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Wharfedale Linton Heritage - opinions

I have a circular saw, a drill, a long-reach hedge trimmer, a leaf blower/vacuum and a sander. My wife recently bought a hairdryer.

All bought in Lidl, all cheaper than their equivalents in ‘big name’ stores, all excellent quality and all made in Germany.

I rather doubt that they are actually made in Germany. Packed in Germany maybe and as it was last process allows them to say made in Germany maybe...
 
It’s like saying minis are made in uk, BMW send kits to Cowley to be assembled, ditto Nissan.
 
Used to work for very well known high end German optics company for many years; lower end models mostly were assembled from oversea production parts…the top models were usually German made and assembled though. Don’t what this proves but just my 2 pfennig
 
It’s like saying minis are made in uk, BMW send kits to Cowley to be assembled, ditto Nissan.
3 door and 5 door Mini’s (along with the Clubman) are made in the UK. The other models are currently made by Nedcar in the Netherlands. I went on a factory tour just before lockdown in 2019 and the only part of the cars made in China was the glass; apparently it saved them about £10 per car at that time.
 
When I was at Musical Fidelity they said "Made in England" on the back but the casework was German, many of the parts sourced from the far east and the PCB's were made and stuffed in Korea. The PCB's were fitted into the casework, transformers fitted and any wiring to mains switch and speaker sockets etc in Wembley.
Alchemist Products were indeed made in England. Casework came all the way from... downstairs, metal knobs made in London, PCB's stuffed both in house and by outworkers and semiconductors were sourced from a UK supplier where possible.
 
I sometimes wonder if the retro look of them influences how people perceive what they do, as I'd never describe them as warm.

I didn't know the video above before,
but I noticed everyone except one person used the term 'warm' to describe their sound.

My use of the term 'warm' is to say it's not sounding analytic or sharp, which to me is turning
into exhausting for long term listening.
Not meaning coloured in a way that's painting obviously false content into the music
or start re-interpreting context in their way that I start perceiving it as a little bit wrong.

Your interpretation may be a bit different, otherwise the amp has a big word particularly in this matter.
So may be worth re-visiting the amp topic for a counter check.. if you're interested.
I've heard your amps name a few times, but never heard one,
so definitely not qualified to say anything about it.
 
My Wharfedale Denton 80th anniversary’s , which I paid £349 brand new are speakers to be reckoned with even had I paid their £599 full retail, though I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone, ever, paying that, lol!
I found they sounded almost as good as my Proac 7sc. Some achievement from China, well made and beautifully voiced, if the warmer sound is your thing? I long to hear the Lintons but can say, if they’re as well put together as the Dentons then they’re off to a great start!…..
 
For the "chinese" stuff, I got mixed feelings.

My pre amp is made in china. Works good in sound and it's beautiful. But got spoiled with 20 days of use. I had to fix it Also, as I was cleaning the RCAs, the ink runned of in the rear pannel with isopropyl alcohol as soon as I touched it. Much of the cleaners are alcohol based, so why not covering with something better? My Marantz made in Japan looks very stronger and well made.

But, in other hand. Maybe whaferdale wanted to make a comemorative speaker wich was also affordable outside of England.

The only reason I'm thinking in them is because of that, I can't do it with 2000 pounds or higher...
 
My Wharfedale Denton 80th anniversary’s , which I paid £349 brand new are speakers to be reckoned with even had I paid their £599 full retail, though I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone, ever, paying that, lol!
I found they sounded almost as good as my Proac 7sc. Some achievement from China, well made and beautifully voiced, if the warmer sound is your thing? I long to hear the Lintons but can say, if they’re as well put together as the Dentons then they’re off to a great start!…..

My first "proper" speaker were Dentons... the XP2 version around 78' to be precise. No way could I afford the factory made version but for IIRC around £26 you could get the kit version! There were two alternative cabinet plans you could follow and my dad made me the bigger version, which was more like the original Linton in size. As a 14 year old I thought they were great.
 
In fairness IAG are at the top-end of the Chinese manufacturing thing. They own many companies (Quad, Audiolab, Mission, Castle, Wharfedale, Leak etc) and the build quality seems very good. I don’t think it is fair to paint them in the same corner as the real no-name rip-off eBay landfill crap at all. The only example I’ve owned myself was I had a pair of Quad 11L in the TV room for a while and they were a lovely little speaker for comparatively little money. In-house driver design and decent quality build. Remember Peter Comeau is head of R&D or something at IAG so it certainly isn’t junk! I’d actually be curious to hear the new Mission 770 when it comes out.
 
The only connection between these and real Wharfedale Lintons is the name!

I've seen various generally positive write ups on them but the Chi-Fi thing puts me off.

Such things are made with great effort and attention to detail as far as "ticking all the boxes" go.... and having max eye appeal... so will have fancy looking gold plated binding posts, maybe "brand name" parts in the crossover, kevlar drive units etc etc, but as to how well engineered they actually are well that's another matter.


Here’s some data:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/wharfedale-linton-heritage-loudspeaker-measurements

They seem well designed, irrespective of price

Edit: I see this link was already posted
 
For what it is worth: Doing some work in the basement of the local dealer -noticed a pretty good sized pile of boxed Linton's -KLH 5's next to 'em. Apparently both speakers are selling well over here . Their size isn't a big problem in Yankee living rooms -and those "real" wood veneers help their WAF considerably. Neither is brutally difficult to drive -that doesn't hurt either.
 
In fairness IAG are at the top-end of the Chinese manufacturing thing. They own many companies (Quad, Audiolab, Mission, Castle, Wharfedale, Leak etc) and the build quality seems very good. I don’t think it is fair to paint them in the same corner as the real no-name rip-off eBay landfill crap at all. The only example I’ve owned myself was I had a pair of Quad 11L in the TV room for a while and they were a lovely little speaker for comparatively little money. In-house driver design and decent quality build. Remember Peter Comeau is head of R&D or something at IAG so it certainly isn’t junk! I’d actually be curious to hear the new Mission 770 when it comes out.

The Quad 11L speakers were OK in my opinion, but compared with the Spendor designed 10Ls they left
a lot to be desired.
I wouldn’t disagree that IAG are nearer the top of Chinese manufacturing, but it’s the ‘loss’ of all those
famous British makes to China I have trouble dealing with.
 
I love the look of the Lintons, especially with their stands. I don’t know if they sound similar to the originals but I love the sound of some older speakers. I got a pair of Wharfedale 505.2s to fix up for old times sake. They have a silken warmth that’s very nostalgic and comforting. Takes me back. My aim is to group them with my A&R T21 tuner and an A60 amp when I can afford to get hold of one. My wife doesn’t understand it. Maybe by the time I’m in my 70s, god willing, I’ll be sitting with that set up. Like going full circle.
 
The Quad 11L speakers were OK in my opinion, but compared with the Spendor designed 10Ls they left
a lot to be desired.
I wouldn’t disagree that IAG are nearer the top of Chinese manufacturing, but it’s the ‘loss’ of all those
famous British makes to China I have trouble dealing with.

The follow up 11 Classics were much improved. Better Bass/mid driver with bigger motor system and proper wave guide for the tweeter aiding integration. I never sold mine. Woodwork is impeccable.

https://linksharing.samsungcloud.com/arwPL2Ma1xUY

https://darko.audio/2011/05/quad-11l-classic-standmount-loudspeakers/

Apologies for derailing the thread temporarily.
 
I wouldn’t disagree that IAG are nearer the top of Chinese manufacturing, but it’s the ‘loss’ of all those famous British makes to China I have trouble dealing with.

Agreed, it is sad to see, but I’d argue without IAG they’d be gone for good. To my mind few great companies really outlive their initial ownership and design vision, e.g. Quad, Leak, Tannoy, Klipsch, Naim etc were all the vision of one designer/one family ownership. They tend to be over in any real sense as soon as those people sell the business or retire even if the name continues. As an example Quad’s last truly innovative product was the ESL63 back in the early ‘80s. Everything since then has just been reheating existing designs. It is exceptionally rare that one sees anything genuinely new or interesting from these old brandnames, in fact I’m struggling to think of anything other than the Kef LS50! Most is just gentle refinement of existing designs. It is easy to forget just how radical and cutting-edge say Quad were as their development effectively stopped getting on for 40 years ago. Leak changed hands in way back the late 1960s. It is amusing to see IAG looking back at the Rank ownership era rather than Harold Leak’s company.
 
I have the Lintons. They produce a solid, authoritative sound, effortless bass and handle all music types well (from techno through ambient / classical to pop and acoustic stuff). I find placement pretty unfussy; mine are positioned terribly due to room constraints but still sound great. Compared to some speakers they are "cheap" but at over a grand (and almost as much as my fishing car cost), they're a serious bit of kit and whilst I've never spent that much on any single piece of hifi equipment, I think that their value for money is astounding. Don't hesitate.
 


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