Wharfedale Owners Thread

The Wharfedale cloth surrounds were treated with a black rubber compound, and in many cases a 100% seal was not achieved. There are flexible sealant coatings available from many sources that will fix this small problem, although I have a preference for dimensional fabric and craft paint, Black Shiny No. PM 101,originally obtained under the 'Polymark' trade name which is now known as Duncans. However there can be other reasons for the bass shortfall that you are experiencing and I suggest that you check for the following issues:- a creased cone, braided pigtail leads that have frayed , the paper voice former has crumpled or the voice coil that has partially unwound due to adhesive failure. These are vintage speakers and they do require remedial attention from time to time to keep them in good order.
 
The book,"A to Z in Audio" by G. A. Briggs ( First Edition 1960), shows how the roll surrounds were manufactured. The cloth material was formed to the required shape by a pneumatic press and afterwards it was coated with the black compound to make it airtight. If your surrounds are porous to the flow of air then the application of a sealant is beneficial and it should be mentioned that it is not unknown for the surrounds to have gone hard as the original sealant loses flexibility over time.
 
Hello, can't offer advice as to why your bass is lacking but can only offer that after installing the Russian PIO's in my W-90's
I wasn't sure that I heard a sonic improvement, that is until near the 100 hr. mark.
Much improved across the spectrum especially the bass, tighter, stronger. I have not sealed the surrounds but they sound similar in description to yours.
 

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I think I found much of the issue... I was running them w a solid state kenwood 70 wpc and switched to a fisher 500c tube unit. OMG. Night and friggin day!! I only have 20 hours on the PIO caps so I bet it gets sweeter from here. Still curious about doping those surrounds though, just might do it yet.
 
Was reading here about coating the cloth surrounds of wharfedale drivers. I've had/have 2 pair of W60 and W70's, all the early ported speakers, plus a few cloth surround drivers I picked up. None of the cloth surrounds in these drivers/speakers show any evidence of being previously coated. The surround weave is a fine black thread with obvious uniform porosity through out.
Further, the surround compliance does not appear to have 'changed', they retain the roll shape and action from what I can tell. I venture to say that they probably still function with the same compliance they were intended to.

I think it would be big mistake to treat the surrounds on these drivers to 'seal' them. That would change the compliance. This is certainly true of all the ported wharfedales, with a port, what purpose does sealing accomplish?

I don't have any experience with the drivers of the non-ported wharfedales, so I can't comment on those. Is it clear that Wharfedale intended the later non-ported speakers to be completely sealed, with an acoustic suspension design principle?
Mark
 
Thanks for posting. I have decided not to coat the surrounds, although it sure seems half the folks tell me to. I do think mine were never coated at factory. One question is with w90s, one woofer chamber is sealed airtight except the air that would travel via the surround. The other chamber is highly vented. I guess they could not decide on this issue at factory, kinda weird.
 
There is a nice pair of BIC 8950 8" woofers on eBay item # 322562729402 This is the woofer that was used on the W25 and W35 Wharfdale speakers. They are damn hard to come by. I landed pair several months ago. The price is reasonable. The BIC 8950 speaker has not been made for at least 35 years. While I tried I could find no substitute that maintained the original Wharfdale "English" sound.
 
Non vented side has a port, but it is plugged at the factory... another mystery...

Might the backs have been switched? My W90s have a sand filled back on the ported side, and "saw-cut" venting on the back of the "plugged" one (a series of parallel slits). The baffle on that side has a (factory) plugged port. So each side is vented or ported. Neither is sealed.
 
hmm. anyone else out there verify the correct way the factory did this to w90s? is the vented back to be on the non ported side or the ported and plugged side?
 
Despite that I have not seen a W90 for decades, my logic directs me to that said recently by PastTechFan. (#971) The plugged port on the slotted rear side may have been a design change or an error noticed after many panels were cut. It would be more economical to plug the vent. The design suggested by Briggs for home builders for the W15FS in a 10 cubic feet cabinet had a divider board separating the inside by roughly a 3/4 ratio. This inner baffle was fixed to the front, rear and sides and had 11 slots, 1/8th inch wide from front to a few inches from the rear. Here's a page in my website showing the cabinet a half brother built in 1957. http://www.ln271828.net/Original_Briggs.html That panel was said to be an acoustic filter. The cabinet also had a 3 inch diameter hole in the lower chamber, essentially a vent tube of length = 3/4 inch. That small vent would restrict diaphragm excursion. I modified the vent for a University C15HC and later found out that larger vent to be very close to a maximum power vent for the W15FS.

To answer (I.M.H.O.) ducati2's last question, (#972), the vented (slotted) back belongs on the non ported side. If memory serves me well, that would be the right side of the cabinet, facing the front. The speaker in the right chamber has the cone filled with polystyrene to seriously lower Fs, thus allowing it to reproduce the very low register of music. The efficiency would suffer. It's similar to what is called an acoustic suspension speaker, like the AR-3 but the W90 is slot ported while the venerable AR-3 is sealed air tight.

Sorry for the digression.

Robert
 
Hi,

This is actually my first post. I picked up a pair of Wharfedale Glendale 3. One of the speakers have a toasted midrange driver. I'm having a difficult time finding an original middy for these. I believe these old Glendale's were 6 ohm? If anybody can point me in the right direction, I would like to find an equivalent replacement.

Thanks!
 
Picked these up at a estate clearance. W60E .The wires to the woofer between the cone and terminal block needed soldered/repaired. Nice to have a pair of Wharfedales back in rotation. Good jazz speaker.W60E with 2100D.jpg
 
Plan on doing some cabinet rehab to my W60 D's this fall. What should I look for on the surrounds as far as deterioration? Am also considering a recap.
 
Common wisdom says to rotate the woofers 180 degrees .This compensates for the sag over the years. The rubber surrounds seem to hold up much better than the foam.
 
Hi,

This is actually my first post. I picked up a pair of Wharfedale Glendale 3. One of the speakers have a toasted midrange driver. I'm having a difficult time finding an original middy for these. I believe these old Glendale's were 6 ohm? If anybody can point me in the right direction, I would like to find an equivalent replacement.

Thanks!
Found this, (192302290678). Now if I could find the MR's for my W35's.

IMG_1906.PNG
 
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