Hi tabla, Welcome to the forum. There's a guy named Bermuda Bob in these forums (try sending him a pm) who lives in New York state and has quite a bit of experience with Wharfedale speakers. He might be able to steer you.

The same short list of fave speakers pop up in these pages over and over (because they are good speakers, no doubt) and Wharfedale is usually not one of them, but don't let that discourage you. I have been enjoying Wharfedales for years and find them very musical and dynamic for my many different media (vinyl, cd, dvd-audio, sacd, dvd-video). Have had or still have Diamond 7.2's, Pacifics, Pacific Evos and Opus and pleased with all. The parent company also makes the legendary Quads and I have to believe their design and engineering philosophy trickles down to the Wharfedale line.

Stereophile also heartily recommended the Diamond 9.1's and I beleieve they were on the budget component of the year list recently. Defnitely a value leader, IMO.

Despite the seeming lack of support/customer service/marketing network in the US lately, I have been able to get excellent customer service when necessary- even on a product which I bought from an unauthorized dealer- which I DO NOT recommend. Long story.

Anyway, I hope Bermuda Bob can help you out and good luck in your quest.

Hello & Happy New Year,
I can't help you with the Rega amp, I've never looked for one. Here's a link for the best deal in town,(I'll send it through PM), on a new set of Wharfdale speakers for less than a $150 shipped, DEPENDING ON YOUR NEEDS, mine maybe different than yours. I have a small room and listen to 2 channel music. 9x12x8 my speakers are on the long wall. These speakers have performed better in this room than the Quad 21L (The Wharfs were more extended, balanced and open sounding.) & almost as good as the Quad22L2. The latter having two woofers compared to one, but the top end sounds exactly the same. The don't have the finish and build quailty of the Quads, but there are other models of Wharfs that do, but they sure sound as good. They also have a smaller footprint and come in a nice maple color that my wife can live with when I use them in the bigger room. For what these cost, you'd spend more on gas driving around for a weekend!
Let me know if you have any questions.
BB

Hi, Tabla. In Living Stereo on 4th (betwn Broadway & Lafayette) should carry Rega amps. Good luck!

Hey, who knows, Tabla. I just might run into you today at In Living Stereo, as I'm headed there to test equipment, too. Let us know how you like the Regas... but while you're there, you should ask them to audition Exposure integrateds as well, to compare w/ Rega; I haven't heard them personally, but read EXCELLENT reports about them, about their musicality. I think Stephen Mejias uses an Exposure in his system. I don't know what happened in 2007, but in 2006, Exposure 2010S ($1250) was the most affordable integrated amp rated Class A by Stereophile... pretty impressive. This is from Art Dudley's review -

"Its tunefulness and timing are beyond reproach, and, among other things, it's probably one of the most transparent amplification products I've ever heard at any price. Forget tubes vs transistors, domestic vs imported, and all the other things we reviewers like to blather about: None of that means a great deal in the face of a product such as this, because the Exposure 2010S is a great amp and, at $1250, a bargain on the order of the Rega tonearm and Spendor's entry-level speakers."

Why am I shilling for an amp I haven't even heard yet, this early in the morning? I have no idea & I suspect I've gone crazy as of late.

I've been hearing Exposure and other small sized Brit gear take on the big boys in audio quality (and come out on top) for about 25 years now. Folks in the US with their bigger rooms, and shall we say (bigger is better, nearly never true) 'Texan' mental state, have, for the larger part (when you consider %'s of people) ignored the lower powered gear.

When it comes to SS gear, for many years and to this day, Exposure has always been near the top in balancing sonic quality and price.

The guy I sent you to for advice, Glen, in Windsor, isn't in the business for the money. It's his hobby, he loves the stuff! He never carries any product due to being a 'good seller'. He only sells it because it sounds good. Note that Exposure has been on that list of products, for a long time. Right about the time of their introduction to North America. 25 years now? Something like that.

Even after all this time in the business, Glen will take out the time to take a call from a distributor and take out the time to seriously listen to a piece of gear sent to him for evaluation, for potential addition to his product lines.

The longer a dealer has been in the business, the more they tend to hate and loathe this part of the process and are more unlikely to do it, or tolerate any gear being sent to them like that.

In essence, they ignore the pure unadulterated fun part of the whole enterprise, which is it's very point.

I think with that point in mind,and a bit of thought put into the observation of dealers, it maybe possible to sift through the dealers and figure out who's who.

Ask then what they have used at home for pure musical enjoyment. They might sell you Yamaha, Pioneer, etc..but what do they have at home? If it's 'reasonably priced' Euro stuff: Exposure..Sugden...Naim..DNM...Croft, etc,etc (this is the Canadian version of a 80's-90's brand list)

There are two points to bear in mind here, the destruction of a business can come about through the lack of stability in sales and structure. This requires a certain amount of stability in brand marketing choices.

In audio, as a hobby of musical enjoyment, there as also a obligatory requirement on the dealer's part to constantly, whether they hate it or not, to test out new gear for it's sonic quality.

It is by no means as cut and dried as that, but those are the two basic elements, when you cut away all the clutter.

Glen really is a class act. We exchanged emails EVERY single day for about 2 weeks, and he showed me a lot of things. A really phenomenal guy. He mentioned certain products, but never to sell, really... I'd have to bring the topic up & he'd only tell me what might be right for me. We need more guys like that, in every sector of business.