The 11.2s have arrived! First thing I want to talk about is shipping. I haven't renewed my Prime membership in 2 years. Nevertheless, I still receive some items just as quickly without Prime as I did with it, though sometimes it has taken 10 days or more (especially since C-19). In this case, I ordered the speakers on Saturday evening and they shipped on Monday. The initial delivery estimate was this Saturday. I've been closely watching the progress as I always do, and was pleasantly surprised when last night it showed they would be delivered today. They were shipped from Kernersville NC to my home in Upstate NY. Needless to say I am very pleased to get them in two days, and even more surprising that this was via the USPS, given all the issues they've had. I was also surprised and happy to see that they came double boxed, wasn't expecting that.
Upon unboxing them I was a bit surprised that the side panels and rear were matte white finish, for some reason I was expecting them to be gloss like the baffles. I'm happy about this. Next, while I have stated I've never been a fan of white speakers, I think these are already growing on me. The contrast between the white cabinets and black plinth & drivers looks good in person.
On to the build quality and fit & finish. My only previous experience with Wharfedale was with the Reva 2, and these share a very similar build quality with their more expensive siblings. Given the old fashioned knuckle wrap test they are pretty inert, not the best I've seen at their original msrp, but better than many. There is only one issue I have found with the build, and that is that the vinyl wrap on the upper corners on the front of both speakers has visible spots where it wasn't applied properly. I can live with this for the price paid, but if I'd paid the original price I'd not be very happy.
Anyhow, I've been letting them warm up to room temperature while writing this post and now it's time to hook them up and give them a listen. More to come...
