Wharfedale - Denton 80th (Red Mahogany)

Product Information

One I had my ears immediately hurt so I turned the volume down as I thought the song was pretty decent jazz tune. I kept turning it down to no avail as it was at a near minimum and it STILL hurt. I thought wtf? Something was coming out of that jazz tune which was not normal. Weird experience. Further listening with a variety of records revealed a clean midrange with only some minor veiling - again, compared to the best I've heard. ie - there is an ever-so slight blurring of aggressive guitar work and the leading edges of high-hats. The treble is, however, extended with shimmer and shine but still not etched. I was expecting some overdone brightness from the aluminum tweeter but my (aged) ears weren't driven out of the room.

Unfortunately, what's true in life applies the same to recordings. Garbage in garbage out. I've thrown CDs away in frustration due the inability to listen to them as they re mastered it horribly. The new Denton 85th Anniversary Edition will sound lighter and brighter than the 80th, due to raised tweeter output. It has smoother bass that runs deeper and will sound controlled when close to a wall. Sensitivity is very high too. Very good, but with overly strong treble.

The Archive

was considering NAD C 326BEE or C 375BEE but since plenty of them have power module issues I have dropped those two) And read somewhere that a user found a little adjustment to it, for the ones who have a different taste Denton 85th Anniversary is a two-way speaker in the classic bookshelf tradition, beautifully hand veneered in Mahogany by Wharfedale cabinet makers with an inset front baffle and traditional Tungsten cloth grille.

The treble on this 12" cut was clean though perhaps a bit rolled-off. Very British polite, if I do say so myself. The brashness of the cymbals were muted, though to what degree would require further exploration. But the first impression was of a very listenable speaker that didn't sound forward or overly bright. That can be a difficult thing for many small speakers since the temptation for manufacturers is to make a speaker that has a lot of fake detail by having a tipped-up response. Overall I would give the KEF Q350s a solid thumbs up. They do punch quite above their cost point but these days that's no big surprise given the available computer modeling and testing that would have been a dream for speaker designers in the past.. I'm curious how the R Series would perform. But that's a future hope. I like the character and the aesthetic of the 80s, but the misnomer about the 'treble roll off' kills it for me.Do anyone have any of the amplifiers or pre/power combinations mentioned above driving the Denton’s and if “yes” how is the synergy between them?