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Welcome Back!

Not you, the speakers!  ;) 
Ok, welcome to you as well.  

I anguished about the Wharfedale Opus 2-M2 Speakers when I reviewed them. They were so good, with their svelte 3" soft dome midrange, but I just couldn't spend the money all those years ago. 

They're back! I watched for years for a used pair, and now they are in my room. My memory was intact, as they sound as good to my ear as I recalled. I wanted that 3" soft dome mid again. I do enjoy the precision of the PMC and ATC speakers I have heard, but not going to spend that kind of money for a side project. Wharfedale is fine, not a slouch company, good enough for this project. 

Very nice result with subs; first run is with the active bass module of the Aspen Acoustics Lagrange L1 preproduction model (L1 production model will receive owner's review at Dagogo.com in due time). I also have the Legacy Audio XTREME XD Sub (reviewed, own) to work with. 

I don't often chase after something from the past, but in this instance, especially at the cost, it was a good return. 

Every technology has their fans; dipole, omni, horn, etc. The 3" soft dome mid, too, is worthwhile to garnish its fans. It's a more in your face, brisk sound, but that's somewhat adjustable with the rig. Already, after two days, I can see this was a good move. Imo, the 3" soft midrange is an under appreciated driver.   :) 

Also, LOVING the fact that the 2-M2 is bi-wirable/bi-ampable! I am going to do good things with this speaker. Already commendable, but another trick or two yet to pull off.  
douglas_schroeder

Showing 1 response by dynamiclinearity

dynamiclinearity
239 posts
 
Most dome drivers have a problem in that they wobble vertically due to usually only having one support, the spider. And I suspect the bigger the dome the more the problem which is probably why there are so few mid range domes. Both ATC and PMC minimize this by using two spiders (ATC even uses two on their 1 inch dome tweeter). Do yu know if Wharfedale uses double spiders.

By the way for me the most interesting large dome driver was one designed in the 70s I believe. It had double spiders and a large hole through the magnet structure. They attached a long rubber tube to the back filled with long hair wool, a transmission line dome mid. I don't think they produced it, unfortunately. John Crabbe, the great editor of Hi Fi News then held up finishing his built large horn system waiting for it and finally gave up and used a variation of the IMF Monitor mid/tweeters instead.
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