Wharfedale Diamond 8.4

The Wharfedale Diamond 8.1's are the only ones of the Diamond 8 series that will work reasonably well with near rear wall placement. The Diamond 8 series is a ported design and sounds at its best when out into the room a bit. At your budget, take a look at the NHT ST4 . Piano black gloss finish; acoustic suspension design; side mounted 8" sub-woofer; $1000 price tag; warm, musical, and detailed sounding.

Regards, Rich

Yes just recently.They where driven by a 'Mid-fi'surround reciever(wood floor)great performance to cost ratio,decent bass,musical,warm,bit lively in lower treble,tad rolled in the top-top,could be played reasonably loud,cleanly.
BTW Rich they are front ported.
But when moved close to the wall they became very boomy. Remember wood floor,budget reciever,so take it in consideration.Do a search on 'kevlar driver colorations'I've heard rumor that budget kevlar has a irritable sonic trait long term,can't remember what.

CL:

I owned the 8.1's for about a year, so I am aware that the 8 series Diamonds are front ported. Given that, I still found that the Wharfedales tended to sound their best when out in the room a bit. Even though you might categorize the B&K as a mid-fi and/or budget receiver, the B&K is still on par with the Wharfedales (mid-fi/budget speakers themselves) from a quality and matching perspective. For near rear wall placement, acoustic suspension speakers are still the way to go and the NHT's would fit that bill.

Regards, Rich

Rich
Let me clarify ,I felt the 8.4 set we auditioned driven by a JVC-9010 delivered a wonderful sound.It's the JVC I call mid-fi,the implication being Rrekstads Ref10/DNA-1 pairing should be much. Port mention merely an FYI you didn't need and we are in agreement they sound better out into room.
Either of you see or hear any of the new Evolution series?
They look well done.