Walnut or no deal! Black alway looks like a vinyl wrap. Although, in Black Ash, they didn't look bad in Andrew's living room.
Mmmm... not sure that's 100% accurate... When I first put my system together they sounded a little dark (maybe even slightly veiled for my taste) and I've engaged in some tweaking to brighten them up and they've been surprisingly responsive to upstream changes. I think "warm" is too easy a description - to denote a sound that's the opposite of lean, excessively bright or tipped up towards the top, like many modern narrow baffle standmount speakers are designed to sound these days. I wouldn't describe them as warm at all, they just have a "fuller" sound... with some meat on it's bones. It's a very specific type of presentation I've only previously heard from other wide baffle designs (think Harbeth, DeVore, larger Spendors, etc...) Besides "warm" might suggest that they impose that character onto everything they play back and yet they don't. Play a recording with a warm balance through these and they'll play it back warm, a brighter recording will likewise maintain it's brighter balance. And older, "thinner" sounding recordings don't get any added weight or warmth either... I'd call that neutrality. And btw - I don't use "bright" as a pejorative... I've owned plenty of bright speakers and loved them at the time. I'm using it as a neutral description, not a "judgement". But you're right - they're clearly very experienced reviewers. Hopefully they'll "work" these Linton's to find a good match that can liven them up as I have.
I saw that review too... sounds to me like that particular speaker has treble strong enough to strip the paint off your walls But then they love Klipsch, and they also loved those big B&W 700 Series floorstanders (and btw... I've owned a bunch of B&W speakers over the years, from their 600 Series bookshelves all the way up to the smaller 800 Series floorstanders and they are voiced towards a brighter, more "detail first" presentation and often have quite a pronounced top end) I have formed my opinion over the course of watching many, many of their reviews... as I said above, I enjoy their videos. They don't make any secret of their preference for a brighter sound balance - and why should they? Haha... it's just their taste. I still want to hear low level detail and I do value transparency and "insight" highly, but these days I'm less tolerant of the very "forward" presentation of many speakers. I'm happy that with the right partnering the Linton's can balance those objectives nicely. As I said in my last post above... "bright" in and of itself isn't "bad", its just the opposite of "dark". Yes... when it gets pushed to extremes (like in the case of the 600 Series B&W you've referenced above) it can be unpleasant and fatiguing to listen to, but when done well it can also mean "open" and transparent? So there's no criticism or judgement implied in my comments... it's just a necessary observation. Our responses to audio gear are 100% subjective... it's important to know where a reviewer is coming from in this regard so that you can better interpret their comments on a particular piece of gear. In fact - if anything - i admire and appreciate it when a reviewer is upfront about their personal taste. To me that gives their reviews valuable context.
Out of those two? Hands down the black oak. Really, really not a fan of that "red" wood Any particular reason you're not considering the walnut?
Fair enough. In that case my vote is still for the Black Oak... I assume it's the same finish they use on their Evo range of speakers and that looks pretty good... to me anyway. Good luck with your choice... either way, great sounding speakers.
ive got some time because of some other issues going but these are high on my list of interested speakers along with KLH Model 5
Yeah that's a straight up comparison with the KLH, which got a fabulous review in a recent Stereophile. I love the old school style of the three driver box speakers. What I grew up with.
If they sound anything like the way this reviewer has described them I'd say that might make an interesting pairing! For the type of sound I like I think the Linton's do well with an injection of brightness, maybe even a mild tendency towards more analytical, detail centric components upstream. Get the balance right and you might just about have your cake and eat it too! Meaning they're laid back enough to communicate the best bits (clarity and detail) and "fulsome" enough in their tonality and revealing enough to let the good stuff through without tipping over into forwardness or potentially fatiguing brightness. Also - in my experience they (the Linton's) have pretty nimble bass (maybe not the last word in texture or detail) but certainly the reviewers comments re: the amps bass speed make it sound like a potentially tantalizing match.
Heres a question for everyone… i listen to a wife variety of music Hard Bop, Free Jazz, classical, Crooners, rock, hard rock, and metal. and when i say metal I mean metal in the vein of Helloween, Iron Maiden, King Diamond, Lovebites, etc. i listen to records and cds, no streaming. Dont really do much rap or electronic How will these speakers do with my tastes? also, theyd be paired with a Rogue Sphinx V3
I'd said this before (but I'm pretty much the only one with this opinion so take it with a grain of salt), but the Lintons feel at their best with very well recorded and natural sounding music. I wouldn't be surprised if Peter Comeau mainy used classical and jazz for the voicing of the Lintons. That doesn't mean pop, rock and hard rock can't sound good, they can, but if someone was a little bit too excessive with EQ or compression during the remastering of a golden oldie, the lintons will lay bare his trickeries. These speakers don't romanticize or make everything sound better than it really is. Sadly, I have never heard KLH Model Fives so I can't compare them.
I found this to be a helpful video. Not one sided in any way, just a good general overview of the differences between these speakers. Personally, I think something like the Lintons would match well to brighter sounding amps, or those with tone controls, the KLH being brighter might do better with tube amps or "darker" sounding SS amps. But like most things, I'm sure the opposite combinations work well too, especially depending on room factors.
Couldn't agree more. That would certainly be my approach. I think they do well with a little injection of brightness unless of course you're consciously going for a darker sort of sound. And their laid back nature is quite tolerant of "livelier" components upstream without things tipping into fatiguing/forward territory.
Through the Wharfedale Linton speakers, I played metal (black/death/thrash/NWOBHM/etc), punk (from crust, hardcore, metallic, etc.), jazz, industrial, electronic, orchestral soundtracks, synth-pop, acoustic, etc., through LPs, CDs, and cassettes. Overall, I find that jazz, vocals, rock, metal, punk and any genre that has a lot of bass works very well. Personally, I find that it doesn't work as well with classical or orchestral music as I find some of the micro dynamics get lost in the mix. Of course, if you have any poorly recorded music, don't expect audiophile fidelity if you like lo-fi black/death metal or poorly recorded live rehearsals and shows.
good to know, i dont do much death meal and zero black metal unless its cery melodic or unique (hello, Obsequiae). My main metal is power, nwobhm, speed, prog, etc. i have a lot of classical but dont find myself listening that often but its depending on mood. how do these Lintons perform at lower volumes? currently looking at Lintons, KLH 5, and LS50 Metas.
I don't crank my Lintons to ear-bleeding levels by any stretch, but rather in a low-to-medium at best as I prefer to preserve my hearing abilities. Based on my observations and volume preferences, the Lintons still sing very well. I've listened to the KEF LS50 speakers before at a local hi-fi shop but they didn't really engage me all that much. I haven't personally listen to the KLH 5, so I don't have any personal opinions on them.
i recently went down to one working ear so i have to play lower volumes as well so looking for a hood sounding low volume that’s reasonably priced and looks nice too as super duper quality is no longer important
Low volume performance is very, very good, actually. I compared the Lintons to the LS50 Meta but for what I was looking for (speakers with lifesize sound that can fill a large room) the Metas quicky fell off. The Metas sound as small as they look.
i finally downloaded a DB app and appears i listen mainly to 50-60db. Would you be in the same range?
A detail to look at for comparisons like this is whether the scale is in dBA or dBC. It really doesn’t matter AFAIK which scale you use but when giving values it’s best to keep it straight (apples to apples). I forget without doing a test which is “higher” but the setting affects the reading by about 10dB. A-weighting - Wikipedia shows the filtering frequency response associated with each weighting. It’s a bit misleading as it looks like all of them should read “the same”. But try it at different weightings (if available) and you’ll see … PS: VERY sorry to read about your hearing loss. Hoping it can be treated …
While I suspected that the KLH Model 5 is an overall forgiving loudspeaker (the Stereophile measurements of the Model Five show more dips in the frequency range than the Lintons), I just read on Darko Audio that "poor and bright recordings are not its friend". If that is true then the Model Fives probably sound a lot brighter than the Lintons. If there is one department where the Lintons are forgiving it's the treble. Like Toneh has mentioned, I too thought they sounded too dark at first, but now, 6 months later, I actually love the treble. It's a perfect extention of the mid-range and it never calls attention to itself. With the Lintons I can listen to the prominent ride cymbals on Kenny Wheeler's GNU HIGH all day long (I'm referring to the CD). On the Denton 85th, which are brighter than the Lintons, those same ride cymbals can be too much after a while. Review KLH Model Five on Darko Audio: KLH’s Model Five: the Levi’s 501 of loudspeakers | Darko.Audio
