Let's play mystery vintage ID once again please
- Thread starter KiM3Ce
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Ditto on the W70 ID.
gonzothegreat
Super Member
They look similar to my pair of Wharfedales that were made by some company in Hong Kong. Mine have a metal grille whereas yours is fabric. If yours is a HK Wharfedale it should have a plastic nametag on the rear of the cabinet.
Some people love the W series Wharfedales but you need tube power to make them sound really good. They aren't super collectible if you thought they might be in the same league as early C series JBLs with the metal legs.
Some people love the W series Wharfedales but you need tube power to make them sound really good. They aren't super collectible if you thought they might be in the same league as early C series JBLs with the metal legs.
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Yeah, W70, W70B, or W70C. Will have a Super 3 cone tweeter. The alnico Super 3 is in my avatar, and the ceramic one is not as tall in the magnet structure. The Super 3 is an excellent vintage tweeter. Killer for '60's and early '70's music. Easily among the best cone tweeters ever made (The alnico one has a 4lb magnet structure... A high-flux beast).
The original W70 (intro'd in late 1960) is ported and has alnico magnets throughout. The W70B (Intro'd in early '64, give or take) has a ported cab, but substitutes a ceramic woofer and ceramic Super 3 (The midwoofer is alnico). The W70C (Intro'd in maybe early '66) substitutes a SEALED cab, and I believe it has ceramic cone drivers throughout, including a ceramic Super 3. Not 100% sure about the W70C's midwoofer. I think it's ceramic, but I wouldn't be too surprised if there was an alnico mid in some of them. Either way, the sealed cab/Super 3 combination is the W70C's dead giveaway. If it has both, it's a W70C. If it's ported and has a ceramic woofer, it's a W70B.
I think I've seen a lot of Canadian W70's with that grillcloth, but if it's the Radio People version, it will have (or have had) that funky CB radio type connector on the back instead of the usual screw terminals (or twist terminals).
The W70's and it's brethren are the perfect speakers for something like the Temptations' "Psychedelic Shack" and "Ball Of Confusion". Or some old Stones, Beatles, Hendrix, Zeppelin, James Brown, Isaac Hayes, etc. With some nice tube gear behind them, that stuff will spring to life with a vengeance straight out of the good book (That book being "Loudspeakers" 5th Edition
). Heavy emphasis on musicality and lots of depth when placed right and powered with . Horn instrument sounds are top-shelf, as are guitars (and vintage effects) and old-school keyboard instruments like the Hammond organ and the Mellotron. This is part of why I love these models. They really nail the old school. My W90's do an incredible job with the big horns like the baritone sax, and it should also be the case with W70's (Even W60's do great horns). And nothing like the chug of a Hammond B3 through these old Wharfies. Excellent instrument timbre is an important part of the old Wharfedale sound.
And no, they won't fetch Altec/JBL prices, but that's one of the great things about them as far as I'm concerned. Besides, for most of my music, I'd rather have the Wharfies. More-suitable for home use and you don't need a big, huge room to make them fly. They do sound best with tube gear (and tubelike gear).
The original W70 (intro'd in late 1960) is ported and has alnico magnets throughout. The W70B (Intro'd in early '64, give or take) has a ported cab, but substitutes a ceramic woofer and ceramic Super 3 (The midwoofer is alnico). The W70C (Intro'd in maybe early '66) substitutes a SEALED cab, and I believe it has ceramic cone drivers throughout, including a ceramic Super 3. Not 100% sure about the W70C's midwoofer. I think it's ceramic, but I wouldn't be too surprised if there was an alnico mid in some of them. Either way, the sealed cab/Super 3 combination is the W70C's dead giveaway. If it has both, it's a W70C. If it's ported and has a ceramic woofer, it's a W70B.
I think I've seen a lot of Canadian W70's with that grillcloth, but if it's the Radio People version, it will have (or have had) that funky CB radio type connector on the back instead of the usual screw terminals (or twist terminals).
The W70's and it's brethren are the perfect speakers for something like the Temptations' "Psychedelic Shack" and "Ball Of Confusion". Or some old Stones, Beatles, Hendrix, Zeppelin, James Brown, Isaac Hayes, etc. With some nice tube gear behind them, that stuff will spring to life with a vengeance straight out of the good book (That book being "Loudspeakers" 5th Edition
). Heavy emphasis on musicality and lots of depth when placed right and powered with . Horn instrument sounds are top-shelf, as are guitars (and vintage effects) and old-school keyboard instruments like the Hammond organ and the Mellotron. This is part of why I love these models. They really nail the old school. My W90's do an incredible job with the big horns like the baritone sax, and it should also be the case with W70's (Even W60's do great horns). And nothing like the chug of a Hammond B3 through these old Wharfies. Excellent instrument timbre is an important part of the old Wharfedale sound. And no, they won't fetch Altec/JBL prices, but that's one of the great things about them as far as I'm concerned. Besides, for most of my music, I'd rather have the Wharfies. More-suitable for home use and you don't need a big, huge room to make them fly. They do sound best with tube gear (and tubelike gear).
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