Warfdale ID and Info wanted please.

Just picked these up and I know nothing about them. There is no model number. 10 or 11 driver and 4 inch tweeter. These are the first pair of Wharfedale I have ever had so any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

There is also printing on the back of the cone in yellow 6/69 and w12

Look like warfedale W40's to me. I have a pair and they are really nice. Have an excellent midrange.

So is the 6/69 when they were made?

So I got them all apart to refinish the cabs and found the foam on the 5 inch mid/tweets shot. Has anyone refoamed these? Anything special about them? They look like very porous foam. Will generic 5 inch ones from simply speakers work?

Here are some pics of the surrounds

tyeeslayer said:

So is the 6/69 when they were made?

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Most probably yes.

Contact member Gang-Twanger he knows a fair bit about Wharfedales

Replacing the foam surrounds w60

So after much searching to no avail for the 5.5 inch surrounds I decided to make my own.

BOUXY said:

Contact member Gang-Twanger he knows a fair bit about Wharfedales

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Yes he does. helpful too.

tyeeslayer said:

So after much searching to no avail for the 5.5 inch surrounds I decided to make my own.

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That's awesome! I remember the troelsgravesen guy using a felt material on one of his Super 3's (I think what you have is the Super 5, which is what they used in the early W60's... A VERY-nice tweeter that was used in the original Airedale model along with the Super 3). The important thing is that it's a similar material. Those should sound great. If you have the original oil caps for those, I would stick with them if they're within spec. Poly caps seem to impart a different sound on those old Wharfedale cone-tweeters. Not as lush and open-sounding as the oil caps.

Those tweeters are totally-underrated. If you want a tweeter that disappears, those are it. And even though the response is a bit rolled-off on top, those will cut like a knife when needed (Try Rush's "YYZ" with those speakers... Or some Hendrix... Led Zeppelin's "The Rain Song" is downright-euphoric).

tyeeslayer said:

Yes he does. helpful too.

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That's 'cause I'm a gushing fanboy...

I enjoy it though. It's fun searching and piecing together little bits of info on what may be the most-confusing model-history ever known to man. Somebody has to do it, since there's no real online factory info to go by (because all the old factory paperwork was destroyed in a fire many years ago). All we have are the pictures and old brochures that a handful of Wharfedale owners have posted over the years, so it's up to us to sort out and make sense of it all, just like Bozak owners did.

I made the surrounds for the tweeters in a pair of Airedales I picked up years ago -- a very good sounding system. Basically all the surrounds need to do is keep the tweeters centered -- the amount of excursion is very minimal and the spiders are pretty much in control of the movement -- so flat foam is fine, and as someone already pointed out, felt might be fine also. Actually, originally these had flat isocyanate surrounds, so flat foam is pretty much a direct replacement, though I think the isocyanate may have been stretchier than most modern foams.

Well got 'em done and they do look swell.
I used a dark brown burlap for grill cloth from a craft store and they turned out nice.
I have just lemon oiled them for now untill I can get some Howard feed and wax.
First album played, Crime of the Century. I thought something British would be in order.
First impressions are wow what mid range. They are reported to be bass shy so I will be spinning a few other albums to get a better idea of how they sound

tyeeslayer said:

Well got 'em done and they do look swell.
I used a dark brown burlap for grill cloth from a craft store and they turned out nice.
I have just lemon oiled them for now untill I can get some Howard feed and wax.
First album played, Crime of the Century. I thought something British would be in order.
First impressions are wow what mid range. They are reported to be bass shy so I will be spinning a few other albums to get a better idea of how they sound

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Missed this post originally...

Those look great. REALLY-great. Glad to see you got them in order. Fun speaker, huh? By the way, kudos on the horizontal placement. The height looks good, and they should sound really-sweet from that distance (If you have any issues dialing in the center-image/soundstage, try toe'ing them in towards you... I've seen people do both and report great results, but toe-in seems to work best in my situation). And those have really-well-dampened cabs, so you can set them on just about anything and not worry about resonances, plus they're okay sitting close to the back wall.

If those have 12" woofers, then they're the earliest version of the W60 (They made a W2 model that was almost-identical, but yours aren't W2's). Should be from the early to mid '60's (They definitely were not manufactured in 1969 because Wharfedale was making the W60D at that point, which is a 3-way SEALED model with CERAMIC drivers). Yours are from the Briggs era and should have that classic Wharfedale signature sound (Same era as my W60's AND my W90's).

The woofers in yours should be running full-range. That 12" woofer handles most of the midrange duties, although that tweeter is more-like a mid/tweeter. Great drivers though. The woofers don't get terribly-low, but they still put out great-sounding bass. And yours will get better/more-open over the next few months as they continue to wake up.

I've been having a great time with mine over the past few months. They're so-satisfying with older music. While I love my classic-rock/pop, I'm also a big Sinatra fan, and those speakers are fantastic with his music. And I can't think of a better mid-sized speaker for jazz stuff. It's the TONE of those drivers. Must be the cone-material or something, but those have an unmistakable sound to them that's incredibly-addicting. Great separation between instruments/voices/etc., and I love how the bass fattens up with only a little volume.

I really-dig the look of their old alnico tweeters with the big, fat, gold-painted magnet structures... Very-cool... And those early W** series drivers have the same kind of sound as the ones Gilbert Briggs used at those famous "live vs recorded" demos.

Those Warfe's look great! like new. how are you liking them? Today, to my astonishment whilst walking through one of my fav 2nd hand stores (Habitat for Humanity - REsource) is happened to glance out the corner of my eye as I had already passed them, a pair of what looked vintage tweed grills, solid box speakers. Two steps backwards, sure enough....what were they??? Well those grills had the emblems still attached...looking down...attempting to read the label half brain dead and w/o specs....Warf...dd....Oh boy are you f'n kidding me, this cannot be so because the masking tape price indicated $10 for the pair green dot sticker indicating tested works.....Warfedale!! Mid sized, I knew it wasn't their old W-bookshelf models....didn't have legs or wasn't big enough to be the 90's or others in the same cat. I quickly looked around because I knew I needed a cart. But I stood there until all patrons in the area were far enough that I could briskly walk to front of the store to get said cart w/o anybody else who saw me inspecting them snatching them before I returned. So I made it back, the grills were quickly peeled off like a prom night dress to reveal the size and condition of my presents! Again, to my surprise, the speaker surfaces were in really quite excellent condition. Quickly turning them around to gain rear inspection and access I see the corresponding x-O's for mid and high, with W45 as the model next to. Well, needless to say.....they came home with me and for that price of $10 were cheap enough to warrant the trip regardless. The boxes are of such stout quality, one long past only really seen today at price levels I wish to not contend with. Immediately upon getting home, I quickly found some shop projects to attend to, and oh...I may as well test them while i'm at it. Oh my, they sound great. Gang indicated not the lowest of lows correctly, but tight, and low enough they go to tantalize my sense of sound. Quickly tested with some Michael Jackson, new and old beats....then settled on some Jazz--Kenny G. Just superb sound. I'm really having a tough time here lads, as I have many pairs, I lord knows I didn't need another. So, these will likely stay, and that means something must go. I have some AL 990's and AR 4x's to keep my ears exercised while in the shop. So, the $1M question is what should stay, what to go....AL's are fabulous I can't part, can't do it. But, perhaps a pair of AR's can or will need to go. No, those will go in my store. So the mystery speakers I posted about sometime back? Dammit, those sound good too. Arrrrgh!!! Well, the Warfe's and AL will stay in the shop. Settled. AR's in the store. Oh and by the way, Kenny G = Kenny Garrett, Miles Davis last great alto is who I was referring to. Great stuff man. But now i'm giggin' it to Bela Fleck...and dam i'm enjoying these little 3-way dreams......

Hope you are too Tyee!!! Peace out.

You guys seem to know about Wharfedales…A pair of 60's are up for sale and have been for some time. Seller wants $150, I looked around the web and saw a few sold from 20 bucks to 90 bucks a pair. I offered 85 bucks and the guy had a cow. Were there early 60's and newer 60's like Klipsch model speakers? They got better the newer they got, or the other way around? Or am I looking at junk? I'm outside my element here. Thanks for any help. Fritz

There were a few types of 60's. Price depends on condition and where you are, but 150$ is high. I don't think you were far off at 85$.
If they have the purple tweets these are prone to failure. The paper cone tweets are the older version but the surrounds WILL need to be replaced and you will have to make the surround yourself.

Gang-Twanger will be along soon and school you further.
We are here if you have any more questions.

early w60s are alnico magnets, cloth surrounds, paper cones, ports

supposed to have warm, tube-friendly sound. i thing gangtwanger has a set of these as well as the later w60Es -- which i have as well.

there are a bunch of w60 models...

the w60Es are acoustic suspension, rubber surrounds. i recapped mine and they sound really nice. great mids. bass not heavy but there and very decent.

i paid more for mine but may have overpaid; cabinets are in great shape but woofer surrounds turned out to be bad (dried out rubber so micro-cracks)

Helping a friend who has a pair of Model 60s with no prefix. Serialed in the 39thousand range. Any idea of year of manufacture? Kinds of magnets etc?