I started to pen a reply, but then an overwhelming sense of deja vu came over me. So I shuttled over to another forum and saw I had written about my experience with a (probably one-off Wharfedale flagship model some 30 years ago). So, here is what I wrote
Back circa 1985 or so, Wharfedale came out with its flagship product...I can't be certain of the name, but I think it was called the Option 1 or something (a quick google search didn't result in any mentions)....they were very big, very expensive ($8000??) and active. I think there may have been only one pair ever built, but somehow my then dealer along the Floridian space coast manage to get that very pair, along with one CD that the distributor said you HAD to use with those speakers-the HFNRR demo disk with the dreaded garage door thumping track.
I must say the garage door sounded very impressive on those Wharefdales, but for actual music, a pair of Accoustat Model 2+2 driven with the best amplification Audio Research ever had or will make-the SP10mk2/D250mk2 that was in an adjoining demo room was by far better and tonally more truthful. No, they were not the *worst* flag ship speaker I have heard-those would be Les Queltiques...
The same dealer also had a very early pair of the original Diamonds that were clamped into space time ordinances by a scaffolding of experimental wrought iron with spikes on the top, bottom and both sides. Now THOSE were impressive, although how much had to do with the novel 'stands' I do not know. At the time he estimated the stands would cost $500 to embrace speakers worth maybe $80-the original Diamonds were VERY cheap.... He later went on to found a very successful stand company-Sound Anchor, that still does healthy business.
Still you had to admire the chutzpah of Wharfedale to produce these very unexpected speakers that were against pretty much all of their then philosophies.
A uni friend of mine had a pair of Lintons I think. Dull and boxy even when driven with my Michell Focus One/A60. My only other experience with Wharfedale was when they rolled out their E-series speakers at the Heathrow show (of was it the Olympia one?). Literally they made my head hurt, which it continued to do for at least an hour after I left. Still, I did get to meet and chat with JV later on that day, so all was not lost.