Wharfedale’s Classic Linton Loudspeaker Gets A Super Upgrade

Wharfedale’s most popular loudspeaker, the Linton, has been elevated with upgrades to its drive units, crossover and cabinet. Linton was one of Britain’s best-selling speakers from the Swinging Sixties to the late 1970s. It was too good to be in hibernation so Wharfedale brought the Linton back in 2019 as part of its Heritage Line that sees the speaker re-engineered with the latest techniques and technology.

Since the relaunch of the Linton, sales of the new version have surpassed Wharfedale’s expectations. It’s currently the brand’s best-selling speaker and the company claims it’s one of the world’s most popular hi-fi speakers, inspiring other brands to jump on the “newstalgia” bandwagon with launches like the new Quad 33/303-amp combo.

Although the Linton is selling well, Wharfedale’s engineers, led by Peter Comeau, felt the design could be improved. The team reexamined every element, from the cabinet to the drive units and the crossover. The result is the new and upgraded Super Linton.

Wharfedale has a long history as an audio brand and first began making speakers in 1932, 25 years before the birth of stereo sound. Since then, Wharfedale has created some classic British loudspeakers

While its footprint is the same as the regular Linton, the new Super Linton’s cabinet is 4cm taller, boosting the speaker’s internal volume. The construction consists of dual layers of fiberboard coupled with latex-based damping glue, specially formulated to reduce panel resonance to below audibility. The interior is filled with long-hair fiber and strategically placed acoustic damping foam to absorb internal resonances.

The Super Linton’s greater internal volume has enabled Peter Comeau and his team of engineers to improve the bass driver. Although it’s the same 200mm woven Kevlar cone as the Linton, Wharfedale has used a more powerful motor system with increased magnet strength that deepens lower frequencies to 32Hz. Improved transient performance provides more musical depth and detail.

The new speaker’s high-frequency unit shares similarities with the one used in the £5,000-per-pair Dovedale speakers, with a 25mm dome made with a fine fabric weave coated in a special damping material. The diaphragm is driven by a ceramic magnet-based motor system, with a damped rear chamber to absorb output from the rear.

This reengineered tweeter reduces the resonant frequency to well below the crossover region, allowing full treble detail and harmonics to be revealed whilst remaining sweetly integrated with the rest of the speaker’s output. A revised short horn profile around the dome ensures a smooth response extending down to the upper midrange, while Wharfedale claims the new front plate design enhances high-frequency dispersion.

The Super Linton uses the same midrange unit as its regular Linton sibling, with a 135mm woven Kevlar cone. However, the driver is housed in a cylindrical chamber, with graded layers of long-hair fiber to cancel out the back wave from the rear of the cone. Wharfedale says this contributes to a clean and seamless integration of all three drive units for a natural and realistic portrayal of instruments and vocals.

Blending the output of the bass, midrange and treble units is an all-new crossover network in the Super Linton. The design is split into two separate circuit boards, eliminating electromagnetic interference from the bass crossover components affecting higher frequency signals, and incorporating specialized inductors and capacitors selected for their first-rate audio performance.

The midrange and treble inductors are superior air-core designs, while the bass inductor, which must maintain low Direct Current Resistance, is wound on a proprietary ‘Super-Power’ laminated silicon-iron core. Low-loss polypropylene capacitors are used for top-tier transparency, alongside low-inductance resistors. The internal cabling has been upgraded, with a polyethylene dielectric and Linear Crystal Oxygen Free Copper conductors for optimal signal transfer.

The speaker grille on the Super Linton has an improved design with internal shaping to smooth the power output of the midrange and treble units while enhancing the transition through the crossover region.

Today’s speakers are different from the ones designed half a century or so ago. Today’s solid-state amps deliver greater power, and modern speakers need power handling to match. The demands placed on frequency response by contemporary digital recordings and sources, especially at the extremes of bass and treble, are also quite different from the midrange-focused vinyl records and turntables of the 1960s and ’70s.

Wharfedale claims the new Super Linton is ideally adapted to these requirements, combining advanced drive units, crossover and cabinet construction. The speakers can partner with a wide range of amplifiers with outputs from 25W to 200W per channel. With a high sensitivity of 90dB, even modestly rated amps can drive the Super Lintons at high volume levels. The impedance scarcely varies from a nominal 6Ω over most of the frequency range.

The new Super Linton have hand-matched wood veneers, polished and lacquered to a satin finish. The speakers can be purchased with the same stands developed for the 2019 Linton which position them at the correct height and dampen unwanted vibrations. The stand’s rigid metal frame is complemented by matching wood-veneered panels at the top and bottom.

Pricing & Availability: The Super Linton’s are on sale now for $2,499 / £1,999 / €2,299 per pair with matching stands or $2,299 / £1,849 / €1,999 without stands.

Tech Specs:

• Speaker type: Three-way standmount.
• Enclosure type: Bass reflex (2x rear ports).
• Treble driver: 25mm fabric dome.
• Midrange driver: 135mm woven Kevlar cone.
• Bass driver: 200mm woven Kevlar cone.
• Sensitivity (2.8V @ 1m): 90dB.
• Nominal impedance: 6Ω (8Ω compatible).
• Recommended amp power: 25 – 200W.
• Frequency response (+/-3dB): 39Hz – 20kHz.
• Bass extension (-6dB): 32Hz.
• Crossover frequencies: 550Hz; 2.5kHz
• Cabinet volume 6.6L; 33.4L.
• Speaker dimensions (HxWxD): 605 x 300 x 330mm.
• Weight (each speaker): 19.8kg.