Wharfedale Denton 85th Anniversary - Anniversary Classic

Review of bookshelf speakers Wharfedale Denton 85th Anniversary:

In the vintage Heritage series of the British brand Wharfedale, there are only two models - a three-strip Linton and a two-strip Denton. Both speakers are modern versions of popular speaker models from the 70s of the last century. Today we'll talk in detail about the younger model - compact shelf monitors Wharfedale Denton 85th Anniversary, the release of which was timed to coincide with the brand's 85th anniversary.

Wharfedale is one of the oldest British loudspeaker manufacturers, whose history dates back to 1932. Denton monitors in the 70s of the last century were a bestseller in the Wharfedale nomenclature - the speakers literally sold like hotcakes. Today, the Wharfedale brand is part of the Chinese concern IAG, along with such legendary British brands as QUAD, Castle, Mission, LEAK, and Audiolab. In the 21st century, Denton was remembered twice - in 2012, the Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary model, released for the brand's 80th anniversary, saw the light of day, and in 2017, respectively, Denton 85th Anniversary - for the 85th anniversary. In both anniversary models, the manufacturer managed to combine vintage design, referring to the legendary ancestors, modern equipment, and, most importantly, an attractive price.

We study:

They meet, as you know, by clothes - we'll start with it. The Wharfedale Denton 85th Anniversary loudspeakers are housed in compact cabinets made of MDF and finished with natural wood veneer. Moreover, the thoroughness of assembly and finishing deserves the most flattering epithets. Initially, the speakers were offered in two finishes - walnut veneer (Antique Walnut) or mahogany (Mahogany Red). Sometime later, a third option was added in black oak veneer (Black Oak).

Monitors Wharfedale Denton's 85th Anniversary is made in a two-way concept. The high-frequency range is entrusted to an inch tweeter with a soft dome, covered with a non-removable metal mesh. The rest of the range is served by a dynamic driver with a 165 mm Kevlar cone on a rubber suspension. The frequency of separation of areas of responsibility is quite high - 3.1 kHz.

The driver works in a phase-reversed acoustic design with two ports located at the top of the rear wall of the speaker. That is, in order to prevent bass degradation during installation, it is necessary to provide the necessary space behind the speakers.

The patch panel is equipped with two pairs of luxurious screw-type speaker terminals for bi-amping or bi-wiring, which is not so common in bookshelf speakers. The rigidity of the case is increased by a system of internal struts - the cabinet practically does not respond to tapping.

The speakers are equipped with protective grills made of acoustically transparent fabric on a plastic frame. The front panel is slightly recessed deep into the case, so the grills sit “flush” - also a solution from the last century, which you will not find in modern speakers. For fixing grills on the front panel, special metal pins are provided. An interesting point - in the process of listening it turned out that the grills put on do not degrade the sound quality, at least to a noticeable degree to the ear. Usually, you can hear the difference. The speakers are adorned with classic Wharfedale logos, which are placed on the tweeter panel and in the upper left corner of the protective grille. Attention to detail is also evident in the design of the rear wall of the speakers - on the plate around the acoustic terminals there is a lot of different information, including the technical characteristics of the monitors.

We connect:

Listening to the monitors Wharfedale Denton's 85th Anniversary took place in the showroom of the AV Comfort salon. The partner was the Quad Artera Solus combine, which combines a CD player, a DAC, and an integrated amplifier in one case. Of course, the price of this component is almost three times higher than the cost of acoustic systems, and in a real stereo system, they are unlikely to be together. However, using an amplifier from a higher price segment when testing acoustics allows you to fully unleash their potential. The test pair has already worked for some time, so it did not require additional “warming up”. The test material was reproduced from CDs.

We listen:

Having previously tuned in to listen to bookshelf speakers “for 50 thousand ”, I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality that Wharfedale Denton 85th Anniversary offered for this money. Nowadays, getting real Hi-Fi sound for fifty thousand (well - fifty-six thousand) is very difficult, and in combination with the high-quality performance of monitors, it is even more difficult. Listening to these compact stylish speakers, first of all, you notice a very even, well-balanced presentation of musical material with good intelligibility even of tracks rich in musical information.

This pair also does an excellent job of building a scene - in the near field, the speakers form a three-dimensional sound canvas with a clear location of sound sources in space. It would be rather strange to expect tectonic bass from compact monitors, but for their size, Wharfedale Denton demonstrates a very mobile and elastic bass. And let the subjective support from below begin a little higher than the declared 45 Hertz - the necessary foundation for the sound picture of the speakers can be formed.

At the same time, Wharfedale Denton 85th Anniversary monitors are distinguished by genre versatility. The speakers are able to please with a soft, accurate interpretation of small-scale jazz performers and recordings of chamber classical bands, and do not save in front of heavy blues and classic rock compositions. And only the heaviest styles of rock music and energy-filled moments of symphonic works performed by BSO will remind us that we have compact bookshelf acoustics in front of us, but remember the price of these monitors, we don’t want to criticize the slightly rounded attack and the scale of delivery that is insufficient for such music.

Passport data:

Type - bookshelf speakers | Title – Wharfedale Denton 85th Anniversary | price, . – 55 990 | Frequency response, Hz - 45 - 20,000 (+/- 3 dB) | Number of bands - 2 (HF - 1 x 25 mm, silk dome; MF / LF - 1 x 165 mm, Kevlar) | Crossover frequency, Hz – 3 100 | Acoustic design - phase inverter, two ports on the rear wall of the case | Resistance, Ohm - 4 (minimum 3.8) | Sensitivity, dB - 88 (2.0 V @ 1 m) | Maximum sound pressure, dB - 95 | Recommended amplifier power, watts - 20 - 120 | Dimensions of one column, cm - 34 x 24 x 27.5 | Mass of one column, kg - 9

Ratings

Pros: classic vintage design and quality build, airy and detailed sound with fast and bouncy bass, affordable price

Cons: not the easiest load for the amplifier

Design - 95

Workmanship - 95

Sound - 95

Ergonomics - 95

Total - 95

Conclusion:

True Hi-Fi at a fraction of the cost, the anniversary reincarnation of classic Wharfedale Denton monitors delivers impressive sound and the feel of the Golden Age of Audio. You just need to pay due attention to the selection of the amplifier.