Wharfedale Denton vs. Elac B6

I'll go ahead and drop my .02 worth about the B6s. I received mine one week ago today. I replaced another "bargain" classic - B&W DM302. I am currently running a NAD 316BEE amp, U-Turn Orbit (base AT cart), Project Phono Box E and the Onkyo C-7030 . . . All budget sweethearts.

I loved my 302s. Great midrange and solid imaging. Well, when I fired up the B6s . . . I felt sick to my stomach. The only way I could describe the sound was very muddy . . . Kinda smeared. The bass was boomy and the high end completely rolled off . . . Gone. Not that they cost a lot of money, I just expected so much more.

What I hadn't considered was that the 302s were ported in the front. I moved the B6s another 10 inches away from the back wall and wow what a difference. Everything got better . . . Bass tightened, mid and highs cleared up and there is a real depth to the soundstage. I have about 10 hours on them now and I feel I hear improvement every time I fire them up. The highs are not too bright, maybe a little rolled off, the midrange is clear and well defined, and the bass has authority without being boomy. Can't wait to try them on my Jolida and the EL34s. I would highly recommend the B6 to anyone running comparable, quality, entry level gear.

I would welcome anyone's opinion on this . . . Do I upgrade cartridge first or pre amp first? Probably go with the Ortofon Red and Bellari V-130. Opinions welcome . . .
 
I would imagine the B6s w a tube amp would be pretty sweet.

True, but the B6's aren't terribly sensitive at 87db @ 2.83V/m. You'd probably want a tube amp that does at least 15-20 wpc with the B6's, depending on the application.
 
I have the Elac B6 with the Nad C316BEE also ..CD player is a Yamaha S300 cdp & Cyrus tuner in a bedroom setup on 24 inch Pangea stands...sound is enjoyable & this combo really boogies for a budget rig..I tried to purchase the Dentons ,but they were always out of stock,so I've never heard them(oh well)
 

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My Jolida 202 pushes 40 wpc, but kinda need to retube. Was using some Svetlanas but a mishap with one of the kids left one of the four power tubes damaged. I am also going to take the amp to get serviced (new power switch, rebiased, clean the pots, etc). It's about 18 years old and still sounds great though. The NAD is very clean and more dynamic but kinda missing the spacious image and air the tubes would throw. I am looking REALLY forward to plugging the B6s into the Jolida.
 
That does sound sweet. Let us know how it sounds. I've been eyeing a Jolida tube amp for some time. They are beautiful amps. How do they sound, in general?
 
That does sound sweet. Let us know how it sounds. I've been eyeing a Jolida tube amp for some time. They are beautiful amps. How do they sound, in general?
I love the Jolida. It's has a smooth open sound and the midrange is amazing. The NAD can't compare in that regard. It is currently in the shop for a broken power switch, but after almost 20 years can't complain.
 
I have a pair of Dentons coming today.

I will add some impressions with this speaker too.

I'm a jazz listener and some rock and classical.
I'm running a really awesome Yaqin el34 tube amp, with some great NOS tubes and a quad of winged SEDs for the power tubes, an Arcam rDac as a source. Have some Chord carnival silver plated speaker wires (single)

I'm excited to check these out..

Also, I read where these Denton are to be like a poor mans Harbeth. Well, THAT peaked my interest. Because the person commenting had Harbeths and other nice speakers to compare..

Mine will go on steel , sand loaded, Sound Organization brand stands. I'm presently using home brew stand mounts that I love and nothing has beat out yet..
 

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Now for a peek inside at the guts. Very nice indeed, large Crossover.. with lots of film caps. Very classy. Nicley well braced box too I might add. Wonderful!!!

I think those film caps will need a bit of running in. So, I'll leave them powered up all the time and switch to SS

Out of the box they sound good, you can hear the potential. Will be fun to see how they are after 50 hours or so.

:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:
 

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I owned a pair of the 80th Anniversary Dentons for awhile. I was *very* unhappy with them, quite frankly. Dull as dishwater. I even took them to my tech to make certain everything was working properly, which it was. But when he opened up the speakers to check out the drivers and crossover, his jaw dropped. My tech was appalled to find Eagle caps in there, which he said were absolute bottom of the barrel quality wise. He told me that the tweeters Denton used were the same being sold for $13 on Parts Express. He claimed there was no more than $80-100 in parts used including the very nice cabinets. No wonder these $1,000 retail speakers were being sold for half price by Music Direct.

If you read through the long Denton thread on AK from a year or two ago, you will find a small but significant minority of listeners who do not like these speakers. They are voiced to be "dark," and I've found that anything descried as "dark" does not float my boat. I compared them to my upgraded EPI M50s, a pair of Klipsch KG 1.2s and a pair of modern PSB Image 4s and the Denton were severely lacking against all. I've never been more disappointed in an audio purchase. FYI, they were connected to my recapped Sony TA-1130, about 50 wpc. I am now using a pair of PSB Image 6s in that setup, and am much happier with the PSBs.

Wow, your "tech" really should get another job...because the inside is oozing with high quality...look at my posted pictures of the incredible x-over. This is a sophisticated speaker with a grown-up and sophisticated sound. Incredibly Musical, and they are not even broken in...and I'm in awe. And I have some pretty nice stuff.
 
Wow, your "tech" really should get another job...because the inside is oozing with high quality...look at my posted pictures of the incredible x-over. This is a sophisticated speaker with a grown-up and sophisticated sound. Incredibly Musical, and they are not even broken in...and I'm in awe. And I have some pretty nice stuff.

No need to get snarky please, my tech has a sterling reputation in a major city. I see those yellow caps in the crossover pic - are they Eagle brand? My tech said they are the lowest of the low in quality for caps. An example of Denton's cost-cutting. My tech also said the tweeter was the exact same model you could get for $15 at Parts Express. He did say the cabinet was decent. He estimated the total cost of parts was well under $100, for speakers that originally retailed for $1,000.

Please look at the yellow caps and tell me what brand they are, would you do that as a favor to me? I honestly wondered if I ended up with counterfeits.
 
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I owned a pair of the 80th Anniversary Dentons for awhile. I was *very* unhappy with them, quite frankly. Dull as dishwater. I even took them to my tech to make certain everything was working properly, which it was. But when he opened up the speakers to check out the drivers and crossover, his jaw dropped. My tech was appalled to find Eagle caps in there, which he said were absolute bottom of the barrel quality wise. He told me that the tweeters Denton used were the same being sold for $13 on Parts Express. He claimed there was no more than $80-100 in parts used including the very nice cabinets. No wonder these $1,000 retail speakers were being sold for half price by Music Direct.

If you read through the long Denton thread on AK from a year or two ago, you will find a small but significant minority of listeners who do not like these speakers. They are voiced to be "dark," and I've found that anything descried as "dark" does not float my boat. I compared them to my upgraded EPI M50s, a pair of Klipsch KG 1.2s and a pair of modern PSB Image 4s and the Denton were severely lacking against all. I've never been more disappointed in an audio purchase. FYI, they were connected to my recapped Sony TA-1130, about 50 wpc. I am now using a pair of PSB Image 6s in that setup, and am much happier with the PSBs.

I have to think you've never looked at the crossovers in any of the speakers you mentioned otherwise you wouldn't be ragging on the Denton crossover. I tried to find one of your PSB, but wasn't able to. Perhaps you could pop one of yours out and post a pic here for us. Here's one of your Klipsch and as you can see it's about as cheap as you can get.

mXZzi777FBmhv-hU8O-W3RQ.jpg
 
No need to get snarky please, my tech has a sterling reputation in a major city. I see those yellow caps in the crossover pic - are they Eagle brand? My tech said they are the lowest of the low in quality for caps. An example of Denton's cost-cutting. My tech also said the tweeter was the exact same model you could get for $15 at Parts Express. He did say the cabinet was decent. He estimated the total cost of parts was well under $100, for speakers that originally retailed for $1,000.

Please look at the yellow caps and tell me what brand they are, would you do that as a favor to me? I honestly wondered if I ended up with counterfeits.

I'm kind of bored right now, so I looked at every 1" soft dome tweeter at Parts Express and could not find a single one that matched the Denton tweeter. Could you ask your tech which one he thinks it is?
 
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"I'm kind of bored right now, so I looked at every 1" soft dome tweeter at Parts Express and could not find a single one that matched the Denton tweeter. Could you ask your tech which one he thinks it is?"




That's because Wharfedale makes their own drivers, and they claim to even make their own caps and wire! Whether, they did for the Denton (wire and caps) I dont know. But the drivers are theirs. The tweeter is great, there is more meat in the mids and treble, than most any speaker I have owned , except for Spendors .
These remind me of my Spendors, except for the Denton's are more full range. I'm not a cap snob, so I dont drink that Kool aid. These caps sound fantastic in this circuit.

I stopped changing things that aren't broke a long time ago.
Moreover, Ive had many speakers with fancy caps, that didn't sound all that hot, and inexpensive speakers like the Dynaco A25, with a dirt cheap electrolytic on the tweeter,that were way better.
These look to be nice film cap in the Denton, and it's voiced with them, very nice indeed!

Ive changed out caps in MANY speakers, only a few times it's better. I had some IMF studio speakers and changed all the lytics out on the x-over board to nice film caps and they sounded terrible. There is a lot more to design than fancy parts. Take the venerable NAD 3020 amplifier for instance. The parts look almost like a handful of cheap garbage....oh, but the sound is soooo sweat on those.
 
Guys, I'm just the messenger here with respect to the contention that these are cheaply made. FWIW, my tech guy is absolutely NOT a fancy cap seller! He is very skeptical of high end caps, says they all do the same things, and uses Nichicon and Panasonic himself. His point (I believe) was that this is likely to be an unreliable cap due to its cheap construction standards. As far as his comments on the tweeters go, I'm not going to call him up and ask him to get involved in this discussion, he's got better things to do.

I don't think I'm going to "win" the argument that this speaker has cheap components in it, and that's okay with me. I accept that you guys LOVE your Dentons, really I do! I hope you'll accept my experience that these were the most disappointing audio purchase I've ever made because I did not like them. And that could be because 1) I got a bum pair - happens to the best of brands from time to time, 2) they did not work well with my other gear (a recapped Sony TA-1130 that I liked very much with other speakers, 3) they did not work well for my listening habits (low volume mostly, they DID sound a bit better when cranked up louder than I care to listen to, and/or 4) they did not work well in my listening space - a long room in an open floor plan. Honestly, I was never happy with the other speakers I listened to in that room until I got a pair of Monitor Audio Bronze towers. The Dentons were probably too small for my space.

So I won't argue with your personal love of the Dentons. Please accept that I did not like them.
 
They also make their own MDF.

No kidding? That seems a little weird. But if that's so, it must benefit them in production. I would love to tour the factory. Too bad it's not made in Britain.

The speakers came with some great literature too. A booklet on the founder and the company's 80 year history. Along with white gloves, and a beautiful sheet explaining set up and care.

The finish looked to be an oil rub, which I did not expect. But, prefer. That how I finish the cabinets I make.
 
Guys, I'm just the messenger here with respect to the contention that these are cheaply made. FWIW, my tech guy is absolutely NOT a fancy cap seller! He is very skeptical of high end caps, says they all do the same things, and uses Nichicon and Panasonic himself. His point (I believe) was that this is likely to be an unreliable cap due to its cheap construction standards. As far as his comments on the tweeters go, I'm not going to call him up and ask him to get involved in this discussion, he's got better things to do.

I don't think I'm going to "win" the argument that this speaker has cheap components in it, and that's okay with me. I accept that you guys LOVE your Dentons, really I do! I hope you'll accept my experience that these were the most disappointing audio purchase I've ever made because I did not like them. And that could be because 1) I got a bum pair - happens to the best of brands from time to time, 2) they did not work well with my other gear (a recapped Sony TA-1130 that I liked very much with other speakers, 3) they did not work well for my listening habits (low volume mostly, they DID sound a bit better when cranked up louder than I care to listen to, and/or 4) they did not work well in my listening space - a long room in an open floor plan. Honestly, I was never happy with the other speakers I listened to in that room until I got a pair of Monitor Audio Bronze towers. The Dentons were probably too small for my space.

So I won't argue with your personal love of the Dentons. Please accept that I did not like them.


ChicagoTom , if these Denton's aren't your cup of tea, No problemo. But calling these cheap, especially for 499.00, to me... is just insane!
We are all entitled to our opinions though.

IMO, they went over the top! and built a class act speaker, build wise and sound wise.

I wanted to post my opinion, for anyone looking and researching these speakers.

I have just hooked these up to SS to burn them in, and leave on all the time. I will see how they are with something other than my el34 tube amp (which was awseome). Some have said these like some amps much better than others, which is really not unusual in my experience. One of the reasons I have a few amps around I like.
 

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Update on the Denton.

"Well you would have to pry these out of my cold dead hands..".

My overall feelings on them.

That said, I have about a half dozen or so amps around and the Dentons like the tube amps by a good margin and really shine with them. So, tubes it is...



These speakers really step up with better equipment and I feel others have tried these with one amp, and the amp could not tell them what these are capable of. So they made their opinion and were not impressed. Too bad for them, because these are special.

Some things they do well.
1. Tone! they have really great tone that's very realistic. A top priority with me. A FULL tone with thousands of colors and subtle shades of tones...a Delight!
2. Depth of stage....it's staggering with tubes. SS, not as much.
3. Treble quality...the best tweeter I have ever heard. Not a bright tweeter, but extremely extended. The definition is simple stunning. Puts out "bright" sounds when its on the recording. NEVER offensive!
4. Musicality, the music is conveyed in a way that is full, lush and seamless. It sounds realist and not like a recreation. Non mechanical sounding.
5. Dynamics....sounds are really separated out, and have space around them...and I have been STARTLED more than a few times. One time with voices, I thought someone was at the side of my house talking, and I had left the door open. Track 1 of Paul Horn's Brazilian Images CD. This CD BTW really showcases what these puppies can do, in almost all these areas..
6. Bass, the bass for a 51/4 " driver is marvelous. great pitch and definition,and does not sound colored at all, the bass continues to become more extended as these break in.

Right now I have about 50 hours on them...I'll report more findings, as I get more hours, maybe at 100 hours I will chime in again.

My equipment for the Dentons is.
Preamp, Sumo Athena
Power amp , Yaqin MC-13S with Winged SED el34 and sometimes a rebuilt Eico HF-87 with Siemen el34 tubes. (NOS others)
Source , Arcam rDAC
Speaker cable ,Chord carnival silver cables.
 
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