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In Reply to: Re: Why so little info on Wharfedale? posted by hakka26 on March 27, 2007 at 23:43:20:
I have W90's (at my mother's place) on a Technics reciever and W60's on a Laffayette tube receiver. The tubes definatly sounds better. I suspect that the Wrrfdales were designed for an amp with a high ouput impedance/low damping factor. I'd like to get the W90's on tubes but I'm not sure that my 80 year old mother would want to mess with tubes.Dave
Follow Ups:
Yes, the drivers were designed around tubes; at the time there was n alternative. I've tried them on several SS amps and receivers and the result is very similar to the Dyna SCA35 and Sherwood S5000II and the McIntosh MC2105 The 2105 has a low dampening factor and is voiced very close to the Mc tube amps that preceded it. Also, with the Sony STR 6060FW and 6045 the result is similar though a bit more color on the upper end and a slight loss of detail in the bass. On a fisher 600T and the amp based section from it, the TX300 there is a harsher result throoughout the range but better than with a H-K 630, Sherwood 7650 or JVC JR-S301. The Yamaha CA610II does nicely and reminds me more of the Marantz 19 on them than the others but it exhibits the veiling I've found the Yamaha seems to have.
You got some very interesting results! I would have expected the MC2105 to give the results you got. The W90's didn't sound bad on the Technics, they were just a bit over-damped. The high frequncey rolloff may have been a plus in this case. You have nice gear!
I've been fortunate over the decades to have either owned or had access to much equipment but, learned that synergy is really where it is at. A $500 (new) system that has synergy can sound better than a $100,000 system without.
Having sold audo for years, I can't agree with you more on synergy. I have fould some strange combinations though that worked, but I could not figure out how it worked. One I recall was the Nakamichi Satis Amp and Acoustat speakers. The Nak did not sound that special on most speakers we had, and was quit expensive but on 2+2's it sang. The Veludine UDL-15 didn't hurt on the bottom end, also! I used to demo it with the Telarc Alexander Nevski CD. It was quite impressive!Dave
- http://www.telarc.com/Classical/title.asp?sku=CD-80143&mscssid=DUKTVRVX3SCS9KVJ1069S65RD3LC63D2 (Open in New Window)
Since I keep myself on a budget I have only a couple tube units: Sherwood S-5000II, Harmon Kardon A-700 and Sansui 1000A plus some pre's and tuners. Just need to find the time and space to hook them up. My Wharfedales do well with the Pioneer though I did need to tame the mids and highs so I'm not sure of the suggestion of a super tweeter. As such I'm in no big huurry to do a changeout.
In the past I have found the Pioneer receivers to have an edge in the registers you mention. On some speakers it is either not noticable or helps in delivering some of the punch persons want. I would imagine on the Wharfedales that have a more delecate presentation than say a KLH, Advent, etc. that slight edge would be noticed and could be distracting. I've tried the JVC JR-S301 and Sherwood 7650 on my W70s and the JVC yielded earbleed while the Sherwood while decent exhibited a similar edge you mention.
Actually, those are good tube units. Think of it this way, tub amps will generally have a high source impedance, along with a low damping factor. Speakers designed for these characteristics will have over damped base, that is, they will have amore rolled off base when hooked to a transistor amp with a higher damping factor. By attenuating the mids and highs, you are, in effect, tuning up the base and compensating for the higher damping factor of the transistor amp. I recommend a super tweeter because those big cone tweeters don't have much high frequency response, so rather than turning up the treble, I am recommending extending the treble.
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