Wharfedale Diamond 220 Bookshelf Speakers

One of the Greatest Values in Audio: Award-Winning Wharfedale Diamond 220 Bookshelf Loudspeaker Delivers Sublime Transparency, Incredible Balance, and Pinpoint Accuracy

Wharfedale Diamond 220 Bookshelf Loudspeaker Sounds Airy, Open, Musical, Natural, and Clear: Enjoy Audiophile Performance for a Budget Price from the "Best Speaker Under $400"

Like the world's most beautiful diamonds, the Wharfedale Diamond 220 bookshelf loudspeaker offers a rare combination of balanced dispersion, brilliant proportionality, and sublime transparency. A two-way speaker that sounds much bigger than its compact size, the award-winning Diamond 220 exhibits crackerjack musicality, pinpoint accuracy, and refined tonality. You'll hear sheer instrumental naturalism, lifelike vocal reproduction, and tautly focused soundstages. A 5.1-inch bass driver ensures rich, controlled bottom-end performance while the soft-dome treble spoils you with smooth, supple highs. Elevated sensations of airiness, spaciousness, and openness make every type of music come alive with covetable vibrancy, intimacy, and energy on par with speakers far above Diamond 220's price class.

Built to exacting standards and available in four luxurious finishes, Diamond 220 puts an end to treating music as background entertainment. Never again will you long for close connections to your favorite artists or be tempted to leave the room while a song is playing. The emotional involvement rendered by Diamond 220 is that significant. Upgraded construction materials, fine-tuned crossovers, Wharfedale's signature woven-Kevlar drivers, updated bass and treble units, and a slot-loaded port turn this speaker into an overachieving dynamo. Compatible with mid- and higher-powered amplifiers, Diamond 220 obliterates precepts associated with budget products and stakes its claim as one of the best values in audio.

"Wonderfully balanced and informative sound."
– What Hi-Fi?, Best Stereo Speaker Under $400 Award and five-star review

New Cabinet Materials and Trickle-Down Technology for Optimal Involvement
Ongoing research into new cabinet materials and loudspeaker drivers yields the foundation for Diamond 220, which improves upon its predecessors in terms of design, construction, execution, and aesthetics. Diamond 220 boasts the latest acoustic technology to produce an involving listening experience that cannot be beat at this price point. Fieldwork and testing that resulted in the implementation of Crystalam (a substance that reduces the audibility of panel resonance and the ‘cabinet hear-through' that causes distinct coloration) in Wharfedale's flagship Jade Series has now been applied to the far less-expensive Diamond 220. In Diamond 220, a simpler combination of particleboard and MDF supplies similar reductions in coloration, damps annoying high-frequency resonances, and blocks internal sound leakage.

"By any standards, the Diamond 220s are musically-worthwhile speakers – and by budget standards, they're crackers." 
– Hi-Fi World, five-globe review

Performs at Peak Potential Even When Placed Close to a Wall, Great On- and Off-Axis Sound 
Derived from Jade Series' Aperiodic bass-loading system, a slot-loaded distributed port created by the plinth exits the base of the speaker cabinet. It allows for greater freedom of speaker positioning, meaning Diamond 220 can be placed as close as two feet from a wall and still operate at peak potential. Most speakers cannot achieve this feat. The port also equalizes the air pressure to mimic the pressure inside the cabinet, permitting a smooth transition between the pressure variation in the cabinet and low-frequency sound developed in the room. Consequently, the energy transfer is increased, and overall system efficiency strengthened. Computer-assisted modeling and hundreds of hours of tests ensure each speaker is fine-tuned. The same process is employed to fine-tune the crossover, which betters the integration between the drive units and intensifies the musical realism. Music lovers will relish audiophile sound whether listening either on and off-axis.
"The sound is open and clear. Diamond 220 doesn't call attention to itself. ..Nothing about the sound distracted me."
– Steve Guttenberg, CNET
Smartly Designed From the Inside-Out
Bass unit motor systems are also significantly refined. Increases in magnet sizes, where applicable, beget higher-sensitivity systems that both make the speakers easier to drive and boost transient acoustic power. Semi-elliptical break-up areas on the speakers' signature woven-Kevlar woofer smooth the response, while the cone edges are treated with a unique diamond-pattern molding. To further facilitate outstanding midrange response, Diamond 220's treble unit uses a sheer fabric dome and advanced ferrite magnet system surrounded by a carefully crafted waveguide. The latter smooths the transition between the midrange and tweeter in the crossover region, producing extremely coherent sound between the drivers.

Highly Polished Finishes – What Every Diamond Needs
Destined to elegantly blend into any room, Diamond 220 stylistically benefits from a new lacquered front baffle and cosmetically enhanced veneers. The simple, one-piece baffle that tops the hybrid cabinet material is lacquered to a highly polished finish that cosmetically matches the diamond-cut drive unit surrounds. In addition, the inner and outer layers of MDF allow for a superior finish to the cabinet veneers, enhancing the prior look available on Diamond 100 Series.

Wharfedale Diamond 200 Series: Part of an Illustrious Tradition 
Wharfedale Diamond Series reigns as one of the most successful hi-fi loudspeaker lines in history, earning worldwide accommodates for delivering award-winning sound at prices everyone can afford. Since its debut in 1982, Diamond models have subscribed to the principle that stellar performance could – and should – be available at a cost that brings more listeners closer to the music they love. Adhering to that brilliant heritage, Diamond 200 Series reveals entirely new levels of musical detail and transient attack, drawing listeners into musical performances in emotionally compelling ways traditionally only expected from speakers that command much higher prices.

General description: 2-way bookshelf speaker
Enclosure type: bass reflex
Transducer complement: 2-way
Bass driver: 130mm Woven Kevlar Cone
Treble driver: 25mm Soft Dome
Sensitivity(2.83V @ 1m): 86dB
Recommended amplifier power: 25-100W
Peak SPL: 95dB
Nominal impedance: 8Ω Compatible
Minimum impedance: 4.1Ω
Frequency response (+/-3dB): 56Hz - 20kHz
Bass extension (-6dB: 45Hz
Crossover frequency: 2.2kHz
Dimensions (HWD): 12.4" x 6.9" x 9.8" 
Weight: 11.7 lbs.

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