Wharfedale Linton Heritage Speakers (Pair) Walnut

Product Information

To celebrate their corporate longevity and place of pride among traditional British loudspeaker manufacturers, Wharfedale has introduced a third "Heritage Series" model: the 85th anniversary Linton Heritage. (Its ancestral namesake debuted in 1965.) The new Linton joins its smaller brothers, the 85th anniversary Denton 85 and the 80th anniversary Denton 80, in mixing traditional Wharfedale style and old-school speaker technology with 21st century crossover and driver design. I connected the Lintons to our Creek Evolution I00A amplifier through Chord Company Signature XL Reference cables. Sources were CD and hi-res from a MacBook Pro feeding the DAC section of our Oppo BDP205D player, with its still excellent ESS DAC and linear power supply. In theory, with complete 360-degree anechoic data on a loudspeaker and sufficient acoustical and geometrical data on the listening room and its layout it would be possible to estimate with good precision what would be measured by an omnidirectional microphone located in the listening area of that room. By making some simplifying assumptions about the listening space, the data set described above permits a usefully accurate preview of how a given loudspeaker might perform in a typical domestic listening room. Obviously, there are no guarantees, because individual rooms can be acoustically aberrant. Sometimes rooms are excessively reflective (“live”) as happens in certain hot, humid climates, with certain styles of interior décor and in under-furnished rooms. Sometimes rooms are excessively “dead” as in other styles of décor and in some custom home theaters where acoustical treatment has been used excessively. This form of post processing is offered only as an estimate of what might happen in a domestic living space with carpet on the floor and a “normal” amount of seating, drapes and cabinetry. The original Denton was well known for its warm, rich and natural sounding character and the 85th Anniversary Edition retains that character but imbues it with an open, detailed performance that will entice you to explore your whole music collection. Peter Cormeau: Every product design starts out with the premise: ‘how can we meet customer demands and fit those requirements with a product that delivers long-lasting musical satisfaction?’. In that way, it doesn’t matter what the cost of the product is, only in that it determines the cost of the materials we can use. Obviously higher-priced loudspeakers enable us to push the boundaries of what is possible with current technologies, but there is also a surprising amount we can do with the production methods we develop and use for affordable products too.

Provided that you spend time properly toeing-in the speaker to the best angle for your listening position – and it can be quite a fine balance – you’ll doubtless be impressed by the stereo imaging. It doesn’t quite have the pinpoint precision of some rivals with coaxial tweeter/midrange drivers, but it’s still pretty good and gives the lie to the claim that wide baffle speakers don’t image well. Every recording I play sounds surprisingly large and expansive. Haitink’s superb reading of Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No.2 sounds wonderfully atmospheric with a great sense of the recorded acoustic, for example. Depth perspective is a real standout strength for this speaker, too.I've consciously kept me out of the play-fi streamer discourse with that review, let's put it this way: In room with some basic eq on each channel (via RME ADI-2 pro). Can always use it's bass control to lift it a bit. The purpose of this test is to illustrate how much (if at all) the output changes as a speaker’s components temperature increases (i.e., voice coils, crossover components) instantaneously.

In my room, using the it in lull length, the Linton 85’s sound best with one port closed. If the extra bass extension causes room resonances to get triggered, try the 85’s with both ports closed. With an Fc of 46Hz. there will still be plenty of extension left 😉AS: Peter, you've got a life spanning career cruising through nearly every aspect of the Hi-Fi industry. Could you indicate for our readers which were the marquee experiences during your career? Whether you appreciate the Linton aesthetic or not (we're very keen, for what that's worth), there are clear sonic benefits to this approach. A bigger box should make for more generous bass production, and the greater width of the Linton's baffle helps to add a bit more substance to themidrange by supporting the speaker’s output to a lower frequency. This effect, known as the ‘baffle step’ occurs at a higher frequency in slimmer speakers, and so they tend to sound less substantial, and that’s even with electrical compensation applied in their crossover networks. Id also medium term be looking at nicer amplifier too with having such a nice set of speakers. The marantz does have enough power for them and they do play nice with lower level gear. I need some new tubes so I’ve put my old Sony in while I wait for them to arrive from Britain and it’s sounding really surprisingly good. It’s hard to place it relative to the marantz because of its age, and it has a lot more power, but it’d be in and around its level. Equally, having used it with a better amp I know that there is more that the Lintons have to offer that is currently being left on the table.

The Audiolab amplifier - in the well-known Audiolab demeanor - is a power amp, pre amp and integrated amplifier in one case. These three states can be selected by moving the inner rotary knob. In addition, the device has a DAC which can be controlled via 2 optical or coaxial inputs and allows three different filter modi. The unit can receive music via Bluetooth, has 3 line stage inputs plus sports an MM phono preamplifier as well as a headphone output. Wharfedale’s Linton 85s are ideal speakers upon which to base truly affordable high-end audio systems. In fact, they are so good that for many listeners they will serve not only as a high-end audio starting point, but also as a wonderful end-destination. Taller and wider than contemporary standmount speakers, the Lintons have a unique presence. That ‘big box’ style is successfully offset by the real wood finishes and dark grille (leave this on for the recommended sound balance), making them less intrusive in your room than you might expect. That bigger, boxier design also means deep, effortless bass.Disclaimer: The majority of the pictures were taken @ Chateau de l'Islette in Azay-Les-Rideaux, Indre-et-Loire, and Château de Villandry, in Villandry, Indre-et-Loire, both in the center of France.