Wharfedale Diamond 12.0

When someone asks me to recommend speakers that offer lots of bang for the buck, Wharfedale's Diamond Series always springs to mind. In production since 1982, these speakers are consistently well built and handsome. And they offer the kind of sound quality you might expect from speakers costing quite a bit more. The Diamond 12.0 are the smallest bookshelf pair in the lineup, sporting a 4-inch woofer. These speakers are a complete redesign from the previous generation. The new Klarity™ woofer is a mica-infused polypropylene cone. What does that mean? Polypropylene is very light, so it responds quickly to audio signals — important for any speaker to reproduce music accurately. Mica is a mineral that adds stiffness to the polypropylene. That keeps the woofer from losing its shape, which can cause distortion. Combined with the 1-inch soft-dome tweeter, these new Klarity woofers offer sound that's impressively accurate and smooth. This is a great pair of speakers if you're putting together your first "real" ste...