Screw it, I'm going mono.

[Teradacto58]

duocanoe....I found a very nice pair of Wharefdale W3's about a year and a half ago,at a local Sally Anne. They set me back $50.00 CDN. They are deep in storage at the moment. I remember when I hooked them up on my Sansui 8080 receiver....I was very impressed with the vintage 60's sound!! They are a 3 way...12" rubber surround woofer,..I believe a 5" mid? and a 3" tweeter, both facing up. There are 2 controls on top for the mid & tweet. Gee....after looking at your tweet...I wonder if mine has foam a suspenion too??

 

[johnda]

Wow. That is AMAZING! I hope your foam replacement for the tweeter works, but even if it doesn't, you sure gave it a great effort. You are sure good with a razor knife!

Good luck!

 

[doucanoe]

duocanoe....I found a very nice pair of Wharefdale W3's about a year and a half ago,at a local Sally Anne. They set me back $50.00 CDN. They are deep in storage at the moment. I remember when I hooked them up on my Sansui 8080 receiver....I was very impressed with the vintage 60's sound!! They are a 3 way...12" rubber surround woofer,..I believe a 5" mid? and a 3" tweeter, both facing up. There are 2 controls on top for the mid & tweet. Gee....after looking at your tweet...I wonder if mine has foam a suspenion too??

Interesting (W3's). It would be nice to see some pics of those sometime. I have had the W60's, 70's before and thought they had a very pleasant voice to them. In fact, I still have a pair in the basement now that I think about it. They have rubber surrounds on the woofer if I remember correctly. The tweeter is the purple ring number.

The SFB/3 is from the 50's. I think that by the time the "W" series stuff came around, they were not felt/foam anymore. I don't know for sure, just from what I have read and owned.

RC

 

[Cogsinister]

Goodness, what an awesome speaker !!!!!

 

[Harvey/ Ga]

I remember you talking about that one Kelly. I wonder what the surround material was on the 12" in the pic? The 10" surround is clearly the original (kind of rust in color) but it's black on the 12".

I have a spare pair like those (round red magnet, made in 1/61 ) that I wanted to try in my W-60E's (square magnet). My red surrounds look like a slightly doped fabric, with the concave side facing out, the square magnet speaker surrounds face the same way, but are a heavy rubber material, stiffer then any other rubber surround that I've seen.

 

[Harvey/ Ga]

Didn't Wharfedale use felt as the surround material for some woofers ??

My old W-60's (1st model) had felt surrounds.

 

[doucanoe]

This was a lot more funky a process than the woofer/mid. Not as pretty either.

Tweeter is "done". Hopefully done, won't mean fini'.

RC

 

[doucanoe]

Well, I got the 12" woofer completed thurs/friday and all wired up Friday evening.

The 12" was really a pain because of the odd lip at the perimeter of the cone and the behind the cone mounting. Beyond that, my main concern was the tweeter. All concerns were put to rest after I had it wired up and running with one half of a pair of keggers old ASL Wave 20's monos. Hot dang! No VC rub on any of the drivers that I could hear and the tweeter seems to be functioning very well.

Although not the ultimate in HiFi, the SFB/3 is a fun mofacky to listen to. Much more full bodied than I expected and the HF is pretty respectable.

Dang fun project that I will be rolling out from time to time for a little taste of mid 50's HiFi :yes:

 

[BwanaJim]

Did you get pictures of the old surround's? I've never seen Wharfedales of that era with foam surround's.

 

[doucanoe]

This is about the best shot I have showing the old ones. The tweeter used the same. Hope that helps.

RC

 

[Harvey/ Ga]

Did you get pictures of the old surround's? I've never seen Wharfedales of that era with foam surround's.

I've read that Wharfedale was one of the first to use foam surrounds and then abandon it.

My first Wharfies used a gray felt surround 'mid 50's for the 8 in. wide range, and possiblt the W-60 2 way of the early '60's.

My present W-60E's have the rubber surround and square magnet motor. The 12in. spares have a doped gauze type surround, and are dated 1/63. They have the round, red magnet motor.

I wanted to test them out in the 60E box, but the mounting holes don't match. Maybe one day...:scratch2:

 

[bclarkeva]

Doucanoe, its been a while since you posted this thread but its a gift that keeps on giving. I just got an identical SFB, and used your process to refurbish mine - the surrounds were gone on all three speakers.

Have finished both large speakers except regluing the felt. The tweeter surround (cut from foam sheet like you) is drying now. I hope to finish work on individual components this weekend, and reinstall and listen by next weekend.

Question - did you leave original wiring or did you replace?

I didn't post pics as mine would be identical to yours and likely of lower quality. Thanks for laying out a restoration path that gave me the confidence to do this myself.

Bob C
Falls Church, VA