Hi-fi lovers, assemble! Wharfedale’s most popular loudspeaker pair, the Linton (but see also the Denton 85 we saw at the 2024 Bristol Hi-Fi Show, to mark Wharfedale’s 85th year in the business), has just been elevated to ‘Super’ status. Linton Super, you say? Yes, featuring upgrades to the drive units, crossover and cabinet – but maintaining the glorious wooden cabinet and the offset positioning of the tweeter.
Quick history lesson: the original Linton was one of the UK’s heavy-hitters between 1965 and the late 1970s (when I was born. And I remember these speakers the first time around). Wharfedale brought the Linton back in 2019 as part of its Heritage line, lovingly re-engineered. Cut to five years later and Wharfedale’s engineers – buoyed up by their success and led by Director of Acoustic Design, Peter Comeau – decided the design could be pushed even further.
Wharfedale tells me that the team “revisited every element” in the speaker, “from the cabinet to the drive units to the crossover”. The result? A Super Linton. It’s every inch part of Wharfedale’s Heritage Series, but now re-worked for the modern age.
Wharfedale Super Linton: the key upgrades
While its footprint is the same as that of the regular Linton, the Super Linton’s cabinet is 4cm taller – and more internal volume is almost always a good thing in speakers (if you can fit them into your home, that is – and I’d invite these stereo speakers into my small home happily).
The construction now features dual layers of fiberboard, coupled by latex-based damping glue. The 200mm woven Kevlar bass driver’s cone is the same, but that extra volume means a more powerful motor system could be added, with increased magnet strength. The treble unit? It’s also new, although it inherits much of its design from the one used in the much bigger (and much more expensive) Dovedale, with a 25mm dome formed from a fine fabric weave.
Combining the output of this three-way speaker’s units is an all-new crossover network, now split onto two separate circuit boards. The speaker grille is also an improved design, incorporating internal shaping. They certainly sound like contenders for our best stereo speakers roundup.
The new Super Linton is available from mid-November in your choice of walnut, mahogany and black oak wood veneers, priced $2,499 / £1,999 / AU$5,199 including the matching stands. It’d be $2,299 / £1,849 / AU$4,599 without the stands but really, why would you?
Bit rich for the blood but want them? The 2019-edition Linton remains in the line-up at £1,249 per pair (so around $1,799) with the stands or £1,099 without them. You know you need them for those long listening sessions of an evening…
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becky.scarrott@futurenet.com (Becky Scarrott)
