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JOURNEYMAN AUDIOPHILE<br />
FEATURE<br />
Future tense<br />
86 TONE AUDIO NO.78<br />
They would not give up their new Frisbee.<br />
But you can’t live on a steady diet of the<br />
Scorpions, right? Ok, six Scorpions albums<br />
later, it was time to move along, but these<br />
damn speakers are so much fun to wind out<br />
it’s hard to do serious listening.<br />
Fun as the vintage Marantz is, even refurbished,<br />
this classic beauty is still somewhat<br />
challenged in terms of resolution and refinement.<br />
The Diamond 250s work equally well<br />
with tubes or solid-state gear, so whatever<br />
your fancy, rest assured it will be a match.<br />
We used two systems, one based around<br />
the recently reviewed PrimaLuna DiaLogue<br />
HP integrated (75w/channel, KT120 tubes)<br />
and the solid-state Pass XA30.8. Both<br />
cabled with Nordost Frey 2 cable, it was a<br />
whole new day via modern electronics.<br />
Finally resisting the call of the classic<br />
rock bin, SBTRKT’s “I Feel Your Pain” fills<br />
the listening room with gut pounding bass<br />
and a cinemascope stereo image. Wow. By<br />
now you’ve figured out that the Diamond<br />
250s can rock with the best of them. The<br />
dogs were still guarding the Lyn Stanley record,<br />
so vocal duties fell to Sam Amidon’s<br />
Lily-O album. Again the Diamonds deliver<br />
every bit of acoustic guitar nuance and<br />
crackly vocal delivery that Amidon can muster<br />
in a big, wall-of-sound way with a massive<br />
three dimensional sound field.<br />
You’ve figured out by now that these<br />
speakers are a blast to blast, but they play<br />
at quiet to modest levels with equal finesse.<br />
Brian Eno’s obscure Thursday Afternoon<br />
was reproduced with a delicacy that was<br />
as relaxing as a plate full of pot brownies.<br />
Keeping the mellow mood going the next<br />
step was The Best of Burt Bacharach. I<br />
felt like I was transported back to the Playboy<br />
mansion in the ’60s, needing only a<br />
smoking jacket, a Pepsi, and a few buxom<br />
blondes to round out the fantasy.<br />
FEATURE<br />
Make no mistake, these<br />
aren’t one-trick ponies. No matter<br />
what you enjoy listening to,<br />
the Diamonds will bring you a<br />
lot of listening pleasure. With<br />
plenty of low end frequency extension<br />
along with enough dynamic<br />
range to play the toughest<br />
tracks and keep it together,<br />
they are speakers you can build<br />
an awesome system around.<br />
Techie stuff<br />
You know from the beginning<br />
of this review that I pretty much<br />
confirmed the maximum SPL of<br />
110dB on these babies. Check.<br />
Wharfedale claims a -6dB LF<br />
point of 32Hz, and measuring<br />
bass output with my iPhone’s<br />
SPL meter and the Stereophile<br />
Test CD, I can indeed corroborate<br />
that spec. With some<br />
careful room placement taking<br />
advantage of room gain, you<br />
should be able to get solid bass<br />
at this point, though it drops off<br />
pretty quickly after this.<br />
Thanks to an 89dB sensitivity<br />
rating, it doesn’t take a ton<br />
of power to rock out. 35–50<br />
watts per channel will make<br />
more than enough noise for<br />
most apartments and modestsized<br />
living rooms. Double that<br />
if you have a larger listening<br />
room or really need to party<br />
hearty.<br />
Setup is quick and easy.<br />
Only weighing in at 65 pounds<br />
easy, if you aren’t man enough<br />
to move them around, you don’t<br />
deserve to own ‘em in the first<br />
place. (continued)<br />
AUGUST 2016 87
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