Speakers like Gierek
The IAG concern has collected many famous British brands, whose history goes back to the golden years of Hi-Fi, the 70s and even earlier. This reputation is mainly used to support the sales of new products, sticking to brand-specific solutions to some extent, but moving forward with new technical capabilities and new trends.
IAG however, it does not cover categories such as Bluetooth speakers, portable headphones or soundbars, it still focuses on components for classic stereo systems, and especially loudspeakers; here he has at his disposal such well-deserved brands as Wharfedale, Mission and Castle.
Recently, something unique, although not necessarily surprising, has appeared against the backdrop of a more general attitude towards old technology and old designs, their appearance, principle of operation and even sound. vintage trend can be seen most clearly in the analog turntable renaissance, as well as in the long-term sympathy for tube amplifiers and in the loudspeaker field, such as the single-ended designs with full-range transducers that we wrote about in a previous article. Problems with MT.
Wharfedale was founded in the UK. The UK is over 85 years old and gained immense popularity in the 80s with the small Diamond monitors that gave rise to the entire series and subsequent generations of "Diamonds" that are still offered today. This time we will present a more conventional design, although we are referring to a half-century-old model. We will see what solutions were already applied then and are relevant today, what was discarded and what was introduced new. A thorough test, with measurements and listening, appeared in Audio 4/2021. For MT, we have prepared a shortened version, but with special comments.
But even earlier, in the 70s, she introduced model lintonwhich survived to several generations but disappeared from the supply after a decade. And now it has just been withdrawn from the new version of Linton Heritage.
This is not an exact reconstruction of any of the old models, but in general something similar, sustained in the old atmosphere. With it, some technical and aesthetic solutions return, but not all.
First of all, it tripartite arrangement. Nothing special in itself; neither new nor “overheated”, three-way systems were already in use then and are still in use today.
More from the past - the shape of the case; fifty years ago loudspeakers of this size dominated - larger than today's average "carrier stands“But smaller, above all lower than the average modern freestanding loudspeakers. Then there was no such clear division into both groups, there were just more and less speakers; the largest ones were placed on the floor, the middle ones - on chests of drawers, and the small ones - on the shelves between the books.
For modern designers, it is obvious that, due to the peculiarities of the orientation of individual transducers, as well as their entire system, it must be located and located in a certain way in relation to the listener; the main axis of the tweeter should normally point towards the listenerwhich in practice means that the transducer must be at a certain height - similar to the height of the listener's head. To do this, Lintons must be placed at the correct height and not on the floor (or too high).
However, there were no special stands for the old Lintons. They are not absolutely necessary if by chance the height of a piece of furniture is suitable ... for modern audiophile Sounds like heresy, but the main role of stands is not to isolate, suppress, or in any way affect the properties of the loudspeaker, but to set it at the right height in the context of the listening position.
of course good stands won't damage any monitor, and the Lintons in particular - This is a fairly large and heavy structure. Standard stands designed for small monitors will be completely out of place here (too small base and top table, too high height). So now wharfedale has designed stands that are perfect for Linton Heritage - Linton Stands - although they are sold separately. They can also have an additional function - the space between the saws and the shelves is suitable for storing vinyl records.
In terms of acoustics, each of the old and modern forms of housing has its own advantages and disadvantages. Flooded a narrow front baffle, often used today also in medium-sized freestanding constructions, better dissipates midrange frequencies. This means, however, that part of the energy goes back, causing the so-called baffle step - "step", the frequency of which depends on the width of the anterior baffle. With the appropriate width, it is so low (although always in the acoustic range) that this phenomenon can be compensated for by an appropriate bass setting. Aligning the characteristics of narrow columns is possible only at the expense of efficiency.
Wide front baffle so it serves to achieve higher efficiency (even with small transducers, of course, it allows the use of larger ones), and at the same time naturally contributes to obtaining a sufficiently large volume.
In this particular case, with a width of 30 cm, a depth of 36 cm and a height of less than 60 cm, a 20 cm woofer was enough to ensure optimal working conditions (usable volume exceeds 40 liters, of which several liters must be allocated to the midrange chamber - it is made of a pipe made of thick cardboard with a diameter of 18 cm, reaching the back wall).
This height of the front wall is also sufficient to best position the three-lane system (one above the other). Such an arrangement, however, was not obvious in the past - the tweeter was often placed next to the midrange (this was the case with the old Linton 3), and more than necessary, which worsened the directivity characteristics in the horizontal plane - as if not implemented, which only makes it interesting characteristics along the main axis.
The proportions of such a housing are also more favorable for the distribution and suppression of standing waves.
But not only this healthy proportions, but also less favorable details are taken from the past. The edges of the lower and upper side walls protrude beyond the front surface; reflections will appear on them, and hence interference with waves going straight (from the speakers to the listening place); however, we have seen such flaws more than once, and the characteristics were satisfactory, but cases with beautifully rounded edges do not guarantee them at all.
In addition, this problem will be reduced by a special grille with "beveled" edges of the speaker holes. In the past, gratings didn't come off without a good reason.
Tripartite arrangement on the other hand, it is quite modern with the proportions of the drivers used. The woofer has a diameter of 20 cm; today the diameter is quite large, earlier drivers of this size were used mainly as midwoofers (for example, Linton 2), and if they were added to the midrange, then they were small: 10-12 cm (Linton 3). The Linton Heritage has a solid 15, and yet the crossover frequency between the woofer and the midrange is quite high (630 Hz), and the separation between the woofer and the tweeter is low at 2,4 kHz (manufacturer's data).
Important for methods of the new Linton Heritage there are also low-frequency and mid-range diaphragms - made of Kevlar, a material that was not used at all (in loudspeakers) half a century ago. Currently, Wharfedale makes extensive use of Kevlar in many series and models. The tweeter is a soft textile one-inch dome with a thick coating.
Housing with phase inverter has two openings at the back with a diameter of 5 cm with tunnels of 17 cm.
Half a century ago, plywood was the main material used, then it was replaced by chipboard, which was replaced by MDF about 20 years ago, and we see the same material in Linton Heritage.
AUDIO lab measurements show a well balanced response, with little bass emphasis, a low cutoff frequency (-6dB at 30Hz) and a slight rolloff in the 2-4kHz range. The grille does not impair performance, only slightly changes the distribution of irregularities.
Sensitivity 88 dB at 4 ohm nominal impedance; loudspeakers from the original Linton era (and probably the Lintons themselves) typically had an impedance of 8 ohms, in line with the capabilities of amplifiers of the time. Today it is more practical to use a 4 ohm load, which will draw more power from most modern amplifiers.
