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Probably best-known in recent years for their best-selling "baby" speaker, the Diamond, Wharfedale is one of the UK's oldest manufacturers of loudspeakers. The company was the subject of a management buyout earlier this year, following a rather unsettled period when it changed hands several times. Now with American distribution as of 1989 by Vector Research (footnote 1), the brand is reinventing itself in the US with two new ranges of loudspeakers, the 507.2 being one of the "audiophile" models. Both drive-units are made in-house; the first generation of Wharfedale loudspeakers to feature…
Sidebar 1: Associated Equipment
The test procedure followed, with minor changes, that established for my previous loudspeaker reviews: the Wharfedales were used with both a Krell KSA-50 and a pair of VTL 100W Compact monoblocks, connected with Monster M1 speaker cable. Preamplifier was either a PS Audio 4.6 with its M-500 power supply or a Mod Squad Phono Drive/Deluxe Line Drive combination. Interconnects were initially Monster M1000, later replaced with MIT 330 and MIT CVT.
Source components consisted of a Marantz CD-94 CD player, which was also used to drive the Sony DAS-R1 D/A…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
Looking at the way in which the 507.2's impedance changes with frequency (fig.1; measured with spot tones but plotted with the Audio Precision System One software), the port is tuned to 52Hz, which suggests moderate LF extension. This was confirmed by the nearfield measurement which, without taking the output from the port into consideration, indicated a –6dB point at 62Hz. Though typical of an 8 ohm design in the woofer region, the tweeter is undoubtedly a 4 ohm unit. This is presumably to get sufficient sensitivity from a ¾" dome, which has significantly less…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 0.75" aluminum-dome, ferrofluid-cooled tweeter, 8" mineral-loaded, polypropylene-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 5kHz. Frequency response: 40Hz–22kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Amplifier requirements: >15W.
Dimensions: 19" H by 9" W by 11" D. Weight: 11.25lb each.
Price: $940/pair (1989); no longer available (2022). Approximate number of dealers: 120.
Manufacturer: Wharfedale Ltd., Leeds, West Yorkshire LS15 8AL, UK (1989); Wharfedale, IAG…
"It's the difference between a stuffed dog and the real thing," said Gunter (George) Bischoff, of Melos Audio, on the difference between solid-state gear and tubes. "The real dog may piss on the rug, needs visits to the vet, gets fleas, has to be walked, but it's a living thing—a real dog. The stuffed dog requires no care, needs no maintenance, but has no life."
"But I own a cat, George. Low maintenance."
"You still own a live cat, not a stuffed cat. The cat needs to be fed, has to get rabies shots. There is still some maintenance."
I gotta be a glutton for punishment.…
It was a tiny capacitor which failed, he told me later. It happened only on my amp. No other Defy 7 had failed and no other would fail for the same reason because the failure was Victor's fault.
Well, not really.
Here's the story. Jadis made some changes on the Defy 7—using caps to bypass the fuses for the GE 6550 output tubes. Jadis sent this particular Defy 7 to Victor without the caps installed, so Victor could hear the amp without the bypass caps. Before he gave me the amp, Victor decided to have bypass caps installed—but a miscommunication with the factory meant that the…
Well, not really. Less than a week into use, one of the Golden Dragon KT88 output tubes failed—I think the tube lost its vacuum. I noticed when the output from the right channel amp seemed lower than the output from the left. It was.
Kevin Hayes replaced the matched pair of KT88s—no problem. But Kevin did suggest that the Quicksilver amp might have been at fault. No other Golden Dragon KT88s had failed in the field, he said, unless traceable to improper operating conditions.
Not so cool, Kevin—I think this pair did fail in the field: more specifically, in my listening room. Yes…
The Snell Type B is the culmination of three years' research and development effort by designer Kevin Voecks. Along the way, various iterations of the B have been shown at Consumer Electronics Shows. Like other Snell models, the facilities of Canada's National Research Council were used extensively during the B's development, both their anechoic chamber and their double-blind listening techniques.
According to Snell, the Type B is the first loudspeaker to incorporate the most recent research into optimizing the way a loudspeaker interacts with the listening room. In particular, the B…
Sidebar 1: Robert Harley's Reference System
The Type Bs were primarily driven by the reference VTL 225W tubed monoblocks, and briefly by a Jeff Rowland Model 1 solid-state unit. I have recently replaced the Audio Research SP11 Mk.II preamp with Audio Research's superb LS2 line stage and the latest version of the Vendetta Research phono preamp. The analog front end was a Well-Tempered Turntable and modified Well-Tempered Arm, fitted with an AudioQuest 7000 cartridge (see my "Follow-Up" in this issue). Digital sources included the Theta Data transport, Theta DS Pro Prime D/A, Audio Research…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
Though John Atkinson measured the Type Bs when they were delivered to Santa Fe, he refrained from giving me the data until after I'd finished the auditioning.
The B's impedance magnitude and phase angle with the rear tweeter on (which lowers the impedance above 8kHz) are shown in fig.1. The curve with the large peak at 1kHz is with the treble control at maximum, the flatter curve with it set at minimum. The minimum impedance was 2.7 ohms at 2.8kHz (tweeter level maximum) and 4.5 ohms at 250Hz (tweeter level at minimum). The impedance phase angle was fairly…