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Wharfedale Owners Thread

^^^
:drool::drool::drool:

...those look like awesome, Bet they sound fantastic with those tubes too. I'd love to hear a pair some day!
 
Gang-Twanger said:
And Crestwood23 used Russian KBG's on the mids of his W90's and the same exact Sangamo ones that I put on my tweeters, and he's been thrilled with the results.

Just start looking on Fleabay for names like Sprague, Sangamo, G.E., Industrial Condenser, etc. There were so many different brands. You'll get the idea.
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:yes:
:thmbsp:
 
Crestwood23 said:
^^^
:drool::drool::drool:

...those look like awesome, Bet they sound fantastic with those tubes too. I'd love to hear a pair some day!
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Not quite as big as I'd initially thought them to be, which is a good thing. I had a chance to get the entire series for like $100, but it was gonna' be like a 3 to 4-hour drive, and the thing that finally put me was looking at pictures of the big-ass E90's and where I was going to put them AND a pair of E70's. Wish I had grabbed 'em though. At the time, I was just so-into my W90's and basically wasn't 'lookin' at other womens', you know?

I guess I was also thinking about room-size and how loud the E90's would have to be to hear their sweet spot, and whether or not that was a realistic volume for the room where they'd be. Plus, they're so-efficient, so I was worried they'd be too-much for the room.

That's one thing about the W90's. For their gargantuan size, they can work in some pretty-small rooms. I doubt whether they're more than 7ft away from my listening spot. Just put them on axis. But oil caps made a BIG improvement with that. That's why I tell people, no Dayton poly-types, no Solens. If you can't afford some nice vintage US or Russian KBG's, then at least go with a modern motor run type because it's still an old-school cap design that should fit well with the equally-old-school W90's (not to mention the other models in the original W** series from the early '60's).
 
Yeah GT, they are by far the easiest speaker I have had for placement. They sound good in every room I have used, even a low ceiling basement. But they didn't really light up until I got some nice British tubes!
 
electra100 said:
Yeah GT, they are by far the easiest speaker I have had for placement. They sound good in every room I have used, even a low ceiling basement. But they didn't really light up until I got some nice British tubes!
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Oh yeah. Absolutely. The early, ported W** models are especially-tube-friendly. Mine totally woke up once I got the Fisher and the oil caps (and got used to operating the Fisher... Mine was a little quirky at first). The oil caps made a monumental improvement. Made me realize just how good the Fisher is. The two together are off the friggin' chain. Takes a half-hour to 40 minutes for the Fisher to warm up, and then everything opens up and smoothes out.

And all this talk about the Fisher phono preamp not being any great shakes... Anybody ever try it with an old idler-driven turntable? That phono section sounds great. Sounds like the rest of the Fisher.

Oh and yes, they ARE easy to place, as long as you get the distances right. If you really get that placement locked down tight, they'll reward you for it. But the formula is pretty-simple. Get them equal distance from you, get them high enough off the floor so that the tweeters are eye-level, and toe them in so that you are listening on-axis. And that's it. You do that and give them about 20-40 watts of hearty tube synergy, and you're there. They love Fisher and Leak, and Scott and Sansui should be no-brainers, as should HK, although I can't speak for those. Leak would be THE way to go if you wanted to "slay the British hi-fi dragon" and have yourself the most-badass, full-on British hi-fi system you can get, although you'd have to throw in a Garrard 301 on top of that. But that kind of synergy costs money, so I decided to go with Dual and Fisher instead.
 
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Will hopefully be adding another pair of Wharfies to the stable. I just got a line on a pair from a doctor I saw today (We got to talking... Always good to get talking, 'cause you never know). He said he's gonna' give them to me for free. Not sure yet, but I'm pretty sure they're either W60C's or W60D's. I don't think they're the early ones , but even if they are, my pair has pretty-trashed veneers, so another pair wouldn't be a bad thing). Will also be getting an as-yet-to-be-mentioned Dual turntable. Hopefully the gear he brings will all be from the same era, because that would mean from the 1960's (He mentioned the Wharfedales being sand-filled, so that's W*0D series or earlier, which ended by 1970). He's also gonna' give me a bunch of vinyl, lots of classical, which is good because that's the stuff I'm lacking most (He mentioned lots of Deutsche Grammaphon stuff :) ).

Whatever the case, I'm excited about the possibilities (It'd be wild if they turned out to be Airedales or W4's... Now THAT would be cool... It'd be downright-amazing).
 
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I am hopefully picking up a Marantz 2270 and was wondering if it is too much to run my W70D's MKII and W60D's MKII? I will not be rattling the neighbors windows but I do like to turn them up once and awhile. Thanks.
 
_GWH_ said:
I am hopefully picking up a Marantz 2270 and was wondering if it is too much to run my W70D's MKII and W60D's MKII? I will not be rattling the neighbors windows but I do like to turn them up once and awhile. Thanks.
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Both pairs? They're a pretty-easy 8ohm load to drive, so as long as the Marantz can handle a 4ohm drop, I don't see why not. Before you do that though, how are the W70D's positioned, and how precise did you get with the placement distances? Placement is everything with those W** models. They also need to be high enough off the floor so the tweeters are at eye/ear-level. They're capable of quite a soundstage and serious dynamics when the placement is spot-on. And they're even better with tubes. The later W**D models like yours as well as the W**E models can handle solid-state gear better than the earlier, ported W** models, and at least the Marantz is on the warmer side, which the old Wharfies seem to prefer.

If you ran both pairs, where would you put the W60D's? Stacked on top of the W70D's? Or did you have something else in mind?
 
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The 22xx series, especially the 2270 is not great at 4 ohms. Keep the volume down and monitor the output transistor and power transformer temps. At the safe level for the Wharfedale, likely will need okay unless you think abusing the Wharfedale are disposable.
 
Brian said:
The 22xx series, especially the 2270 is not great at 4 ohms. Keep the volume down and monitor the output transistor and power transformer temps. At the safe level for the Wharfedale, likely will need okay unless you think abusing the Wharfedale are disposable.
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Yeah, for '60's Wharfedales, you could probably solve all your problems with a tube-powered receiver like a Fisher or Scott and maybe some oil caps. With my 800C and my oil-recapped W90's, I get the sound I need without even having to turn it up. Throw some NOS vintage oil caps in those W70D's and stand back. The W70's, W70C's, and W70D's are a lot of speaker, and they love Fisher tube gear, which is still very-affordable.
 
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I ran my W70Ds with low powered tubes and later my brother ran a 19 with50 watts/ with them.

The W70s I have now love low power.
 
I don't plan on cranking it it up to 11, but i do like to listen loud once and a while. I see what you are saying and I will start keeping my eyes open for a Fisher or a Scott. What would be the best model? As for my speakers I run my 70's with KLH 6's stacked on top. They are about 6" off the floor and 12" from the walls. I intend on recapping them with PIO caps in the future.
 
_GWH_ said:
I don't plan on cranking it it up to 11, but i do like to listen loud once and a while. I see what you are saying and I will start keeping my eyes open for a Fisher or a Scott. What would be the best model? As for my speakers I run my 70's with KLH 6's stacked on top. They are about 6" off the floor and 12" from the walls. I intend on recapping them with PIO caps in the future.
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Receiver or amp? Also, consider Sherwood. Their tube units I prefer over Fisher competitive unit to unit and they are less expensive. Scotts are just plain beautiful, especially the 399 receiver but, there is a price in dollars to get into that club unless lucky. If going with an amp there are alternatives that are not on the crazy collector's lists as much, are as good but much less expensive to get the buy in. If going low power with say a el84/6bq5 based amp, look also for some of the 6bm8 based Japanese amps. Usually less expensive and as with all amps that old recapping, etc is about the same cost. Some lesser brands like Calrad, Philmore, Monarch and others usually bought the same amp from a manufacturer and simply relabeled it sometimes not even having a different case.
 
You have to excuse me because I am not very informed about these things and I am learning as I go. So you are saying that if I run two pairs of 8 ohm speakers it creates a 4 ohm load.
 
_GWH_ said:
You have to excuse me because I am not very informed about these things and I am learning as I go. So you are saying that if I run two pairs of 8 ohm speakers it creates a 4 ohm load.
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With most systems, it does.
 
_GWH_ said:
I don't plan on cranking it it up to 11, but i do like to listen loud once and a while. I see what you are saying and I will start keeping my eyes open for a Fisher or a Scott. What would be the best model? As for my speakers I run my 70's with KLH 6's stacked on top. They are about 6" off the floor and 12" from the walls. I intend on recapping them with PIO caps in the future.
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I run early '60's, first-generation W90's, same series as Brian's W70's if I'm not mistaken (alnico drivers and a ported cab), and those are especially-picky when it comes to amplification AS WELL AS capacitors. Yours are from like '68-'70. They're a sealed design with ceramic drivers (and mylar fried-egg-style tweeters instead of the Super 3 cone-style of the W*0 and W*0C lines. But the W70C has a sealed cab and mostly ceramic drivers and is still excellent with tube Fishers. Wharfedale/Fisher synergy seems to echo through the entire evolution of the W*0* line of the '60's and early '70's. The early W*0 models just happen to be SHOCKINGLY-good with Fisher tube gear. Add oil caps and it's game over, man.

AK'er Roger Federer has/had a pair of W60E's, which are like W60D's without the sand-filled rear panel, and I thought I remembered him owning a Fisher of some kind. Maybe he can answer that question better than I can.
 
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