Полочная акустика — Wharfedale SUPER DENTON

The Wharfedale Super Denton is a three-way standmount loudspeaker from the Heritage Series, created under Wharfedale's head of acoustic design Peter Comeau. Its reference point is the 1971 Denton 3, described as the smallest three-way loudspeaker available at the time. The series draws on 1970s speaker designs, but unlike the original Denton models with their sealed infinite baffle cabinets, this one is a vented box of 14.7 litres. A pair costs GBP 995 in the UK, USD 1,499 in the US and AUD 1,799.99 in Australia.

Key specs that matter

A 165 mm black woven Kevlar cone handles the bass, a 50 mm soft dome covers the midband and a 25 mm soft dome takes the treble. The tweeter is borrowed from the Dovedale, the midrange dome is a modified version of the unit used in the EVO4 Series, and the bass cone is close to the one fitted in the Denton 85. The crossover splits the signal at 940 Hz and 4.6 kHz. Wharfedale rates the response at 52 Hz to 20 kHz within 3 dB, with bass extension reaching 40 Hz at the minus 6 dB point. Sensitivity is 87 dB for 2.83 V at 1 m, and peak output reaches 103 dB. The nominal impedance is 6 ohm, the minimum is 3.4 ohm, and the maker describes the load as 8 ohm compatible.

Engineering and use context

The cabinet walls combine a high-density particle board inner layer with an MDF outer layer, bonded by a resonance-damping glue. Layers of long-hair fibre damp the interior. A wide baffle sits on a small footprint - the enclosure stands 360 mm tall on its plinth, 246 mm wide and 295 mm deep including 20 mm of terminals, and each speaker weighs 9.2 kg net, with the boxed pair at 21 kg. Two ports fire from the rear, which calls for a gap between cabinet and rear wall, and only one set of terminals is fitted, ruling out bi-wiring. The fabric grille can be taken off, and stands are not included. Hand-matched wood veneers are available in Black Oak, Mahogany Red and Antique Walnut. The rear-vented design belongs on stands or a sturdy low unit rather than inside a closed shelf, in a room of around 20 m2.

Pairing

Wharfedale recommends amplifiers delivering 25 to 120 W. The low impedance minimum means the partner should be comfortable driving low impedances, so a solid-state integrated amplifier with a stable power supply is a more fitting match than a small tube amplifier.

Alternatives

The Wharfedale Denton 85 is the smaller two-way Heritage standmount that shares a similar Kevlar bass unit.