Thanks for that information, waxx.
I asked because I am interested in the history of Wharfedale and had never read of the company having an association with Philips.
I'm familiar with two types of "purple tweeter" that were used by Wharfedale - the dome type shown in the image of the Triton 3 in post #1 (which was also used in the larger Dovedale 3) - and the cone type used in the smaller Linton 2 and Denton 2 (which, with its open back and plastic rear cup, was actually a mid-tweeter).
Wharfedale Denton 2
I never saw or heard of the Triton 3 back in the day and wasn't aware of its existence until quite recently when I saw one come up at auction.
I asked because I am interested in the history of Wharfedale and had never read of the company having an association with Philips.
I'm familiar with two types of "purple tweeter" that were used by Wharfedale - the dome type shown in the image of the Triton 3 in post #1 (which was also used in the larger Dovedale 3) - and the cone type used in the smaller Linton 2 and Denton 2 (which, with its open back and plastic rear cup, was actually a mid-tweeter).
Wharfedale Denton 2
I never saw or heard of the Triton 3 back in the day and wasn't aware of its existence until quite recently when I saw one come up at auction.
Warfedale, in the beginning did not make their own drivers (like most didn't), they bought them OEM from specialised big companies like Philips, Seas ao. That is still like that actually, many brands don't build their own drivers, only brands like Kef, Focal, JBL and so do. In Belgium alone you got several companies that nobody knows but everybody heared (in car and cheap stereo) because they only make OEM drivers for many brands. The most known are those that also make diy series like Scan Speak and Seas, but that is only a small fraction of the market.
Gilbert Briggs, founder of Wharfedale Wireless Works, started making his own loudspeaker drive units in 1932.
He purchased magnets from Swift Levick, chassis and voice coils from Goodmans and moulded cones from Bridger.
From such little acorns did tall oak trees grow!
Could be, but they also outsourced drivers, that is sure. The Warfdale Linton XP of my father has also a Philips tweeter, my father did repair it himself with an identical looking and sounding tweeter that was made by Philips (but not really branded). Maybe only some series were fully UK made, and the XP series (the budget series) used OEM parts from other companies. I don't know, i know what i saw when i started in this diy thing with repairing warfedale speakers in my region, mostly 60's and 70''s models that started to wore out in the late 90's and early 00's..
During its 'Golden Age', Wharfedale manufactured a comprehensive range of speaker drivers stretching from woofers to tweeters.
Drivers like the RS/12/DD, a pair of which I purchased in 1967 and which are proudly labelled "Made in England" - they're still going strong today.
The book "A Pair of Wharfedales" by David Briggs contains photographs from the 1960s of the coil-winding and loudspeaker assembly room, the magnetising equipment, the testing room and the cabinet shop.
I highly recommend this book as a history of Gilbert Briggs and Wharfedale up to the introduction of the XP2 range and SP2 range in 1978 - the last speakers to bear names such as Linton and Dovedale that were derived from the Yorkshire Dales - until the current Heritage Series that is.
I've been a bit slack about updating with progress, too much to do, and too little time in which to do it. I replaced the capacitors on one of the crossovers a few weeks back, along with all the flying wires to the drivers. A week later, I did the same to the other crossover, but stripped everything out of the cabinet. I nearly posted asking about replacing what ever that cabinet wadding is, but decided to just live with what ever it is.
The weekend after that, I broke out the router and recessed new speaker terminal units into the back plate of both cabinets. They were given a sand down, and a lick of blackboard paint, before being left to dry. After that, they were both put back together and confirmed to be working, in so far as each of the drive units was issuing noise.
Haven't had a chance to get them setup anywhere in the house to give them an extended listening session, and might not be able to do that for a while. I'm considering making new grilles for them, as the existing one are a touch tatty, but unsure if that'll change the look of them too much from stock.
The weekend after that, I broke out the router and recessed new speaker terminal units into the back plate of both cabinets. They were given a sand down, and a lick of blackboard paint, before being left to dry. After that, they were both put back together and confirmed to be working, in so far as each of the drive units was issuing noise.
Haven't had a chance to get them setup anywhere in the house to give them an extended listening session, and might not be able to do that for a while. I'm considering making new grilles for them, as the existing one are a touch tatty, but unsure if that'll change the look of them too much from stock.
One of the MDF boards has been creased a bit, and is now a bit floppy as a result. I was just wary of going for black cloth on any replacement, in case it looked a bit too crisp and new. I suppose the only person who has to live with it (at least for a while) is me, so I should stop overthinking it...