paradigm 9SE and paid at the that time $850 for the pair and still like them alot. It was shocking and very eye opening to see anyone put such poor workmanship into a $6400 a pair speaker. I would love to have my speakers updated if it is worth the time and effort. Really appreciate your expertise and honesty in your videos!
I never knew Paradigm to be a troll manufacturer, as they are normally known to give a good value speaker for the price. But, I also didn't know they had a $6k+ speaker. But looking at it and the results brought forth here just exemplifies that greed even extends to Paradigm. It is a sad shame. But, then again, if you feel the need to spend $7k just for a pair if speakers, then you have to have your head examined. For a set of tower speakers, you shouldn't have to pay more than $1.5k for a decent set. Most his end manufacturers troll you and will rake you across the coals. DO NOT give in to them. If you do your rrsearch, you can get more for far less. ...Over 6k for a speaker... Ridiculous! I don't even spend that on a whole system!
@@jukingeoright I'm thinking about getting the founder 120H but after seeing this it's like wow I'm just paying for their cabinets and drivers 😂
@@marcfavell Well, you have to look at what you are buying a speaker for and first and foremost, it is the sound quality. I almost NEVER buy a fancy looking speaker. In fact the fanciest speaker I ever bought was a pair of Klipsch RP-600m's. Those speakers ARE nice to look at, but the cost of the looks isn't really reflected in the price. Using another example. Sonus Faber. Here they put more into the aesthetics of the cabinet, and you pay for it too. Yet, that leather looking covering? Yeah, its fake. Sonus Faber does have a nice tweeter if you like speakers on the bright end, but their woofers are no better than what you find in a typical (approx) $400 pair of speakers. So, I am thinking they are doing a bit of trolling here simply because they have a nice looking cabinet. Then there is a company that makes a speaker that looks like it is a airport bathroom trash container, with the rounded top. Now, I don't care how good it sounds, or even how much it is, but there is NO WAY, I would be putting those obtuse looking things in my listening room.
Love my diamond 225! Great review and details! Always enjoy your work!
I sure am glad that I bought your tower speakers. I feel like you did it right and I am very happy with them.
This video is incredibly valuable. your straightforward evaluation is refreshing in the audio world. Great job.
You're the best Danny! Your opinion is uniquely qualified, and you tell it like it is. Straight talk, no BS.
This guys is the real deal. I bought his upgrade kit for the Dynaudio Special 40 and the results were incredible.
what is the cost of the upgrade?
Any change in the bass response and sweet spot?
Did the midrange get chocolatey?
Bullsh*t. Show us the before vs. after measurements.
It would be great if you had a list of speakers made with good parts and that measure well.
It could help us navigate our buying options in different price categories.
Or am I dreaming in color? 😋
Thanks for the video!
THIS!
The real trouble is finding pictures of the internals for most speakers. Many smaller boutique brands will likely have better parts than typical manufacturers, but generally speaking, most speakers available on the market are going to be about form over function. A beautiful facade with nothing on the inside but the bare minimum.
Most of them are Boutique brands like GR research
@@dilbyjones aside from the fact we dont really build speakers, just ship out kits. though it is something we're considering doing in the future.
On the other hand, go to a dealer, audition speakers within your budget, buy the ones you like.
Thanks for the Wharfedale review. I saw another review which also advised removing the grilles which I've now done :)
I like that you can just say that it's not worth the work of an upgrade and telling us why. Thanks for the videos that teach us something.
let's agree to disagree.
Danny said the X- over upgrade wouldn't fit and a real pain to try to put back in.
I like my X over near to the amp as possible in its own box
@@BootJamesOut Disagree all you want. You do have a valid point, but it doesn't change what Danny said - which was also valid. In this case, he made no mention of doing an external crossover - which in many ways I would prefer to an internal one.
However... on a floorstanding speaker an external crossover is no issue for some of us. On a "bookshelf" or stand mount speaker having a separate crossover would likely be a real pain to deal with and a crossover mounted externally on the speaker would likely not be aesthetically acceptable.
@@wingsounds13 I still plan to upgrade the 225 with an external XO mounted on back of the speaker, or in a separate base that will match the speakers finish.
@@ericharrelson32 hello folks. What's that saying ' there's so many ways to cook an egg' have you all seen The Loudspeaker Cookbook. It's a must read for any speaker builder. Its a hobby for me it turned into a business just like Danny's almost.
They bring over their speaker for a inside wire upgrade to the same from amp to SB. Next week new x over parts. Next month its designing a speaker form the drivers of their choice or go for what we're doing. Use same woofer and a pick of this or that tweeter in own box. they took both because the x over outside in its own box too, plug and play. Same as tone controls BTW multi strand and solid core wiring they both offer a different tonal balance signature.
My son like a .2 mh and I like a .4 mh across the tweeter 2 or 3 order x over.
so many way to cook an egg. I call this adjustments that caters to the moods and feelings one is at in that moment. Why dress the same for years.
ride easy
JP
I'm going to say my top line the right way.
I been in forums were some members.
( Can't even agree to even disagree) on anything. As the site rules was. if the topic's goes to hell so does the site.
I believe Danny has the paid site at different price points per month.
I still learning something new each day on my life. I don't run a site or build anymore. I was 16- now 61+
Ride Easy
some day I'll be in a different speaker box.
I love life so much
I'll die for it.
6hz down
Love the New Wharfedale Diamond Range Speakers. Also Very well made.
The S8 v3 was the top model and the midrange does have a true phase plug and it was designed to be used with the grille on.
I run old Paradigm Monitor 7s, CC350, and mini monitors in my home theater, and they have served well. I think they were made a little better back in the day. Having said that, I blew the tweeter in my center channel last year which gave me an excuse to explore the construction. The drivers and cabinet seem quality, but the crossover was mostly garbage. The leads were decent gauge and soldered through the board, and the tweeter crossover had an air core. Everything after that was down hill. Iron core, sand cast, electrolytic, etc. As an aside, Paradigm does not stock their old metal dome tweeters, so they tried to upsell me to new speakers. Claimed there was "no suitable replacement" for the tweeter. Turned out there was a nice textile dome out there that lined up perfectly with the paradigm mount. Sounds a lot smoother and warmer. Have you done an episode on the old Paradigm Monitor series? I might be interested in upgrading the crossovers in my front three speakers. Thanks for all you do!
I replaced original tweeters with soft dome on Monitor 3 v2. They sound amazing!
To be fair those speakers you have are really old and inexpensive.
Love your insite Danny and thank you from all music lovers .🎉
Canadian here I love paradigm speakers especially the new Founder 120H are amazing for the cost honestly I was listening to them at froends house 30k or more
Paradigm Signature S6 is neither their top model, nor currently available. Its an older speaker from Paradigm and its been discontinued for several years now. Quality research from GR Research!
We work on what people send in for upgrades.
@@dannyrichie9743 I get that Danny, but you could mention that your talking about a 30 year old discontinued speaker. Its important context for your comparison.
Wow . Finally found someone on you tube that knows what their talking about . Thanks GR-Research 🙏🏼
I'd have to disagree with your take on the diamond 225...it won budget component of the year from both Stereophile and the Absolute sound in 2017! I own them (in fact two pairs) and find them to sound terrific just the way they are, even with the grills on they still sound good. Maybe I'm deaf...maybe Stereophile and TAS are deaf. Read the stereophile review of the 225's...all three reviewers, including Herb Rechert and Art Dudley, both of whom I respect a great deal, thought very highly of this speaker. The point being, they liked them "as is". I think I'll trust their opinion, in fact it is verified by my own ears. The fact that you seem to have to toy with each and every speaker you get your hands on in order to satisfy "your" ears, does not make the end result better to someone else's ears. Variety is the spice of life...if you don't like a particular speaker then move on to another, stop butchering everything. Wharfedale's Peter Comeau did a terrific job with these speakers. The port on bottom that you claim does little to nothing Is false. It is what contributes to this speakers unbelievable bass response. I'll quote stereophiles Art Dudley in his foot notes....Footnote 2: "I later checked the Wharfedales' bass extension using Stereophile's first Test CD (Stereophile STPH002-2), and was astounded by the amount of useful response at 31.5Hz-though I heard nothing a third of an octave lower (25Hz)."
Lastly, the woofer material is Kevlar, not paper or pulp....pretty easy to find that info. The soft Dome tweeter is also unique to this model as it is within a wave guide. It Is a unique speaker and was later copied by Elac....
You buy a certain speaker for its unique sound attributes, not to screw around with the inherent design of the speaker, and alter or ruin it. it was designed by a person with far more knowledge of sound reproduction.
You are getting a damn good speaker at the current sale price of $299....originally $449.
Do you even believe this guy? He isn't even able to tell a kevlar woofer from a paper woofer. The 225 are great, but the 230 are even better, they have deep enough bass to not need a sub. The 240 doesn't make that much sense because they reach down to 3 Ohm impedance and offer almost the same bass as the 230, which only go to 3.7 Ohm. The 230 have the best parts of 225 and 240 (high enough impedance and low enough bass)
@@ctr289 yes, the 230's are also awesome speakers. Wharfedale makes some nice stuff nowadays...
All you budget guys care more about the deal than the actual sound of the speakers. I owned the Diamond 250's. Wasn't impressed.
They are price so high while having cheap parts. He is just educating common audio enthusiasts
What are you so twisted about? He said they measure well and are a decent speaker for the money. And he didn't "toy" with them, he specifically said there was nothing he would recommend changing. I think that's pretty good praise for such a cheap speaker.
I'm hoping that these videos become popular enough that it forces manufacturers to at least spend $25 more on crossover parts for speakers over $1k per pair. I get it with the cheaper speakers but there is no excuse for having to be paranoid about what is lurking in the cabinet of expensive mainstream speakers.
German popular word: Geiz ist geil! .😀😆
Ingenuity! Keep it up, Danny. Love the channel and the knowledge. Thanks.
I put my 225 on desk, they are perfect for near filed listening! not boomy, not harsh, just sweet!
As a Canadian I'm ashamed of the parts in that Paradigm. I almost bought the Persona 3f, glad I didn't. They are straight up ripping people off. My god 15 dollars of parts on the drivers. Super mad.
It is good to see somebody that is so happy in their work.
I own (recently bought) the almost identical I believe of the Wharfedale speaker you have there. I might have a smaller version, but on the video their scale seems the same. I think I paid $250 new for the pair. I matched them with a Cambridge Integrated amp I picked up refurbished rated at 35 WPC. The amp I was a little concerned with on various fronts. Low power, and any lasting defects. I got pretty lucky with it, and it works pretty well for my use. I first wired it up using nothing special, zip cord short length to the bottom posts with the supplied jumpers. I decided to take advantage of the extra posts and wired them appropriately, and I am convinced it made a discernible difference. Left that in place. I wasn't worried about speaker wire as antenna because it's dead silent. The amp is having virtually no problem driving these slightly inefficient speakers. Even sustained high listening levels don't get the amp anywhere near hot. I'll tell you what I did do. I broke a conventional rule of using identical wire for HF and LF. I went with 14 AWG garden copper zip for LF, and a 16 AWG prepared cable with banana plug terminals. I was a little concerned, and am concerned with phasing/tone/coherence etc., but up to this point with several listening hours in I'm pretty satisfied. I'm getting a little high fidelity out of this office system for low investment. I don't use half the volume generally, and my source is typically a modern phone with blue tooth through a little decent quality streaming device. It's an A/B analog very basic unit that is pretty musical for what it is. What it can't do, and these speakers aren't suited for is rock-n-roll, and/or poorly/old engineered music. The system was never meant for that, so I'm good.
Wharfdale Diamond 225. Exact speaker I own. I've found it to be very well-rounded and enjoyable to listen to. And I paid a little over $300 for it, not $599.
I also have D220 and D225 and love them. I have not agreed with this guy on any of his reviews for these or other speakers. The fact that he has to interject his opinions on other non related matters I also find irritating. Wish I could block him from my feed.
@@weaselpopperhe offers subjective review. He is right response is good with grilles off. Cheap parts. Owners don't like hearing criticism of what they own.
Me: unscrewing drivers at audio store. Sales person: What are you doing? Me: Danny said look at the guts before I buy.
Lol!
"Just checking the cheese mister."
@@miheadhurts exactly lol.
Yep that's something I would do, too.
I was like 14 doing my very first upgrade on the replacement stereo speakers because the new Telefunken system back in the 1970s I was having so much fun listening to it they returned it.
So on the cheesy 5" full range driver I replace those with ones that had a wizard cone.
There's a fun video on RUclips my mama said I could
LOL no Audio store will allow you to do that! they’ll probably end up calling the police on you! The only way for you to know what parts are in a loudspeaker is if you have a friend or acquaintance who has a pair and you ask that friend if you can come over and her and remove the drivers and check out the quality of the parts on the crossover board. Or do a deep dive typing in GR Research and RUclips and the search window to watch all of his videos he’s reviewed close to 100 loudspeakers!
First time catching you online and like your work.
Just regarding improving parts quality: Im betting that if a company spends $15.00 more on parts that's a $100.00 price jump.
I almost bought the Paradigm model 10 years ago. Boy, am I glad I didn't! Thanks for the indepth review. I always wonder why other reviewer on the web do not do the kind of measurement/analysis you do?
They are too busy doing that pesky step of listening to music to see if it actually sounds good.
You actually didn't watch this video, right? That or you didn't understand it.
He will love the XL's!! I know I do and I have been building speakers for some time now. The tweeter is just amazing!!
Always honest. Always straightforward. Always appreciated. Thanks Danny!
Very subjective, informative, spot on, articulate review, and reviewer!
i really likes the wharfedale when i first got them a few years back, i got them for 230 dollar new.
they inspired me to get back into hifi :) with a little NAD d 3020 integrated amp. not been used in this room for years.
now this video got me to hook them back up, and now i have a much better electronics, proper separates with nad c 298 poweramp.
even with all this bottlenecks removed, it sounded like travel radio in comparison to what i had in my room after the 225's
i even sorted the port issue with it being to small of an opening and grilles removed.
sometimes you dont notice much improvement as you got up in price in hifi, if you do it gradually. but when going back to my once great beginner speakers its not what i remember.
I still have to recommend them to anyone finding them for 250 dollar or less. as its an discontinued model now. it was amazing starter speaker for me for sure.
I think that was my take away from this video. A fairly well built neutral speaker for under 300 bucks.
I would love to hear what you think about FOCAL speakers in reference to quality and performance. Thanks for sharing, you really make it easy to hang in there to the end.
We have a video on one of the Focal models coming out in the morning.
I have one pair of Diamond 220 . They sound good and are not a problem for a Marantz amplifier.
I have one pair of Diamond 230 . They sound good , are sensitive to the room placement and not a problem for my amplifier ( valve push pull el 34).
Those speakers have a very natural sounding midrange.
It is a pity that you cannot tweak them .
use the double binding post to see the full potential of these speakers. I have the upper 225 and 230 plus a 230Center...one amp running 5 tweeters and the other one running the woofers. it's insane how loud and clear they can get that way
@@ArdaiThomasInvestments hi , what do you mean by one amp running 5 tweeters and I e running the woofer?
@@matasaina2011 i have 5 speakers with double binding posts, so 10 binding posts total and I run each tweeter from the 5 speakers through one amp and the other posts from the woofers through another identical amplifier
ok, cool. i think i get it .. separating out the LF and HF , so to speak?
@@matasaina2011 the point is to give more available power to each speaker so it doesn't distort the sound at high volumes.
The new set and lighting is working well for the channel. Well done.
Could do with a little more light on the speakers, but otherwise agree
Saw on another channel where someone changed the spacers on the bottom to be a little longer, maybe 10mm long (on the Wharfedale 225). Said it tightened up the bass.
God bless you Danny!
Honesty preserves your credibility... which is very high!
@12:30, could it be the reason one amp was dedicated to just a tweeter is because with beryllium, the more power the better?
Putting the tweeter on a separate amp changes nothing.
“Bumped the price up from the $279-299 price range”...
“Ohhhh... It looked like this”...
Love the facial expressions, cheers
What got me thinking is that, if all it takes is a few bucks worth of extra components to make the best speaker that wipes the floor with its competitors, why don't they do it?
They will most definitely sell more units and build a better reputation.
There must be some other reasons here other than cost cutting.
Because in REALITY, it does NOT make them sound better. See the logic now? Usually the most obvious answer is the correct one...
Most people are content with average sounding audio. Think of all the under cabinet radios, mini bluetooth speakers and bose products sold. These type of upgrades are aimed at folks who want to improve even good or great sounding speakers. Just my take.
Loads of rumble on the video soundtrack. Had to turn my subs off. Were you having an earthquake? 😅
Those Paradigms haven't been on sale for three years, but it's still sad what they used to charge.
Probably because there are very few people that are both rich and stupid enough to buy them. The more people that rally against hi-end audio trolling, the better. Manufacturers have to know they can't charge as they please for something that clearly isn't worth their asking price.
The paradigm Signature C6 has been discontinued a while now and cannot be bought new. The equivalent for this price range would be the Founder 100F at $3250ea I'm curious as to what cheese is in the newer models and if they have improved upon these much older models. Much has changed since these older speakers where developed when it comes to their testing facilities to improve upon the next models. Just an FYI.
What speakers do you recommend under a thousand,thanks
Visit our website. We have a lot of kits for under $1,000.
I really like the dark background. I liked the old shop setup too, but this looks very cool.
The shop has been full the last couple weeks. Even on the weekends so he's been having to move into the listing room for some quiet space.
Thankfully, we're finally caught up on most back orders now, so it's a lot less crowded. But I agree, I'm digging the look of the darker mood of the listening room too.
We been ripped off from these manufacturers for years by the looks of things
Wharfedale are amazing value for money...Evo are comparable to $2000 speakers
Ripped off by a Canadian company that can simply ship them over the border and claim the Paradigms are made in Canada.
The wharfdales are made in China
And I have too! I’ve demoed loudspeakers that performed well, with that said no one wanted to buy them! I also had Loudspeakers that sold for $7500 made in Denmark with good performance, now looking back on all these loudspeakers designs I have no idea what the quality of the internal wiring. crossover network! I’m going to make the assumption that they all pretty much had cheap crappy parts and cheap crappy low conductive internal wiring regardless of price!
Also the biggest problem with buying a Loudspeaker today is the honesty of the manufactures SPL rating, it may state 90Db at 1 SPL into 6 Ohm Load. but would you really don’t know if there’s one driver in the Loudspeaker cabinet that drops to 2.8Ohms making it extremely difficult for most amplifiers to drive anything less than 4Ohms!
your amplifier may overheat and shut off. you’re going to scratch your head wondering did it shut off? what’s the issue? Then box it up and send it to the manufacture located in the US for up to $100 shipping cost or Canada double the price because you have to pay duty going in and out of Canada!
@Jingle Nuts caveat emptor means buyer beware it was true 2000 years ago and it’s more true today!
@@Jeffrey91423 Minimum mark up from manufacture to retail dealer, what,
40% ?
Fantástica revisión de lo que hay tras precios altos, muchas gracias!
Tnx for all tips,would love to hear abouth bowers & wilkins 800 d3 diamond series ...youre opinions.
Imagine paying over 6k for an speaker and find out that the parts in the crossovers is really cheap stuff....Speaking of getting ripped of..
Fairly common: the bulk of the effort is put into the cabinet/finish/cosmetics...it has to pass the WAT
@@iggypopisgod9 what is the WAT? They used to refer to the WAF about 30+ years ago.
$ 15 parts, $5985 profit for the company. audiofool
you can't go wrong with paradigm
Beryllium drivers aren’t cheap to manufacturer.
I bought some Paradigm Titan v6 with stands at estate sale for $80. Great sounding speakers from 2008..
I have those wharfdales, paid 200 dollars for them. I like them
Used to sell Paradigm and they sounded nice. So disappointed at what was inside the several years and model cycles old top model offering. With the company founders' back in control I wonder what is inside the current range middle and top models?
I had a chance to hear some this past summer and they sounded better than the ones that I purchased from them 10 years ago. I would be surprised if the parts quality was any better though. But who knows, we'll have to wait until Randy pulls one of the new ones apart.
Great vid Danny thank you. I like the data you put forward to illustrate your findings.
Hi Danny.. I hope you could do a video on Inductors.. I mean Low DCR Iron Core (for Midwoofers) vs. Higher Quality Air Core But Higher DCR (also for Midwoofers).. Pros and Cons..
Let's design a great sounding speaker and mess up the sound by adding fancy looking grills. Great idea!
Bet you those grilles were dreamed up by the marketing department, not the engineering department...
So looks like the Wharfedale 225 is actually a much better deal than the Paradigms: Price per performance ratio so to say. I saw elsewhere there is a few tweak for the 225, bump up the spacer at the bottom so it “breath” better through the port…. Take off the grill as you have already measured it and also replace the bu wiring clips with better wires. Looks like that would take it up a notch or two and pretty easy modifications. So I just order a pair knowing it is just as good as a pair of speaker 10 times more expensive. Thank you for your expert observations.
Wow the spectral decay was fantastic on all 3. Super good frequency response the way you do it with less than 5 db variables. What are those engineer thinking about putting those cover plates in front of the drivers? Do they always have to at least screw up one or 2 things in their designs? Seriously and then charge a lot more for them?
Danny this video broke my heart! I love Canadian speakers and looked at that paradigm it looked amazing, what a disappointment with the cross over , whith that kind of money spent on the speakers who can afford to upgrade them, there is no more money left lol.
It's really hit and miss with speakers some speakers are very good at a budget price while other very expansive speakers have a hard time to blow away a good set? Your video helps a lot with choosing speakers, making them better at what ever price they are, concepts company uses, simple mod , big upgrades etc. Who ever though a piece of felt could improve a 6400 dollars paradigm? I am a hour drive away from where they make paradigms,
I dont think ill be able to sleep well tonight? Paradigm I hope you are looking at this video and be the company you were once!
From South Africa here. I wish I could send you my speakers to look at, but at the price for courier fees alone, it would never be worth it. Buying there and sending here might be cheaper lol. I would love to send you pictures of the crossovers of my speakers, but I'm scared I might damage the speakers or boxes trying to remove it. Thanks for your honest reviews! It's quite an eye-opener to see how even at expensive prices for speakers, we still get taken for a ride.
This is why I like budget speakers: you know you're just getting cheese.
It does have me wondering though. Should I buy the Klipsch RP-600M for $400/pair on sale knowing I can spend another $230 and get them sounding great using Danny's kit or take a chance and buy the Polk Reserve R-200 at $750?
@@rosswarren436 klipsch
@@iggypopisgod9 maybe, but I don't have much free time anymore, so I'm not sure if or when I'd ever get around to building and putting in new crossovers...
Just wish there was a sub-$1000 set of bookshelf speakers that sounded reasonably neutral with a bit of detail and micro dynamics and used decent crossover and driver components in a well braced, non-resonant cabinet, and sounded good and full at both low and loud volumes. Arrgh...I don't think any exist.
Bob Martens-- Testaformaggio!
@@rosswarren436 Get Danny's speakers. There are assembly services available.
I thought Wharfedale Denton 80th is more interesting autopsy to work with compare to the Diamond series.
Yeah I'd be curious to see that. Also maybe a Diamond 12.2? I'm wondering if they're any better than the 200 series as far as crossover parts go.
Pity my apeakrs haven't been tested would be good to know issues and improvements
Hey Danny, could you let us know your thoughts on how the various speakers actually sound as well as the tech aspects. Really appreciate your detailed critique.
This
Not sure if Danny listens to music; he just likes measuring speakers! (I jest.)
Looks like everyone can make 6k cabinet trying it 100 times. This is mind blowing review. It can't be understood. I can imagine somebody really hate You, but don't worry we love ...
Please translate 1st sentence into understandable English.
I've always built my own speakers. Having worked in the HiFi audio/electronics industry for 25yrs I learned an awful lot about speaker manufacturers. There's a simple rule for run of the mill speakers sold by popular audio retailers and that is look at the advertised price and then work out what 15% is.......that's pretty much the factory manufacturing cost (before FOB and taxes, profit etc) This would put the Paradigm at about $960 build cost...but there are exceptions of course. This is why building your own is far better value on so many levels.
Your figures are way off.
@@carlosoliveira-rc2xt please show us the ppl correct figures sir?
I have a 8 foot center channel I made myself. It is at 1.33ohms ran from an old Yamaha receiver. I've never had a problem. The internal fan has only turned on after watching movies back to back
I buy speakers, including wharfedale, that I enjoy listening to.
I have never bought a speaker so I could look at the measurements.
Those wharfedales and paradigms are amazing speakers to hear music .
Danny is awesome! He’s the only person that I’ve heard or seen on RUclips or read about that does what he does!
I’m at a high-end audio dealer I’ve been in business since 2010 that’s 11 years and now I’m Gun shy of bringing on any new manufactures loudspeakers, for fear that I’ll be selling a customer an expensive loudspeaker with crappy parts and crappy performance!
I have an order in for the NX-Extreme DIY loudspeakers because all the reviews that I’ve watched on RUclips tell me that the speakers have amazing performance speakers and they don’t drop below 8Ohms! So it’s easy for pretty much any amplifier out there to drive them even if they’re tube amps with only 10 W per channel!
Wharfedale diamond 10.1 was my altime favourite speaker i bought new for a mere 90 bucks or so. It was hooked up to a 45 watt Nad amp. Then one day i hooked it up to a 90 watt Yamaha- wow the sound quality improved significantly. Just goes to show sometimes more power matters.
I think I'll try adding some felt to my Klipsch speaker horns.
How do you analyze the transfer function of these XoNs before swapping components? Please elaborate.
Swapping crossover parts value for value does not change the transfer function.
This definitely was an interesting review and comparison of speaker components across a range of price points. Really got me thinking about speaker quality and resulting performance in a way I have not in the past. I am in the market for the next set of speakers, something better than what I have now, but not sure how to go forward as what manufacturer really is putting quality components on the inside?
You know, we have several product lines of speakers that you might want to consider.
I have a 25 year old pair of Warfdale diamond 7 speakers I use on my desktop and I love them. Danny can you explain how impedance works in a speaker and what makes for a low impedance? Also can you explain WHY you can’t do anything to change the impedance? Does it have something to do with the magnetic coils on the speaker drivers? Thanks.
It has to do with the resistance levels of the voice coils of the drivers. I'll try to cover some of that more in future videos.
@@dannyrichie9743 and please explain why it varies with the frequency the drivers are playing. Most non-electrical engineers would think it would be a static "across the board" value like measuring the resistance of a resistor....
@@rosswarren436 In an electromagnetic speaker, all work done (moving the drivers) is powered by the current flowing through the driver voice coils. The power (P) is P=Re(Z)*I*I where Z repressent impedance and I is current. Acoustic, and electrical resonances (cross-over and voice coil interactions) do show up in the impedance spectra as "peaks". The ohmic resistance component from the copper wire and resistors is flat with frequency but takes part in the interaction of voice-coils, inductors, and capacitors.
@@kklarqvist883 yes, an old college professor of mine said that speakers were more or less simply electrical motors. But I always wondered why the impedance varied with frequency, and why say a speaker rated at 8 ohms dips to 4 ohms or sometimes even less.
Music is complex, usually consisting of many tones, not just a pure one at a certain frequency, but it still gives you pause about pairing amps with them if you listen to EDM or progressive rock where they are sometimes single, loud frequencies in the music.
It astounds me watching Danny tear these speakers apart and finding the manufacturer spent about 85% of the money on making them look good and only about 15% on trying to make them sound good. Crazy.
Would love to see your anechoic chamber, could you do a video on that, and other measurement and design tools...?
Great information Danny
I'd like to put new parts in my speakers, but they work perfectly fine. The thought of having to pull them apart without screwing it up, and de-soldering a bunch of stuff, then re-solder new parts in seems daunting. I might end up with a mess. I'd like to send him my speakers, make the changes, and charge me for his time and markup.
I just bought a pair of Audio Physic Classic 25 ($5,300) and I am in love with the sound. That being said I am afraid to look at the crossover.
or just by a behringer and go active and bypass the xovers!
@@Canadian_Eh_I Not possible without hacking up the cabinets. I'm not doing anything irreversable.
Hi if you love the sound don’t second guess the rest
Thanks for steering me away from the Diamond 225. Would the Diamond 12.2 be any better i wonder? Conventional rear port, so easier to modify the crossover I guess.
There's nothing wrong with the 225 as is. It's a wonderful sounding speaker for short money. The 12.2 is almost twice as much and only in the same performance arena.
@@deeplyclosetedindividual Thanks, good to know. Weirdly, in my part of the world, the 225 and 12.2 cost about the same.
I wish I stayed in the USA however my residence is in Bali /Indonesia and sending speakers to you would be rather expensive. Would appreciate a List of speakers in any price range that doesn't need an overhaul. I appreciate your Videos keep going..
Should i put mid driver between two larger bass drivers or what are the best options ?
Open baffle vs box driver positions ?
Great videos and really appreciate the straight talk with no sales BS. Have you ever measured the Matin Logan motion 60xt? I have a pair and love them but wonder what upgades they could use.
I measured the stand mounted version. They had issues.
what do you recommend for studio monitors beside the typical, m-audio, krk, yamaha, or Adam?
Have a lot at our NX Studio Monitor.
hey, just wondering. Isn't changing the crossover parts or like basically the parts inside the speaker changing the sound of the speaker and how the manufacturer people to listen to it?
That is their comeback line they use hoping it will stop people to even think about. As we have to remember that their an business as with any business the main goal is to make money. Now if your true friends acted like this, now would you really want to hang around them.
its like buying bottle water that is from the same lake as you get at home.
They call it messing around with their Artwork.
At lease please put some cheeze on the pizza to call it a chezzze pizza. Some ice cream company couldn't call their ice cream because there was no cream in it.
What about ferrite cores in inductors? Are those an improvement over laminated iron cores?
No, the laminated cores are preferred.
have you reviewed the Paradigm Founders 80f or any of that series?
Another good video. Thanks Danny.
The Paradigm top models are Performa series with berillium mids and tweets. Mid, tw section have passive crossover, but the best one has classD amp for the rather not regular woofers. I heared the cheapest tower and liked the lack of distortions and colorations. The Paradigm people don't believe in magic crossover parts, but instead have one of the largest anechoic chambers in North America, even bigger than NRC one.
Nothing wrong with that if that is their design philosophy. The problem is charging $6400. Care to defend that part of their philosophy?
@@tullskull I agree. Selling 800-900 dollars worth of speaker for 6400 is not a philosophy, it's a racket.
Can you guess what the crossover was in the late 90s value paradigm atom and Titan v2 speakers? That’s right, it was a tiny electrolytic cap zip-tied to an iron core inductor, then held to the front baffle with a single screw and some crappy glue. (And a tiny sand-cast resistor on the tweeter on the atom, probably because the smaller midwoofer was naturally quieter.) Any guess what the wood was? Particle board on the sides, MDF front, plastic back panel. How much bracing? None. How did they sound?
Great for the price: not truly a flat response by any means, but a very fun sounding speaker that soundstaged fairly good and sounded great turned up. They sounded slightly better than the current monitor XT line from Polk, and certainly better than the infamous T15, especially in the high mid/treble range: (my Polk XT15s are a bit more hissy and narrow in the treble than the identical-sized Atoms.) That’s amazing considering the crossovers in the Polks are far more complex, and the entire thing is braced MDF!
Sorry, did I get this right, the video was released yesterday and it a review of a Paradigm speaker that is minimum 10 years old and not in production anymore? And the Wharfdale‘s are also out of production and obsolete? Does that make sense?
This isn't a review. Customers send these in for me to design something for them to improve them. Some speakers I can help and some are beyond help.
@@dannyrichie9743 Hi, I really appreciate your fast answer and the explanation, thanks a lot!
difference is alot?
I don't understand the condemnation of the Wharfedale, so it does look like it uses basic quality crossover parts, and the measurements look good all around, spectral, linearity, dispersion. So you are getting a good sounding speaker for the price. Getting an amp that drives a 4 ohm load isn't that hard. I have an SMSL Infineon based desktop amp which can deliver into 2 ohm loads and doesn't cost a fortune, and would make a good pairing with this speaker for a smaller room.
listening position is off-axis. why isn't that be the most important place to measure?
What is your opinion of rear facing tweeters?
I'd love to see you talk about B&W DM620.
Sounds like the Wharfs are a good buy!
I've wanted Wharfedale Crystal 4.3 for awhile. But I live in an apartment so been holding off...
I honestly thought the wharfdales had concentric drivers from looking at them. So, am I right in saying the waveguide merely looks like a mid driver, loads like a mid driver, as in meant to look like a mid driver? It reminds me of the fake tweeter days circa 1980s.
It definitely gives a bit of that impression. But its quite a mess for a waveguide.
@@hoth2112 lots of tweeters are looking like that these days. Look at the ones on SVS speakers or HECO.
in a two way with the woofer crossed over at 1700-1900hz would you let a laminated core inductor with low DSR or is it too high and best to use an air-core one?
I would never use an iron core inductor on anything playing up that high.
So Danny, why do impedance matter and how can we measure it when the speakers are rated to 4/6/8 Ohms?