Alternative to Wharfdale Linton

[ratto123]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for an alternative pair of speakers to replace my Wharfdale Lintons.

I'm sad to have to replace them, because under ideal circumstances I like their sound, their look, and their price. Unfortunately, the room they need to fit in doesn't offer the space to place them far enough from the wall behind them. A distance of at least around 1m (3 ft) seems to be required. This has a very negative effect on the base.

The room is 23 sq meters, very roughly 4 x 5,5 meters. It is our living and dining room, which is why the media area formed by couch, speakers and beamer is sharing the total space with a large table and some chairs.

So what I'm looking for are speakers that are similar (in sound, perhaps also looks, but I'm flexible there) but that can be placed closer to the wall and are generally less room-dependent. In the near future, the spatial constraints will not change.

Some more facts about my listenning habits: I do not have a subwoofer and didn't miss it with the Lintons, nor with my previous affordable Canton GLE 490.2 speakers. They are currently driven by a NAD AV Receiver, but I'm planning to get a dedicated stereo amp soon. I do not listen at too high levels, certainly not party levels, nor very intense genres - mostly Rock, Pop, some Jazz, some Electro, in addition to TV Shows, movies and games.

So, I appreciate any advice or pointers at speakers to consider. Price-wise they shouldn't go much beyond the Lintons (which I purchased 2nd hand for 650€ including stands). Let's say a soft limit is 1.000€ for two.

What I'm already considering (and would appreciate input on): Q Accoustics 5040, Dali Oberon 5

 

[Ron Texas]

Have you tried using equalization to fix the bass? Also stuffing a sock in a port can be used when rear ported speakers are too close to a wall.

 

[Miniyouuuu]

Lintons are bass-heavy speakers when located close to back wall. I got the exact issue until I configured a DSP EQ with MiniDSP.
It’s easy. Measuring the bass excess and applying a negative filter in the required frecuency.
You keep your lintons but controlled bass

 

[Fontie]

keep em, use MiniDSP Dirac Live, mine work great against the wall with Dirac

 

[raindance]

1. Block the ports - does it help?

2. Measure & equalize the bass - this WILL help.

3. Get a pair of Wharfedale 220's - these are designed for close wall placement. I am sure there are other examples, mostly British because of their smaller room sizes.

 

[ahofer]

+3 on the bass EQ. you could put a miniDSP in the mix, get an RME DAC, or use Roon/JRiver or equivalent software. ,Get a umik and create a convolution file in REW (maybe just below 500hz). All of these things are waaay less expensive than investing in new speakers, and could help with more than your current complaint.

 

[AudioJester]

New Buckeye integrated amp with dsp.
Minidsp will do the job.

Does your NAD avr have any dsp capabilities? Can you do eq at source - pc/phone/streamer?
Obviously need to measure with mic and workout the issue.

Otherwise you need a speaker designed to work up against boundary.

---

 

[ratto123]

The NAD is an older Model, a T747 which to my knowledge comes without such capabilities.

I do actually plan on buying a RME DAC for music, but this would not help the issue when using HDMI input on the AVR.

Generally speaking, is the "correction" of this issue via DSP advisable? Is everything correctable without trade-offs? I am somewhat skeptical towards this.

 

[raindance]

The NAD is an older Model, a T747 which to my knowledge comes without such capabilities.

I do actually plan on buying a RME DAC for music, but this would not help the issue when using HDMI input on the AVR.

Generally speaking, is the "correction" of this issue via DSP advisable? Is everything correctable without trade-offs? I am somewhat skeptical towards this.

Even if the correction device is not fully "transparent", the impact of room correction AND THE ABILITY TO APPLY PREFERENCE CURVES will be so huge that it won't matter in reality.

 

[Fontie]

The NAD is an older Model, a T747 which to my knowledge comes without such capabilities.

I do actually plan on buying a RME DAC for music, but this would not help the issue when using HDMI input on the AVR.

Generally speaking, is the "correction" of this issue via DSP advisable? Is everything correctable without trade-offs? I am somewhat skeptical towards this.

miniDSP has to be heard to be believed, i was sceptical too, it was the single biggest change/improvement to my soundsystem

Minidsp Flex Review (Audio DSP)

This is a review and detailed measurement of the Minidsp Flex audio signal processor. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $475 for unbalanced and $550 for balanced that I tested. Flex borrows the interface from SHD and puts it in a compact package. Seeing how I really liked that...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[ratto123]

miniDSP has to be heard to be believed, i was sceptical too, it was the single biggest change/improvement to my soundsystem

Minidsp Flex Review (Audio DSP)

This is a review and detailed measurement of the Minidsp Flex audio signal processor. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $475 for unbalanced and $550 for balanced that I tested. Flex borrows the interface from SHD and puts it in a compact package. Seeing how I really liked that...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Even if the correction device is not fully "transparent", the impact of room correction AND THE ABILITY TO APPLY PREFERENCE CURVES will be so huge that it won't matter in reality.

Okay - so what do I buy for this?
Would appreciate good value options (100-300 USD range?)

Edit: Is the one you linked "the one to buy"?

 

[Fontie]

i bought it cos of Amir's review and i wanted a foolproof plug and play solution and Dirac Live does all the work in terms of room correction..
im sure there are cheaper ways of doing it but i wanted an easy option

 

[Ruhled]

Just to add...there's really no guarantee that what you replace them with won't have the exact same bass issues or be even worse. Make sure you can return them if you go that way!

 

[ahofer]

Generally speaking, is the "correction" of this issue via DSP advisable? Is everything correctable without trade-offs? I am somewhat skeptical towards this.

Yes. It works really well in my experience, and many others here said the same when I was creating my convolution curves and reporting along here. Move the speakers where you want them and then take the measurements and create the file. You can't fill nulls with EQ, but you can tame the peaks. (and even with the speakers out far you'll still have nulls). Only subwoofers (plural) with management can flatten the entire bass curve.

 

[PeterNL]

Keep them, they are great speakers considering price.
Try to use EQ, DSP, Dirac Live...
Try to place them max against front wall and EQ peaks.

Thread 'Wharfedale Linton Heritage with Audiophonics HPA-S250NC first REW meauserements' https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...ics-hpa-s250nc-first-rew-meauserements.46058/

 

[ratto123]

Thanks everyone for the advice so far.

I don't have any measurement equipment, neither hard- nor software. The miniDSP is already a fairly big investment for me. What kind of affordable hardware can I use to measure? Is there an open source / free software I can use to process the measurements and apply corrections, or do I need to pay for Dirac?

 

[JSmith]

What kind of affordable hardware can I use to measure?

UMIK... + REW (free);

UMIK-1

The UMIK-1 is an omni-directional USB measurement calibrated microphone providing Plug & Play acoustic measurement. From speaker & room acoustic measurement to recording, this microphone provides low noise and accurate results you can rely on.

www.minidsp.com

REW room acoustics and audio device measurement and analysis software

REW is free software for room acoustic measurement, loudspeaker measurement and audio device measurement and analysis

www.roomeqwizard.com

JSmith

 

[PeterNL]

You can also try to use 5-band parametric equalizer which is already onboard in Your NAD 747.
Try also to borrow/buy (30 days return policy) Umik-1, do measurements with REW, make EQ or ask somebody who can help You. Set 5-band PEQ...enjoy the music.

 

[Fontie]

Thanks everyone for the advice so far.

I don't have any measurement equipment, neither hard- nor software. The miniDSP is already a fairly big investment for me. What kind of affordable hardware can I use to measure? Is there an open source / free software I can use to process the measurements and apply corrections, or do I need to pay for Dirac?

Dirac Live is hassle free, and signicantly cheaper than a new pair of speakers

 

[ahofer]

The Wiim Pro/Pro+ have PEQ now, so you can incorporate PEQ into streaming. Cheaper than using Roon and less restrictive than JRiver.