WHARFEDALE DIAMOND 9 SERIES The Diamond 9.1 front left/right speaker had a downward-sloping bass to treble balance, and our curve averaging tends to downplay irregularities at 800 Hz and upward. The Diamond 9.CS center speaker did display response irregularities above 800 Hz as well as significant horizontal lobing at any radiating angle greater than ±5° off-axis. Lobing became progressively more severe at wider angles. On the other hand, the Diamond 9.SR surround speaker had very uniform directivity, which means that the –3-dB shelved treble above 1 kHz was apparent at every radiating angle. All three speakers had relatively limited high-frequency extension.

The SW150 subwoofer had ample SPL at 62 Hz, but its dynamic capability fell at 16 dB per octave below that frequency. There was a relatively moderate 6 dB of crossover/level-control interaction over the full range of the control dial. While the dial is marked from 85 to 35 Hz at intervals of 10 Hz, the actual acoustical turnover frequencies were approximately 35 Hz higher than marked at every control position.

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