Wharfedale Linton 85th Anniversary speaker review & measurements by Erin's Audio Corner

[Tangband]

I get what you're saying, but its 1960's Linton 2 ancestor which was tweaked slightly over the bare front original, was a two way.

Having said that, when I started out all wet behind the ears, this to me hideous thing had replaced it - midrange 'squawker' equipped - things had started to move on quickly by this time (MA7, IMF original Compact and KEF Chorale are three that come to mind)

What have they to do with it? - Was PC's brief to do a *three way* I wonder, or did the design just turn out that way. I ask this as the budget may have been broadly flexible - and Chinese manufacture seems to save hundreds of dollars at this price point over say, UK manufacture. The crossover in Danny's hands has ONE electrolytic cap (which is large an dmodern enough and should last a few decades reasonably in spec I reckon, the rest being film types unless I'm mistaken which shouldn't drift off. Forget all the other crap about coils and the ubiquitous tube connectors if he suggests them (I refuse to play the video now, sorry).

Those were the wonderful (?) days of passive loudspeakers .

The biggest issue for me, and have been many years since starting building and measuring DIY loudspeakers, is the fact that most passive ( and a couple of active ) loudspeakers are not matched in crossover components and driver tolerances with +-1 dB accuracy.

If one massproduced passive loudspeaker measures really well , how do you know the other speaker in a stereo setup is as well behaved ? It might differ more than 3-4 dB in certain frequency areas.
Just a thought .

 

[Kachda]

I’m a sucker for old school looking speakers like these. Just visually they seem so “warm” and inviting. Very tempted to see if they are available nearby to check them out

 

[DMill]

I’m a sucker for old school looking speakers like these. Just visually they seem so “warm” and inviting. Very tempted to see if they are available nearby to check them out

They indeed have a distinctive look especially on their matching stands. I almost pulled the trigger on them but when I saw them I realized they need a lot of space and were just too damn big for my living room. You better live in a house where it’s ok to have speakers dominate the room. My wife looked at them for 2 seconds and completely shut them down. On their stands they felt bigger than most floorstanders. I ended up buying some ELAC carinas that had a much higher WAF in my house.

 

[DSJR]

I thought my current speakers were too bass heavy (they look too imposing but herself tolerates them...). Turns out it was severe 'presence to hf' drop-off in my ears rather than the TV or speakers... No overpowering bass now I can hear the highs again...

 

[JustJones]

Wide baffle Infinity Kappa


.

 

[DanielT]

You want wide baffles?

Thats a wide baffel AND horns dont show this to @DanielT he cant sleep.

Yummy, he he. There are many here at ASR who like similar fat speakers, even a tomtoo.
With compression drivers, even insanely large fullrange horn speakers. Completely hopelessly impossible to place in an ordinary living/listening room. They can also be expensive as hell. Thus, a pair of Wharfedale Linton 85th considering price and size is something that can be a serious option. In addition, if you are a real crazy bass head, you can always supplement with large BIG subwoofers. Although a couple of really big speakers, now I mean big as hell, much bigger than Wharfedale Linton 85th, you (I) want. There is nothing but the wallet that prevents that.... or:

My wife looked at them for 2 seconds and completely shut them down. On their stands they felt bigger than most floorstanders. I ended up buying some ELAC carinas that had a much higher WAF in my house.

Family happiness is more important than a pair of speakers. But of course you have to compromise in a relationship but ...uh ... everyone knows what I'm trying to say now.

I’m a sucker for old school looking speakers like these. Just visually they seem so “warm” and inviting. Very tempted to see if they are available nearby to check them out

I agree 100% with that.

 

[tomtoo]

Yummy, he he. But there are many here at ASR who like similar fat speakers, even a tomtoo.
With compression drivers, even insanely large fullrange horn speakers. Completely hopelessly impossible to place in an ordinary living room. They can also be expensive as hell. Thus, a pair of Wharfedale Linton 85th considering its price and size is something that can be a serious option in real life. In addition, if you are a real bass head, you can always supplement with large BIG subwoofers. Although a couple of really big speakers, now I mean big as hell, much bigger than Wharfedale Linton 85th, you (I) want. There is nothing but the wallet that prevents it .... or there is:

Family happiness is more important than a pair of speakers. But of course you had to compromise in a relationship but uh ... everyone knows what I'm trying to say now.

I agree 100% with that.

If i would have the money and no neighbours. Nothing else than big, very big horns.
And if it only be for 15mins a day. But then lets rock!

 

[DanielT]

Those were the wonderful (?) days of passive loudspeakers .

The biggest issue for me, and have been many years since starting building and measuring DIY loudspeakers, is the fact that most passive ( and a couple of active ) loudspeakers are not matched in crossover components and driver tolerances with +-1 dB accuracy.

If one massproduced passive loudspeakers measures really well , how do you know the other speaker in a stereo setup is as well behaved ? It might differ more than 3-4 dB in certain frequency areas.
Just a thought .

Now wait, how do you know that there is no dB imbalance between a pair of active speakers? If there is a difference between the different speaker elements, there is.Doubtful about your generalization, but I may be wrong.

Start a new thread on the subject. It would be interesting to discuss further.

 

[regan]

What preference score would the Lintons have?

 

[Zvu]

6.0

 

[Zvu]

I've loved the look of these since they were introduced; the stands really complete them.

Wouldn't mind hearing them in my room either given these measurements, but I think it'd take some doing to supplant my current Revel M106.

Since these distortion plots and ASR's scale don't seem (to me!) directly comparable, anyone care to comment on how distortion stacks up between the two?

The most i could tell about my overall impression about distortion figures for this one is "not bad". That doesn't mean that it's good, but i have seen a lot worse.

I pay no attention on 2nd harmonic so i won't comment on that one. 3rd harmoinic is quite high at 86dB at 1700Hz end gets to 0.8%. While woofer has relatively normal distortion profile (3rd harmonic is slightly lower than 2nd harmonic ) in midrange it is reversed story. It would be uninteresting to me if there wasn't measurement at 96dB also.

Interesting thing is that 3rd and 5th harmonic above 100Hz up to 3500Hz barely moved going from 86dB to 96dB. That shows stability in their used work range and good engineering of both woofer and midrange. Tweeter could be better but it's starting position distortionwise is better to begin with and 3rd harmonic jumps to 0.4% at 96dB loudness, which is low enough in my opinion. Distortion under 100Hz is mostly port related and it is usual since only JBL truly mastered low distortion port technology as far as i'm aware of.

To compare IT to really hi-end loudspeaker regarding distortion, look at Kef Reference 1 Meta.
To compare IT to really lo-end loudspeaker regarding distortion, look at Klipsch Heresy IV

Shortly, not bad

 

[archerious]

I wonder how these compare to LS50 Meta, Focal M16 (or other Focal series), or Wharfedale's other speakers. I know the Evo's didn't measure that well.

 

[Tangband]

Now wait, how do you know that there is no dB imbalance between a pair of active speakers? If there is a difference between the different speaker elements, there is.Doubtful about your generalization, but I may be wrong.

Start a new thread on the subject. It would be interesting to discuss further.

Some dsp monitors are sold with +- 1 dB freq toleranse , meaning they have measured each driveunit and compensated its errors with dsp ( Genelec 83xx and Linn exakt ) so the customers can be certain they get identical sounding speakers . This results in better stability in stereo image for the customer.

In passive loudspeakers where this is not done, you have both variations in driveunit freq response AND component tolerances in the crossover. A dsp crossover is always 100% the same, while a bad passive crossover can be 90-100 % the same between different units.

To be really sure , If you have a passive setup, you should measure both loudspeakers to see If they differ more than 1 dB in the midrange wich is audible. This is timeconsuming because you must measure both speakers in identical setups with mic position within +-0.5 cm and the speakers at exact the same place. I have done this a couple of times and believe me - there are sometimes differences that you wouldnt tolerate If you knew they where there.

On my work of the HYBRID active DSP loudspeaker, I recognised that the Seas er18rnx driver differed +-2 dB between the different samples at 2 kHz , clearly audible, wich could easily be compensated in the dsp crossover.

 

[DanielT]

Some dsp monitors are sold with +- 1 dB freq toleranse , meaning they have measured each driveunit and compensated its errors with dsp ( Genelec 83xx and Linn exakt ) so the customers can be certain they get identical sounding speakers . This results in better stability in stereo image for the customer.

In passive loudspeakers where this is not done, you have both variations in driveunit freq response AND component tolerances in the crossover. A dsp crossover is always 100% the same, while a bad passive crossover can be 90-100 % the same between different units.

To be really sure , If you have a passive setup, you should measure both loudspeakers to see If they differ more than 1 dB in the midrange wich is audible. This is timeconsuming because you must measure both speakers in identical setups with mic position within +-0.5 cm and the speakers at exact the same place. I have done this a couple of times and believe me - there are sometimes differences that you wouldnt tolerate If you knew they where there.

On my work of the HYBRID active DSP loudspeaker, I recognised that the Seas er18rnx driver differed +-2 dB between the different samples at 2 kHz , clearly audible, wich could easily be compensated in the dsp crossover.

View attachment 217213

Aha, ok. Reasonable and good. That is, manufacturers check, for each unit, and conform that the stated spec is correct but it can also be done with passive speakers. Examine speakers for speakers and see if they are matched according to spec that is. For example, as KEF does with their reference models. 10:10 in the video:

Edit:
Note their reference models. Other KEF speakers, which are manufactured in China, regarding them, I am extremely doubtful that this check is made. This matching that is. Possible, but probably not. When I'm still guessing. I suspect that most large speaker manufacturers, like KEF, do so with their top models.

 

[regan]

6.0

That's a quite good preference score. Puts it up in the rankings.

 

[Zvu]

This is/will be somewhat polarizing speaker. For the ones that enjoy most subtle nuances in music and enjoy hyperdetailed sound, these will be a mediocre loudspeaker. If you are the one that isn't always searching for mistakes in postproduction these can be most satisfying.

Having compared them with LS50meta (which sound i really appreciate) side by side, one sentence from Stereophile reviewer Herb Reichert who also made side by side comparison but with LS50, aligned with my impression: "The KEFs play the sounds well, while the Wharfedales play the songs well". Thing is that i don't usually read subjective comments at places where i can get objective measurements, but i returned to that review after listening.

I'm not at all surprised Erin liked them so much. Even in a bad position they sound good in my opinion. They will never get the "most revealing sound" reward. For me they represent the first loudspeaker that i can afford (900€ in my country, used go lower) that perform well subjectively and objectively out of the box.

In crossover i'd probably just change those iron cored inductors to air cored and electrolytic capacitors to film caps and be done with it.

 

[DanielT]

This is/will be somewhat polarizing speaker. For the ones that enjoy most subtle nuances in music and enjoy hyperdetailed sound, these will be a mediocre loudspeaker. If you are the one that isn't always searching for mistakes in postproduction these can be most satisfying.

Having compared them with LS50meta (which sound i really appreciate) side by side, one sentence from Stereophile reviewer Herb Reichert who also made side by side comparison but with LS50, aligned with my impression: "The KEFs play the sounds well, while the Wharfedales play the songs well". Thing is that i don't usually read subjective comments at places where i can get objective measurements, but i returned to that review after listening.

I'm not at all surprised Erin liked them so much. Even in a bad position they sound good in my opinion. They will never get the "most revealing sound" reward. For me they represent the first loudspeaker that i can afford (900€ in my country, used go lower) that perform well subjectively and objectively out of the box.

In crossover i'd probably just change those iron cored inductors to air cored and electrolytic capacitors to film caps and be done with it.

To evaluate speakers. Let the unconscious rule. LS50meta vs Linton. That's because you have them both. Do not make direct conscious decisions. Use them both for a few months, if you have the opportunity. The ones you play with the most you keep after these months. Not harder than that.

 

[Zvu]

I've had LS50. Even modified its crossover to perform linear, similarly to LS50Meta.

Maybe i'd sell Lintons too, but for now this is how i feel.

 

[maty]

WHARFEDALE Linton Heritage (+ Leak CDT/Stereo 130)

Nazwa Leak w praktyce determinuje, z jakimi urządzeniami mamy do czynienia, podczas gdy Linton to coś wyjątkowego w szerokiej ofercie Wharfedale. ...

audio.com.pl

Optimized, rotated...

"In crossover i'd probably just change those iron cored inductors to air cored and electrolytic capacitors to film caps and be done with it."

And cast resistors, at least tweeter filter.

iron cored -> MF filter

 

[sarumbear]

A little disappointing that with 8 inch woofers it's f3 is only a couple Hz beneath my 5 inch bookshelves.

The difference is the SPL capacity, hence distortion at base frequencies. Try to compare your speaker’s relevant chart.