Wharfedale Linton
The best of old school hi-fi meets the best of the new
We often say good sound doesn’t get old, but it does still date. Listen to hi-fi kit from yesteryear and you might notice a different presentation, more suited to the music from that era. In the case of the original Wharfedale Lintons, that was from 1965 to the late 1970s – a time of big trousers, big music and big speakers.
The new version of the Lintons, launched to celebrate Wharfedale’s 80th anniversary, is built with modern methods and materials, but an oldschool approach to styling and sound.
At just over 56cm tall, 33cm deep and 30cm wide, they’re significantly larger than most modern standmounters, but never feel overwhelmingly big, even in our small listening room. That’s partly down to their natural look with their matched wood veneers, available in either mahogany or walnut. The dedicated stands (£280 per pair, or just £100 extra as a bundle with the Lintons) sit the speakers slightly lower than many, and are styled with a seamless look and feel to match the speakers.
The Lintons’ bigger boxes should make for more generous bass production as they can accommodate bigger drivers. Bass frequencies are handled by a 20cm unit that’s the same size as the bass driver inside the old Linton XP2S, but uses woven Kevlar instead of paper in the cone construction. A 12.5cm Kevlar midrange driver sits just above in its own enclosure, and off-set to the inside edge is a 25mm fabric-dome tweeter.
Unfussy with positioning
The Lintons are fitted with two rearfiring bass ports on each speaker. While they’re not too fussy about positioning, we’d recommend starting around 50cm from the wall and moving in from there.
Unusually, the Lintons have been designed for use with the grilles on. That not only helps maintain the low visual profile, but also actually improves the sound, thanks to their shape ameliorating interference from reflections from the edges of the cabinet.
These speakers have a relaxed way about them, so we pair them with the energetic Rega Elex-r integrated amplifier (£949) and choose an orchestral recording to see what the Lintons can do.
We play John Williams’ The Raiders March – the theme from the Indiana Jones films – and get a thrilling sense of these speakers’ dynamics.
Starting quiet but firm with the plucky horn section, the piece offers a brilliant range of texture and ability as it builds. Striking up just to the side, the trumpets sound just as heroic as the archeological adventurer, while the string section launches in front. Underneath it all, the hits on the kettle drums are reproduced with ease by these big standmounters.
It’s such an open presentation that our listening space feels bigger than it is. The harp strums float over the top, the timpani chimes in perfectly from the back left and the tubular bells ring so true we can almost picture them.
We switch to The Rolling Stones’ Jumping Jack Flash. The track is easily murdered by lesser speakers, but the Lintons excel. The tonal balance is spot on and no one instrument dominates – not Jagger’s voice, not the tambourine and not the drums. This recording can sound incredibly thin, but not here.
The bass guitar has a wonderfully rounded hum to its strings, separate to the weight of the kick drum. You get a real impression of how exciting this band must have sounded back in their pomp.
It’s not as forward a sound as we’re used to from more modern speakers, and while the Lintons may not be everyone’s idea of how they want to listen, they do an impressive job of capturing an older, fuller and open style of hi-fi sound without forgetting to make the music exciting. You could listen to these speakers, with their effortless weight, spot-on stereo imaging and layer upon layer of detail, for days and not get tired.