Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
The SHL5 is supposed to be quite the speaker... One of their best from what I understand.
Wharfedales
- Thread starter _GWH_
- Start date
The SHL5 is supposed to be quite the speaker... One of their best from what I understand.
Cadillac Kid
Addicted Member
Here is the exterior of my 1961 Wharfedale 60. .
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Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Wow, that is absolutely the first W60 I've ever seen with a cabinet like that (with that kind of trim, I should say). Very-cool. Mine look identical to the picture on the right.
What type of capacitor did yours have in them when you got them? Paper-in-oil caps or those early electrolytic ones that kinda' LOOK like oil caps but aren't? Just curious.
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Cadillac Kid
Addicted Member
Here is a pic of the crossover. Both caps say 'Made in England' on them. I will try to get a better picture of the cap, I will have to clip leads to get at it. L pad says patent pending.
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Here is a pic of the crossover. Both caps say 'Made in England' on them. I will try to get a better picture of the cap, I will have to clip leads to get at it. L pad says patent pending.
Yeah, from what I can see, that looks similar to the electrolytic ones in mine... By the way, a lot of people don't realize just how thick those sand-filled panels are.
Cadillac Kid
Addicted Member
Thanks for all the research you have done GangTwanger. I have enjoyed all your posts here and elsewhere on all things Wharfedale.
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Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Is the one in yours a lot bigger than mine? It's hard to tell because I can only see half of it. If it's a lot bigger, than perhaps it's a paper-in-oil.
SwingModern
Well-Known Member
My Wharfedale 60s
Cadillac Kid
Addicted Member
Armed with a mirror I went downstairs and got a good look at it. It is a Hunts Metalized 12 micro farad, about 2 3/4 inches.
Cadillac Kid
Addicted Member
Mine looks very much like Swings, except my tweeter is mounted.
Cadillac Kid
Addicted Member
Here is info on the patent for Hunts Metalized caps. Hmm, James Rogers? Could that be Jim Rogers of the LS3?
http://www.google.com/patents/US2388139
http://www.google.com/patents/US2388139
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Yeah, I remember a guy who had W90's similar to mine with Hunts caps. Those are electrolytic as far as I know (or at least that's what other people on here kept telling me). I haven't gotten a good enough look at the one in mine to be sure.
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Cadillac Kid
Addicted Member
Maybe when I get my W60's up to code I will do a Harbeth SHL5 vs Wharfedale 60 shoot-out. That will be fun.
I did see a post on the Harbeth Users Forum asking about a Harbeth/Wharfedale comparison. Dude got ZERO response.
Cool speakers etet. Where are you guys finding the old catalogs?
bhamham
Super Member
It's been my experience rebuilding a few British vintage radios & amps that Hunts are not very reliable caps.
Would love to find a pair of Wharfies like shown on this thread - excellent :thmbsp:
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
I have yet to see a pair of Wharfedales with this grillcloth that DIDN'T have alnico drivers. Wish I knew the significance of it, where these were made and all that. One thing's for sure, they sound really, really-nice. Never heard Coltrane's soprano sax on "My Favorite Things" sound so-real before. Spooky-real.
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Maybe when I get my W60's up to code I will do a Harbeth SHL5 vs Wharfedale 60 shoot-out. That will be fun.
I did see a post on the Harbeth Users Forum asking about a Harbeth/Wharfedale comparison. Dude got ZERO response.
Cool speakers etet. Where are you guys finding the old catalogs?
Most of what I have I found on Google Images, just poking around, trying different search words (like "Wharfedale W90 crossover", for example) and seeing what I can scrounge together. I like to collect pictures of the various models. I also have the Briggs/Wharfedale biography that came out like a year and a half ago ("A Pair Of Wharfedales"), although I haven't posted any pictures from that (Don't have a picture-scanner). I bought that right away because I figured it would be a limited pressing and I knew I'd regret it later when it was out-of-print.
Listening to the "Truck Turner" soundtrack right now through the W60's (my mains for the next week or so until I get the new caps in the W90's). This album gives me goosebumps through these speakers. Same thing with the W90's. All the horns, strings, and jazzy guitar.
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Cadillac Kid
Addicted Member
Today I brought my 1961 Wharfedale 60 pair up from the storage area below to check the drivers and hear how they sound. I decided to use a 1970s Crown D60 for the test.
I grabbed a few CDs from my jazz section. Thelonious Monk in San Francisco, Jimmy Smith Midnite Special, Coltrane Impressions, and of course, some Muddy Waters.
I was not sure what I to expect, Maybe some odd voicing with nasaly vocals, uneven 'lumpy lows', recessed highs?
What I heard was absolutely...DEAD. No sound at all from the left speaker. Crap, 'blown drivers' I thought. I cleaned the minimal terminals on the back, reseated them and...
WOW!
Clear, mellow, lush midrange. (God is in the midrange) It was wonderful. Blew me away, actually. Highs were perfect for me. Now I am not even sure I will mess with the cross-over.
The shop is filled with speakers, JBL, Spica, Kef, Polk, Advent, KLH. The Wharfedale 60 is special.
These are keepers. Next up, let's see how they like the Scott 299 and Ampex 6973 console amp. The Wharfedale 60 won't replace my Harbeth SHL5, not a chance. But they sure do put a smile on my face.
I grabbed a few CDs from my jazz section. Thelonious Monk in San Francisco, Jimmy Smith Midnite Special, Coltrane Impressions, and of course, some Muddy Waters.
I was not sure what I to expect, Maybe some odd voicing with nasaly vocals, uneven 'lumpy lows', recessed highs?
What I heard was absolutely...DEAD. No sound at all from the left speaker. Crap, 'blown drivers' I thought. I cleaned the minimal terminals on the back, reseated them and...
WOW!
Clear, mellow, lush midrange. (God is in the midrange) It was wonderful. Blew me away, actually. Highs were perfect for me. Now I am not even sure I will mess with the cross-over.
The shop is filled with speakers, JBL, Spica, Kef, Polk, Advent, KLH. The Wharfedale 60 is special.
These are keepers. Next up, let's see how they like the Scott 299 and Ampex 6973 console amp. The Wharfedale 60 won't replace my Harbeth SHL5, not a chance. But they sure do put a smile on my face.
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Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Today I brought my 1961 Wharfedale 60 pair up from the storage area below to check the drivers and hear how they sound. I decided to use a 1970s Crown D60 for the test.
I grabbed a few CDs from my jazz section. Thelonious Monk in San Francisco, Jimmy Smith Midnite Special, Coltrane Impressions, and of course, some Muddy Waters.
I was not sure what I to expect, Maybe some odd voicing with nasaly vocals, uneven 'lumpy lows', recessed highs?
What I heard was absolutely...DEAD. No sound at all from the left speaker. Crap, 'blown drivers' I thought. I cleaned the minimal terminals on the back, reseated them and...
WOW!
Clear, mellow, lush midrange. (God is in the midrange) It was wonderful. Blew me away, actually. Highs were perfect for me. Now I am not even sure I will mess with the cross-over.
The shop is filled with speakers, JBL, Spica, Kef, Polk, Advent, KLH. The Wharfedale 60 is special.
These are keepers. Next up, let's see how they like the Scott 299 and Ampex 6973 console amp. The Wharfedale 60 won't replace my Harbeth SHL5, not a chance. But they sure do put a smile on my face.
Nice... Yeah, that's it right there. They have that lush, old-school British musicality (like the old UK Beatle LP's... or a Vox AC30). Wait 'til you try them with tubes. That's a truly-underrated speaker. It gets a bad rap for the low-end rolloff, but that early W60 is a really, really-sweet-sounding speaker when given a chance (The horizontal placement really ties the woofer and tweeter together nicely).
I wonder if yours were actually assembled in England? I love that cab. The finish looks a little nicer on yours than the US-assembled W60's I've seen.
By the way, I think you may still want to deal with the crossover. Tonight I really took a listen to one of my tweeters, and you'd swear it's running full-range. The cap must be near-death. And yet, they sound awesome. It's bizarre. Try them with "Shaft" by Isaac Hayes. Those speakers kill on that stuff.
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Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
It just occurred to me, yours must be one of the early ones with the nicer-looking cabs (They offered a nicer cabinet option with their bigger speakers... Cabinets with nice trim and legs, and then they made the "utility" version like mine and SwingModern's... I couldn't remember if they did this for the W60, but they must have... I bet yours is simply mine with the optional cabinet trim).
I still suspect yours may be 100% British-made...
I still suspect yours may be 100% British-made...
