What Glee I felt when my local Charity Shop offered a pair of Wharfedale Super Linton loudspeakers for a mere £30! Supposed Classics from the early 1970's!
As an expert in cheap two way loudspeakers, I thought I would breeze through this. How WRONG I was, how HORRIBLY, HORRIBLY WRONG!
First off, the 5.8R tweeters were wrecked:
Interestingly, the Wharfedale Purple Jellyfish tweeter bears a passing resemblance to the Henry Kloss Fried Egg tweeter.
But since they were fried, I lost interest.
Decided to replace them with Visaton DT94-8 91dB mylar tweeters:
After some thought, I added a foam ring surround:
All went swimmingly well with Miss Diana Krall playing Jazz. Alas Leonard Cohen wrecked my Party with his bassy efforts. Sounded horrible! All distorted. Voice-coil rubbing I think.
I concluded that not only were the tweeters fried, but the 4.1R basses were wrecked too!
For the interested student here is the simplistic filter:
I swapped the 8uF for a more sensible 4.7uF.
Considering I paid an outrageous £30 for this ancient 50-y-o Wharfedale garbage, I am fairly unhappy at the outcome.
Only salvage I can think of is to fit some new Faital-Pro drivers:
https://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=FTP8FE200AF
Problem being the cutout on the bass is 178mm and maximum diameter allowed is 222mm. I can doubtless find another 91dB tweeter somewhere.
As an expert in cheap two way loudspeakers, I thought I would breeze through this. How WRONG I was, how HORRIBLY, HORRIBLY WRONG!
First off, the 5.8R tweeters were wrecked:
Interestingly, the Wharfedale Purple Jellyfish tweeter bears a passing resemblance to the Henry Kloss Fried Egg tweeter.
But since they were fried, I lost interest.
Decided to replace them with Visaton DT94-8 91dB mylar tweeters:
After some thought, I added a foam ring surround:
All went swimmingly well with Miss Diana Krall playing Jazz. Alas Leonard Cohen wrecked my Party with his bassy efforts. Sounded horrible! All distorted. Voice-coil rubbing I think.
I concluded that not only were the tweeters fried, but the 4.1R basses were wrecked too!
For the interested student here is the simplistic filter:
I swapped the 8uF for a more sensible 4.7uF.
Considering I paid an outrageous £30 for this ancient 50-y-o Wharfedale garbage, I am fairly unhappy at the outcome.
Only salvage I can think of is to fit some new Faital-Pro drivers:
https://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=FTP8FE200AF
Problem being the cutout on the bass is 178mm and maximum diameter allowed is 222mm. I can doubtless find another 91dB tweeter somewhere.
Last edited:
The Faital Pro woofers do look nice. They have a good bit of sensitivity, but you may need to give them a ported enclosure.
The cabinets / enclosures are fine, no damage?
The crossovers were the wrong values from new?
How much can you get if you on sell it, instead of working on it, provided they are surplus to your requirements?
Full range in place of woofer (from an inexperienced questioner)?
The woofers are 33 quid each + 9 shipping for one, maybe two will be less.
80 quid or so for two woofers, your effort, and whatever else is needed.
Is it expensive, or a good deal?
I do not know the prices out there, please bear that in mind.
The crossovers were the wrong values from new?
How much can you get if you on sell it, instead of working on it, provided they are surplus to your requirements?
Full range in place of woofer (from an inexperienced questioner)?
The woofers are 33 quid each + 9 shipping for one, maybe two will be less.
80 quid or so for two woofers, your effort, and whatever else is needed.
Is it expensive, or a good deal?
I do not know the prices out there, please bear that in mind.
Last edited:
The Vifa BC25TG series, perhaps? Are supposed to be 93dB but I think they measure closer to 90-91; may not fit your cut-outs, but.
Geoff
Hello bbe22
Good job. The LspCad graph looks super smoothened.
Do you happen to have unfiltered, unsmoothened in-box measurements of the (thus raw) woofer and tweeter on a 5db/Div scale?
Good job. The LspCad graph looks super smoothened.
Do you happen to have unfiltered, unsmoothened in-box measurements of the (thus raw) woofer and tweeter on a 5db/Div scale?
Hi Boden I am comfortable working in 1/6 th smoothed (so that's how I measure) and on sim on a 70 dB Y axis. Now one can debate the merits of my choice for sure, but , I seem to get reasonable results. So sorry do not have those for you 🙁
Yes. Thanks.
Here in the Netherlands the Wharfedale Denton-II and Linton-II were standard "starters stuff" for low budgets in the late sixties and seventies, often combined with the Pioneer SA 500A or Sony 1010 amplifies. The more ambitious choose KEF or B&W, plus a Luxman amp or so: the sophisticated ones Quad.
Always been curious how the Wharfedale drivers measured.
Here in the Netherlands the Wharfedale Denton-II and Linton-II were standard "starters stuff" for low budgets in the late sixties and seventies, often combined with the Pioneer SA 500A or Sony 1010 amplifies. The more ambitious choose KEF or B&W, plus a Luxman amp or so: the sophisticated ones Quad.
Always been curious how the Wharfedale drivers measured.
I presume these to be the Super Linton W30D.
I read elsewhere that the old alloy basket, square magnet Wharfedale woofers can be disassembled from the back (magnet kept in place by four bolts and an adjustment screw in the middle), so you may be able to inspect and re-align the voice coils.
I read elsewhere that the old alloy basket, square magnet Wharfedale woofers can be disassembled from the back (magnet kept in place by four bolts and an adjustment screw in the middle), so you may be able to inspect and re-align the voice coils.