Wharfedale Jade 7 User Review (Ongoing)

[teachsac]

Background: I placed my order for a pair of Jade 7 floorstanding speakers and the Jade 2 Center channel speaker. I've been looking to upgrade my very old Klipsch RB-75s and RC-7. While the Klipsch have very good sound, they aren't quite the sound I want. I'm looking for pretty neutral sounding speakers for a mix of HT and music use.

I listened to several brands: Paradigm, B&W, Golden Ear, Focal Arias, Sonus Faber, Martin Logan, Dynaudio, and Revel. All sounded good, but different. Revel, while extremely accurate, was a little flat. I could not stand the sound of the B&W CM series, the Golden Ears, and the Martin Logan. Originally, I had planned on picking up the new Paradigm Prestiges, but after delays and reading decided against them.

Specifications Jade 7 Floorstanding Speakers:

MSRP: $4199/pair
Type: 3-way Floorstanding
Bass driver: 2 x 8" (200mm) Accufibre Cone
Mid-Range: 3" (75mm) Aluminium Composite Cone
Tweeter: 1" (25mm) Aluminium Dome
Nominal Impedance: 6 ohm (8 ohm compatible)
Frequency Response: +/- 3dB 42Hz - 24kHz
Recommended Amplifier Power: 30 - 200w
SPL: (1w@1m) 88dB
Dimensions: (h x w x d)mm 1180 x 273 x 448
Net weight: 37kg / pc (80 lbs.)

Specifications Jade C2 Center:

MSRP: $1499
Type: 3-way Center Channel
Bass driver: 4 x 5" (125mm) Accufibre Cone
Mid-Range: 3" (75mm) Aluminium Composite Cone
Tweeter: 1" (25mm) Aluminium Dome
Nominal Impedance: 6 ohm (8 ohm compatible)
Frequency Response: +/- 3dB 55Hz - 24kHz
Recommended Amplifier: Power 30 - 150w
SPL: (1w@1m) 87dB
Dimensions: (h x w x d)mm 195 x 914 x 300
Net weight: 18.6kg / pc

Unpacking:

Talk about White Glove treatment, literally. Speakers arrived. Boxes are huge. A person can easily fit inside. When opening the boxes, you are greeted with the Owner's manual and inside the packet is a pair of white gloves. The feet are already on the speakers and are adjustable up and down to ensure they are level. They are tightly packed and there is no damage on the rosewood finish.

Setup:

I am running these with a Parasound 5250 five-channel amp and a Marantz AV7005 processor. Amp should drive these extremely well. There are two sets of binding posts with a bridge fir bi-wiring. Right now I am running single wire. Because of the room, I am unable to create a perfect equilateral triangle unless I move the couch even closer. Not possible. Upon running Audyssey, as I said, I encountered a phase error. I eliminated one cause, reversed wires. It could also be a deliberate design by the manufacturer because of the multiple drivers, or my room layout. Anyways, skipped and completed.

Pre-Breakin Impressions:

Breaking in the new Wharfedale Jade 7's. I thought, what better way than Joe and Beth in Amsterdam. The guitar, piano, and horns are so detailed. I know this BD frontwards and backwards. I hear things I never did with the Klipsch. I also listened to Joe Bonamassa, The Mavericks, Miranda Lambert, Devo, and had to put in Megan Trainor (Gotta Love That Bass). These things are so musical and sweet. They roll from top to bottom. A lot of deep bass. If this is how good they sound now, I can't wait until they're broken in. The more you drive them the better they sound.

Been watching shows off of the DVR. All sound terrific. Just finished watching the scene in the graveyard with Voldemort from HP4. Wow is all I can say. Music is crystal clear and the speakers really dig down deep. A lot of low bass in that scene.

Professional Reviews and Measurements:

It is rare to find even an expensive speaker that measures as well as this. That Wharfedale's Jade 7 does so at a price of a dollar less than $4200/pair is especially commendable. I am not surprised RD liked this speaker as much he did.—John Atkinson

http://www.stereophile.com/content/wharfedale-jade-7-loudspeaker

Conclusion
In addition to the material mentioned above, I also sampled many of my favorite movie demo scenes: from Serenity, the opening title sequence (chapter 3); from the original (and the only tolerable) Transformers movie, Sam’s first encounter with the Autobots (chapter 3) and Megatron (chapters 17 and 18); from Evita, the funeral scenes in the first act; from How to Train Your Dragon, Hiccup meeting Toothless the dragon (chapter 6) and taking his first flight (chapter 9); and much more. Everything I heard combined dynamics (where needed), subtlety (when called for), detail, and a lack of excessive edginess (at any tolerable volume) that made these experiences irresistible.

When the time came to move from one favorite source to another, I was always reluctant to make the change—I was having so much fun with the disc spinning in the player that I didn’t want it to stop. If that’s not enough to justify giving the Wharfedale Jades a high recommendation, I don’t know what is.

http://www.soundandvision.com/content/wharfedale-jade-7-speaker-system

Stay tuned. More to come once they are in and set up.

S~

 

[teachsac]

Still waiting on delivery date. Moved the Parasound downstairs and the Marantz receiver upstairs. I forgot how heavy (especially front heavy) that Parasound amp is. I had to turn it sideways. I'll work on it more when the speakers get here.

S~

Monday afternoon

 

[teachsac]

Sound good so far. Running single wire for now. First problem is phase on the L/C/R. Checked everything. Hooked up correctly. Could also be the room with these speakers. I'll try running it again when they are broken in. Could also be in the manufacturers design.

S~

 

[teachsac]

One of the woofers on my left speakers is not right. Terrible distortion. Going to play around this weekend and get it exchanged for a new one.

 

[teachsac]

My dealer is talking to Wharfedale. Hopefully I'll have an update today.

S~

 

[teachsac]

Back in business. Replaced the bottom Woofer and driver. Back to breaking them in.

S~

 

[Ilya]

These are some very serious speakers! I've heard about Wharfedale before (one of the oldest speaker manufacturers in the UK), but never had a chance to audition them. I don't think there is an A/V dealer that carries them in our state.

 

[teachsac]

These are so nice. They've really opened up with some time on them. Especially the center. Music is so pure and natural.

S~

 

[teachsac]

OMG. Watched Interstellar last night. I thought audio was top notch. I had no difficulties with dialog, and the lows were low. Between the Jades and the Radia 210i sub, again WOW!

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

What do you have them crossed at?

I've been contemplating a speaker change, and have been looking (Magnolia) at the Jades and Diamonds. Jades might be a little more than I can spend, but the Diamonds look nice.

 

[teachsac]

I saw that BB started carrying Wharfedales not too long ago. Good thing I don't have to buy electronics from them I'd have to check. Since they're full range, I think the sub is lower than normal for theater viewing. Absolutely loving them. Totally different sound than Klipsch. I let Audyssey set the crossovers. Haven't had time to really sit down and tweak. I would like to start experimenting with Dirac, as it's more flexible and handles the phase variances with speakers like these that have multiple drivers.

S~

 

[teachsac]

What do you have them crossed at?

I've been contemplating a speaker change, and have been looking (Magnolia) at the Jades and Diamonds. Jades might be a little more than I can spend, but the Diamonds look nice.

LPF is 80Hz
Front Speakers were set to full by Audyssey and it is using advanced.
Surround 60Hz.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

Interesting. XT32 sets my RF82ii towers are full, but I have been running them at 80. Chad B tested 60 and they seemed to do well. I think since I have the power and the speaker, I gotta try the RF7ii's at 60hz. Might as well try and get something out of those 4 10" woofers.

The large center I may get is still only rated to 57hz IIRC, so I reckon it'd be better to stay at 80hz.