Diamond 9.1 vs Diamond 9.6 vs Diamond 10.6

[admin_exported]

I currently have Diamond 9.1's and a Sony STR-DA1200ES receiver. I'd like to upgrade to 5.1 sound. Where I stay there's no much selection but a local shop has the Diamond 9.6's at a very good price, and the Diamond 10.6's for only 20% more. Unfortunatly I can't audition them first. I'd then use the 9.1's as rear speakers.

Decent sound for stereo music is more important to me than sound for movies, and I've been happy with the 9.1's. Does anyone have any experience of the 9.1's vs 9.6's vs 10.6's? Any advice is apprecieated.

Regards

Michael

 

[the record spot]

Not sure what price these are going for, however and if you are prepared to widen your scope for selection, Q Acoustics 1030i and 1050i are widely available for under £200. Highly recommended speakers.

 

[ear]

yes id go for 1030 fronts and Q center and move the 9.1 to the back

 

[Anonymous]

Why not try them to see which one you like?

If you have a biggish room, the 9.6 will sound more spectacular than the 9.1. It has extension and scale that the 9.1 can't deliver.

However, the 9.6 needs space away from walls, and likes being played loud (hence the recommendation for a bigger room). The large driver array also needs to be quite far away from the listener to work as a point source (I prefer it when it's standing at least 3.5m away). In my experience, it performs best with an amplifier with lots of grip.

The 10 series speaks sound a bit warmer to me (versus the diamond 9 series), so these can work if this sound would match your gear/room better. However the 10.6 is a lower model (the 10.7 is the 9.6's rough replacement), and is a 2.5 way design (the 9.6 is a 4-way design). The 10.6 will not extend to the deep lows as well as the 9.6 (due to the smaller drivers/cabinet and tuning), nor does it have the dedicated mids that the 9.6 has. On the upside, it's a newer and more aesthetically pleasing design, and can work with less space.

If you have a smaller room, I definitely recommend the Diamond 9.3 stand-mount. It's an awesome speaker in the Diamond 9 range. I have the following Diamond 9s: 9.1, 9.3, 9.4, 9.6 and 9.cm. I find the 9.3 the most musical of the bunch (the 9.6 beats it in scale and extension though).

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all your recommendations. I'm in South Africa so my options are a bit limited. To give you an idea of prices these are the local prices converted to pounds at the current exchange rate:

Diamond 9.6 - £270
Diamond 10.6 - £328

I will see if I can find any shops that sell the Q Accoustics range but I found the 1030i's on-line for £292 - way more than they go for in the UK. I couldn't find the 1050i's.

The room is about 5m X 8m, with the speakers against the 5m wall. I about 3m away from the speakers. What's a good distance to keep the speakers away from the walls? At the moment the 9.1's are close - about 3cm away but I can bring them out a bit.

The Wharfedale distributor doesn't allow returns or let you listen to them there so I can't even try them out.

 

[the record spot]

Might be that the new Q range hasn't hit SA yet? The 1030i was around £230 in the UK before the price drop, so not a massive difference. Now the 2000-series range is out, that's the only reason why the price has plummeted in the last couple of months.