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Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversity speaker: Best stand height for them and brand??

I just purchased a used/mint pair of Wharfedale Denton speakers as an alternative to my Golden Ear Technology 7's .  They are what many testimonials claim: an outstanding speaker which does almost every thing right, and is also musical.  The manual  is not very specific about the height of speaker stands, or distance from back and side walls.

In an 12.5X15 ft room, what might be the best height for them??; I have them on a 21.5 inch stand, and they sound very good. However, instinct tells me they should be placed on a 25 or 26 inch stand so as to elevate tweeters to ear level and possibly reduce low end or lower mids thud.  I sit on a low  couch. 

Without a doubt the Dentons are remarkable speakers, though I have detected on certain CD's a tad of tinny sparkle when they go loud. I am sure they are broken in or close to it, but would like to optimize the performance of this unbelievable speaker that is very difficult to turn off, and go to sleep.  Comments, advice, suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

*****BTW, they can be bi-wired. Does it make a difference in sound quality with this particular speaker. .  Thanks, Jim. 

  

sunnyjim
chrisr's avatar
chrisr
444 posts
 
Sunnyjim, a word about biwiring.... I had them bi-wired for the first 200hrs or so using the canare 4s11, and the switched to belden 10awg single-wired, and then the canare 4s8 single-wired.  
Out of those three combinations, i find the 4s11 to be the least dynamic and darker sounding.  The belden seems to clean up bass, midrange and up, but leaves a bump in the upper-bass.  The 4s8 is for me the best of all three, clean, balanced, with an impression of extended treble.
In my experience,  bi-wiring only benefits speakers with large drivers and/or three way speakers with bass drive separate from midrange/tweeter (i.e. Vandersteen 2 and up).  Also larger gauge does not mean better with lengths less than 10ft.
these are my impressions, i have left speakers in their positions between swaps and repeated trials.
i also have swapped the jumpers with 16gauge copper wires, not that i was expected anything but out of reading posts on that subject,  and i could not hear any difference.  The jumpers have good enough conductivity on such short distance to show 0 resistance, just like any other copper wire.
chrisr's avatar
chrisr
444 posts
 
Ah also, i have mine on 24in dayton stands.  They look almost identical to the ones used during denton photoshoot.

audiojerry
50 posts
 

I'm just chiming in to give props to the Denton''s. They are my absolute favorite stand mounted monitor. over the past 20 years I've owned dozens of monitors including ProAc Response 1SC and Dynaudio Special 25 Anniversary Edition ($5200).  I've used them with both solid-state and tube amplification.  Tney may not bowl you over with walloping bass or exaggerated detail, but they will provide a completely musically satisfying experience. To me the have a just-right balance that let's you focus on the music - not the speakers. 

For me they are best away from walls and nearfield. To elevate them to an even higher level of performance, IsoAcousitics isolation stands work really well. 

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