As others have probably mentioned the 225s are down firing and would be best near a wall. I’ve had more speakers than I can remember and none of the rear ported ones sound good near walls. If you could wait and save some more money you could look for a pair of used Wharfedale Jade 3s. They’re not ported at all and if the Jade 5s are any indication they’ll beat them all.
The down firing port is what's making me lean towards the Diamonds.... I think the Dentons may not 'shine' so close to the wall. Don't know if going for the 225s or 220s though... they both have the same amount of positive reviews (at least the ones I've found), but I haven't found any direct confrontation. The 220s seems more suitable for a desktop setup/near field listening, and are 100 euros cheaper. But if the 225s won't be 'boomy' even close to the wall, they may be worth the price difference... The Jade 3 are definitely out of my range for now.
I've spent almost one month with my Dentons paired with my Kenwood KW-60 tube receiver circa 1962. According to the manual the Kenwood is rated 30 wpc. One poster here mentioned that when he had this model he believed that to be a bloated figure and it was more likely half that. To get the music playing loud [but not blasting] I needed to turn the volume knob to 2-3 o'clock. At first I liked the way it sounded. But with the passing of time and more and more music being thrown at this combo it became obvious that this pairing isn't so great. Certain recordings sounded strained and I encountered one CD [Runaways - self-titled Japan SHM-CD] that just flat out sounded distorted/unplayable. I just put the Dentons in my bedroom with my Pioneer SX-880 and the Runaways CD sounds fine, albeit the bass is a bit bloated due to the mastering. I'm going to be getting a pair of high efficiency Klipsch bookshelf speakers for the Kenwood in the near future. In the meantime I am about to try these SONY speakers talked about in this thread; Ok I'm Pissed Now, These Speakers S...
Are those banana plugs soldered on? Or is banana plugs that you screw down to attach to the speaker cable?
It looks like they screw down: https://www.amazon.com/Nakamichi-Speaker-banana-Audio-connector/dp/B00G7QDVRU
Yeah, it seems that the Kenwood is way underpowered. Even my Fisher X-100 (approx. 14wpc) doesn't have to struggle to drive the Dentons off the 4 ohm taps. I'm guessing the volume gets loud at around 10 or 11 o'oclock on the volume knob.
Speakers attached to 4 ohm taps. With the loudness switch on I can play at moderate volume around 11 o'clock and it sounds nice. To play it loud I need to go to 3 0'clock and turn off the loudness. But it lacks bass and sounds strained at times. I'm considering these; Super 3i Monitor Speakers
So I got a pair of 220s in the end. After around 20/30 hours of "break in" I decided to send the back (thanks Amazon); they had a likable smooth and neutral sound but sounded rather "small" compared to other 5" woofer speakers I heard. Then I couldn't resist and got a pair of 225s, that definitely have a fuller, punchier sound. I got them yesterday and they just keep sounding better and better; I can attest that what the various "stellar" reviews say is true. The only issue I have with these is that the bass is in fact "boomy" with a lot of recordings, but I had the same issue with all the others speakers I have/have tried except the 220s, that however lacked too much mid-bass to provide an engaging listening experience, at least for me. If I turn down a few notches the 110Hz frequency on the foobar equalizer it solves the problem; playing CDs/records I have to use the tones on my amp (Marantz PM6006) and turn down the bass a little, but it's a less efficient solution. The speakers are 6''s from the back wall, over marble plates over Ikea shelves full of vinyl records. I could put them forward another 1 inch at best, or I could build myself a pair of stands but I would have to keep the shelves where they are and the stands/speakers would end up being too forward, facing directly behind me.
OK, I feel a little stupid now... I noticed the "boomyness" is more evident when I lean closer to the computer screen and my head gets to be almost between the speakers; as I move myself back to the "ideal" listening position the bass sound less boomy. If I sit on the couch that's on the other side of the room (8/9 feet from the speakers) which I rarely do as I'm always "busy" on the computer, the sound is definitely better. Sure there are records with too much bass in the mix, and the speakers would benefit from a little more space from the wall, but it seems the main problem is my position while I sit at my desk. I've been so busy trying different set of speakers and cables and reading reviews and forums lately that I didn't notice this was probably the main issue.
I think you've discovered that, while speaker position is extremely important, so is listener position! Enjoy it. -Bob
Agree to that. While my 8004 and my Totem hawks sound fabulous together, I have to say that Denton would benefit from a different integrated... Is there anyone who can suggest a budget integrated that work well with these wharfedale?
I believe MalemuteKid was referring to the Diamond 225s and not the Dentons in their post, but I have 225s and pair them with a Onkyo A-9010. I think this pairing works very well.
I found my Denton pairing best with Cambridge audio / CA 640A,compare to my other amps :Yamaha A500 and Rotel RA 1070. I feel CA amps produces more weight & authority. Also I have tested 2 more amps which I think delivers good sound too to Denton: 1. Rega Brio 2. CA Lower watt amp(maybe Topaz model ?)but It still can drive Denton well. I tried Marants amp model , perhaps PM 6005 and the newer model too but never like the sound signature.
Well, I can't speak for fellow whackos in my cult (and I am NOT going to divulge our secret handshake or clubhouse password), but maybe we like Harbeths because to our ears they reproduce the natural sound of unamplified instruments better than any other speaker we know of. That's the reason I own them and the reason I think "something about them is 'special.'" And I bet one or two of us can, in fact, understand why other people choose other speakers. Maybe even three or four of us. -Bob
I've been listening to a lot of classical music lately and the Denton's slight tendency towards a thicker, more congested, sound was - I felt - obscuring some of the finer recording elements. Today I swapped my LS50s back in and pretty much stand by what I wrote seven months ago. The LS50 is "widescreen" compared to the Denton. The LS50 seems to have greater resolution and delineation between instruments, and less compression. It is a bit "hi-fi" sounding compared to the Denton, and I find myself distracted by this somewhat. Very useful for comparative listening, but potentially irritating in the long term. I'm glad I have both speakers.
Just curious. How many hours on the Dentons? My experience with Wharfedales is that they are awful out of the box.
Since I installed them in May? I'd estimate 700 hours. I didn't notice any issues with them 'out of the box'.
