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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
newbee
4,093 posts
 
FWIW I use a pair on 24" stands to good effect. I'm sure 26" would work as well - as Tim said if it matters to you it will depend  your ears height from the floor. I measure at the tweeter. 

Re sound, I love the mid range of these speakers but they are placement critical if you want to avoid excess bass and get a good clear stereo spread. Keep them toed-in so you are listening on axis and the spread as wide as possible. Keep well away from the back wall or they will get really boomy. I'm not sure what you can do about the highs though. IMHO they just are not as refined as some.  You might try a different amp if you have one handy.

 For $500 it is hard to beat these speakers - I particularly like their midrange forwardness and bass presence.
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
2,678 posts
 
I use these with Harbeth P3's. They are a real bargain !
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGDS300
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
2,678 posts
 
BTW: Before you decide on the height,you can stack some books under the 21" stands to find out which height you prefer. That's the way I do it!
sunnyjim OP
884 posts
 

First, thanks to all who have responded.

To Yogiboy,  useful advice, but also a bit risky because unless you have duplicates of the same books used, there will be a chance that the speaker will be lopsided and unsteady,and fall over. I did this once with a pair of Music Hall Marimba's resulting in a crushed.corner 

The speaker was a turkey  but I was able to sell them, but got beat-up on the price because of the damage to the corner.  However, I might give it a try with one large dictionary per stand. 

The measurements seems the way to go, so I will try that first, I really don't want to buy another pair of speaker stands, and several offered on e-bay by Sanus or Target, Bush are crap.  I lucked out with my current stands which look like a prop from a Woody Allen laugher, called "Sleeper" where he is wakes up in a futuristic world

Unfortunately, the stands are only 21 inches high. Regardless, the Dentons are outstanding speakers which I have only minor quibbles.   HAS ANYONE BIWIRED THEM TO SEE IF THE SOUND IS FURTHER IMPROVED??        

meerzistar
232 posts
 
As with toeing in or pointing speakers straight out height is something I play around with to find what works best with a particular set up. Room acoustics, speaker design, mostly so baffle shape size along with driver size and placement along with other variables will all play a part in the best placement of monitors. While some will sound best with ear level meeting tweeter height others having ears at mid point between tweeters and mid range. I find there is no hard rule that applies to speakers height. 
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