Wharfedale Owners Thread

[VanArn]

I believe that the controls are 50 ohm 3 watt wire wound pots, not 'L' pads. If after spraying them internally with a contact cleaner and finding them to be still not working then it is likely that they have gone open cct. You can fit an 8 ohm ' L' pad in place of the pot by just adding an 8 ohm wire wound 5-10 watt resistor to the negative speaker connection . With most 'L' pads the positive input goes to terminal 3, the centre tab of the pad, terminal 2 goes to the speaker +ve. Terminal 1 is where the resistor would be added, in series to the negative speaker line. It is not a perfect constant impedance solution but then the Wharfedale crossover circuits are typical for their era and far from modern high end design approaches.

 

[Lavane]

I believe that the controls are 50 ohm 3 watt wire wound pots, not 'L' pads. If after spraying them internally with a contact cleaner and finding them to be still not working then it is likely that they have gone open cct. You can fit an 8 ohm ' L' pad in place of the pot by just adding an 8 ohm wire wound 5-10 watt resistor to the negative speaker connection . With most 'L' pads the positive input goes to terminal 3, the centre tab of the pad, terminal 2 goes to the speaker +ve. Terminal 1 is where the resistor would be added, in series to the negative speaker line. It is not a perfect constant impedance solution but then the Wharfedale crossover circuits are typical for their era and far from modern high end design approaches.

Thanks!

 

[Katalyst]

Anyone made their own grills? I have some W60e that have none.

 

[swamppirate]

Anyone made their own grills? I have some W60e that have none.

I have not, but can't imagine it would be to hard.....

 

[Katalyst]

Just wanted to see some examples. I am thinking a neutral beige burlap.

 

[klipschorn]

Does anyone know when the BR/3 tweeter was introduced? I know there was a "Midget" introduced in the late 40's for a few years and was replaced by the venerable Super 3. The Midget also had a square magnet. These BR/3 units have a square red magnet that is not quite as strong as that of the Super 3. It appears to be the same as that used on the early 5 inch units and also later on the 10 inch units. They had aluminum dust caps and an aluminum voice coil. The label on the back plate is very similar to that used on very old units. The label and corporate logo was changed sometime in the early 60's.

The attached piccy shows the two units during a restoration. Note also the foam centering device used inside the voice coil. Internet searches have yielded nothing.

The eBay seller from whom I bought these was unable to describe the enclosures as looking like something designed in the 40's or 50's. That was based on an erroneous assumption that the seller knew what such an enclosure design looked like. All he told me was that they came from a cabinet with a W10/FSB woofer, one3 of which was missing and the other as having what seemes to be an open voice coil. My request to make purchase of the remaining W10 has yet to be answered.

There is no mention of this BR/3 in the book titled "A Pair Of Wharfedales". The Midget is mentioned on pages 81 & 87, a chapter which covers the period between 1937 and 1946. It also mentions that the Midget was the only new non-transformer product introduced during WW-II. A greyscale picture of the Midget is shown on page 81 and implies a magnet that has been painted as it doesn't appear to be bare metal. Due to the angle of the speaker in that photo, the label is unclear, even under a microscope.

 

[VanArn]

This is a tweeter that was used in speaker enclosures manufactured by British Industries in the USA. It uses the Bronze magnet ( BR) instead of the higher flux density Super type. Basically Wharfedale changed from cloth surrounds to foam plastic ones around 1957. The manufacturing date is usually written on the cone.

 

[swamppirate]

Just wanted to see some examples. I am thinking a neutral beige burlap.

Mine are dark brown burlapish.....similar to this....

 

[Katalyst]

Thanks swamppirate for the pic. When I decide on a material I will post a picture.

 

[Purplybob]

Hi everyone - I hope to join this club - have found a beautiful pair of w-90's for sale; trying to talk the wife into letting me get them. Please wish me luck!

 

[ducati2]

I have the same pair and love them. Beware of the 55 year old particle board they used.. if it got just a hint of moisture over the years it weakens the structure and they may need repairs. Look at the wood work very closely. My project was huge, but they look and sound fantastic now. Also, know that the speaker grills do NOT come out unless you pretty much destroy the cabinets. They were built without thought to someone ever needing to replace the grill cloth. You might be able to scrub them clean(er), but I had to resort to masking off the wood work and using fabric spray paint, which was about 90% successful and a real pain to do.
I do highly recommend the large oil caps. FYI - I paid $300 about 2 years ago and they were in poor condition. GOOD LUCK!

 

[geepee]

Well sign me up i am now a fan. My daily drivers are NS 1000M's which are pretty damn good. Recently i got a bug for British speakers and got curious. I bought a pair of Dovedales and a pair of Leak 2060's. I recapped the Doves and decided to listen to them before i spent any effort on refinishing the cabs and grills. Crossovers could not have been any easier! My son let them run all day so when i got home i popped in Kraftwerk, Mel Torme,Brian Setzer,and Nitzer Ebb just to get lots of challenges lined up for the audition. HOLY CRAP these are amazing speakers! With some speakers i turn up the bass, these i had to wind them back a bit. Re capping improved midrange but nothing to noticeable elsewhere. These were built in 69! Caps that old and still sound good? I am starting to think this re capping business is a little Placebo but thats a hot topic. Mine are the first edition. Drivers all in great shape. Now i have a craving for the Kingsdales but i read they never were sold in Canada or the US so i dont think i will ever have those. hmmmm should i build my own? Anyways if anybody is here surfing for info to help them buy Dovedales i am one happy customer. Worth it!! One more thing to mention i have these on stands 20 inches up. Seems to be the perfect height.

 

[Cscarlet41]

Well sign me up i am now a fan. My daily drivers are NS 1000M's which are pretty damn good. Recently i got a bug for British speakers and got curious. I bought a pair of Dovedales and a pair of Leak 2060's. I recapped the Doves and decided to listen to them before i spent any effort on refinishing the cabs and grills. Crossovers could not have been any easier! My son let them run all day so when i got home i popped in Kraftwerk, Mel Torme,Brian Setzer,and Nitzer Ebb just to get lots of challenges lined up for the audition. HOLY CRAP these are amazing speakers! With some speakers i turn up the bass, these i had to wind them back a bit. Re capping improved midrange but nothing to noticeable elsewhere. These were built in 69! Caps that old and still sound good? I am starting to think this re capping business is a little Placebo but thats a hot topic. Mine are the first edition. Drivers all in great shape. Now i have a craving for the Kingsdales but i read they never were sold in Canada or the US so i dont think i will ever have those. hmmmm should i build my own? Anyways if anybody is here surfing for info to help them buy Dovedales i am one happy customer. Worth it!! One more thing to mention i have these on stands 20 inches up. Seems to be the perfect height.

I totally agree with your opinion, the Dovedales are amazing speakers. Mine are Dovedale 3s and I haven’t checked but doubt they have been recapped. I’m thinking of doing it but to be honest, I’m struggling to think how they would sound any better so I keep putting it off. I have this week replaced my original lighter weight stands with a pair of heavier and more stable Atacama SL400i stands and the difference in the sound is significant. The sound stage has gone almost ‘holographic’ for want of a better word, the bass has improved and the separation of the instruments has increased. I’m re-listening to all my Pink Floyd albums as Gilmour’s guitar has never sounded so wonderful. I’ve not even filled the speaker tubes with Atabite mass loading discs yet so it should improve even more. For the £80 I paid for the Dovedales I couldn’t be happier and I can’t see me ever replacing them - I listen to music for hours through them and never get tired, just fully absorbed in the moment.

 

[geepee]

Funny you should talk about bigger stands... I just got a pair with a big chunky plinth and i am sure they have bumped up the quality in both my Yamahas and the Wharfies.My previous ones were not as substantial

 

[geepee]

Beautiful day in Vancouver! Sanding Dovedales.

 

[geepee]

In with Watco red mahogany Danish oil
1st coat. I like it so far.

 

[geepee]

Gonna chime in once more on the Dovedales. They really are a beautiful sounding speaker. I was surprised they sound this good with cabs that don't seem to be as sturdy as they should be. If I had the energy maybe I would add some bracing but i am enjoying them just the way they are. I would not pass these up if you found them for a good price.

 

[geepee]

Dot Heton. I had a pair of those. Really liked them. The wife said they were too big for the living room. So another owner got them. I have a dedicated sound area now.

Ahhhhh wives torpedoing the simple pleasures in life.

 

[Freitag]

Ahhhhh wives torpedoing the simple pleasures in life.

Or you can get lucky and marry one who loves music and says «now these were pretty cool».

 

[geepee]

New cloth going on tonight. Old and the new. Also a little Brasso makes a big différence on the old badges.