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

mj30250

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I've read a handful of reviews for these and most mentioned that they have an obvious "colored" sound. I wonder how much of that was simply influenced by expectation, as while they measure very neutral, they certainly don't look the part. I suppose if they listened with the grills off, that might have been a small factor.

Anyway, I'd love to come up with a solid reason to pick these up, but I don't think I can at the moment. I grew up listening to my dad's Sansuis, which he purchased while overseas in the Navy in the early 70s. I have so many happy memories of running through my parents' vinyl collection as a kid, blasting everything from BB King, to the original Star Wars soundtrack, to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, James Taylor, and The Beatles on them. It'd be fun to get some truly excellent sound of that aesthetic.
 

ThELiZ

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I am worried about the bass though. If you don't want to or can't equalize, the bass sounded overwhelming quite often. The room i listened it in was huge so i can only imagine how it would sound in my much smaller living room. EQ for bass or a sock in the port i guess :)

I've owned these for 6 months and yes they do need EQ in small rooms. Then again, most speakers need this in my room!

I had an integrated amp with Dirac and it made me incredibly happy with the sound. Unfortunately I had to sell the amp due to financials, but I'm making do with Roon PEQ to deal with the bass.

They really are great speakers and I GREATLY preferred them to LS50 Meta
 

Emulator II

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Thanks for posting Erin´s review. It´s nice to see that his results matches with what I hear. I own the Lintons since over two years and I´m still very happy with them. In fact, I keep asking myself what I actually miss about the sound. And every time I get the same answer: almost nothing. Okay, for deep bass electronic music they could play a little deeper. But here you just can't avoid integrating a pair of subs. And that's exactly what I shy away from, because apart from the music mentioned, they play extraordinarily full, homogeneous and pleasant.
Like so many speakers, they benefit immensely from free placement in the room (over 2m to the rear and to the side in my case). Placed this way soundstage and bass response leave nothing to be desired.
What I would like to recommend in any case is a powerful amplifier, since the values measured in terms of sensitivity differ a lot from the manufacturer's specifications. I think the 85dB @ 2.83v/1m measured by Erin is pretty decent. The 90dB specified by Wharfedale is definitely too high (Stereophile measured 88dB at the time). I myself operate the Linton on a Yamaha P3500S, which ensures low-distortion and dynamic playback even at high volumes.
Last but not least, I would like to mention the really good build quality inside and out. The speakers are built by Wharfedale (IAG) in their own factory in China which obviously works beautifully and gives us all a really good speaker at a more than fair price.
In this context, the 10" version called "Dovedale" that was recently shown at the Highend Munich should be mentioned. It will be produced in the new plant in Great Britain and should probably cost around €6,000 (!) a pair.
 

DMill

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I've read a handful of reviews for these and most mentioned that they have an obvious "colored" sound. I wonder how much of that was simply influenced by expectation, as while they measure very neutral, they certainly don't look the part. I suppose if they listened with the grills off, that might have been a small factor.

Anyway, I'd love to come up with a solid reason to pick these up, but I don't think I can at the moment. I grew up listening to my dad's Sansuis, which he purchased while overseas in the Navy in the early 70s. I have so many happy memories of running through my parents' vinyl collection as a kid, blasting everything from BB King, to the original Star Wars soundtrack, to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, James Taylor, and The Beatles on them. It'd be fun to get some truly excellent sound of that aesthetic.
Because they have an old school look I believe many subjective reviewers are imparting a 1970s warmth to what they are hearing. It’s truly amazing what the brain can trick you into hearing in sighted reviews. They are made with modern parts and drivers and based on their measured performance would expect them the sound very neutral.
 

Zvu

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Well, they measure good for what they are (a wooden square block) but not neutral or perfect by any means. Neutral loudspeaker wouldn't have a dip in sound power response in midrange between 500Hz and 1700Hz which i think could be the source of percieved warmth, that i also heard.

Only problem is if you don't like that voicing since it proved very hard to optimize, as Pierre showed.

I like to observe horizontal off axis individual curves much more than spinorama and in my opinion those tell a better story. Observe mentioned passband from 0-90°

index.php
 

DSJR

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It's funny to oldies like me you know..... These new-wave of 'reviewers' who really have no back-knowledge and are largely ignorant and easily led by their eyes! Even Erin stated he knew nothing about Wharfedale (why not sir?), let alone the late Gilbert briggs, who wrote the first chapters of the speaker rule book in the UK seventy years or so back (I know he had compatriots in the US also doing great speaker research at a similar time, but the Youtube amateurs don't seem to be aware of this)

The Linton 2's a college pal had in the mid 70's sounded 'nasal' rather than warm and tubby (the XP models were truly dire though) and my Denton W20's from 1969 or so are actually quite pleasantly neutral if a little too 'foggy' on modern sources. No 1980's 'BBC Tubbiness' and the original purple coloured clear plastic cone-dome tweeters actually very well behaved for the crude things they were!

Does anyone here have the modern JBL L100 they could send for proper testing? I remember how horrid the originals were on voice, but so much was done in the 4311mk2 onwards, it'd be great to see what they do today in current form.
 

cavedriver

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Well, they measure good for what they are (a wooden square block) but not neutral or perfect by any means. Neutral loudspeaker wouldn't have a dip in sound power response in midrange between 500Hz and 1700Hz which i think could be the source of percieved warmth, that i also heard.

Only problem is if you don't like that voicing since it proved very hard to optimize, as Pierre showed.

I like to observe horizontal off axis individual curves much more than spinorama and in my opinion those tell a better story. Observe mentioned passband from 0-90°

index.php
tend to agree. Turning them straight out into the room or only slightly canted in should put the listener 10-20 degrees off axis, which appears to improve the curve a bit. Having a vintage pair of Snell E/III's, which are basically a large box about this size with a 2-way setup and a well integrated grill, I can say that this works pretty well for the Snells. Turning them almost right at you and they are too "hot" and the image collapses. Maybe Wharfedale was planning on this...
 

3125b

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Those 8" woofer has less distortion in sub-bass @96db compared to kh420 , wow.
Way less output.
They actualy sound like much bigger loudspeaker
They are a lot bigger than the LS 50.

That being said, these seem to be really good value for an online price of 898€/pair.
 

cavedriver

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It's funny to oldies like me you know..... These new-wave of 'reviewers' who really have no back-knowledge and are largely ignorant and easily led by their eyes! Even Erin stated he knew nothing about Wharfedale (why not sir?), let alone the late Gilbert briggs, who wrote the first chapters of the speaker rule book in the UK seventy years or so back (I know he had compatriots in the US also doing great speaker research at a similar time, but the Youtube amateurs don't seem to be aware of this)

The Linton 2's a college pal had in the mid 70's sounded 'nasal' rather than warm and tubby (the XP models were truly dire though) and my Denton W20's from 1969 or so are actually quite pleasantly neutral if a little too 'foggy' on modern sources. No 1980's 'BBC Tubbiness' and the original purple coloured clear plastic cone-dome tweeters actually very well behaved for the crude things they were!

Does anyone here have the modern JBL L100 they could send for proper testing? I remember how horrid the originals were on voice, but so much was done in the 4311mk2 onwards, it'd be great to see what they do today in current form.
Wharfedale's representation in the US audio community has been rather poor over the years. Never, ever even saw them at an audio store 20 years ago. These days they have distribution but are still under-represented in the US audio press. Obviously they are extremely well known in the UK along with a number of other brands that barely have a US presence. Spendor, Monitor, and Harbeth could all fall into this category too.

Regarding the old Linton's, glad to hear that WD's application of modern technology seems to have improved on the old Lintons... :)
 

ROOSKIE

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A little disappointing that with 8 inch woofers it's f3 is only a couple Hz beneath my 5 inch bookshelves.
A 5"with the frequency extension of these is not going to play those tones with much SPL or efforlessness. Those will be straining. (Unless you have some 5" with 15mm xmax, or you have a pretty small space)
In a large room forget about it.
In my room no 5" woofer can handle the space with bass, they can't produce enough energy.
I'd much rather have 50hrz playback at a good SPL in a space vs 30hrz extension but compromised power handling and max clean output well below satisfying.
 

ROOSKIE

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What is funny to me is how eveyone calls the YouTuberers amateurs.

I watch them for entertainment and in that regard many of them are far far far away from amateur.

You ever try to make a solid YouTube video? It is not going to be easy and take some real effort for most folks, trust me on that. Most people would create an awful thing.

I think the real problem is someone expecting more than entertainment and opinion. Heck even the opinions of folks here, EAC and other data gathering places don't match mine very frequently.

Hearing them called amateurs over and over by folks with no evidence they can do better just gets thinner and thinner.

I wish there was a better way.

How did these sound to you before you saw them measured?

It's funny to oldies like me you know..... These new-wave of 'reviewers' who really have no back-knowledge and are largely ignorant and easily led by their eyes! Even Erin stated he knew nothing about Wharfedale (why not sir?), let alone the late Gilbert briggs, who wrote the first chapters of the speaker rule book in the UK seventy years or so back (I know he had compatriots in the US also doing great speaker research at a similar time, but the Youtube amateurs don't seem to be aware of this)
 

Zvu

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What is funny to me is how eveyone calls the YouTuberers amateurs....
Agreed

...

How did these sound to you before you saw them measured?

Found my comment from 2021.
....

I liked Wharfedale Lintons in midfield more when compared to LS50Meta :eek: Less accurate sound (it is obvious from first few tacts) but much more engaging.

And i absolutely adore Kef sound but we get quality in small chunks of different flavours untill we pay for more expensive series. It is the case with almost all manufacturers but most people seem to think that with Kef, because it measures similar to expensive series, it must sound the same or quite similar.

:)
 

Darvis

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I have owned these for 18 months and really like them. There is a bit of sample variation I think though. e.g. distortion in my right one is more than the left one, but the left one has less upper treble that than the right.
Why did you sell them? Did you compare with your Planet?
 

DSJR

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What is funny to me is how eveyone calls the YouTuberers amateurs.

I watch them for entertainment and in that regard many of them are far far far away from amateur.

You ever try to make a solid YouTube video? It is not going to be easy and take some real effort for most folks, trust me on that. Most people would create an awful thing.

I think the real problem is someone expecting more than entertainment and opinion. Heck even the opinions of folks here, EAC and other data gathering places don't match mine very frequently.

Hearing them called amateurs over and over by folks with no evidence they can do better just gets thinner and thinner.

I wish there was a better way.

How did these sound to you before you saw them measured?
It's like this - I went through my self important and self serving era forty years ago in the dem room, where I could 'sound off' to anyone who'd listen and sometimes get a sale too (preaching to the converted)!!! So yeah, I think I can say that, knowing how I was back then. Since then, reality has chipped away at my attitude, most recently my inclination to get preachy if a subjectivist challenges my now more objectively based views borne of experiences (I can't be an 'expert' here because there are so many far more knowledgeable and qualified members here from whom to learn good things :)).

I look on Youtube at some of these vids and the people presenting them obviously have little knowledge really and come across as if they like the sound of their own voice (there's a far eastern chap who tested a load of cartridges and there he is with all the boxes lined up in front of him, almost shouting enthusiastically about the one he likes the sound of best (he dislikes digital apparently, so that dismisses him in my view immediately)). They often fall into all the same subjectivist based mistakes I did years ago and one chap nearer my age who should bloody know better, was raving about foo fuses from 'Synergistic' as well as his mate who'd just 'upgraded' his five grand Naim preamp to the fifteen grand one and then how much 'better' said stereo sounded when but one fuse (in the distribution block main feed probably at the UK plug) was changed. This guy, who runs a small north east audio shop, really needs to do some blind testing to see how much the visuals and expectations scrrew up subjective views and personal bias (I'm still learning, but it's fun for me).

Sure, setting up a camera and staging it all properly isn't especially easy as some of the more self-important 'influencers' try to do, but off they go on what THEY think of the gear and how it seems TO THEM as if these results are going to be identical for other lay listeners. I'm sorry to be harsh, but back when the objective performance of gear was judged important still (back in the mid 70's over here), many dealers selling the stuff used to butt heads and generally feel much the same about products despite different dem rooms and music tastes. This was before it all got tribal and peeps my age all started bleeting from the same tribal hymn sheet as that was what was expected of us - some older peeps still do...
 

cavedriver

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The joy of Youtube is the Lowest Common Denominator effect. It was talked about a lot when Beavis and Butthead rose to popularity despite the utter stupidity of the protagonists. Said simply, if you want to appeal to a maximum of people you have to communicate in a way that a maximum of people can appreciate. Unfortunately, "saying things plainly" easily gives way to "sounding stupid". Cross this effect with the democratization of media access (anyone with a cell phone can make and post a video, a billion plus people with cell phones...) and we are being swamped with the whole spectrum of what's possible. Trying to cut through all that are people like Erin and Amir. I toast to their success and the success of the few like them. Much of the rest of the internet is just a giant time suck. And if this post doesn't sound elitist, well... :)
 
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