Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary Ltd. Edition Speakers (Hidden Gems)

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Had the pleasure of listening to the Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary Ltd. Edition Speakers last evening at a friends place.

Heard these over the period of over an hour & played a variety of music, the list of songs as noted below:

No Doubt - Hella Good
Doors - Touch Me, Riders On the Storm
Alannah Myles - Black Velvet
Alan Parsons Project - Best Of
Van Hale- Jump
Judas Priest - Diamonds & Rust, Exciter
Queen - Show Must Go On
Mister Mister - Broken Wings
Europe - Carrie
Gary Moore - Parisienne Walkways
Jorn - Bring Heavy Rock To The Land
Reo Speedwagen - Keep On Loving You

My friend also played a couple of jazz tracks, will get the names from him & update here later.

The Dentons were paired with a Rega Mira3 Integrated Amp & Chord cables to a Squeezebox touch, which was the dedicated source & also DAC.

Rega Mira Integrated Amplifier

First impressions on the speakers, appearance wise is that they look really well made, classy & are quite compact BS as well.
The Tungsten Metallic Grey Grilles look very nice & pair well with the Mahogany Red Veneer of the cabinets.

Driver size of less than 5" does look small & you wonder whether they will be able to deliver the punch, but all that is put to rest when the music starts playing.

I was surprised by the way these speakers deliver the music, they have an ability to produce quad like velvety sound, which truly gives you a nice warmish(not overly) sound that most will appreciate, vocals are clean & makes the singer come alive in front of you. Mids & Lows are doing a good balance with the Highs & yes overall you get a very good all round package.

One can listen to these for hours together & be lost in the music being played.

Negatives?
1) Low sensitivity of 86db means that you need to give them good amount of amplification to sing & to make the woven kevlar cone to come alive. The Rega Mira3's 60 watts were on 'High Alert' almost all the time.
2) They need space around them to breathe, else you get lot of resonance from the surrounding objects.
3) Price - 48k being the best price on offer through Hi-Fi Mart.

Surprisingly, for me these Wharfedales have turned out to be the best i've heard but then these are ltd. editions & won't be available post october '12 when their manufacture is terminated.

Would I recommend these to friends, well yes & no. Yes, if they have a good powerful amp, no if they don't. Its not that they won't be able to be driven by a 50-100w amp, but one will not get the best out of them if so paired.

I think these speakers will be appreciated for sure by owners for a long period of time. 2 odd pairs remaining with the distri as of yesterday, suggest anyone looking for a good pair of BS Speakers to do the obvious :cool:
 
Good to know new model. Out the songs that you have listed, Gary Moore's Parisienne Walkways is the only song that I know and it is my favourite song in Blues.
 
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I wish I could hear them =\


p1344943397085.jpg
 
Negatives?
1) Low sensitivity of 86db means that you need to give them good amount of amplification to sing & to make the woven kevlar cone to come alive.

Would I recommend these to friends, well yes & no. Yes, if they have a good powerful amp, no if they don't. Its not that they won't be able to be driven by a 50-100w amp, but one will not get the best out of them if so paired.

I would vouch for this statement. I have practically experienced the difference when the Diamond 9.2 were driven by Marantz Receiver & after adding a Sonodyne stereo power amplifier in-between the chain.
 
hey Helium .... what its comparison with the PMC which you possessed some time bacK?

Indeed a pity am unable to hightail to your place .... it ain't that far from where I work ...... HAVE to focus for that ...
 
=OOO what happened to your akai and 2a3???? er pm me with that info. Dont wanna derail lol.

I stay in a 1 room house and don't have place for big setups. I've sent Pm.

helium
CA 640c V2 / SB Classic + Sansui AU-317 + Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary LE / Vintage B&W DM4 + Pure Silver cables= Music
 
hey Helium .... what its comparison with the PMC which you possessed some time bacK?

Indeed a pity am unable to hightail to your place .... it ain't that far from where I work ...... HAVE to focus for that ...

It's too early for a writeup on the Denton. Right now I'm positioning and finding the 'sweet spot'. Ok guys I will write a few lines or you'll kill me.:sad:

In short PMC with SET GM 70 is magical. lt will give the listener the intimate awareness of space and air around instruments. It has a plethora of texture, timbre and finesse. It reaches more lower than the Denton <40Hz but it isn't well defined, nor is it as accurate in weight. Transimission line speakers bass sound's as if, the bass is injected and makes a 'swoosh' sound which is not to my taste.

Denton on the other hand is more of satin touch. It is visceral, but the impact on our soul of the listener is beguiling. The bass is tight, fast and agile.

Avidyarthy you are welcome to my house.. Just kill the resistance, and my friend... you will be pleasantly delighted. Just Pm me:)
 
Hi Helium,

Congrats on your purchase of the Denton's

What have you paired them with????
 
Sounds Nice. Waiting for the track list.
How are they compared to other similarly priced bookshelves ?
Thanks
 
Hi Helium,

Congrats on your purchase of the Denton's

What have you paired them with????


Thank you Denom.

helium
CA 640c V2 / SB Classic + Sansui AU-317 + Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary LE / Vintage B&W DM4 + Pure Silver cables= Music
 
Did you happen to audition the Dentons, or was it a blind date too?
From whats happening nowadays, blind dates are turning out to be ecstatically more fulfilling. :D
 
Managed to break out early from office today, and took the opportunity to visit Helium at his den in late afternoon. Luckily, today was his 'off' and think, most likely got him off his ritual afternoon nap. It happens, Helium is attached to a BPO of a well-known computer MNC ... so, gets his quota of regular night-shifts. In other words, is a pucca night-bird.

Currently, he has two pairs in use ... one, a vintage B&W DM4 and the other, a spanking new Denton. Both connected to a vintage Sansui 317 (Speaker A & B) through an amp built-in selector switch.

The Sansui 317 needs no introduction ... was one of the top-of-the-line amps in its days (80s) ... 50W/ch @ 8 ohms ... high current integrated amplifier. I would, to this day, buy blind in case I can get hold of a seller hiving off his Sansui AU 717 or 919. Sansuis are also known for their excellent bass output.

Now, it is this 'bass' which, in my observation could not be reproduced correctly from the Dentons. The mid-woofer was behaving odd. There was bass boom and it was grossly interfering with the mids. This was only happening when the music was bass heavy. Otherwise, the Denton's performance on the mid-centric music with the usual highs were very good indeed. Possibly, the Sansui was a mis-match with the Dentons.

In stark contrast was the DM4s .... beautiful SQ with the Sansui. Very pronounced lows with good decay, excellent mids and highs, with an open airy feel to the music. Helium informed that the DM4s was 1970s manufacture ... that makes them pretty vintage stuff! With the Sansui amplification at work, the DM4s ate alive the new Dentons!

So, the possible causes for this difference could be ....
1. The Dentons have not broken-in as yet ... just 2 days old.
2. The Dentons being rear ported, need better placement with more open space from the rear wall. The DM4 is front ported, so little or no placement issues.
3. The Sansui amplification is a bit too laid back for the Denton. A brighter amp might be more suitable.

A big thanks to Helium to invite me over on his 'off' day, at such a short notice. Its a joy to meet people who are so engrossed with their music. Incidentally, he is looking for a buyer for his vintage multi-driver Akai speakers which were mated to 2A3 tubes (sold now).
 
The Denton's as per my observations,
1. Will require a high current amplifier to drive due to its low sensitivity. The Rega will be a perfect match for the Denton's
2. Low freq requires balance overall and i found the low freq bandwidth to be inadequate with more emphasis on the lower end rather than the band.
3. Mid-bass was lacking due to masking by the over emphasized mid-range. The mid-range could be fatigue prone and would sometimes be not suitable for long listening sessions if not paired with a suitable amp.
4. High freq was clean and precise compared to the mids with lot of detailing.
5. Finish and build quality is superb and it has such a small footprint that it can fit easily on any size room. I would love to have them as an extended speaker in my bed-room.
 
U heard these hari ??

Mpw

The Denton's as per my observations,
1. Will require a high current amplifier to drive due to its low sensitivity. The Rega will be a perfect match for the Denton's
2. Low freq requires balance overall and i found the low freq bandwidth to be inadequate with more emphasis on the lower end rather than the band.
3. Mid-bass was lacking due to masking by the over emphasized mid-range. The mid-range could be fatigue prone and would sometimes be not suitable for long listening sessions if not paired with a suitable amp.
4. High freq was clean and precise compared to the mids with lot of detailing.
5. Finish and build quality is superb and it has such a small footprint that it can fit easily on any size room. I would love to have them as an extended speaker in my bed-room.
 
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