Wharfedale Owners Thread - Page 14

I am thinking of moving up to a pair of EVO2 8 for a 2.0 system. I have an HK AVR146 I'm using in a 2.0 system. The EVO's are listed as 6 ohm speakers. Do I need to upgrade my receiver to driver these speakers? I'm currently running Diamond 9.1's with no problems.

Well your 9.1's are listed as 86db sensitivity and the Evo 2 8's are listed at 87db sensitivity. So that basically means they need a little bit less power to run them at the same db level. They are also both listed as 6 ohm (far as I know all the Wharfedale speakers we've been talking about here are 6 ohm) so that is also no different.

Normally I'd say 30 watts per channel is a little light on power for such speakers but if you've had no clipping/distortion running your current 9.1's at the levels you like to listen to I'd venture to say you won't have any problems running the Evo 2 8's. However keep in mind that running them at high volume levels might be asking too much of your current receiver. It's when you try to run speakers at higher volumes than your amp can cleanly deliver the power for that you risk burning out/damaging the voice coil of speakers. You often don't get much warning before this happens. It's the peaks in volume that will do the speakers in...shorter high volume passages in whatever you're playing/listening to.

Your call.

Well, I'm putting my Evo 30's up for sale.

I simply have way too many speakers and I have to part with some of them.

If anyone's interested, PM me and we'll talk on the phone about it.

They are in excellent, brand new condition (rosewood finish).

Well that sucks. I just bought a pair on eBay same finish... they haven't even shipped them to me yet.

Any thoughts on using a Music Hall Maven to drive my Evo 30s? I am torn between the Maven and the Peachtree Audio Nova but I am concerned that the Maven may be too laid back for the already laid back Wharfedales. The Nova is an unkown as it just came out and is finally shipping but would be a perfect match for my Sonos (fits in the back) and the rosewood finish should match my Evo 30s and the cabinet that it will sit on perfectly.

Any thoughts on what to use in a 2 channel setup with the Evo 30s? Preferably an integrated with an on-board DAC for under $1500.

Thanks. Here is some info on the 146 from the HK site:
Stereo Mode
Continuous Average Power (FTC) per Channel : 40 Watts per channel, 20Hz - 20kHz, @ <0.07% THD, both channels driven into 8 ohms

I don't run these speakers loud. They are hooked up to the AVR via optical connection fed by my PC using uncompressed files.

So, I would be better off with more power? Like maybe 100 watts per channel? If went to a NAD integrated I would have to convert from digital to analog. How much sound degradation will ocurr and will a better amp make up for it?

So far so good on these Diamond 9.6's. I'm glad I got these as I think the EVO 30's would have needed a subwoofer. They def. need some break in time - after 15 hours I'm starting to get much better imaging / soundstage. Now I am just waiting to get a real AMP to power these bad boys properly.

I am thinking of adding two diamond 9.1's for my rear surround (upgrade from 5.1- 7.1) The receiver will be a denon 2309. Can you tell me if the 9.'s 1 will totally outstrip my canton 120 MX (5.1) speakers? Canton 120 MX Will Audyssey prevent them from overpowering the sound from the Cantons?

The diamonds are going for 98 each right now, which makes them a good alternative for the Kef IQ1's going for 120, and franky, I haven't heard anything but positive about them (or the kefs for that matter).

Thanks in advance.
McStyvie

Well again if you have had your speakers running satisfactorily with your current receiver then the Evo 2 8's should run equally well with it since they are listed as having a slightly better sensitivity rating. Getting a more powerful receiver should allow you to play at even louder volumes with less chance of damaging the speakers but that would be your call.

Not sure why you'd need to switch from digital to analog but I'm guessing it has to do with the interconnects on the NAD receiver you mentioned. Anytime you switch the signal from digital to analog you risk some degradation of the signal. It all depends on the quality of the DAC's (Digital to Analog Converters) used and then the quality of the ADC's (Analog to Digital Converter) used if the signal is then switched back to digital further along in the signal chain. High quality converters suffer very little signal degradation, often too small an amount to hear but again it depends on the quality of the electronics used.

Actually my whole sound system is 5.1 analog which means I use the analog outputs from my Denon 5900 universal player (which I use for audio only) as well as from my Panasonic BD-55 Blu-ray player and my Toshiba HD-35 HD-DVD player. My Denon player has fairly high end electronics and the Panasonic and Toshiba units have decent enough DAC's for movies. I can tell with my own ears that the DAC's and other electronics in the Denon are better than in the other two players in terms of sound quality output but it's not a night and day difference. However it's tough to try to predict exactly how much sound degradation (*if any*) you might possibly hear ahead of time if you went to analog. There's just too many variables.

This help any?

I'm looking to purchase a good amplifier for the diamond 9.6's - what do you guys recommend? I'm thinking either Emotiva Xpa-2 or Adcom GFA-555 ii / se.

I am using dual AMC 2445's for my diamond 9.1's and it sounds sick. What do you guys use?

I was looking at adcom years ago I asked questins and read reviews, adcom is not very good sounding from what I read,

Emotiva has very good reviews, I was very close to buying one but desided to spent more money and went with butler,

Emotiva has a very good product for the money from what I can tell

What's your budget?

I'd say an Emotiva XPA-2 ($800) is the most, however, I could hit $1000 if there was something better than the xpa-2. I've heard an Adcom GFA-555; they seem to be an exception to other adcom amps, very amazing soundstage, just bright / harsh in the highs - but I think it'd couple well with the Diamond's as they are laid back + soft tweeter.

Here are some of the amp's I've been looking at.

Used NAD 2200PE ($300) - rebuilt with 1 year warranty - making actual 188wpc.

Used Arcam A85 ($500) - In good shape, local seller, no warranty.

Emotiva UPA-2 ($300) - Would probably me more than enough for these.

Emotiva XPA-2 ($800) - Would like to get, but being honest - I'm not sure if the wife factor will allow it :/

Onix A-120mkii ($450ish?) - If I can find one for sale....

Others
Anthem PVA-2
Rotel 1070
Adcom GFA-555mkii

Personally, I'd stay away from Anthem amps. I had one of the MCA Series amps (which is supposed to be the higher quality series from the PVA Series) and it was absolute garbage. Never again. Friggin' thing had a noisey transformer and it clipped horribly. I bought it brand new, from an Authorized Dealer and ....... when I contacted Anthem about it, their response was basically...." You're S**t Out Of Luck, Unless You Want To Pay Through The Nose To Ship It To Us and The Pay Through The Nose For Us To Just Put It On The Bench.

It would have cost me at least $260.00 just to do that. And if it needed work and fixing, I would have to have paid what was a ridiculous hourly rate for their techs to work on it. The only thing the warranty covered was parts.

All this with a brand new amp with complete warranty. **** Anthem!!!

The Authorized Dealer wouldn't replace/exchange it with another amp and I was forced to go through Anthem. Needless to say, I never bought a damn thing from that dealer, ever again. Nor from Paradigm/Anthem.


Check some of these out....

Give this Outlaw Audio amp...some serious consideration.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....nnel-Power-Amp


http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....valve-350exr-h


http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....-Dumping-Amp-P

Hi there, been trying to get hold of people who've sampled both the 9.5 and 9.6 side by side. From what i can gather, i'm not going to get huge improvement the the midrange presence by replacing my 9.5 with the 9.6 - that i'd be better off saving up for other better speakers. Would that be right?

My setup
Diamond 9.5 fronts, 9.cs center, 9.1 rears, 9.sw150 = 5.1
Yamaha RV-X563 - Yamaha CD player - PS3

Mainly listen to 2 channel music CD with fronts set as small and getting 60Hz crossed over to sub. I'm finding that the 9.5s are a little lifeless in the midrange department and not bassy enough (when set as large). I have heard great things about the 9.6 but surely the little dome thing that relieves the cone of 1KHz-2.8Khz duties can't do that much for largeness of sound presence?

I was kinda blown away by a pair of B&W 704 - piano was like right in front of you, the ochestra was next to you, just that much more sound! But i can't afford them ;p

OK - I decided to try out Emotiva (UPA-2) as well as a Acurus A250. I will A/B them, and 1 is going back.

Let's start with properly powering those speakers - the Yamaha amp selection is a joke. Buy a power amp - run analog out from the cd player to CD in (looking at a pic of the rear of your receiver it might need to go to multich in) then set your receiver to 'direct sound' mode and use the zone 2 out into a power amplifier - then tell us if you are getting more sound.

What was powering those B&W's? That's where you need to start. What would your budget be like? For $300 you can get a Emotiva UPA-2. For less, consider a used Adcom GFA-545. If you have more $$ the options are endless.

you're right, i set the fronts to large. then (no i don't have another power amp) i decreased treble by 2dB on amp, and cranked up the volume on direct and it sounded a lot better, almost as good as the b&ws. sorry can't remember the name of the amp that powered the b&ws (i think the name starts with audio-).

much better midrange and very bassy. by doing the above. but without cranking it up - you're right, very lifeless. so you're saying getting high power amps makes my 9.5s sound better at lower volume?

also i guess i wont get huge improvements by switching fronts to 9.6s?

You'd be much better off with one of the three amps I linked in the post up above or one of the Emotiva amps, than you would be with the Adcom amp.

Those Adcom amps are hard and harsh sounding. You won't be happy with that. Waste of money and time.

I was under the impression that only the gfa-555 suffered from that harshness and the 535/545 weren't as bright; however, I could be wrong. Whatever your budget is - just get a power amp, your receiver doesn't have preouts for any channels except Zone 2 - so a 5 channel amp wouldn't do you any good unless you are planning on getting a preamp. I'd say for starters get the Emotiva UPA-2 and enjoy as you said 'they will sound better at lower volumes' ABSOLUTELY.

If you want to upgrade to 9.6's - do it, but only do it AFTER you have some freaking power first.

Honestly, every Adcom amp and pre amp I have ever heard is hard sounding, harsh and cold. I guess I'm biased because I do not like the sound of any of their gear.

Maybe it's just me.

hey everyone. I am new to the Wharfedale and plan to build a 5.1 system for my new house. I picked Opus 3(first generation) for around $1800 shipped. And I am debating on opus center(first genration) $617 and opus2 center $672 on ayselectronics. If I use opus2 center to match my opus 3 front, is there going to be any problem? And I will get EVO2 10 as my rear speaker and SW250 for $350. Any suggestion for this system? By the way, if the price for these are too high, please tell me because I didn't actually get it yet Thanks!!!

The prices seem good, but consider bidding on these http://cgi.ebay.com/Wharfedale-Opus-...3A1%7C294%3A50 last time I saw this pair go for $600

Yay for me. My EVO 40 debarcle has finally drawn to a close. After a little surgery on the 40, to replace the internal connector, all is now good.

Reminaing 'bad' one was boxed up and deposited at UPS, for its return journey, last night.

I'm still hoping that WWE has some matching subs that they'll offload. No news on that.

I must have missed the memo somewhere, as I drive my EVOs with an Onkyo 805 7.1 AVR. And they sound pretty darn good to me. These speakers are much better than the older Wharfedales that they replace, as I now can't listen to film at the reference 75dB anymore. It's too loud!

Seggers

I just had the same issue with some Evo 30s I just had shipped to me. The brittle internal brass connectors break and fall off I am guessing from vibration induced metal fatigue. I replace two broken ones with aluminum replacements from Radio Shack.

Buy an Emotiva XPA-2 or even the UPA-2 ($300) and you'll realize what sounds good

Jeez that sucks, I saw those Evo 30's on ebay too, I was going to bid on them but didn't. It could have been worse!

So humour me.

I don't generally mind dropping cash for new toys, and WAF isn't something that enters into the equation, but I am still not sure why something that has BrownBurr DACs, a very beefy amp section and is considered to be a Denon 3308 type unit isn't enough to properly drive these speakers.

Why does putting an amp betweenn the 805 and the Pacific EVOs make a difference and would it be it be a 2, 5 or 7 channel unit?

The setup is EVO40 fronts, EVO CR, 4 EVO 10s as the rears.

Seggers

It wasn't that big of a deal. It only took a few minutes to fix.