Wharfedale Dovedale Heritage Speakers
For 90 years, Wharfedale has been bringing the world's finest loudspeakers to the world of home audio. The Dovedale exemplifies the company's legacy in fine loudspeaker design and manufacturing, combining fine craftsmanship, natural sound quality, and affordability in a beautifully proportioned loudspeaker.
The Dovedale is the first speaker to be manufactured in Wharfedale's new UK facility in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the home of British Hi-Fi, by highly trained and experienced loudspeaker experts. This three-way stand mount model stands out in the modern era with its vintage look and contemporary finish.
The new Dovedale further exemplifies Wharfedale's legacy in fine loudspeaker design and manufacturing, balancing fine craftsmanship, natural sound quality, and affordability inside a beautifully proportioned loudspeaker that has been bought in its millions right across the globe through its various incarnations.
A True Classic: Dovedale has an unmistakable family resemblance. It is a three-way standmount model – a rarity in the modern era, retaining similar proportions to the classic Dovedale models of yesteryear. Its wood-veneered cabinet has a vintage look, yet the standard of finish is distinctly contemporary – a tribute to the skilled craftsmanship required to produce such a loudspeaker.
The original Dovedale models, dating back to the W2 in 1959, were well known for their rich and natural sound quality, and the new model retains these attributes while upgrading the performance in every department with free-breathing dynamics and incredible definition across the bass and midrange. More than just a reintroduction of a classic model, it is a celebration of the landmark 90th anniversary of the Wharfedale brand. This speaker exudes authenticity and is a true British classic, proudly made in Britain.
Made In The UK: Dovedale signifies the reintroduction of the class and quality of British manufacturing to the Wharfedale brand portfolio. Dovedale is built in the home of British Hi-Fi at Wharfedale's UK headquarters in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. Incorporating key manufacturing, assembly and finishing processes for specially selected products in addition to the R&D function already located there. A 9,000ft2 production facility has been added to the existing building, including a new anechoic chamber, making a total of 25,000ft2 of office, lab and manufacturing space. It is here that Dovedale is manufactured by highly trained, vastly experienced loudspeaker experts.
More Than A Reintroduction: Class lasts a lifetime! The Wharfedale Dovedale portrays the timeless design of a stunning Loudspeaker cabinet with an authentic Legacy. Traditional, simple, beautiful yet highly evolved and a thoroughly modern design. The Dovedale is bang up to date – utilising a mixture of traditional and advanced technology, for optimum performance whilst staying true to the legacy.
Critical analysis of the performance of the cabinet has resulted in the application of precision shaped and positioned internal bracing. This ensures that cabinet resonances are controlled to well below the level of the music signal, allowing you to hear through to the recording without coloration intruding on your listening enjoyment.
Three-Way To Perfection: A three-way speaker in the classic Wharfedale tradition – beautifully hand veneered with an inset front baffle and traditional cloth grille. Both the midrange unit and treble unit are offset on the front baffle to scatter reflections from the cabinet edges and provide superior focus of the stereo image, and the speakers are provided in handed pairs so that sonic images in the stereo sound field are always accurately placed. The speakers have been fine-tuned acoustically through hundreds of hours of listening tests with all manner of music to ensure the cabinet, crossover and drive units work together coherently and seamlessly.
Dovedale Bass: Dovedale makes use of its wide baffle by incorporating a large (by modern standards) bass driver with a 10" (254mm) Kevlar® cone – mounted on a rigid die cast chassis, this combination delivers a rich, controlled bass output with superb dynamic performance.
Dovedale Midrange: The 5" (127mm) midrange driver incorporates a cone made from woven Kevlar – an exceptionally strong and stiff synthetic fibre discovered in the same year as the original Dovedale's release and not used for loudspeaker diaphragms until a decade later.
Dovedale Treble: The 1" (25mm) fabric-dome treble unit with a ceramic magnet, featured throughout Wharfedale's Heritage Series, has been further improved by incorporating a rear chamber, damped to absorb the output from the back of the dome. This also has the advantage of reducing the resonant frequency of the treble unit to well below the crossover region, allowing full treble detail and harmonics to be revealed without affecting the smoothness of the high-frequency performance.
Listening Makes Perfect: The highly researched crossover –is the result of 1,000s of hours of listening tests to perfect the coherent musical output that is both thrilling and natural in its rendition of any source material. Wharfedale's Director of Acoustic Design, Peter Comeau, has worked tirelessly to ensure seamless integration between the drive units, so the speaker behaves as one music system.
Making A Stand: The Wharfedale Dovedale stand is custom designed in conjunction with Wharfedale's Director of Acoustic Design, Peter Comeau. Every aspect is considered to create the perfect presentation of the Dovedale Heritage speaker.
Hand-made in the England, with robust British steel and a luxurious furniture-grade glass insert, the Dovedale stand reinforces the no-compromise approach in the 'Made in the UK' theme for the return of the Wharfedale Dovedale.
The design is based upon an open frame made of carbon steel and furniture-grade glass inserts at the top and bottom. All bar one of the uprights are filled with damping material – the other allows for cable management – with four large stainless-steel spikes at the base. The stand ensures each speaker is positioned at the correct height, as well as reducing bass/floor interactions and providing stable and torsionally rigid support. The package is completed by a set of stainless-steel spike shoes and a pair of handling gloves.
Our Take
Based on an original design over 60 years old, this latest reimagining of the Dovedale sees Wharfedale pull out all the stops to provide a speaker that looks like something your grandfather owned but actually has completely up-to-date technology applied to the cabinet, crossover and drivers to deliver sound quality that is far beyond anything the 1950's version could have accomplished. This is a big speaker and you shouldn't be trying to shoehorn it into a small room as it needs room to breathe and should be sited well away from rear and side walls if possible to encourage the big open sound this speaker is capable of.
Main Features & Specifications
- Design: 3-Driver, 3-Way Rear Ported Stand Mount Speaker – Supplied as a Pair with Stands included
- Enclosure Type: Bass Reflex
- Bass Driver: 10" (254mm) Black Woven Kevlar® Cone
- Midrange Driver: 5" (127mm) Black Woven Kevlar® Cone
- Treble Driver: 1" (25mm) Soft Dome
- AV Shielded: No
- Sensitivity (2.83V @tm): 89dB
- Recommended Amplifier Power: 25-250 Watts
- Peak SPL (Sound Pressure Level): 112dB
- Nominal Impedance: 6 Ohms
- Minimum Impedance: 3.6 Ohms
- Frequency Response (+/-3d8): 36Hz ~ 20kHz
- Bass Extension (-6dB): 25Hz
- Crossover Frequencies: 560Hz & 2.9kHz
- Supplied Accessories: 2 Speaker Stands, 8 Stainless Steel Spikes, 8 Spike Shoes (to protect your floor), User Manual
- Speaker Stands (Supplied Standard)
- Square Section Steel Columns
- Carbon Steel Strip Top Plate
- Square Section Steel with Glass Insert Bottom Plate
- Hardened High Carbon Steel Spikes
- Spike Shoes included to protect your floor
- Stand Finish: Black
- Stand Dimensions (WxHxD): 370 x 370 x 417mm (including Spikes)
- Weight: 9.6 kg each
- Speakers
- Speaker Finish: Real Wood Walnut Veneer
- Speaker Dimensions (WxHxD): 370 x 660 x 417mm (+30mm deep including terminals)
- Weight: 26.2 kg each
- Manufacturer's Warranty: 3 Years with Online Registration. 1 Year without Registration.
Note: Features & Specifications Subject To Change Without Notice. E&OE