We have just taken delivery of the very lovely little new Wharfedale Diamond 11.0 and 11.1 bookshelf speakers. They have a lot to live up to as the previous models had been our go to little budget designs of choice for a while. The new models have a full front sized grille which magnetically fixes to the gloss black front baffle so no unsightly locating holes will be visible when the grilles are removed for optimal listening! The bigger model also sports a stylish curvy sided cabinet designed to help cut down on internal cabinet vibrations.

Now don't dismiss these because they are inexpensive or small (or both) because these little speakers really deliver the goods. OK they will never deliver that really deep bassy stuff but positioned close to a rear wall or towards the corner of the room and preferably on a nice pair of speaker stands they will give you an amazingly clean and open sound without that tendency of many budget designs to sound bright and a little ragged at the top end!

We have been running them in on a combination of equipment from budget Marantz systems to expensive Naim Uniti Nova and in all instances they are capable of a sweet open and detailed sound that is engaging and easy to listen to for long periods. Our old standard test track "I Don't Care Any More" by Phil Collins sounded full and vibrant with wide left to right sound staging. The bigger model delivering substantially more bottom end welly to make the listening experience more fun! Never would you think in blind tests that you are listening to small or budget designs. Our go to designs for entry level speakers for the foreseeable future we think.

Anyone interested into little stand mounted speakers needs to add these to their demo shortlist. Once again that bar has been raised in what is a very competitive area of the loudspeaker market! Click here read more about the spec and price of the Wharfedale Diamond 11.0 and here for the Wharfedale Diamond 11.1