Wharfedale Emerald 97 3-Way Floorstanding Speakers, Rosewood (Pair)

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Title : Wharfedale Emerald 97 3-Way Floorstanding Speakers, Rosewood (Pair)
Author : Wharfedale
Release Date : 20000510
Binding : Electronics
Regular Price : $899.99
Amazon.com Price : $ ( %)
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Editorial Reviews :
Great speakers keep getting more affordable. It used to be that a first-rate speaker entailed getting a second mortgage on the house. The eminent British manufacturer Wharfedale, however, debuts its amazing biwireable/biampable Emerald line with an astonishingly high quality-to-price ratio.
The Emerald 97 three-way floorstanding speakers, also available in real oak, occupy minimal floor space while gracing any room with their gorgeous sound and glossy real wood finish. Their treble and midrange drivers render voices and acoustic instruments so seductively that you'd swear the performers were right in front of you.

And while Wharfedale is best known among stereo purists, two pairs of Emerald 97s (or a pair of 97s with Emerald 93s for surrounds) work beautifully with the Emerald Centre to fill a room with surround sound from DVDs or DTS-encoded 5.1-channel music CDs.

Positioning, often a chore with floorstanding speakers, is a snap with these, in part because the Emerald 97s are so light (about 35 pounds each). They sound best with space on all sides: at least 2 feet from the walls and 7 feet from each other. Setting them closer to the walls isn't disastrous, however, so if you're tight on space just be prepared for an overemphasized bottom end. We prefer toeing these speakers into the listening position as opposed to strict parallel placement, but toed or not, the Emerald 97s fill a room with pleasing, uncolored sound.

A subwoofer does help drive home the bottom octave (40 Hz and under) with greater solidity--especially with action films and rock music--but the Emerald 97s are capable of very deep bass on their own thanks to a well-designed (and unobtrusive) port in the front panel.

It's easy to rave about a speaker's extended range (high to low), especially when a speaker commands a wide frequency range, as the Emerald 97 does. But what really makes this speaker special is the quality of its silk-dome tweeters and their integration with not one but two nearly 7-inch woofers. The high frequencies sound sweet and open, to be sure, but the midrange--mostly embodying voices and any melodic instruments--sounds as warm and natural as can be.

Sometimes speakers that excel in the midrange sound their best only with certain music, like folk or acoustic jazz. Not so the Emerald 97s. From Haydn to Hendrix, Nina Simone to Nine Inch Nails, these speakers do perfect justice to the music--and, it seems, with ease.

The Emerald 97s sound better with their grilles on, which is unusual in our experience. This is unfortunate, as the grilles obscure the speakers' glorious woodwork. Like all hi-fi, however, you should season to taste--if your amplifier or receiver leans dark (with slightly diminished treble sound) or if your taste tends bright, you may prefer the grilles off.

Rock fans and movie buffs may still want a subwoofer for extra low-end slam, but a good amp with a biwired hookup (see our FAQ for more on biwiring) brings these babies close to perfection all on their very own. --Michael Mikesell

Buyer Reviews :
Well, first of all, I should say the speakers look just as good in person as they do on amazon.com. Fabulous!! They really complement the modern furnishing in our house. Also, I visited two major retail electronics stores a few nights ago (Circuit City, The Good Guys). There wasn't a speaker that looked better than the Wharfedales--at any price. And, they had some fairly pricey wood cabinet speakers on display ...

Sound--these aren't just for looks, after all! A good amount of bass and well defined high-notes. Very nice, indeed, and the best sounding speakers I've ever owned. I am driving the Emerald 97's with a Yamaha RX-570 receiver, 70 watts/channel, connected in a bi-wire configuration. Interestingly, I can now actually play the receiver at full volume (yes, unreasonably loud, but tolerable), something I couldn't have dreamed of doing with my old Acoustic 3311 Series ('white van') speakers. I imagine whoever makes the Acoustic speakers weren't lying about the sensitivity--95 db. The Wharfedale's have a sensitivity of 89 db, and suppose I may need to get a more powerful amplifier to fully realize the speaker's capabilities. Then again, I do live in a condo, and probably shouldn't do anything--like buy a more powerful amplifier--that might encourage me to play music any louder than I already do ;-)

(by Randall Granaas)

Features/Technical Specs :
* 3-way front-ported floorstanding speakers
* 125-watt power handling
* 40 to 20,000 Hz frequency response
* 6.7-inch polymer-plastic bass/mid units; 1-inch silk-dome tweeters
* Rosewood veneer finish

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