Repair Wharfedale speakers

[krneki10]

I have an old pair of Wharfedale speakers which stopped playing any music whatsoever. One is still a bit beeping, while other one is completely quite. One was already repaired few years ago, only capacitors were replaced and that seemed to work. Here is an image of this repaired circuit:

**broken link removed**

Where should I start? What do you recommend?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

First thing, check the drivers - it's VERY, VERY rare for failures in crossovers, but driver failure is EXTREMELY common.

 

[krneki10]

How do I check them?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

How do I check them?

Initally with a multimeter set to ohms, an 8 ohm driver should read about 6 ohms - normal failure would be the driver O/C.

 

[krneki10]

Treble 2,1 ohm, midtones 8,1 ohm, bass 8,1 ohm. Nominal impendance 6 ohm. Measured with cheap multimeter.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

What does it read across the the leads to the complete speaker?.

 

[Bob Scott]

Ah, old Wharfedales. I have 2 pairs of `'68-'72 W30 Super Linton model that I have become very familiar with the working innards over the years. What model and approximate year are those you have?

I have an old pair of Wharfedale speakers which stopped playing any music whatsoever. One is still a bit beeping, while other one is completely quite. One was already repaired few years ago, only capacitors were replaced and that seemed to work.-----
Where should I start? What do you recommend?

I see your inductors are labeled with inductance values. Mine were not so yours must be newer. Yup, they look like genuine Wharfedale coils. However, the capacitors are wide spec. electrolytic? That is bad. Replace them with MYLAR caps, like the originals probably were (if you can get the drivers working.)

I experienced two types of problems with Wharfedale woofers. Firstly, the tinsel wires leading from the connection post to the speaker cone goes open. Normally they wouldn't, but I guess Wharfedale tried to save a farthing by making these wires too short. They fatigue and go open. If the wires are faulty, replace them with new ones made from fine "Solder Wick". Another brand would be "Solder Braid". These have extremely fine copper strands that can take constant vibration. Don't be stingy. Use enough length so that they flex, but don't vibrate against the cone or metal basket.
The another problem with Wharfedale woofers is that the voice coils burn out, seeing as they used a rediculously small diameter voice coils (1 inch V.C. on an 8 ohm woofer!) that burn out if you crank up the volume too much. (It wasn't just Wharfedale. Jensen car audio 6 by 9s were failing by the dozen at the same time. Goodmans aluminum V.C.s too.** A trait of all English speaker engineering standards of the time?) That's why I use two identical pairs of Wharfedales, stacked on each other and wired in series because just one pair just can't take high volume levels.

A good way to test drivers is with an ANALOG VOM with an Rx1 scale. Only at this scale can you hear popping from the speaker as you connect and disconnect the leads. A digital meter won't produce the sound. If you don't have this analog meter, use a small 1.5V battery connected to clip leads. Even a 9V will work, just keep the test short because it will drive over 13 watts DC into the a 6 ohm voice coil. That's not 13 watts of audio. That's 13 watts of voice coil cookin' heat.

I have never had problems with the Wharfedale tweeters. The purple-coned mylar cone models are rugged and have awesome fidelity. I love the sound of these speakers, even if my Thiele-Small analysis shows that they are not so good. The raw woofers have a Q of 1, so when the are installed in their .75 cu. ft. baffles they have a 5dB (!) resonance hump in the bass at 90 Hz.

** It really was disappointing. Those speaker brands all sounded so gooood.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I experienced two types of problems with Wharfedale woofers. Firstly, the tinsel wires leading from the connection post to the speaker cone goes open. Normally they wouldn't, but I guess Wharfedale tried to save a farthing by making these wires too short. They fatigue and go open.

That's not the reason

I had Denton speakers (same as Linton, but smaller cabinets), my tweeters died within a couple of weeks (during a party).

Being a service engineer and in the UK I contacted Wharfedale directly (and actually spoke to the head of the company, a very nice man - who's name I can't remember now), he told me that the reason was that they selected the wrong crossover frequency for the Linton/Denton, and far too much mid-range was fed to the tweeters, this meant they snapped their wires (excessive cone excursion). He arranged to send me both a new pair of tweeters, plus a pair of new crossovers, at the correct frequency this time

Around that same time, a friend of mine had built his own speakers using an official Linton kit, everything except wood

He was telling me his had died, so I explained the reason - and he rang Wharfedale while I was there. The guy in service told him he was using too powerful an amplifier, to which my friend replied it was actually a Wharfedale Linton amplifier, specifically designed to match them Next it claimed it was because he was playing them too loud, so they weren't covered by warranty - so I took the phone off my friend. I asked the guy his name (and wrote it down), then asked him if he knew who Mr. xxxxxx was, he replied "the boss", to which I replied why was he telling customers all these lies when there's a modified crossover unit for this exact fault, as the original ones were incorrectly designed, and should I mention his name to Mr. xxxxx and how unhelpful he was.

Needless to say, two days later, two new tweeters, and two new crossovers

All a bit historical now, as Wharfedale ceased trading years ago, and the name is now used on 'reasonable' quality imported units, but nothing like it used to be.

 

[tvtech]

Hi Guys

I have a pair of genuine 501's in storage in Cape Town. And my NAD 3020A too. And my Rega Planar 3 complete with my Goldring cartridge.

What a beautiful combination for music. No CD's. Just beautiful vinyl at it's best.

All purchased when all four companies were at the top of their game in the early to later Eighties . Just before Marantz and Philips combined to
bring the CD to the market.

Sad Vinyl still does it for me. Don't ask me why my my NAD etc. is in storage still. Very long story.

Regards,
tvtech

 

[RichTheDude]

I am running Dentons with a Trio KA-2000 amplifier. The sound is very good.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Just before Marantz and Philips combined to
bring the CD to the market.

???????

Marantz? - they had nothing to do with it, CD was Philips/Sony - at that time I 'think' Marantz was just a division of Philips.

 

[krneki10]

Here is a picture of original cross-over filter. What capacitors and resistor should I get for replacement?
**broken link removed**

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Here is a picture of original cross-over filter. What capacitors and resistor should I get for replacement?
**broken link removed**

Which ones (if any - it's VERY rare) are faulty?. You need to find what's wrong, not blindly change components in the hope that it might cure it.

 

[dr pepper]

Some of the old wharfedales used cambric surrounds which rotts away, everything will test ok impedance wise but the speaker cone isnt suspended any more.
Have you checked behind the grille, are the surrounds ok?
When you test the drivers for resistance can you hear any sounds from them while you connect the probes?

 

[humbermike]

I am running Dentons with a Trio KA-2000 amplifier. The sound is very good.

Hi RichThe Dude
Noticed your reply and what your equipment was. I have got exactly the same speakers and amp which I have had in storage for some years but am looking to get them out and set them up again. My question is simply do you have a CD Player connected up with them and if so, was there any problem with running a CD Player with an amp of this age ?
Many thanks for any comment on this.

Cheers
humbermike

 

[RichTheDude]

Hi RichThe Dude
Noticed your reply and what your equipment was. I have got exactly the same speakers and amp which I have had in storage for some years but am looking to get them out and set them up again. My question is simply do you have a CD Player connected up with them and if so, was there any problem with running a CD Player with an amp of this age ?
Many thanks for any comment on this.

Cheers
humbermike

Hi Humbermike,

I have used a CD player with them, but I mainly use my PC with the setup now.

Just make sure you use the aux input, it is designed for line level in. All the best with the KA-2000 amp, they are great little amps (with good frequency response measured to -1dB).

 

[humbermike]

Appreciate your reply RichTheDude.
I originally got the amp (second Hand) as part of a separate HI-Fi set for my 18th Birthday present from my parents.
As 34 years have passed since then, I thought it was about time to utilise it again with those lovely Denton speakers.
And you are spot on, they did combine well to give a great sound.
Many thanks again.
humbermike