infullview
Super Member
Oh man, you're gonna love these. Just make sure to do a recap before you fire them up. The sand is in the back - do not drill any holes! To get into it, take the screws out of the back. Pictures would be nice!
Wharfedale Owners Thread
- Thread starter tyeeslayer
- Start date
And if there are any paper in oil capacitors, they should still be good and make a difference in the voicing that you want to preserve. I had a pair of W70s some years back! Very nice speakers!
Good golly, those look like they have the same veneer as the W60(D?) that I have in a closet. Gorgeous!
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?attachments/wharfedale-03-jpg.310547/
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?attachments/wharfedale-04-jpg.310548/
beautiful.
I would rather not have to recap these anytime soon. Mostly because they are otherwise untouched (unopened) and I'd like to give them a try before tearing them apart.
I am in the midst of hooking them up, as I write. Pics soon.
Anyone willing to concur: these are all I expect for them to be, per my original post? Early, alnico, super 3, etc.? I have found nothing definitive online as far as dating these.
Ian
SF Bay Area
Pictures of the drivers or the backs of them, along with crossover pictures would be a good idea. There were quite a few variations.
Initial impressions: They are not disappointing me. That's big. I just offed a pair of Kef Coda IIIs for being instantly fatiguing. These haven't given me that impression.
My listening space is very small, which will constrain my overall appreciation of these, but my Maximus 7s worked very well in this space. I have these on my desktop; 5' center to center; toed-in slightly; "sweet spot" about 5' feet back when focused on listening (I'll sit closer when using my computer, but then I use a different system.
Sound stage is very small, naturally, given the small space I have to work with.
I will set these up in our living room to give them their best shot, but we don't use entertainment electronics in our living space.
I'll live with these a bit, hoping to better discern their true value. I can't AB them against my Maximus 7s without a lot of work. I'll have to rely on memory.
Eddie Harris and Les McCann to begin with. That's a live album (Swiss movement) and the engineering may not be the best for really testing these. I now have Annie Lennox on and I'm enjoying it. Vocals seem like they may be a strength of these. Also trying very low volume while writing this. My Maximus 7s would essentially "disappear". These are a little more persistent in their left-right placement. But all in all, very full and pleasant.
Thanks for the input! I'll be checking this thread and others now that I'm "in the club".
Ian
My listening space is very small, which will constrain my overall appreciation of these, but my Maximus 7s worked very well in this space. I have these on my desktop; 5' center to center; toed-in slightly; "sweet spot" about 5' feet back when focused on listening (I'll sit closer when using my computer, but then I use a different system.
Sound stage is very small, naturally, given the small space I have to work with.
I will set these up in our living room to give them their best shot, but we don't use entertainment electronics in our living space.
I'll live with these a bit, hoping to better discern their true value. I can't AB them against my Maximus 7s without a lot of work. I'll have to rely on memory.
Eddie Harris and Les McCann to begin with. That's a live album (Swiss movement) and the engineering may not be the best for really testing these. I now have Annie Lennox on and I'm enjoying it. Vocals seem like they may be a strength of these. Also trying very low volume while writing this. My Maximus 7s would essentially "disappear". These are a little more persistent in their left-right placement. But all in all, very full and pleasant.
Thanks for the input! I'll be checking this thread and others now that I'm "in the club".
Ian
Be very careful that you don’t over drive these speakers. The W70 does not require much power the specified range is 15 to 75 watts. Recapping is a must if you want to get the Wharfedale sound back. I greatly favor the Mundorf E-Cap NPE. I have recapped a W35, and a W45 with them very pleased with the sound. The fact these cap’s cost +/- $2 Dollars each makes them a fantastic value.
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Thanks for the tip! I can't help but think a recap is in the future. I do think I'll give myself every opportunity to "hear them out" in the meantime. I will by then, it is hoped, more easy spot the improvement.
I think I can say, these are ill-served where I have them currently. Plans will need to be made.
Ian
SF Bay Area
I think I can say, these are ill-served where I have them currently. Plans will need to be made.
Ian
SF Bay Area
A follow up, while I'm going through different sources: I'm powering these with a Fisher KX-200 and have been better able to see some value in using its Stereo Dimension feature, which allows for varying mixes of mono and stereo. This has the effect (on the Beatles Rubber Soul, at any rate) of narrowing the sound stage. An added bonus is that I can get close to what I've come to expect from my Maximus 7s. With each speaker respectively at arms length, I have the vocals closer to being directly in front of me. Much of this is, perhaps, merely fine tuning the engineering of the album to suit speakers to listening space. Very fun.
Ian
SF Bay Area
Ian
SF Bay Area
ian_munday
New Member
Listen to Rubber Soul as the Beatles mixed it in mono. They did not like stereo. Abby Road, and Let It Be were the only albums they mixed in stereo.
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infullview
Super Member
He's right. All the early Beatles albums were done on a two track and mixed to mono when originally released.
It was a marketing thing in the States, The Capital label that distributed the Beatles decided that mono would not sell and wanted Stereo instead. That might have been true in the very beginning but shortly after they took off in the charts the Beatles could have recorded beer belches and it would haved topped the charts.
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I was aware of the Beatles recording strategies at the time the album was produced, but thanks for the reminders! I merely suggest the balancing act of getting the most out of an admittedly less-than-optimum setup as having the benefit of challenging me to use the Fisher's Sound Dimension feature as a tool to counter any peculiarities in that (and now other) recordings.
Live recordings will have their own challenges, and remixed "stereo" versions of mono originals, theirs.
By the way, I'm using CDs as a source. I don't have a turntable at this time and can only think I'm missing out on something there. But, as many of you know, this is a chance to delve more deeply into the hobby and I so appreciate your own take on its many facets. So much to learn (and enjoy).
Because these Wharfedales are not air-suspended, I'm sure I can open them up without compromising their integrity. It's something I would normally do with any new acquisition, but I'll hold off a bit.
I should also note, should anyone wonder, that I used a flashlight to peer through the grill cloth in order to check the driver compliment. That, and online images, allowed me as much knowledge as I now have of these. I did wonder if the logo badges might be relevant in determining a more exact age of these, and, by extension, their expected specs regarding drivers, crossovers, etc.
Ian
SF Bay Area
Live recordings will have their own challenges, and remixed "stereo" versions of mono originals, theirs.
By the way, I'm using CDs as a source. I don't have a turntable at this time and can only think I'm missing out on something there. But, as many of you know, this is a chance to delve more deeply into the hobby and I so appreciate your own take on its many facets. So much to learn (and enjoy).
Because these Wharfedales are not air-suspended, I'm sure I can open them up without compromising their integrity. It's something I would normally do with any new acquisition, but I'll hold off a bit.
I should also note, should anyone wonder, that I used a flashlight to peer through the grill cloth in order to check the driver compliment. That, and online images, allowed me as much knowledge as I now have of these. I did wonder if the logo badges might be relevant in determining a more exact age of these, and, by extension, their expected specs regarding drivers, crossovers, etc.
Ian
SF Bay Area
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ian_munday
New Member
I just recapped a pair or W2's (two way) with polypropylene caps. The sound is now much brighter but nothing that special and was wondering if Paper in Oil would give an improvement.
I need 8uf and can get hold of Russian 4uf quite reasonably, to I was thinking of ordering 4 and giving them a try (using two in parallel).
Ian
I need 8uf and can get hold of Russian 4uf quite reasonably, to I was thinking of ordering 4 and giving them a try (using two in parallel).
Ian
Go for it, experimentation is what makes this fun. The Mundorf E-Caps I mentioned up thread returned my W35's to their original sound. I purchased these speakers new in 1972 so I know what they sounded like at that time. One forum elsewhere dedicated to speaker construction and restoration they are signing the praises of motor start capacitors in crossovers. When you get such good sound out of such cheap capacitors you start to look at the really high end capacitors with suspicion. As you go up in price fewer and fewer people can hear the difference. I recapped a pair of Polk Monitor 10B's with Mundorf M-Caps the set for both speakers cost about $115 Dollars, great sound but given the results I have had with the E-Caps I wonder if $15 Dollars worth of E-Caps would have have worked out just as well.
ian_munday
New Member
As far as I know Mundorf E-Caps
Mundorf E-Caps (being electrolytic capacitors), as far as I know, are a downgrade from Polypropylene which is why I was asking if the speakers would benefit from Paper in Oil which I can get quite reasonably at the values required.
I know that electrolytic capacitors can have some issues when used in an AC circuit even when they say that they are non polarised.
Ian
Mundorf E-Caps (being electrolytic capacitors), as far as I know, are a downgrade from Polypropylene which is why I was asking if the speakers would benefit from Paper in Oil which I can get quite reasonably at the values required.
I know that electrolytic capacitors can have some issues when used in an AC circuit even when they say that they are non polarised.
Ian
infullview
Super Member
Oil is great for longevity - you will never have to replace them, and they probably have less parasitic resistance, but I doubt that you'd actually be able to hear the difference.
