Wharfedale really knocked it out of the park for a winning homerun. I agree with your sound analysis. These speakers are definitely top tier material. Incredible sound.

Hi, Joe! Thanks so much for this review - especially this one! 😃 I own the little-brother predecessor to these speakers. the Wharfedale Denton 80th. Anniversary speakers in Red Mahogany finish. I must say, they are as stunning in appearance as they are in sound! To this day they remain my favorite bookshelf speakers. I just love the signature sound of Wharfedale ... warm, lush, detailed, and very musical across the entire frequency spectrum. This is especially true when they are given a good degree of amplifier power to create the optimal headroom. Their imaging are fantastic and they often put the artists right in the room with me. They are not the least bit fatiguing and they leave you with the desire to just keep throwing all of your music at them! 😃 In fact, their look and sound are what inspired me to invest $800 in the beautiful Zaor Monitor Stands in Black Cherry so that the Wharfedales could be adequately and aesthetically displayed well into my retirement years in the near future. I love them that much! That being said, I then became interested in Wharfedale's 85th. Anniversary Dentons, the subject of your review in this video, due to their larger woofer and other improvements that I heard improved their top end (higher frequency) performance compared to their 80th. Anniversary little brothers. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of information yet available to answer my questions about the 85th. Anniversary Dentons. So, last September I reached out to Wharfedale directly to see if I could get some answers to my questions. They responded promptly and directed my inquiry to members of their team who could help me. I must say, this really impressed me. I am just a single audio consumer who already loved and owned their 80th. Anniversary Dentons but who was now interested in their 85th. Anniversary Editions to see if they might be worth an upgrade. I was not a distributor or reviewer who could directly influence future sales for Wharfedale, but the attention they gave me as an individual consumer made me feel important to them. Someone from Wharfedale did indeed reach out to me and answered my questions regarding how the 85th. Anniversary Dentons compared to the 80th. Anniversary edition, that I already own and love. Specifically, they had someone contact me who had already interacted with other customers who had experience with both editions. So, I pass this feedback along to any other viewers of your excellent review, especially those who already love the signature sound of Wharfedale and who also love the 80th. Anniversary Dentons; but who, like me, may now also be considering whether they might want to pay the extra money to upgrade to the 85th. Anniversary Dentons. I will be purchasing mine in the next several weeks. Below is some of what the gentleman from Wharfedale shared with me: "I have spoken to two people who have heard both speakers and both commented that the improvement in sound quality was palpable - a greater liveliness, especially on the top end. Also, the 85th was described as more open and detailed, a step up in musicality across the range." Joe, thanks again for your wonderful reviews and all of the time you put into them. I know it takes a LOT of time to produce what you bring to us ... but please know that it is VERY MUCH appreciated. You are helping to educate the global audio-loving community and I, for one, learn a LOT from what you share! THANK YOU!!! 😊

I like the Joe and anti-Joe format. Anti-Joe should become a regular character to deliver critical feedback on products:)

I imagined being blown away by the beauty of the acoustic guitar songs playing on these speakers, I wish one day I could have it for everyday listening. Thank you so much for having such an indepth review.

I also bought the Wharfedale LINTON Heritage very beautiful! Warm sound is wonderful!

They sounded real and natural . Imaging is very good. I like these speakers.

This is not old look this is the ONLY look that a speaker should have.

We just these in our store today! They are tremendous! Grab them, I've already ordered more, maybe one of the best bookshelf around.

Thanks for this review! I got these for my rotel a11 amp and am very happy with them. Like I've been told, they do sound better after a couple of days as they wear in. No need for a subwoofer here. Happily listening to Kruder and Dorfmeister like its for the first time.

I was thinking of getting the Harbeth PSE3R as my final endgame but I prefer the look of these and like that they can dig deeper. Awesome review cheers!

I love the look of the Denton 85th speakers. Beautiful wood cabinet. JBL also came out with a retro anniversary edition of a speaker, the JBL L100, that also looks great. Excellent video review -- I appreciate the numerous frequency graphs, including the SVS comparison and off-axis. Looks like a new speaker king has arrived on Joe N Tell's leaderboard, beating out the ELAC UB5 and SVS Ultra! Let's see how long it reigns.

Hi Joe, I am the lucky owner of a pair of Wharfedale 75th anniversary edition Diamond 9.1 which I love. I haven't run across the Denton 85 in a store yet.

Oh, I forgot to say something. Wharfedale released new EVO 4 range recently. And there's a '3WAY' bookshelf model 4.2. I'm really excited about this rare species. So, if you have any chance, I would like you to review those 4.2 and compare them to these Denton 85th then it would be so interesting and helpful! Thank you, Joe.

Hey Joe, I love your channel and I always look forward to new videos. Definitely one of the more interesting audio related channels on youtube - most are literally quite boring or lack personality. Just pick up a Philips Hue Color Starter Kit along with a couple of Philips Hue Lightstrips to give the channel that big standout appearance that it deserves. Keep up the good work, dude!

The reason for the offset tweeter is to help time aligh the woofer/tweeter. By putting the tweeters out, the distance to the ear is farther from the ear, more cloely matching the distance ro the woofer which is deeper. Nice to see a relatively flat response, especially at the crossover. The response from so many speakers today look like a mountain range.

I saw them, I heard them, I bought them. I'm selling my 3 y.o. towers... 800 vs 1150 euros. Tight Deep Bass, huge medium, smooth High. ..and very beautiful...

I like them, I have the Walnut version.. but then again, I have a set of Klipschorns with some Cornwall Units. 19 lbs are the piano dollys weight to move "A" speaker.

I had Lintons back in 1974, smooth speakers.

Back in the 1970's, I bought a pair of JBL L100 12inch 3 ways - the print advertisement of the guy on the chair being blown away from the power of the sound. These speakers remind me of that look. They were $750 a pair 50 years ago. Let's just say they were very accurate speakers. I think it was a Maxell ad. I'm not able to post the pic but JBL has released the L100's again. Get ready for the price! Priced at $4000 per pair, the JBL L100 Classic will be available in spring of 2018.

Love the old school built-by-hand look.

Hi Joe. Do you considered the Denton 85 with a sharp treble or fatiguing in longer listening sessions? Thanks

I found an old pair of Denton's in a rubbish skip some years ago, I took them home cleaned them up and hooked them up to an amp and played Jumping Jack Flash through them it sounded amazing.

Thanks for the review. I'm sold on these as my next speaker purchase.. IMO opinion I find the retro aesthetic to be incredible. Can't wait to hear these. What would be a good amp to pair these with?

If you like small speaker with plenty of bass you should really check out Guru Junior. 4" woofer going down to 34hz while sounding really good!

Usually the bass response isn't calculated at F3? (Minus 3db compared to the SPL) Cuz if you calculate it at F6 or F10 almost every speaker can be considered that is able to reach low 30hz, but you wont be able to hear that bass too much or at all.

Thanks, Joe! I appreciate you doing this video. I am gonna buy them based on your review. I like the old school look and sound. Hoping for the best!

I LOVE the look of these Dentons. They are so sexy. I have a pair of Lintons from 1968 and the drivers are in excellent condition.

I had the SVS ultra and agree. They needed a sub. Also, they had a soft/polite treble that just wasn't top-tier revealing like KEF and Burchardt. The Dentons are $100 less, and it seems, a better speaker.

Hi Joe, I hope you review the new Super Denton's. Can the sound from them be better than the Denton 85th? I can't wait to here your review and comparisons of the two.

Is this speakers heavily loaded in the mids and high mids? I intend to buy one of these to use a powerful class D amplifier, with good resolution and good mids, but I don't want the mids to be loaded to the point of being harsh.

Joe vs Joe, one of you has to be the Audiophile. I think it's the guy in the red shirt, ha, ha, ha!!! Hey Joe I appreciate you for doing the sound clips and I always wondered how the Dentons sounded. Also Joe where did you get the parts for the Arcade machine behind you as well as the games? I'm considering taking your suggestion and building one, thanks. You are a champion for the budget audiophile/move lover community.

Hi Joe, thanks for your review on the Denton 85th. You were the first to open my eyes and ears to these speakers and after months of watching and listening to many more speakers and sound demos, I got the Denton's along with the Denon AVR-S760H receiver that handles the 4 ohm speakers. The left speaker sets in a corner, it was boomy; so I cut a 1 1/2 inch foam mattress pad (egg create like), placed it in the corner of the two walls, and I have no more boomy sound. Now I have excellent sound at any volume, and like you said, I have no need to use my subwoofer. I listen to KZfaq music videos, MP3s, TV, and movies. I'm very satisfied, awesome sound. Thanks again for your excellent review Joe

No wonder you like them with the grills on. These speakers have been specifically listened to and fine tuned with the grills ON.

Great review. These old-timey speakers harken back to pure 2.0 audio days when speakers had to look like decent furnishings. I’d be interested to know if they measure cleanly as they go down the frequency spectrum. A lot of compact speakers create bass by sacrificing a bit of higher THD. Nothing wrong with that, every speaker is a compromise at best. Also have you considered reporting on subjective “subwoofer matchability” for your reviews? For examples, I loved my Magnepans but matching a subwoofer to those panels never worked well for me. A good, well-matched, well-tuned subwoofer can really elevate the performance in most speakers as it lessens the workload on the mains, especially dual sub-woofers.

Hi Joe! Great review! Please do review the Wharfedale Elysian 2 bookshelf too. They're the new flagship from Wharfedale and supposed to be worthy of the title.

These are the sexiest speakers I've ever seen. I would buy them if I had somewhere to put them and something to drive them. Shoot I'll. buy them just to have them and never use them, I'll do something stupid like that for my love of speakers. Won't be the first time. Out of curiosity, what is best to drive them but simplistic...

you should review the bigger Wharfedale Linton 3 way model, that is the real value proposition

Hi.. great review! I have demo’ed these speakers and I loved it. Planning to pair it with the Rega Brio. But I have one worry. I’m gonna use them in my bedroom which has a distance of 10 feet wall to wall. So can’t keep much distance from the wall.. maybe 6-8 inches.. will that be enough? Will they sound too boomy? Will the sound be too big for a small 10’ x 13’ room? How much distance have you kept from the wall behind? Thanks a lot man

Most speakers/woofers that have carbon fiber are layered on top of a paper cone, so it doesn’t help unless the cone itself is weak underneath. Plus plain paper cones reproduce sound best in most cases, just an extra cost. But what do you think? Not doubting they sound amazing still, but just wondering

I would've like to know how the 80th stack up to the 85th the 80th can be had for 1/2 the price now.

any speaker within shouting distance of 1k better be stunning because if you've never heard the Kef LS50's then you need to. IMO the LS50's are the best speakers till you hit around 3k and above.

I'm going to buy them. Second review I watched on them. Thank you!!

First of all, I really like your videos! As an average person, it's nice to see someone review gear an average person can actually afford. Now to my question: How did you record the sample music played over the Wharfdales towards the end of the video? I know that that's not what they sound like, because - obviously - I'm playing this video through my audio setup. But if they really sound anything like that, I'd rather have my (much cheaper) speakers.

beautiful mid range with these Dentons!

Are they much better than the diamond 11 you also reviewed ? Thanks

Can you review the edifier r2730DB please ? They might be hard to get but i would like to know how they compare to the rest you have tested and reviewed.

Nice, Joe! I am surprised that they took the top spot, they must sound great! Just from memory, could you comment on a comparison in bass response between these Denton speakers and the Crystal 4.3 towers? Thank you Joe, always very nicely done.

I just got the Lintons and would love to hear what you think of them

Do not pay attention to your "alter ego": Wood is so cool!!! An impressive experience with the binaural tracks listened through in-ear buds: Whilst the reference ones sound good, in the binaural take it seems (especially the female voice) to be suspended out in the air, and some lateral instruments sound far from the ears. Listened with loudspeakers, I've felt the room plenty of sound, not "phasy" properly said, with the exception of the acoustic guitar: this time it doesn't sound to me as in opposition of phase, but very precisely located in the forefront center of the speakers (contrary, it sounds to me as in opposition of phase when hearing with in-ear buds). A joy of a video!

Thanks for the vid-I learned a lot and enjoyed it.

Let me offer you an unbiased owner review... not one where ive been met down a dark alley, sent a pair by Wharfedale and asked to say nice things about it. The finish (in walnut) is indeed gorgeous and you just forget these are not cheap-ish mass produced chinese made sales generators. They are easy to drive with 20watt valve amp and not slow in the bass. Its signature is a thicker atmospheric wall of sound vs a precise airy sound of many. The mids have a palpable lovely warmth and presence. The best sound is achieved with tweeters set on inside (helps focus which these speakers do lack somewhat) and the grilles on (to tame the tweeter). HOWEVER.... nothing ive tried from change of source, amps or cable changes the one deal breaker for me and sole reason i couldnt live with and promptly sold these on... THE TWEETER IS A PIECE OF S**T. Honestly the grain and sibillance inherent to this tweeter is just unacceptable and totally not in keeping with a Wharfedale. It completely ruins the whole sound for me and on anything produced with less than perfect treble mastering just sounds awful. You can get a Wharfedale Evo 4.1 with AMT little difference in money and it just sounds vastly superior even if its not as pretty as these. Dont just fall for the looks and presume it has that super soft Wharf treble, make sure YOU listen to these before buying, unlike me.

I wonder how they'd compare to a pair of studio monitors like the JBL 306p mk2s.

Thanks for a good job!! i like the music you play in the videos, seems like we have some good music in common

Currently own Sonus Faber concertinos however I play lots of beat and bass heavy music sometimes, thank you for explaining these can manage that type of music well.

Great review. Thanks much for the detailed notes. How would you compare the 85th Anniversary edition with the 80th Anniversary edition? How different are they....?

In the 70's I had a pair of Wharf edale speakers exactly like these (UK). Racking my brain to try and remember the name!!!! STUMPED at the moment.

Noob question; I just got a pair of these, and usually when hooking up speakers to a sub I've gone on ear and dialled them in (usually resulting in way too much bass) but since these are my first "higher tier" speakers; is the a set frequency I should set the crossover on the sub to for optimal performance these speakers?

My HPM-100s weigh 75 pounds each and with an added 400.00 bucks for upgraded crossovers ohh myyy! Joe one day you have to get a pair you'll thank me later just need them at least a foot-to a foot and a half off the ground do you think these are a lot better than 80th edition ? The 80th was 999.00 new now down to 499.00 sounded amazing on my headphones !!!

I use a pair of these , that I bought two months ago, with a Quad 33 vertically bi-amping two Quad 303ś. SOunds very good IMO. But they need a bit of power for best result. Not that you should blow your neibours out of their houses, but a little bit. You can hear easily that the sound much better.

Have you ever heard Harbeth speakers? If you like these Try Harbeth they are next level with proprietary drivers that got a british grant to make and were designed by the BBC. They are the best I ever heard from any level of price range! I have heard 65k Raidho speakers, Sonus Faber Olympics, Sopra 2 Focals and Dynaudio contours and special forty's. They blow them all away. The only thing that was close was the Raidho speakers.

You should test and review the Polk audio t15 Bookshelf speakers they are great budget Bookshelf speakers I have them for my computer and use them with a lepy 2020a amp

Should these be a good match with an 8 years old Rega brio and Dac or even with an older Rotel RA-01. Looking for bookshelves upgrade to replace my Rega RS3 column which I'm bored with... Cheers !

Hi, Joe. Always thanks for your review. I have Denton 80th and I like those laid-back sound and relaxing feeling. But It lack some bass and I need some more so I keep my eyes on this Denton 85th. It has strong and big bass compare to the 80th right? But I read a review said that the 85th has overly bright highs.. Is that so? Dose it really sounds too bright on highs?

I'll probably stick to the elac ub5 (I'll get them if they drop below $375) because I don't like speakers that are over sensitive to placement (I can't dedicate my room to the speakers, my bed and tv are where they have to be) and where holding your head in a vice grip (not able to move even back or forward) is almost a must. Plus, the elac aren't getting into insane amounts of money but still a great performer.

I believe the Dentons were mis-wired or recorded out of phase. Play this comparison in mono, and you can hear the out of phase frequencies cancel each other out, reducing the volume of Denton portions of the recording. You cannot hear this effect on the SVS demo, for example. I knew something sounded off, and when played back in mono, the issue becomes apparent.

Like your intro music. Very hypnotic.

hey joe, i do use separate subwoofers more often than not. so, for speakers, im not looking for much bass, but, i would like to know how speakers rank without consideration for bass. could u put a category for that too? good speaker, with a sub?

Interesting. They bested the Ultra's? That's really saying something because the Ultra's, as you know, are the real deal. I had an opportunity to A-B a pair of Ultra's with a well known European brand that cost 6 times as much and there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between them, certainly not five grand. (You HAVE to do a comparison between the Ultra's and the Denton's. You just gotta!) As much as I loved the Ultra's, and I really did love them, I went with the European brand because they had real wood cabinets. (Plus, I got a killer deal. Even with the wood I would never pay their retail price.) Back in the day, almost all speakers looked like the Denton's. I still like that look. But that's a subjective thing just like my distain for the piano black finish that is all the rage these days. Anyway...those Denton's look extremely well built. It looks like they really sweated the details on the grilles, and if they did that I'm sure the rest of the speaker got the same treatment. Obviously they did because they took the top spot from the Ultra's. I'm not too surprised that the Denton's had more low end authority but I can't imagine their high end was any better than the Ultra's, which at that price point and even much higher, are about as good as it gets. Great review, like always. I see you are increasing your video prowess. Pat yourself on the back.

How are you getting your graphs. I appreciate the teaching aspect of the channel.

Completely agree! Having heard the Demo already they remind me of a Vintage speaker. And, to be honest, MOST of my speakers are vintage! Clean mids, great vocals, and more bass, than my Denton 2s! Yes, I have some originals, a two way 8" (60hz-16Khz, crossover 1400hz, low power handling). That does not get as low as these but has wonderful mids/vocals and rolls off the top end. These have all those qualities but recover more of the lows and have more detail up high than the originals which were a smallish two way with a weird plasticized 2+" tweeter, that had damping material over it. Also in wood veneer. Very nice looking. More of that BBC sound-mid range centric!

Bought them can't wait! Thanks!

Great review. Wharfedale make great sounding bookshelf speakers BTW love the bartop arcade machine at the back :D

Are these actually marked as left and right or is it preference that dictates whether you have the tweeters towards the inside or outside?

Would the new Rega Brio Amplifier drive theses speakers Ok 👍🏻 I was also thinking of the Harbeth P3 ESRs but they lack bottom end... would be good to hear a comparison style review of the two....

Hey brotha. If there will be a chance please do a review on Definitive Technology D11. I've auditioned them a few days ago and even tho the placement was no where ideal the imaging and soundstage sounded out of this world. Would love to see some of the measurements and see what you think.

Thank you for the video. How would you rank them in comparison to UNIFI reference bookshelves?

I'd love to hear these Wharfedale's in person. Could you get your hands on some NHT C 3 Bookshelf Loudspeakers for review? I've had the Classic Three's for years connected to an Adcom GFA 555II and still love them!

Wharfedale’s Evo 4.2 is the same price as this Dentons, what should I get in your opinion and why? I’ll use it mainly as a desktop speaker for now

They look like great speakers but I wish more companies would do large bookshelves with 8 inch woofers.

@Joe, we need a sound comparison :) I'd also be very interested for these to be compared with Kef LS50. I hope someday you'll have the LS50(W) reviewed :)

Dope speakers, Ross Gellar hair.

Thanks for the great review, Joe! How would you say these compare to the SVS Prime Bookshelf in terms of low end extension? I get the feeling they definitely sound deeper, but to what degree? And, is the upper end quite a bit softer vs. the Primes? On a separate note, I do have a pair of the original AR-3a's and they sound incredible....I wonder if the Denton's have a similar sound signature. Thanks!

Would you recommend the Denton bookshelfs above the SVS Prime for movies and what is your opion about the dynaudio emit 20 with emit 25c above the svs prime home theatre setup?

I'd love to hear your review of the Wharfedale Lintons.

This is one of the speakers I have in my list to improve my system. The other are the Kef LS50 Meta and the Tannoy Revolution XT6 Have you ever test the Tannoy or the LS50? How do ypu compare these 3 speakers?

Nice review! Have you made a comparison with the smaller 80th anniversary edition?

Will they do well in a desktop computer setup (Paired up with Denon PMA 600 NE) ? I am sitting close to the monitor and the speakers will be placed on sides... Perhaps 6 feet away from each other and 3-4 feet away from me ?

These do sound old school. Reminds me of my favorite Philips speakers from way back then.

Excellent review. Very well done.

Why is it that when I see a video with a Marantz receiever on it I start to drool and drift away to the lights. I want these speakers for mine.

Hey Joe, Were you by chance running the Dentons with that Marantz 2220B of yours there? I'm curious how the Marantz would have handled the 4ohm load of the Dentons.

Brilliant review, thank you.

I have a pair of monoblocks Audiolab 8200M, 125 Watt each and an iFi Zen Dac V2 that I can use as a preamp. What do you think about this setup in combination with the Dentons? Any chance of getting good sound? Thanks

Do you think that they can fill a relative medium to large room (7m X 4.5m) with sound?

Hello, I have the monitor audio BX2, do you think these speakers would be an improvement? Thanks greetings

Hi Joe... do you think 25 watts per channel is enough for these Dentons , my amp is an old 1980 Sony TA-AX2. Much appreciated Gary.

Good review !

Hope you do the kef R3 and Klipsch Heresy

Hi, what source/ amplifier You use with Your Wharfedale's ? What do You think about connect them to Yamaha as501?

These speakers were sold by the thousands in the 60/70s. They have always been very good but now with the new hardware they are fantastic. Don’t complain about the price, you have to spend a lot more to get this quality of sound. They are not a party speaker. They are refined and lend themselves to vocal and instrumental tracks. They have an 80 and it’s smaller in the 500 range. They should good but not like these!