Newish member here. I have been reading lots on this site and I have learned a lot. I recently acquired a pair of Dovedale 3 from a CAM member for 200 CAD because his technician said that one of them may have a short in the wiring after one channel of his vintage Sansui amp blew. I have put them on a DATS and they measure as I think that they should, so I went ahead and hooked them up.
The cabinets are immaculate and I believe that they are untouched internally but I have not had a look inside. I am used to listening to full-range speakers of various sizes in well-designed enclosures and I like that sound, generally.
What I find with the Wharfdale is that:
The midrange blends well into the high frequencies but the midrange lacks detail and the high frequencies don't sparkle. The bass is kind of wooly and muddy. This is the biggest disappointment as I expected the 12" woofer in a sealed enclosure would give me tighter bass than my Spendor BC1 (recapped). I attached a Schiit Loki and set the 20hz pot to its lowest setting which helped a bit; I am not a bass-head but do feel that I am missing something this way. Playing with the other 3 EQ pots did not improve anything. I have left the rear panel controls for mids and HF at "increase" as I wanted to keep the old resistors out of the circuit. That is probably where I would want them anyway.
On the plus side, there is no ringing on percussive high notes on piano; something that drives me crazy.
These are about 50-year-old speakers and I realize that one usually recaps at this point but I don't just want to throw in new parts as the protocol. I would like suggestions as to the order of operations to improve the above "faults", if possible. I have tried driving them with a big Perreaux amp as well as various Class D amps; Icepower and TPA3255, with a Schiit preamp. That doesn't seem to make much difference.
I look forward to your opinions and suggestions.
The cabinets are immaculate and I believe that they are untouched internally but I have not had a look inside. I am used to listening to full-range speakers of various sizes in well-designed enclosures and I like that sound, generally.
What I find with the Wharfdale is that:
The midrange blends well into the high frequencies but the midrange lacks detail and the high frequencies don't sparkle. The bass is kind of wooly and muddy. This is the biggest disappointment as I expected the 12" woofer in a sealed enclosure would give me tighter bass than my Spendor BC1 (recapped). I attached a Schiit Loki and set the 20hz pot to its lowest setting which helped a bit; I am not a bass-head but do feel that I am missing something this way. Playing with the other 3 EQ pots did not improve anything. I have left the rear panel controls for mids and HF at "increase" as I wanted to keep the old resistors out of the circuit. That is probably where I would want them anyway.
On the plus side, there is no ringing on percussive high notes on piano; something that drives me crazy.
These are about 50-year-old speakers and I realize that one usually recaps at this point but I don't just want to throw in new parts as the protocol. I would like suggestions as to the order of operations to improve the above "faults", if possible. I have tried driving them with a big Perreaux amp as well as various Class D amps; Icepower and TPA3255, with a Schiit preamp. That doesn't seem to make much difference.
I look forward to your opinions and suggestions.
Well , preference or not, a speaker of ~50 years does require replacement of electrolytic capacitors.
PS.
In the end analysis, it is just possible that port tuning the enclosure could make a huge difference.
PS.
In the end analysis, it is just possible that port tuning the enclosure could make a huge difference.
I know about the recap but I am not about to just jump in and do things. I would like a plan. Port tuning? They are sealed speakers.
Hmm, based on this it's sealed, rolling off 2nd order @ ~60 Hz, so strictly a midbass speaker. As for the rest, my experience with Wharfdale ends in the late '60s and as cone/dome speakers went, all brands/models I auditioned sounded a bit dull to me compared to the (much) more expensive Altec, JBL, Bozak, etc., so a 'get what you pay for' scenario.
Based on this image; if yours look similar then some serious cleaning, treating surrounds to loosen them up and allow the diaphragms to vibrate/flex properly will go a long ways towards making them perform near enough to a well broken in set.
Thanks to you both and happy New Year. GM, thank you for the link. From their emphasis on power handling, it looks like a party speaker; not my thing. I heard the new Dovedales at the audio show in Toronto this Autumn and they were very impressive though about $10K, so I am not expecting that, but merely a "reasonable facsimile"..
GM. The woofers are very stiff but in prior posts on this model, that is mentioned frequently. Now we are getting somewhere. How does one go about treating this type of surrounds?
Depends on the material as to which to clean with and rub/soak into it, so hopefully others familiar with it will chime in.
A general purpose one though is vinegar and if rubber; I used various automotive fluids, though a quick search listed a 3:1 alcohol and wintergreen mix similar to what I used on foam slotcar tires as a non toxic alternative.
A general purpose one though is vinegar and if rubber; I used various automotive fluids, though a quick search listed a 3:1 alcohol and wintergreen mix similar to what I used on foam slotcar tires as a non toxic alternative.
What's the mids' surround material? Looks like felt...... No experience with the tweeter design......
The woofer surround seems like very hard rubber and the mid has something like felt. There must be something behind it, no?
It was a $200 purchase. I can likely resell them for the same. I should compare them to my "modernized" Spendor BC1 tomorrow.
You should be able to soften the rubber to ~like new if not cracked and IME felt normally just needs to be vacu-cleaned, blown with compressed air, though if still too rigid, then some careful cleaning with lighter fluid/whatever is required to dissolve whatever gunk it has.
I was thinking ...
Because the thread is actually "TWEEKS", there is possibly things that can be done.
EG. If we could see the crossover schematic diagram and there was sufficient attenuation given to the tweeter,
we could use that 'differential' to filter the tweeters response.
From memory of past comments, the midrange is said to be quite decent > but capacitor replacement is paramount.
Because the thread is actually "TWEEKS", there is possibly things that can be done.
EG. If we could see the crossover schematic diagram and there was sufficient attenuation given to the tweeter,
we could use that 'differential' to filter the tweeters response.
From memory of past comments, the midrange is said to be quite decent > but capacitor replacement is paramount.
You must live in a smog, cooking grease, heavy smokers, etc., free environment that many (most?) vintage speakers were exposed to on a daily basis.........
I will give the felt a good vacuum tomorrow and wipe down the woofer surrounds with distilled water for now..Thank you.
BTW, I have a HiVi tweeter SD1.1A that looks like it would fit the cutout if we are up to opening up a can of worms next year, almost. oops this year
BTW, I have a HiVi tweeter SD1.1A that looks like it would fit the cutout if we are up to opening up a can of worms next year, almost. oops this year