Wharfedale Owners Thread

[Gang-Twanger]

They were 5% - and they continue to sound AMAZING. :thmbsp:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=565857

Yeah, that Dual/Fisher/Wharfedale combo is something, isn't it? You throw on a tube-cut record, and it's like holding a summoning. The ghosts of Mick & Keith come wisping up through a small hole in the center of the table and start bangin' out "Honky Tonk Women" right there in front of you. Spooky stuff.

Was the "ghost" thing too-harsh? It's Halloween season. I love those guys. How would ANY of us look at that age, still knocking out 100+ shows a year. They outlived the Dead, for pete's sake. Gotta' give it to 'em.

The phono section on my Fisher is perfect now. Makes me wonder what it's like with the Brimar in there. Some righteous tone in that thing. I've been late to appointments and what not because of that receiver. You can't stop listening It's like those long 'disco mixes' of classic funk songs... And it don't stop.

Fell asleep early tonight. Woke up, and now I can't sleep, so I'm headphoning it at the moment. Grado RSII's. My Kindle's keyboard keeps switching to an Italian-style keyboard, which I suppose makes sense. I've been watching all six seasons of The Sopranos from beginning to end. Just finished the last one a few minutes ago. Now I'm listening to a 5CD funk collection I have. Sly & The Family Stone's "If You Want Me To Stay" is on at the moment. I need more of their stuff on vinyl. I have the stereo LP of "Dance To The Music", and it's awesome. Tube-cut. And to think I used to hate the way their stuff sounded.

 

[brian222]

not sure why this happens but when watching baseball my Diamond 7's pick up the most unusual crowd noise.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

not sure why this happens but when watching baseball my Diamond 7's pick up the most unusual crowd noise.

Could be the game is out of phase...

 

[Crestwood23]

Yeah I've been listening to the new Beatles mono LPs - Rubber Soul in particular has been re-blowing my mind through this rig. Rickenbackers just sound extra glorious with this combo.
Agreed on the Sly too, get yourself a nice clean yellow label copy of There's a Riot Goin On - another record that fits this rig like a glove.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

Yeah I've been listening to the new Beatles mono LPs - Rubber Soul in particular has been re-blowing my mind through this rig. Rickenbackers just sound extra glorious with this combo.
Agreed on the Sly too, get yourself a nice clean yellow label copy of There's a Riot Goin On - another record that fits this rig like a glove.

I'm looking for ALL the old ones. I seem to remember some of their songs (like "Thank You (Falletinmicebethemselves)" and a couple other big hits) being mono recordings that never saw a true vinyl stereo release, but for that, there is the quad "greatest hits". But those yellow Epics are monsters. My stereo 1st pressing of Jeff Beck's "Truth" is one of the best, most-open-sounding, lifelike LP's I own.

I just posted it in D&S, but there is a pair of two-way W60's in the Flagstaff area for just $80. Looks like they had one and bought a second when they went stereo (Can you imiagine what that must have been like for people? Hearing mono your whole life, and then you hear your first good stereo setup. Must have been a revelation. That would get me buying a second one.

The tubes in my Fisher have really-opened up. The highs and clarity have improved over the past month and change. I can really hear it in the headphones. Quicker, more-tactile response without losing any of that smoothness. Great with the robo-techno I'm listening to right now.

 

[Champ]

In for a Penny in for a Pound

Well, I have gone from bad to worse and now to amazing.

I found a pair of Dovedale 3's that were, frankly a disaster. A few of you will know my trials with the bass drivers being brittle and then they disintegrated. OK, now I have no bass drivers. Find a mint pair in Germany on that E site and shipped at considerable expense back to me in Canada. Good so far. I know the mids and trebles were running ok so, I though at the very least I should see what ohms they are giving me. All the leads to these drivers disintegrated after a gentle touch:tears: Tried to fix them to no avail. That's the BAD.

For the Good... I figure, find a working pair again since I feel at this point I am committed. Heck I haven't even heard one of these speakers, but after much reading figured they would be a good match for a rebuild Heathkit AA32 amp. I put out an ad in the local buy and sell and the very next day, couldn't believe my luck, this guy tells me he has a fully functioning pair that has been upgraded with audio grade caps and bypass caps. Picked them up and, now finally listening to a pair of Dovedale III's.
I am very pleased. It is the first time I have listened to classical music as good as this in a long time. Just feels right. Then the Reggae, none too shabby either. Finally having some fun with these delicious sounding speakers

 

[rogerfederer]

Way to hang in there, champ:thmbsp:

 

[Gang-Twanger]

Well, I have gone from bad to worse and now to amazing.

I found a pair of Dovedale 3's that were, frankly a disaster. A few of you will know my trials with the bass drivers being brittle and then they disintegrated. OK, now I have no bass drivers. Find a mint pair in Germany on that E site and shipped at considerable expense back to me in Canada. Good so far. I know the mids and trebles were running ok so, I though at the very least I should see what ohms they are giving me. All the leads to these drivers disintegrated after a gentle touch:tears: Tried to fix them to no avail. That's the BAD.

For the Good... I figure, find a working pair again since I feel at this point I am committed. Heck I haven't even heard one of these speakers, but after much reading figured they would be a good match for a rebuild Heathkit AA32 amp. I put out an ad in the local buy and sell and the very next day, couldn't believe my luck, this guy tells me he has a fully functioning pair that has been upgraded with audio grade caps and bypass caps. Picked them up and, now finally listening to a pair of Dovedale III's.
I am very pleased. It is the first time I have listened to classical music as good as this in a long time. Just feels right. Then the Reggae, none too shabby either. Finally having some fun with these delicious sounding speakers

Yeah, I'm with rogerfederer... Way to stick with it... I keep hearing great things about those D3's and how good they are with tubes. And as you mentioned, they're very-flexible with different types of music. I'm a big funk/soul fan, and Wharfedales are perfect for that stuff. Highly-musical, a fat upper-bass, smooth highs, etc. Exactly what's needed. It's nice that you didn't abandon Wharfedale because of all that. They made a lot of great speakers. I have a nice pair of W60D's that I will be recapping soon, plus I have the W60E's that I bought back in like '07-'08. I used to run them off a Sansui 2000x, which I thought was a good match for them. That seems like a lifetime away from where I'm at now with my system.

The AA32 seems like a nice amp... Only like 12wpc though, isn't it? ... The Dovedales are okay with that? ... Just wondering because I have my 30wpc Fisher, and I was hoping it would be enough power for my W60D's once those are up and going.

 

[Champ]

Thanks for the encouragement gentlemen.

 

[BilboBaggins]

For the Good... I figure, find a working pair again since I feel at this point I am committed. Heck I haven't even heard one of these speakers, but after much reading figured they would be a good match for a rebuild Heathkit AA32 amp. I put out an ad in the local buy and sell and the very next day, couldn't believe my luck, this guy tells me he has a fully functioning pair that has been upgraded with audio grade caps and bypass caps. Picked them up and, now finally listening to a pair of Dovedale III's.
I am very pleased. It is the first time I have listened to classical music as good as this in a long time. Just feels right. Then the Reggae, none too shabby either. Finally having some fun with these delicious sounding speakers

Good for you! I do admire your persistence. I have owned a pair of these and I really liked them. The imaging was great! I ended up improving the bass by opening them up and repositioning the insulation. It shifts over time. I ended up moving them on because I found other larger speakers I like more. And I only have so much space.

Ottawa seems to get some really nice equipment, speakers included. I see Wharfedales selling about 2 to 3 times a year here, so not very common. And there is one guy who's prices are through the roof. I've often wondered if he ever sells anything? Maybe only to those who desperately want something and are willing to pay.

There are people who recommend Dot 4 brake fluid on the woofer surround. Apparently, this formulae does not corrode the rubber and helps to keep it soft and supple. That should improve the bass response. I haven't tried it but I imagine some car restoration compound designed to keep rubber soft and supple would be perfect for that. If I still had mine, I would try it, because that was the one thing I was concerned about, and I believe non-treatment could lead to cracked rubber like your first pair. Mine was best with a Yamaha M-40 power amp. It seemed to supply the high current these speakers seem to love. I did listen to them with other systems and they need a high damping factor amp to sound their best. Then, wow!

 

[Brian]

Have to be careful as a lot of the rubber and vinyl restorer compounds do so by leaching the petroleum so in the short run things look and feel great but it is putting the gun to you head in the longer run. Not sure about brake fluid. It would make some sense that it does not leach anything but I do remember hoses that all but dissolved over time and they did so from the inside out so it seemed the brake fluid does react in some way.

 

[Champ]

Many years ago I used to fly rubber powered balsa planes. To keep the rubber moist and pliable we used simple house hold dish washing liquid. Not sure that would have the same effect on this compound though.

Gang-Twanger , sorry, i see you asked me a question about the Heathkit AA32 power. It runs well and for normal listening 9 o'clock on the dial is good and extra power when needed. I am not in a large room and I also have a fair amount of damping in
the form of a large leather sofa and carpet. The one thing i notice is that the power transformer gets pretty hot, but the output trannies do not.

 

[Scarberian]

Hey Champ,
And to think I almost talked my neighbor into selling those dovedales to me. I had them in my listening room for a few weeks, and what impressed me was how well they projected . Best pair he ever lent me. He has a basement full of speakers.
Does great cap work yes?
I was so taken by the dovedale 3, that I picked up a pair of Rosedales, aka w70.
Soon to be recapped by my handy neighbor.

 

[Champ]

Hey Champ,
And to think I almost talked my neighbor into selling those dovedales to me. I had them in my listening room for a few weeks, and what impressed me was how well they projected . Best pair he ever lent me. He has a basement full of speakers.
Does great cap work yes?
I was so taken by the dovedale 3, that I picked up a pair of Rosedales, aka w70.
Soon to be recapped by my handy neighbor.

Hey Scarberian, your going to start to make me feel bad:tears: Your jolly neighbour does do well on the cap work to be sure. Good luck with those W70's dude. Let us know how they turn out. Full report please.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

Hey Scarberian, your going to start to make me feel bad:tears: Your jolly neighbour does do well on the cap work to be sure. Good luck with those W70's dude. Let us know how they turn out. Full report please.

I bet the W70 is a really-sweet speaker, any of them. It has a large amount of displacent for the woofer, which alone is a big thing I wonder if it's more than each one of the W90's woofers. I bet it get's a nice, fat upper-bass with a little volume. Brian's must be quite the thing. I equate that to being like the W90's little brother. And it really is when you think about it.

One thing about Wharfedales in general, they are the most-forgiving speakers I've ever heard when playing less than perfect recordings (The early ones are incredibly-good at that... You could play a recording of a porcupine zipping down a velcro waterslide, and it'll STILL sound great... All W*0 models are true masters of the mundane... For me, that's priority #1).

 

[Scarberian]

Getting ready for a recap on the W70 / Rosedales. Neighbour wants to know the values so he can order them. He likes to use Brown Russian mgb/pio polyethylene terephthalate.

Here is what I found inside.

The two are ELCAP brand 25 MFD and 6 MFD both at 50 volt. Three coils and a 3.3 ohm resistor.

This looks original to me.

 

[Scarberian]

The seller said they were W60 , but they are W70 / Rosedales .

What say you all? Take a look.

 

[btomjvc]

Rosedales, had a pair just got rid of them. Nice mellow speaker with good highs and low end. Good looking cabinets also.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

The seller said they were W60 , but they are W70 / Rosedales .

What say you all? Take a look.

Definitely W70E (or very-late W70D's, according to a few people that say there were some W70D's, probably post-1969, that had that configuration). If they have sand-filled rear panels, they are W70D's, but if not, then most-likely W70E's/Rosedales.

I have W60E's, and those are not them.

 

[eb2jim]

Cool. I'll start reading. Here's what I have.