Initial (sighted/biased) impressions: The Linton speakers sound quite good. Very non fatiguing, can listen for a long time. Good imaging, and music seems to envelop the room. The bass is good, with drums sound very nice on them. I do not feel any sharpness in the midrange or treble that can cause discomfort over long listening sessions. I can't hear much above 12k and suffer from tinnitus, so take my impressions for they are worth. The company became part of the International Audio Group (IAG) under Taiwanese leadership, which today includes Quad, Audiolab, Luxman and Mission as sister brands. The group has state-of-the-art production facilities on the Chinese mainland and employs experienced British and international experts for engineering & construction of loudspeakers and electronic equipment along with sales and marketing specialists. I think that we may have found a flaw in the system. A recent dinner vinyl party night with friends the 6000A started to cut out after a few hours of playing at a moderately loud level of -10. Most of those 2 hours was at -18, when we tried to increase the level the system cut out. I touched the top, thinking that it may be an overheating issue but found it only slightly warm. The speakers sound best when slightly toed-in towards the listener, making sure that the Wharfedale badge is on the outside edge of each unit. That ensures that the off-centre tweeters are positioned on the inside edge, although as we play with the positioning, the difference between that and the other way around feels minimal.

AS: When hunting, which were the key criteria for you and which other models were in the competition? Capitalising on this, the new Lintons are wonderfully finished in hand matched walnut or mahogany wood veneer that has a deep and lustrous finish. As our pics show they are veneered at rear, but not on the front baffle, being purposed for use with grilles on. Paradoxically, The soundstage width is impressive. At about ±70° through the upper midrange, it is wide but not so wide that it results in a diffuse soundstage (at least in my setups).Of course, I've read a lot about the Audiolab 6000 series and the return of the 6000A during my preparations and found it a blessing that other reviewers didn't evaluate these devices negligently but for a good reason very positively: The Audiolab 6000A’s quality in relation to its price is simply excellent. Sound Power Directivity Index (SPDI): In this standard the SPDI is defined as the difference between the listening window curve and the sound power curve. To celebrate their corporate longevity and place of pride among traditional British loudspeaker manufacturers, Wharfedale has introduced a third "Heritage Series" model: the 85th anniversary Linton Heritage. (Its ancestral namesake debuted in 1965.) The new Linton joins its smaller brothers, the 85th anniversary Denton 85 and the 80th anniversary Denton 80, in mixing traditional Wharfedale style and old-school speaker technology with 21st century crossover and driver design. One difficult aspect of speaker design is how to handle what we call the ‘baffle-step’. This is the frequency at which the speaker enclosure stops radiating only forwards (hemi-spherically) and radiates sound all around. This causes a step in the frequency/power response of the speaker of up to 6dB. Naturally this is audibly obvious.

Early Reflections Directivity Index (EPDI): is defined as the difference between the listening window curve and the early reflections curve. In small rooms, early reflections figure prominently in what is measured and heard in the room so this curve may provide insights into potential sound quality. I used my Minidsp SHD to play the same channel on both speakers. I used REW decibel meter to adjust the volume levels so that they are within 1 db of each other. I used on preset to apply the PEQs to the R3, and another to apply it to the Linton, allowing me to switch between them with about a 1-2 sec gap. Wharfedale’s Linton 85s are ideal speakers upon which to base truly affordable high-end audio systems. In fact, they are so good that for many listeners they will serve not only as a high-end audio starting point, but also as a wonderful end-destination. Peter Cormeau: For me the attraction of vinyl, the more organic feel of its music reproduction, has never gone away. I’m happy to use both analogue and digital sources for my own enjoyment. What led me to start the Linton Heritage design, over 2 years ago, was a desire to recapture the feeling that I had from the first Wharfedales that I heard, and later built myself, in the 1960s. There is a level of performance available from bigger loudspeakers that has been lost, I feel, as modern preferences have led to ever smaller speakers. Dave: I really wasn't looking at any other speakers. They impressed me at the show and since they came with the stands, I was one of the first to buy them in the US in Mahogany finish.

A small discontinuity just below 300Hz in the impedance traces suggests some sort of resonance in that region. When I investigated the enclosure’s vibrational behavior with a plastic-tape accelerometer, I found a pair of strong, high-Q modes at 281Hz and 300Hz on the sidewalls (fig.2). The 281Hz mode was also present on the top and rear panels, and there was also a strong mode at 660Hz on the rear panel. The lower-frequency modes are high enough in level that I would have thought they would lead to some midrange congestion. Both are very handsome speakers in their own way. The KEFs have a modern, clean look, and probably goes better with modern decor. The Linton's are significantly bigger, and have a retro look, which I prefer. I like this speakers, but are they neutral, transparent enough for acoustic and classic music ? I'm afraid they can add some their "personality" to sound ? Or are they clean and without own character ?

The below graphic indicates just how much SPL is lost (compression) or gained (enhancement; usually due to distortion) when the speaker is played at higher output volumes instantly via a 2.7 second logarithmic sine sweep referenced to 76dB at 1 meter. The signals are played consecutively without any additional stimulus applied. Then normalized against the 76dB result. In the interaction of all functions as Integrated Amplifier, the 6000A gains advantage, the sound is harmonious, tight in the lower midrange and very focused in the high frequency range. Of course, it doesn't achieve the performance of a PS Audio S300, which is twice as expensive and clearly plays in a different league, especially for the bass definition and the immersive sound experience, but the 6000A masters all the varieties assigned to it with an excellent precision and ease, which is rarely to be found in its price range. The On-axis Frequency Response (0°) is the universal starting point and in many situations it is a fair representation of the first sound to arrive at a listener’s ears.The new Wharfedale Linton reimagines the past, rather than recreating it. It delivers so much of what was great about old-school wide-baffle loudspeakers – the ease, effortless musicality and room-filling physicality – yet consigns the age-old problems of vagueness, dynamic compression, and poor transient response to the dustbin of history. It's a special speaker in its way, but what I most like about it is that it offers all this for such an attractive price." These drive units are combined by a highly researched crossover that is near inaudible to the listener, resulting in a coherent, seamless musical output that is both thrilling and natural in its rendition of any source material. Which neatly brings me to the drive units! The new Linton has three of them – again in good 1970s style. The idea always was to have one driver – the midrange unit – optimised for critical vocals. Here it is a I 35mm woven Kevlar cone, for low colouration, working from 630Hz to 2.4kHz Wharfedale say. Above is a 25mm (I in) textile dome tweeter and below a 200mm Kevlar cone bass unit – identical bass/mid cone materials being important for subjective coherence. The bass unit is reflex loaded by two rear ports. Wharfedale, from Huntington (without Beach) in the English Cambridgeshire, half way between Cambridge and Peterborough, a neighborhood that has given birth to Oliver Cromwell and John Major, is a manufacturer with a long standing tradition that - like many other well-known companies defining the British Sound signature - was taken over by a foreign industry group in 1997. New models were designed, the production was relocated and a successful fresh start was initiated.