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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
10 responses Add your response
timlub
2,039 posts
 

Hi Jim,

    Sit in your listening chair, have someone measure the distance from the floor to your middle ear.... Normally 38 to 40 inches... whatever that height is,  look at your Warfedales, with a crossover point of 2.3khz and listening to them straight on, not tilt, I would recommend that you put the height halfway between your woofer and tweeter at the same level as your ear... so if your ear is 38 to 40 inches off the ground, then place the halfway point between your woofer and mid at 38 to 40 inches.  That will determine your stand height.  I hope this helps,

Tim

mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,944 posts
 
I agree with Tim except that I usually will setup a small monitor/bookshelf speaker with the middle of the tweeter at ear level when sitting down.

So if your ear is at 40 inches in your listening chair and the middle of the tweeter is 12 inches from the bottom of the speaker, then a 28 inch stand would be right. Plus or minus 1-2 inches would be acceptable.
newbee
4,752 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
5,531 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
5,531 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
927 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. 
chrisr's avatar
chrisr
542 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
542 posts
 
Ah also, i have mine on 24in dayton stands.  They look almost identical to the ones used during denton photoshoot.

audiojerry
77 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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