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Wharfedale Owners Thread

Thanks for the links Tyeeslayer ....yes,I'm pretty handy and have a good workshop set-up.... thing is,I can't really do anything until I hear from the seller.This is an E-Bay transaction and the seller said that the speakers were in good condition and working well,which they're not..he's seems keen to help though ( I suppose he HAS to really) ..
I'd very much appreciate anyone's thoughts on my above three questions please...this will help if he's keen to offer the Mylar tweets.. I've spoken to a Speaker Doctor here in OZ and he says that he can take a look at the 'eggs' but will not promise anything...this is the way I'd like to go at this stage..
 
This is what I would do.
1) get the mylar tweets from him and install them. Give them a listen and see if you like them.
2) take the purple tweets into the speaker Dr. show him the links above I showed you and let him decide what he can do. If he can fix them for not much $, go for it. They don't work now so what do you have to loose.
3) If he fixes them try those out and see what you like better.

Not a great situation you are in but "in for a penny in for a pound" I guess.
Hope you can get things worked out.
 
Thanks mate,I'll take all that on board ....and wait.I hope that it wont be a long wait and that I don't get mucked around in all of this....cheers.
I might put in a post over in the Speaker section and ask about the differences in the two types of tweets..
 
i have a pair of radio peoples w-70 speakers.. great pieces, does anyone know if the 8" midrange is supposed to have a "doped " surround?
 
vinylisfinal said:
i have a pair of radio peoples w-70 speakers.. great pieces, does anyone know if the 8" midrange is supposed to have a "doped " surround?
Click to expand...

I have some W70Cs (in beautiful cabs - pic below) - the surrounds on the 8" mids are definitely cloth and my best guess is that they're doped. I suspect this because the surround has gotten weak on one of mine, causing it to bottom out.

I'd love to find the definitive answer to the question, because that might point the way to re-doping it, which is my only option, if I can't find a replacement.

Edited to add: In this thread, a member describes the surrounds as "untreated wool", so perhaps they're not doped...

Here are mine:

picture.php
 
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The surrounds on the all-alnico W90's was a rubber-treated cloth, which I believe they used for quite a while, on up through the W**D series. They used rubber on the W**E models.
 
Solid State?

Who out there is running their Wharfies with solid state? I run my W60D's and W70D's with a Sansui 6060 and love its sound.
 
Rotel + Adcom etc.

_GWH_ said:
Who out there is running their Wharfies with solid state? I run my W60D's and W70D's with a Sansui 6060 and love its sound.
Click to expand...

Running my W90s with Rotel RX855 (as pre-amp) into Adcom GFA 7500. Running my little W20 (Dentons) at the office with a Sherwood S-7300. My W60s in the basement are powered by Harman Kardon's "ugly duckling", the HK670. (I don't think it's that homely, just different than their black & silver classics.) Sounds really nice.

Someday tubes maybe, but I'm sure enjoying my Wharfies on SS.:thmbsp:
 
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_GWH_ said:
Who out there is running their Wharfies with solid state? I run my W60D's and W70D's with a Sansui 6060 and love its sound.
Click to expand...

Use to run my W90's with a 2385 Marantz lots of power,nice and warm sounding that's for sure.
Swapped out the Marantz for a less powerfull Vikng SC 5814 and the sound was even better all around but so far I haven't been able to best my Sanyo JCX-2300K hooked up to the Wharfies along with all kinds of extras mixed in like RG-2/SR-303/ADC Sound Shaper etal,best sound/imagery/soundstage whatever I've ever heard:):thmbsp:
 
Back in about '71 had a set of W70Ds. Gave them to my brother with a Marantz 19. Now have a set of UK W70s with the accessory legs.
 
Picked up a pair of Dovedale III today in teak for $60. Came with the brochure too. Pics shortly.
 
Here we go:

1cd8.jpg


The grills had little pins holding them on ... near impossible to line-up again (will replace with Velcro). Also there is a recess in the bottom right corner of the baffle for the post of the speaker badge.

1ekh.jpg


No tweeter attenuation adjustment on these.

jrpu.jpg


Can they be dated by the 'Rank Wharfedale Ltd'?

Overall the speakers are in excellent condition. Some very small damage to one mid ... shouldn't be an issue. Veneer has some minor staining but no major scratches or gouges. corners are sharp and intact. Grills and badges are immaculate.

The brochure that came with them is for a different version of the Dovedale 3 (surface-mount woofer, attenuators, that funky Wharfedale plastic cup for the terminals, badge in upper-right corner of the grill). I think that version is from 1971 ... at least according to when the frequency response test was done. I'll scan it and post it up.

So these are supposed to pair fairly well with early SS and don't need a lot of power? How about a Sansui AU-777 (25wpc) .... one of their first SS integrated amplifiers, from 1968?
 
Van_Isle said:
So these are supposed to pair fairly well with early SS and don't need a lot of power? How about a Sansui AU-777 (25wpc) .... one of their first SS integrated amplifiers, from 1968?
Click to expand...

Those look very nice! Not sure of the date. My W20 Dentons have the same badge and (Rank) back plate. I thought they were early 70's, but maybe late 60's (?)

I recapped mine with Solen, picked up a bit more HF. Can't speak to that Sansui (haven't heard one in years), but 25 wpc should work. Ran my early W60s with an H/K three-thirty @ 18wpc just fine. Pretty sure yours could handle more watts if you had'em.
 
PastTechFan said:
... 25 wpc should work. Ran my early W60s with an H/K three-thirty @ 18wpc just fine. Pretty sure yours could handle more watts if you had'em.
Click to expand...

Oh I've got them ... all the way up to a G-8000 at 120 wpc. But the brochure does rate these at 50 watts.

In fact here are the specs for the Dovedale 3:

max input: 50W DIN
impedance: 6-ohm
frequency response: 45 - 20,000 Hz +/- 3dB
crossover frequency: 600 and 5,000 Hz
 
Those look very nice. How do you like the sound? Try them with different amplification. And find what you like best. When will we see what is behind that back panel?
 
Nice Dovedale 3's... Good shape.

The rear baffle is different that what I'm used to seeing (That badge up top looks like it was originally-supposed to be attached via screws... That one is glued on... Could the baffles have been replaced/ changed at some point?). It's OK because that model didn't have sand-filled rear-baffles, so maybe you can install a couple L-pads in each one. Shouldn't be too-difficult as long as you don't change the nature of the crossover... They're simple for a reason.
 
There is an earlier and a later Dovedale 3 (can be confirmed from http://new-hifi-classic.de/Gallery_MO/thumbnails.php?album=560&page=1)
Wharfedale moved from square W grill badges at bottom to the top on their entire range, therefore we know the above Dovedale 3 is an earlier model.

Earlier Dovedale 3:

Has crossover frequencies of 450/3000hz.
Has the grill badge at the bottom.
None appear to have any 3 way switches on the back.

Later Dovedale 3:

600/5000hz crossover frequency.
Has the grill badge at the top.
Some (may be all) 3 way mid/tweeter attenuation switch.

Cheers, Nick

PS I live 5 miles from the original factory site :)
 
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Thanks for the info and link, N1ckR.

Yes the brochure I got is for the later version of Dovedale 3 and it appears I have the earlier version.

Copy of the brochure attached. Higher resolution version going to hifiengine.
 

Attachments

Van_Isle said:
Thanks for the info and link, N1ckR.

Yes the brochure I got is for the later version of Dovedale 3 and it appears I have the earlier version.

Copy of the brochure attached. Higher resolution version going to hifiengine.
Click to expand...

You mean the original Dovedale (no number)?
 
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