Wharfedale - Denton 80th (Walnut) Walnut

Product Information

It was time to try an album that I am very familiar with, one that I have heard across several systems - a British pressing of Supertramp, Crime of the Century. The lead in song, School, is bombastic with very deep bass and explosive dynamic contrasts. How does the Wharfedale hold up compared to my departed UREI 813A speakers, which could really deliver the goods? In a word (or three), not so well. was considering NAD C 326BEE or C 375BEE but since plenty of them have power module issues I have dropped those two) The Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary Edition measured flat on-axis, grill on or off. Slightly off-axis (i.e. pointing straight down a room and not at the listener), with grill on, it gave the result published. Taking the grill off made little difference, even above 10kHz where wavelengths are short, and off-axis balance differed little from on-axis so dispersion is good. Phase matching was also very good, response varying little with height. Although looking retro, the Denton was in fact better than most modern loudspeakers in these important areas. The drive units are very high quality.

It was a bit of fun but both PMCs and RS6s showed the Dentons a clean pair of heels. And the cat didn't like them either. Do anyone have any of the amplifiers or pre/power combinations mentioned above driving the Denton’s and if “yes” how is the synergy between them?What you get with the new Denton is a decidedly retro looking loudspeaker boasting a beautifully veneered Mahogany cabinet, inset front baffle and traditional cloth grille. But beneath that 1960s fascia things inside are very different indeed. The original model’s paper cone mid/bass unit is replaced by Wharfedale’s own 21st century 125mm woven Kevlar driver while the tweeter is a bang-up-to-date 25mm textile soft dome. It has the same warmth and same quirk in sound improvements, as in that it performs a bit better with the grilles on. This is caused by the tweeter and woofer that are placed slightly in depth behind the edges of the cabinet. With the grilles kind of functioning as a corrector. Same as with the Lintons which are basically the giant version. In comes the Wharfedale Denton 85th Anniversary (of which 10 attemps to post different pictures of it here failed) The original Denton was known for its warm, rich sound and the 80th Anniversary Edition manages to retain the original character while giving a more detailed, seamless performance. Wharfedale successfully combines its strong history and modern technology in perfect fusion in this Denton 80th Anniversary Edition. Veritably a modern classic! Multiple enhancements, along with the strong tie to one of the finest legacy's in audio, ensure music lovers of all stripes will want this model. The bass unit boasts a standard-setting woven Kevlar cone mounted on a ridged die-cast chassis, while the drive units are paired with a meticulous crossover to achieve seamless balance and performance. Denton's cabinet walls utilize Wharfedale's distinguished sandwich wood construction, leading to improved panel resonance, decreased internal vibrations, and diminished colorations. The end result: An alluring compact loudspeaker that fuses utmost craftsmanship, pure sonics, and incredible value. Wharfedale wouldn't have it any other way.

To mark Wharfedale’s 80th Anniversary, this special edition of the Denton is a classic, bookshelf two-way speaker. Beautifully crafted with hand veneered mahogany, an inset front baffle and traditional Tungsten cloth grille. The updated Denton is a classic update of the original speaker. I was initially expecting a period of readjustment with the compact Dentons, because they followed the large and seriously impressive Epos Elan 35 floorstanders into my listening room. That the period lasted less than five minutes tells you just how good this new Wharfedale is. IAG’s head designer Peter Comeau says he voiced the 2012-specification Dentons to reflect the sound of the original model: “Musical but with a touch of warmth.” And, in short, that’s exactly what you get. The bass unit reaches down to 70Hz and there is some peaking around 100Hz. The two small ports are broadly tuned (red trace) and effectively damp the bass unit so the Denton 80th has good bass control and will not boom or sound sloppy. Although port output reaches down low, small ports do not produce much acoustic power; their SPL was just +2dB up on forward output at 80Hz.Trouble is, the vagaries of marketing are also critical to how modern loudspeakers are designed. Comeau notes that the company’s 85th anniversary has given him the chance to do something more than slightly different. “As we found when we launched the Denton 80th Anniversary (and then Denton 85), there’s a strong customer base for this style of speaker. Retro maybe, but more likely a response to good-quality furniture appearance allied to the full-bodied sound of speakers designed from the fifties to eighties.” As others have stated, the rosewood finish on these speakers is rather stunning, much more so in person that how they look on the web. The wood grain pops with wonderful vividness and depth. These speakers are lovely to look at and look "high end." Denton 85th Anniversary is a two-way speaker in the classic bookshelf tradition, beautifully hand veneered in Mahogany by Wharfedale cabinet makers with an inset front baffle and traditional Tungsten cloth grille. Yeah, I've been thinking hard about it. I need to find a way to scrounge up enough money for those. Any idea how long they'll be on sale at that price? In regards of Rotel I like them better than NAD in regards of reliability but you are right in your assessment that they are bright. Plenty of their amps are bright and need carefully speaker match and also this differentiate from model to model.

For: Good build quality; deep bass for such tiny boxes; good sense of rhythm; prefers more upbeat music Traditional Front Grille: The front grille has been designed to ensure it has no adverse effect on the speaker’s performance. The cloth chosen for the grille not only emphasizes the traditional look but also enhances the sonic performance. The Denton will have strong upper bass and a full bodied presentation, with smooth treble and plenty of mid-range detail. Bass looks controlled and should be of good quality. This is a very modern, well executed design. Only the cabinet is trad. NK On that note I also tried them with the grilles both on and off and couldn’t notice any significant difference – so left them on as, frankly, they look better that way. I am using a Dayton DTA 120 T class amp. Very low THD and runs 40 wpc into 8 ohms. 50 wpc into 6 ohms. 60 wpc into 4 ohms. Very clean amp which easily drives the Jamo's which are 6 ohm and a sensitivity of 86 db. Will be using a Yamaha CD S300 CD player. Audioquest Type 4 speaker cables, Pangea 14SE power cables and Audio Art IC3 interconnects.With the family out of the way for an hour, I fired up the Thorens TD309 and spun my US copy of Pink Floyd's The Wall. At a higher listening level: within their dynamic limitations, the KEFs do a bit better here too. The busy sound effects come across cleanly and have real depth too. Definition - inner detail and body - are certainly not the best I've heard. These are, after all, no electrostatic speaker or an Altec 604 driver with a time-aligned crossover, but given the price the KEFs are more than acceptable. The old "PRAT" factor is high with lots of toe tapping enjoyment. Bass with the 6.5" driver is good but if you want to go deeper and louder a sub (or a larger Q-series) would be needed. Last friday I made up my mind and might have set the bargain record for a brand new pair after a little negotiation.

At 86dB sensitivity was high as small loudspeakers go, largely because a 4 Ohm bass unit has been used and, below 500Hz, this is a 4 Ohm loudspeaker our impedance curve shows (5.7 Ohms overall). This curve also confirms excellent bass unit damping by absence of residual peaks either side of the anti-resonant port system. The load is largely resistive, another plus point, as energy is not returned to the amplifier. Upon my return last night night, I rewired them in phase and put them into listening position. Stands are heavy, sand-filled metal (Target?), with the tweeters raised to proper ear level.The bass unit features Wharfedale’s innovative woven Kevlar cone, mounted on a rigid die-cast chassis, a combination which delivers a rich/detailed bass/midrange output with superb dynamic performance” – SVI Magazine Meantime Mrs. P immediately disliked them from the off. Once the proper height stands turned up there was a difference in terms of the boxy bass. Problem was they didn't sound retro to me: Sounding more modern than my PMCs, the midrange is quite prominent. The wife said they sounded "shrill" to her ears. Although not shrill to my ears they were brighter than I expected.