Wharfedale Speakers at Best Buy (1 Viewer)

[mike_frontier]

Frank,
What I think it is that some people think since you do not buy from a HiFi or Mom and PoP stereo shop and pay original MSRP w/ rarely any sales/bargains is the great deal! Funny thing about an weekago I went to an mom and pop HiFi store that carried Phase Technology speakers and got to listen to them and was willing to buy them,, I asked if he can give me a little discount if I was to buy an package deal and they said they can’t due to business is slow and they DO NOT SELL BY VOLUME so they have to sell by HIGH retail price. So I walked out.
But anyways if there’s people say that purchasing equipment at stores like Best Buy or CC says there cheaply made I think are pathetic for the ones that think that!
If these people know anything about business or how Best Buy works they purchase equipment by VOLUME and can sell at an lower price which makes it an great buy! I do not think JBL, SONY, BOSE and YAMAHA which BEST BUY carries is NOT cheap!! You just get a better price on it then at an local HiFi shop/store.
As a matter a fact I seen the exact same 42" Toshiba HDTV selling at Mom and Pop Hifi store for $1899.00 no financing available and then at Best Buy they got the same identical for HDTV for $1699.00 w/ 0% apr for 24 months. Now who is the sucker that would get it for $1899.00 @ Mom and Pop HiFi store and not Best Buy? That tells you who the bad shopper is!

I totally agree with Frank on this

 

[DaveZeisler]

Best Buy sells crap. Period. Sales purely based on quantity, not quality of equipment. They know they can push more Pioneer or Sony entry level receivers than they could Pioneer Elite or Sony ES. The JBL they sell are not top or even middle of the line. The Wharf's are obviously entry level. Cerwin Vega? Please. Bose? We know how that goes. BB is great for high schoolers with no money or uninformed people looking for convenience. If you just want five speakers, any five, and don't care what sound they put out, go to BB. They'll sell you anything.

 

[JoshuaIan]

On a lighter note from that last post, I have the Wharfedale Zaldek Center speaker due to arrive at my doorstep tomorrow... I'll be sure to let you all know what I think!

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Let us know how they sound, Mike. I'm your typical uninformed consumer, but I'm curious.

 

[James Bergeron]

Mike, you pay $1899 to get SERVICE, the Mom & Pop might actually service the set! They may come over and tweek it, they may provide you with help (something the average joe would need) on all the technical jargon. Is $200 worth all that to you, maybe not, but it might be worth it to joe shmoe that doesn't understand all the new fancy terms etc.

As far as speakers go, you aren't going to find "hi end" speakers at best buy and if you don't believe it, well it's your loss.

 

[mike_frontier]

I will post my comments on my cheap best buy speakers. But I will then go to Joes Hifi shop buy the same speakers for 30% markup then the same identical ones that are at best buy and tell you if those are better or not.

 

[Angelo.M]

The JBL [Best Buy] sell are not top or even middle of the line.

Really? The Studio Series is more than middle-of-the-line, and good enough to have earned praise here and elsewhere.

 

[Angelo.M]

The JBL [Best Buy] sell are not top or even middle of the line.

Really? The Studio Series is more than middle-of-the-line, and good enough to have earned praise here and elsewhere.

 

[JoshuaIan]

Well, my Wharf Zaldek center arrived today!!! What a cool looking speaker - first thing I did was remove the cloth covers to explose the true blues! Saweeet!
The sound is actually good too, no complaints yet!! Now I haven't done much with it, but I am very impressed at this point, definately worth my money so far! I'm gonna watch some more movies with it tonight and see... watched Signs earlier, very groovy movie!
The instruction booklet contains instructions for all of the Zaldek speaker models, and some sugegstions on placement and what not. Also came with a very cool looking big Zaldek sticker! I know this topic was mentioned earlier, but the instruction book says "Wharfedale Zaldek speakers are compatible with 4 and 8 Ohm amplifiers" in big bold print on the back cover.

 

[Geoff L]

Groovy and Saweeet....

Intresting first words and brief open the box review...

What center speaker do you have to compare it to and what are you driving it with?

How is the cabinet build quailt?

Dose the speaker have that cheezy kinda look, or dose it look better in person with the interesting modular look?

An affordable line of speaks that many I am sure are interested in. Your take and anything you can tell us will be much appreciated.

Glad you like it so far.

 

[MichaelMOS]

One thing i noticed is that you can't buy one suround speaker. I will be buying a new 6.1 receiver(pioneer VSX-D912-K or the 812 model, available- March) and i dont want to buy 2 pairs of these just to get 3 speakers.

 

[mike_frontier]

Let us know more.!!

 

[MichaelMOS]

bumb!
still waiting for the review...

 

[mike_frontier]

Well Yesterday (Tuesday) I receiver ONLY my center channel and the box was pretty beating up. There was no cosmetic damage to the center so I am keeping it for now.

As for the 2- mains I just got them in today (Wednesday) (deleiverd here at work) I can tell you that I am pretty pissed off. After opening up the package the foam insulation is all busted up and as the box was beatin up bad also. so far as I can see one of the mains on the top left corner (speaker box) was damaged and smashed,, but still can see how they perform should be fine (due to transit delivery).
But I am gonna have to return them in shortly. But I will just take them home tonight and play them and see how they perform.

So far the center is big, bulky and not cheap at all. The dialog is clean and pitch is nice during movies or music. I really like the center and the look is future'istic... so far 2-thumbs up so far.
For the mains,,, I will play them tonight.

-Mike

 

[Corey_ Williams]

Sorry to hear about the bad shipping. I hope everthing works out.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

So...how was the honeymoon?

 

[mike_frontier]

Wharfedale Zaldek –
Well I hooked up the mains I ran were the Zaldek 300’s (3-ways/
link: http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=...cat=15&scat=16 ) with the Wharfedale Zaldek Center (Link: http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=...cat=15&scat=19 )
and turned off my 10” Downfire’in DCM power subwoofer so I can get an better idea on how these 3 speakers perform.
So what can I say about them? Well I am not fully impressed with them.
The mains by specs claim that they can hit a low frequency of 40Hz? Yea right!! The bass is not clean at all. It sounds like it works too hard to even get a smooth bass sound, maybe it’s an BRIT thing. The mids and tweets on them were extremely nice and very clean sound, but something about the little 6.5” subwoofer jut threw me off. It’s definitely not a speaker that produces bass clean. It has a flat BONG tone bass to it.
They look nice and all, but for $200.00 I think the Energy XL150’s sound better and there smaller and produces a smoother bass to it. I will be taking the Zaldek 300’s to my local Energy speaker shop to compare the two brands and see if I can tell a difference. They sales rep that sells Energy Speakers was really nice and letting me bring the Zaldek Mains and Center to his store to see a comparable difference. He was even curious himself to see what the Zaldek has to offer.
The Zaldek Center Channel is nice but is very heavy and bulky. Looks too huge on top of my 42” Samsung RPTV (sad, but true).
How does it sound? In music it’s ok,, does not produce any bass what so ever and but the dialog is clean. But also for the $200.00 range. I think the Energy XL series is better for the money, well see.
Listening to the Zaldek in Home Theater mode.
Dolby Digital or DTS and running only the 2 mains and 1 center and all I can say is sweet!! Even better when I hooked up my power subwoofer J . Very clean and performance is at top notch, but volume control on the amp had to be cranked pretty hard to where I love to watch movies at.
End of conclusion:
My final decision about these speakers is that they’re nice in home theater sound, but for music I was not totally impressed. Maybe I need to put the mains on speaker stands and not have them sit on the floor to perform better or maybe the speaker’s needs to be broken in more to get what I am wanting to expect.
As for power I am running an H/K AVR125 receiver and while watching movies I really had to crank it to where I would get full impact performance on these Zaldek speakers. If you are like me I really do not want to work my receiver hard to get the best performance.
I think also maybe due to the speakers being 6 ohms can be a problem pushing these babies, but I confirmed with an H/K tech support if it’s ok to run an 6 ohm load speakers on my receiver and he told me it would be fine and due to the watts the speakers need I had plenty. I say while viewing movies I have to have the volume control set at about 85% - 90% on the control volume to really let these things rip. They can handle power and they’re nice. I say if you looking for this kind of style these are an great set, but if your looking for performance and not looks (aka STYLE),, I think there is more better out there in the same price range that will deliver what you are wanting to paying for.
Like I said, I will be heading to the Energy Speaker shop in my town and I am going to compare the Zaldek’s to the Energy XL150s and Energy XL Center to see which I will own. I give Zaldek speaker 3.5 out of 5 stars so far.
God bless!

 

[mike_frontier]

Well you know what, The center cost MSRP for 149.00 and there givng a 50.00 rebate so your only paying 99.00 for the center channel.
Then on the Mains the MSRP price is 179.00 and there is an 50.00 mail in rebate so you are only paying 129.00 for the mains.
So for this price range I say heck yea there a steal for the performace I got out of them,, but still for music,,, its gonna take some adjusting to.

 

[DaveZeisler]

I rest my case, your Honour.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Cool, thanks Mike. So, probably the best bang-for-buck BB carries is the JBL stuff, the NSP-1 is a real steal. Gets the mids right, even for music.