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How'd I do? Just picked up a pair of Wharfdale W70s for $50.

C_Little

C_Little

New Member
So I ran across these in the local classifieds, for $50, and thought, how could I lose. I showed up and it was a college kid selling them out of his dorm room. He was running them on a crappy Sanyo receiver/turntable combo unit, so listening to them was less than optimal, but they seemed to be in great shape with no obvious issues and sounded good. They are branded "The Radio People", but I figured I would take them and open them up and see. He said he had found them in his Grandpa's basement a few months back. I got them home, and opened them up, and they have the 12in Alnico subs, with Alnico 8in mids, and the super 3 tweeters. Amazing! Everything seems to be in outstanding condition with good surrounds. I think they are early w70s. The speaker cones are marked 1/63, and 3/63, and the box is ported, and has a single huge square cap. My only issue now is that my only receiver I have at the moment is my SX-880 which runs at 60 watts rms, and these speakers are 40 watts max. I've heard they sound amazing with a tube amp. I may have to start shopping for one. Darn.
 

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Nice get for sure. Appear to be in great shape. Probably a good thing you got to them when you did. College kid and dorm rooms give me scary thoughts.
 
Very very nice, and an awesome price! Personally, I prefer having much more power than my speakers are rated for. I am driving 60 watts continuous with a 200 wpc power amp. As with any speakers, if they are harsh sounding, have uncontrolled bass, or are distorted, then turn down the amp.

But I ran mine with a Sansui 2000, and they sounded quite good with it. Positioning is critical, but if you find that special placement, they sound incredible!
 
Wow, those are beautiful. And I'm running my W45s on a 150 WPC Onkyo, and they sound great. Just need to keep the volume reasonable.
 
BilboBaggins said:
Very very nice, and an awesome price! Personally, I prefer having much more power than my speakers are rated for. I am driving 60 watts continuous with a 200 wpc power amp. As with any speakers, if they are harsh sounding, have uncontrolled bass, or are distorted, then turn down the amp.

But I ran mine with a Sansui 2000, and they sounded quite good with it. Positioning is critical, but if you find that special placement, they sound incredible!
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That is great to know. I'll try them out, but keep a close eye on them. Thanks.
 
Drugolf said:
The old W series Wharfedales love tubes. Big difference.
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I'm completely new to tube amps. I've always been a SS guy. What would you recommend for a good first tube amp on a budget? Also, I've heard good things about using a tube preamp with a solid state receiver. Thoughts?
 
I'd say you did very well indeed! :)

No reason not to try them on your 60 watt receiver, just do not turn it up to the point of distortion.
 
sqlsavior said:
I'd say you did very well indeed! :)

No reason not to try them on your 60 watt receiver, just do not turn it up to the point of distortion.
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I'll give them a good listener tomorrow. I've got to get some rca plugs to be able to hook them up. I'll let you know how it goes.
 
C_Little said:
I'm completely new to tube amps. I've always been a SS guy. What would you recommend for a good first tube amp on a budget? Also, I've heard good things about using a tube preamp with a solid state receiver. Thoughts?
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The tube preamp/ss amplifier combination works well with more modern speakers, your speakers are wanting to be powered by a good tube amplifier. :)
 
Wow those look great,alnico woofers too.
I paid $50 for mine with ceramic woofers,but your's look to be in much better condition.
 
Congrats on a really nice scroe. I have had good luck with tube amps as well as the HK 730 and Sansui 5000x.
 
C_Little said:
I'll give them a good listener tomorrow. I've got to get some rca plugs to be able to hook them up. I'll let you know how it goes.
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The radio people ones don't use RCA plugs,none that i recall seeing.
They use Motorola jacks.

Mine came with the NON solder type,with i REFUSED to use,fearing they would short out.
 
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You did very, very good. It would be a challenge to buy a single "Super 3" tweet for $50! Those are in fantastic shape!

I'm sure that tube power would be the sweetest, but you should be fine with SS for now. In my experience, the early Wharfies (like any old speakers, probably) really improve after continuous playing for a few days. They need to limber up.

That old PIO cap may still be good. I'd love to hear test results if you can do it. All of my early Wharfies had perished old electrolytics. Replaced them with GE motor-runs.

As Ghonk noted above, most of the Radio People cabinets used a Motorola antenna jack. I would definitely swap in some bananas.
 
I bought a pair of W-90's for 50 dollars once. Your speakers look really good. Don't worry about the 60 watt amplifier. Unless you are driving the speakers full out you should not have a problem. I used a 125 watt amp with mine with great results. One thing I did with mine that I think would work well for you also was to add the tapered legs to the bottom of the speakers. I went to Home Depot and found some tapered legs. I mounted them with some Dynamat between the brackets and the bottom of the cabinet. I also painted them a flat black. It really opened up the sound and made them look so much better. IMHO
 
I'm amazed at how musical the bass guitar sounds on w70's.
Nice find and every bit worth the $. They do sound better with tube amplification than SS in my experience.
 
I think 1963 is close to the end of the alnico woofers for the W-60/70/90 speakers. It looks like you also have the alnico tweeter as well.
As Gangtweeter would say be sure to use paper/oil caps in these. I agree with PTF, it's very likely the original PIO cap is good. I have some W-60s that I put Russian PIOs (O KBG) in one speaker and poly in the other, after months of playing, I've determined the PIO sounds much better. It was a test, I'll replace the poly with the other PIO. (It took months cause the system I was using had a weak L channel, finally swapped system and compared).
Also I marked the top of the midrange and woofer and upon reinserting I flipped 180 degrees. I never heard of a spider sagging problem with these but it couldn't hurt.
 
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