Wharfedale Linton Heritage 85th Anniversary Speakers

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by dolsey01, Mar 12, 2019.

  1. Jcashfan

    Jcashfan Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Chautauqua
    I got to try the Linton's out for 2 weeks. They were ok but were just too laid back for me and missing something and a bit picky to setup in my room. They had over 100 hours when on them with my time. Very nice bass for medium bookshelves though. Be sure to audition first.
     
  2. Rick58

    Rick58 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eagle, ID, USA
    Don’t know if you have an answer but seems at least one person uses a PS Audio S300 ... seems like a good high resolution amp with good current capability is best. I bet my Parasound A 21 would work well, got an open box unit for not much more than $2k late last year.

    If I didn’t already have the P 7 preamp I probably would have done just as well to get the S300 ... a lot lighter too!
     
  3. chronic

    chronic Member

    Location:
    Lyon
    What Linton's do better than EVO in Your opinion ?

    What do You think about Linton's imaging ? What speakers You choose at the end ? :)
     
  4. DrGoon

    DrGoon Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Petersburg, FL
    My Lintons are sounding great now that they're past 100 hours. The re-tubed Quads are enjoyable, but don't have enough power reserves, so they sound a little anemic especially in the frequency extremes. So I did what any insane person would do, and I bought another amp. Apparently my Primaluna Evo 400 integrated will be arriving on Friday, as will around a dozen new records.
     
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  5. Scorza

    Scorza Active Member

    Location:
    Poland
    I am a bit surprised by the voices about the lamp problems with the Lintons. It's different for me. My amplifier has 25 watts in triode and 40 watts in pentode. The sound is much nicer on the triode, more details, greater depth, closer vocals and a beautiful midrange. My Lintons are about 200 hours old and sounding better and better.
     
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  6. DrGoon

    DrGoon Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Petersburg, FL
    My Concordant Quad IIs are rated at a maximum of 25 watts ultralinear on transformers that were designed for their original 15 watt maximum.
     
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  7. Rick58

    Rick58 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eagle, ID, USA
    It does seem like the Lintons "like" a bit of power/current, their impedance and sensitivity measurements jive with that. I assume the Primaluna amp will be great with them (especially compared to the lower powered Quad). Seems like the 400 should put out over 100W into the 4ish ohm load of the Lintons, should be sufficient! for moderate to likely pretty loud listening levels.

    PrimaLuna EVO 400 series Pre/Power Amplifier Lab Report it puts out at least a bit more power into 4 ohms vs. 8, and the 'dynamic' power is similar into 8, 4, and even 2 ohms. Assuming the power amp section of the integrated is the same as this. I don't know if tube amps usually 'double down' into halving of the impedance (double the power into 4 ohms vs. 8 ohms, which is what giant amps like Krells can do). At least maintaining the same power seems reasonable, and ~100W into the Lintons should be more than plenty, even for dynamic peaks. Most of the time one probably would use <10W. I can imagine the Quads were straining at even moderate average volume levels, when such crescendos came along that needed 50W or something to sound really good.
     
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  8. DrGoon

    DrGoon Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Petersburg, FL
    Well, Fedex contacted me on Friday to say that they were rescheduling for Saturday. They contacted me on Saturday to say that they were rescheduling for Monday. I just about lost it. I was ready for a drink by 9:15AM. I resisted.

    At 10:15AM, a Fedex truck showed up at my door. I was apoplectic. If they delivered some damned vinyl record to me and left my amp at the depot all weekend, I was going to have a fit. The driver came to the door and explained that this package was a bit heavy for him to lift on his own. I just about danced back from the truck with the amp by myself. I'm too old for that, but apparently some sort of elation had taken hold.

    A short while later I had it set up. Some sort of high pitched whine and a the chirping that cell phones tend to give, but at a lower level and constant. I disconnected one thing at a time. It was my Pro-Ject Digital S2 DAC. I guess I'll figure that out later. Lets play vinyl!

    The amount of headroom this amp has is incredible. My sound level meter says I'm running at lower levels than before, but it sounds SO FULL. Ultralinear sounds bright and a harsh. Triode sounds fantastic. I'm sure it'll change as it beds in, but I'm not listening to anything other than triode right now.

    Led Zep, Rush, Peter Gabriel 45 RPM remasters, Hawkwind. The Lintons seem to sound significantly sound better than they did at the dealer through a Rogue Cronos Magnum III. I might be more elated about the amp right now. I need to do some serious listening. Too soon to swap in the NOS Mullard red tips that I had ready? Yeah, for sure. I'll give it at least 100 hours before I roll anything.
     
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  9. Rick58

    Rick58 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eagle, ID, USA
    :pineapple: :cool: :cheers:
     
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  10. Alex Petterson

    Alex Petterson Member

    Location:
    MN
    I bought the Lintons without knowing about these 42 pages. After partial break-in is is clear that they are keepers. They play music, not CDs and LPs, just music - real good that is.
     
  11. Meehael

    Meehael Forum Resident

    Location:
    Slovenia
    I've just finished upgrading the crossover with
    JANTZEN AUDIO SILVER Z-CAP Capacitor 800V 6.8μF and
    MOX Mundorf Supreme 20W 2.2 Ohm Metal Oxide resistor. Also soldered all cables directly to speaker drivers. Did both mods separately.



    Video includes Jantzen standard capacitor.

    Soldering cables brought slight improvement with resolution and dynamics. Definitely worth consideration even without the crossover mod.

    Crossover upgrade made them sound very neutral and much more detailed, maybe slightly brighter in middle frequencies, lighter, CD quality now sounds closer to what hi-res sounded before. As I've said in my review few posts back, vocals and solo instruments tend to sound too big or too fat, which made soundstage unrealistic. This is now fixed. Everything is more cohesive. Imaging in the center stage is better. It was kind of blurred before as vocals often prevailed in the center.

    If you don't want to risk a change in sound character, there is slight but for the better, you can try Jantzen Superior caps, which should sound less bright than Silver caps. Don't know the size of cheaper Jantzen caps but Silver are 5x bigger in volume than original caps. A bit of a hassle to make them fit. Couldn't fix them with hot glue as I intended.
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2021
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  12. ChrisR2060

    ChrisR2060 Stereo addict

    Location:
    North Carolina
    thanks for sharing! Too bad that so many budget speakers are sold performing under their true potential. Lintons - and probably Dentons - are one of them!
     
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  13. nosliw

    nosliw Delivering parcels throughout Teyvat! Meow~!

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON, Canada
    I just got the Wharfedale Linton Heritage loudspeakers in Red Mahogany today, along with the matching stands. Mind you, my point-of-reference with speakers is VERY limited as I'm primarily a headphones guy, but these speakers sound great. I just played a bunch of assorted records from my collection and all of them pass with flying colours so far.

    Right now, I'll continue to listen and make adjustments over time as I'm practically a newbie.
     
  14. ChrisR2060

    ChrisR2060 Stereo addict

    Location:
    North Carolina
    What is your amp/Pre-amp?
     
  15. Rick58

    Rick58 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eagle, ID, USA
    his information page says Nakamichi TA-2A integrated receiver ... which is designed by Nelson Pass. So hopefully it's high quality and can handle a bit of lowish impedance load (provide decent current) which I imagine it can.
     
  16. VoiceOfChunk

    VoiceOfChunk Active Member

    Location:
    san diego, CA
    Hi there,
    I was wondering if you're still enjoying the EVO 400 with the Linton speakers? I recently purchased the Linton's from Upscale, and I'm thinking about the EVO 200 or (maybe) the 300. This would be my first expensive amp purchase and first tube amp. I was also considering the Rouge Cronus Magnum. Given the low damping factor, i'm curious about the bass response/control? Thanks in advance.
     
  17. DrGoon

    DrGoon Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Petersburg, FL
    Very much so. Both the PrimaLunas and the Rogue amps have enough on tap to drive the Lintons. The key to controlling the bass on the Lintons is keeping them far enough away from a rear wall due to the location and nature of their rear ports. I have the back of the speakers around 14 inches from the rear wall, which is okay, but they could stand to be further out. That won't work for my current listening room however. That said, these are not full-range sub-bass speakers so they have a natural roll-off at frequencies below normal bass guitar/drum range and the PrimaLuna is certainly effective at articulating bass to that level even using the stock El34s. The harsh brightness on the ultralinear mode seemed to clear after 24-48 hours and I find myself using it as much as the triode mode. I probably have around 120 hours on the amp at this point, around 220 on the Lintons. The amp and the speakers seem to be well matched and on a day that both my wife and I took off work following our second Covid vaccination, we listened to 12 hours of music without any fatigue (or requests to turn it down).
     
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  18. VoiceOfChunk

    VoiceOfChunk Active Member

    Location:
    san diego, CA

    Awesome, thanks for the reply! I'm really looking forward to hearing the PL for myself. I'm new to the whole "audiophile" thing, but have always been deeply into music; equipment-wise, I only had some small audio engine bookshelfs and some grado SR325's for a long time. But last year, on a whim, I bought some vintage equipment on craigslist and well...now I'm here. Currently, I'm driving the Linton's with a late 70's Technics SA-700 (110 wpc @ 4 ohms). The Linton's sound fantastic, replacing (also vintage) Polk Monitor 5B's. I love the Technics receiver (its just gorgeous), its has great drive, heavy bass, and an authoritative or commanding feel to it...but I have been itching to try something modern, thats high-end, with great imaging and resolution.

    I played with speaker placement a lot, and I found what changed most was soundstage. In my room, its impractical to go out more than 1.5 ft from the back wall. And after reading reviews and forums about flabby/uncontrolled bass, I was worried about the proximity to the wall. But I found that bass sounded great up to about 5 inches from the back wall. In my current setup, I have the Linton's about 7 inches from the back wall, about 11.5 ft apart, and slightly toed in (my room is about 25 ft L x 13 ft W x 8 ft H, + living room furniture, and carpet floors). Songs like: U Can't hold No Groove by Victor Wooten, or Flight of the Cosmic Hippo Bela Fleck (bass also Victor Wooten), or Up All Night by SAULT sounds incredible (at least to me [and friends]). Bass sounds good and tight. Thats when I starting thinking about Damping factor maybe coming into play...idk.

    Anyhow. since i'm here writing (for anyone interested in the Linton's themselves) I'm just loving these speakers. They sound great with lots of music (about 100hrs in), but I have kept going back to more classic rock or jazzy stuff, like Alice Coltrane, Nina Simone, Bobby Hutcherson, Moondog, Tom Ze, Tim Maia, Fleetwood mac, Joni Mitchell, Robert flack, Pharoah Sanders, Gabor Szabo, etc etc. I would say its the clarity/richness, rhythm, and soundstage that I like the most about them.
     
  19. DrGoon

    DrGoon Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Petersburg, FL
    You're going to lose damping going from almost any solid state amplifier to any tube amplifier with output transformers by nature of their design. Whether you like that will largely determine your future amplifier choices. However, I can say that the Lintons sound good with modern tube amps and I liked them with both the Rogue and PrimaLuna amplifiers (I liked them with my older Quad II monoblocks driven by a solid state pre-amp also, but the amps didn't have sufficient power for my listening space). Some speakers sound more relaxed with a lower damping factor, and this may be the case with the Lintons - hard to say given that I haven't heard them through anything else solid state other than my Yamaha surround receiver. Your Technics receiver is a well built model that has decent sound, but it reportedly also has fairly low damping in the solid state league. Between that and the speakers' sub-bass roll-off, I don't think you will experience any significant change. If you're not missing the bass extension, you don't need a subwoofer, and if you are you might consider an active subwoofer which would suit the character of low damping amplifiers.

    From your listening descriptions, I think you'll love the PrimaLuna. It's not a significantly colored tube amp - some say it sounds too much like solid state - but it will give you the microtonal clarity that makes tube amps so addictive.
     
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  20. Rick58

    Rick58 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eagle, ID, USA
    Sounds like the Technics (as well as the PL) is good for the lowish impedance and somewhat difficult load of the Lintons. One thing (hopefully) in addition with the modern tube amp will be that the soundscape will expand and be more natural. Things will also possibly sound more organic, without losing resolution. As an experiment, since proximity to rear and side walls can impact soundstage depth, I'd recommend pulling the Lintons a bit further into the room (with both amps). Thinking the PL will give you a deeper more spacious soundstage that might prove even more addictive. I'm a happy addict ...

    PS: the addition of room treatment apparently helps with soundstage as well. I'm waiting on a slew of GIK Acoustics panels and corner bass traps, hoping to achieve the last little bit of 'palpability' to my soundstage depth ... I hear 'spatial cues' and it does sound like things are behind the speakers and separated in distance, but there isn't (yet) the aural hallucination that a corporeal body or instrument is making sound from 20' behind the speaker/wall.
     
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  21. VoiceOfChunk

    VoiceOfChunk Active Member

    Location:
    san diego, CA
    Great, this is very encouraging info! Also, very excited about having a headphone tube amp. I’m going to try to setup a demo @ upscale audio sometime in the next few weeks. Hopefully they can demo the PL with the Lintons. Now I just need to decide what model. The EVO 300 would be my upper limit. If I went with the EVO 200, I could invest the savings into a nice pair of headphones, or go crazy on a nice cartridge for my technics SL1200M3D turntable, which desperately need a new one....lots of fun stuff to think about. Thanks again for the thoughts
     
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  22. VoiceOfChunk

    VoiceOfChunk Active Member

    Location:
    san diego, CA
    Thanks for the suggestions! Yes, I will definitely test pulling them into the room some more. Although I’m a bit limited with distance from the back wall, I could bring them closer together — without too much rearrangement of everything else. So excited by the idea of a deeper and more expansive soundstage with the PL. Before I got the Lintons, I was very much considering a pair of Polk SDA2B’s a guy had on craigslist because of their acclaimed soundstage....but their placement (and wattage) requirements are maybe even more demanding then the linton’s...and probably not a great choice for a low wattage tube amp anyhow. Looking forward to joining in as a happy addict!
     
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  23. Rick58

    Rick58 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eagle, ID, USA
    I have my system set up pretty much as an equilateral triangle, with the speakers away from the back wall. If you can try that I think it would give you a good data point. Of course and then move your speakers and listening position from there to suit your layout requirements, and hopefully can achieve optimum soundstage.

    my silver 8s are about 3 feet from the back wall measured to the front of the cabinets. My small triangle Titus speakers on stands are about 6 feet from the back wall.
     
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  24. maglorine

    maglorine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fairport,NY
    This is good advice.
     
  25. Rick58

    Rick58 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eagle, ID, USA
    Maybe over-repetitive, but try pulling them out more using your Technics and if you can, try optimizing soundstage/depth with that. Maybe mark speaker positions if you can’t leave them there.

    Then when the mighty PL comes in, that will hopefully show you how much better things are. I’m anticipating you’ll hear more depth and space, possibly more details in music. Instruments will just appear and be heard without effort on your part. You may hear things as never before. Instrumental phrases may be apparent and you may even discern a better sense of what the composer/musician was trying to convey. It is truly amazing what can happen when things are really synergistic and optimized.

    I’ve read that it’s like “reading the score” while listening. I’ve had this impression, esp when changing components. Of course then you get used to it and ... eventually want to try something else to improve things even further!

    All this might take time to develop if it’s a new amp, or change as time goes on. Hopefully by 50 hours or so it’ll be fully settled in.
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2021
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