New Wharfedale W70s in de house!

Congrats on the "new" classics. Wish you luck sorting out the sorting out the sound.
 
Well, last night was a lot of fun! We listened to music from 6 PM until 10:30 on The Fisher KX200 with the W70s, Sansui 2000 with the W70s, MC2205 with JBL L26s, and Bose 1801 with JBL L46s and Kef 105s.

The W70s opened up on The Fisher. I really didn't expect such a difference, to be honest. But it was as though a veil was lifted from them when we plugged in The Fisher. Just to be absolutely certain, I put back the Sansui 2000, and I discovered that it actually sounded quite good when playing unplugged, as in MTVs "The Unplugged Collection Volume 1". But when we played other music, the veil came back up. Even classical, which kind of surprised me. The W70s with The Fisher sounded absolutely crystal clear! The bass was a little light, but unless it was the beer talking, I believe the W70s started to open up more as the night progressed. I wonder if some vintage audio rubber restoration/preservation compound would help them. I'm thinking yes. Matt thought that the woofers wanted to extend more and that the stiff surrounds were holding them back.

I really like them, and at another time and place I would keep them, but I think I will restore these and then move them onwards to a home where they will get more appreciation. Very special speakers, but I have many of those in de house! Can't keep them all.

As for the Paradigms, well, they are quite impressive. Again though, I think I already have some pretty special speakers and these don't fit. I agree that they would be awesome in a home theatre system, especially one where you don't want to put in a subwoofer. These babies go really low.

However one of the things I really like is trying different speakers with different amplification. I actually have my ex wife's husbands Sansui AU-717 in de house and will likely try it out tomorrow. Now how weird is that! :) He has some pretty nice stuff too.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, tube Fishers and Wharfedales really are a match made in heaven. Those early W70's are from the peak of the tube era (which I think of as the early '60's,), so it's not much of a surprise, but it's more than that. Pairing them with Fisher tube gear is like hitting the synergy switch.
 
Last edited:
The thing I found most impressive, was how tight and controlled the bass was on The Fisher. This was my first time really playing to the differences of tubes. It was actually my first time listening to a tube amplifier. I enjoyed it immensely.
 
It takes a while for any rubber surround drive to loosen up after sitting unused for a long period of time. Without knowing the exact compound of the rubber, using any type of chemical/restoration compound on them is risky. They all have solvents in them that can actually damage the surrounds. Just play them regularly and they loosen up all by themselves.

Last night I was cleaning the controls on a Luxman R113 that I use in my living room set up. Fired up the tube amp hooked to the W70D's and threw on some Mowtown. Talk about symmetry, 60's amp and speakers playing great 60's music, It wound up doing more listening than control cleaning.

I did wind up hooking up the Luxman to the W70Ds when I got it done. Way different sound, the Luxman has a cleaner more detailed character with a tad bit better bass, but still very enjoyable.
 
Don't often see good stuff on CL in OKC, but I noticed today a pair of immaculate W70s locally for $170 the pair. I have no place to put them. Looks like a great deal. Not affiliated in any way.
 
It takes a while for any rubber surround drive to loosen up after sitting unused for a long period of time. Without knowing the exact compound of the rubber, using any type of chemical/restoration compound on them is risky. They all have solvents in them that can actually damage the surrounds. Just play them regularly and they loosen up all by themselves.

Last night I was cleaning the controls on a Luxman R113 that I use in my living room set up. Fired up the tube amp hooked to the W70D's and threw on some Mowtown. Talk about symmetry, 60's amp and speakers playing great 60's music, It wound up doing more listening than control cleaning.

Yeah, the '60's Wharfies with tubes are just the thing for '60's music... AND early to mid '70's music... Today I was listening to Isaac Hayes through the W90's/800C setup... "Truck Turner" soundtrack... The W90's and other '60's Wharfedales are the perfect thing for '60's and early '70's funk/soul music, which I adore.

You want symmetry? Try a pair of '60's Wharfies, a '60's tube rig, and an old Dual idler table with a '60's Pickering cart playing a tube-cut Motown stereo LP (or ANY old tube-cut stereo LP). That's symmetry like I've never heard before. I have an old Supremes "Greatest Hits" double-LP that sounds alive through that setup.
 
It is funny when you think about it. We all think that music from the 50s and 60s had a vintage sound to it, however I wonder if that is just because of the lack of synergy between modern equipment and vintage media. I never thought of that until I heard how music sounded through the w70s and The Fisher tube amp.

I will hold off applying any product that might cause the rubber surrounds to deteriorate. I'll be getting to work on the cabinets, and maybe a speaker connect adapter for the old style connectors on the w70s during the holidays.

I understand why some people have such immense collections of equipment. It is all about the sounds. If I had a mansion, I would have at least one system in each room.
 
It is funny when you think about it. We all think that music from the 50s and 60s had a vintage sound to it, however I wonder if that is just because of the lack of synergy between modern equipment and vintage media. I never thought of that until I heard how music sounded through the w70s and The Fisher tube amp.

I will hold off applying any product that might cause the rubber surrounds to deteriorate. I'll be getting to work on the cabinets, and maybe a speaker connect adapter for the old style connectors on the w70s during the holidays.

I understand why some people have such immense collections of equipment. It is all about the sounds. If I had a mansion, I would have at least one system in each room.

A big part of the reason 50s and 60s music (and of course 70s, 80s, 90s, etc) sounds the way it does is because of the equipment they used to record, produce and master the music. There is a group out today who got a hold of studio equipment from the 60s or 70s and records music using it because they wanted their music to sound like it was from that era (can't recall the name of the group) and their music definitely sounds like it's from back then.

Then, the audio equipment from that era was also built with music and the sources available then. For example, do you remember cartridges from the 60s ever having a response up to 20kHz? Probably not - and most speaker designers felt it wasn't necessary to build equipment capable of reproducing it, so you see speakers like the W60 with a "rolled off" response and I believe this is part of why.
 
I thought I would give you an update. It has been around a month since I got the W70s. I hadn't used them since the trial with "The Fisher" which they passed with flying colours. But I found them lacking a little with solid state. So they sat unused.

Last week, a McIntosh MA6200 joined the family. I drove an hour in -33 weather each way to pick it up in the country. It was well worth it though. First, I saw the sun set on the fields of snow and grass going into infinity. It was pretty awesome! A camera couldn't capture it though. Second, I have been loving how well this integrated amplifier works! Just so rich and satisfying.

I have been putting the MA6200 through the paces as I get to know her. I first tried her with a pair of Celestion Ditton 15 speakers. I was very surprised at how open and three dimensional the sound was. Then I tried my Camber 2.5s. Nice, but not as nice as the Ditton 15s. Then I tried my JBL L36. They sounded excellent!

Then I decided that maybe the W70s would benefit from the McIntosh sound. For those who haven't experienced the McIntosh sound, the sound is much more 3 dimensional and "rich" compared to any other amp I've had.

The W70s sound good! Really good. In particular, Reggae sounds gorgeous! The bass is lush and deep. I don't think the woofer has quite the speed of modern drivers, but bass sounds really good. And perhaps that is why certain types of music sounds better with it. I think this is at least equal to how they sounded with "The Fisher". And I am even more pleased with my purchase of the MA6200.
 
Back
Top Bottom