new boxes chez Rorys !

not one for the badge snobs..





Wharfedales...the ones in front are the Coleridges and the ones at the back are the Harewoods. Produced between '91 and '93, the Coleridges were £600 (these were early ones) and the Harewoods (these are late ones i think) were £1000. Both received absolutely rave reviews at the time.

What makes them a bit different is the ceramic dome tweeter. With the exception of the Vifa/Scanspeak ring radiator/revelator series i don't think i've heard a finer tweeter.
Where the Coleridges are let down is the midrange...it does get a little muddled with the bass- fairly understandable given that its a big old 8" bass unit. But for a plastic cone its damn good. Extension is clean to 50hz or so. Can't comment on the woofers but drive units are shared and indeed the same as in a pair of 515s that i also have. Stereo imaging is exceptional given the fairly wide front baffle and rear ported enclosure.

So thats the Coleridges...not sure what i'm going to do with them. Ideally would like them as rear surrounds and use the Harewoods as the fronts.

So we now come to the Harewoods. As mentioned...these are the late models so they came with the Furukawa/Furutech PCOCC internal cabling. And despite sharing the same drive units as the Coleridges they sound fairly different! Treble is really toned down, midrange is pretty damned gorgeous for a shared bass/mid driver and bass is really clean. I guess it could be better extended- seems flat to 35hz or so but not much below that. They need some spikes so that may sort it out or I could dig the old pulsar points out and put them on some concrete slabs... Again they are ported at the back but by means of semi-slot porting- theres a downwards firing circular port into the grey area with the Wharfedale logo on and then two slot ports from there.

The crossover is mounted in the bass, incidentally to be isolated away from the main drive units. Also means that speaker wires look tidy!

Comments welcome!

 

I think they are rubbish and since you don't know what to do with them I suggest you bring with you at the next bakeoff at my place. I'll give you a fiver for your troubles. Can't say fairer than that, can I?

I thought you were going to keep your Vaessens? What happened?

 

nothing really...i had the vaessens for 2 years which is ages for me. They are impractical though- no grilles and the only stands they like- target r2s weigh an absolute ton and i had weight issues in my room

To be honest...the treble isn't as good as the Wharfedales either!

Wonder what everyone would make of the harewoods at a bakeoff....