Wharfedale Super Linton

If you are looking for proof that people are rather keen on the ongoing retro revival, you might want to consider that the Wharfedale Linton is the company’s best-selling speaker. It’s not just the best-selling Heritage model, it’s the speaker they shift more units of than anything else they make (including the significantly cheaper, and absolutely brilliant, Diamond models). Retro is big business. 

Keen to have a bit more of a good thing, Wharfedale has taken the Linton and given it similar ‘Super’ treatment that resulted in the absolutely outstanding Super Denton. Where the work that resulted in that speaker was significant enough to include a complete extra driver, the Super Linton’s makeover is more subtle. 

The standard Linton has a fairly large cabinet already, so the Super model is only four centimetres taller. Under the skin though, this is a more substantial device that uses two layers of MDF cabinet wall with a non-setting resin between them to better control resonance. 

The number of drivers has been pegged at three (for both visual and complexity reasons), and these drivers are very similar to those used in the standard Linton. Each one has been given a re-working to extract more performance, though. The 203mm bass driver has beefed-up magnets and a more powerful motor system to extract a little more low-end shove. This hands over to a 127mm woven Kevlar midrange driver that is largely identical to the one in the Linton - but it gains a dedicated chamber to better isolate it and control how it behaves. 

At the top of the stack is a soft dome tweeter in a shallow waveguide. It looks like the one in the normal Linton, but it is actually more similar to the one in the smaller Denton even though it operates over a rather wider frequency range than that unit. It makes use of engineering from the range-topping Dovedale (which appeared after the Linton) and promises improved high frequency performance. Around the back, you’ll find the same twin rear ports and single set of speaker terminals as the standard model. 

The biggest change, though, is one you can’t see. The Super Linton has a significantly more sophisticated crossover than the standard model - it now occupies two boards rather than one, and the entire network has been revised. Delicate high frequency work happens on one of the boards while low frequencies live on the other, running via newly selected inductors. Compared to the complete extra driver in the Super Denton, this might seem a little on the dull side - but crossovers make a huge difference to the performance of a speaker, and Wharfedale has put a significant amount of engineering effort into making sure the Super Linton has a boost where it counts. 

Sound quality

Given that the Linton is such a strong-selling product for Wharfedale, it isn’t too surprising to find the company hasn’t gone in for wholesale changes regarding how the Super Linton performs. If something isn’t broken, the amount by which you might choose to fix it is quite limited. And this statement comes with some observations that apply to the standard Linton as well. 

This is not an ‘old’-sounding speaker. Even the standard Linton has a much better-damped cabinet than would have been the case ‘in period’, and this has only been enhanced by the extra damping in the Super Linton. Placed with any degree of care, the Wharfedale simply vacates the soundstage it creates in a way that an older, more ‘live’ cabinet simply cannot. Where the Super Linton does introduce a twinge of retro to the performance is that wide baffle - sound is dispersed in a way that envelopes the listener, giving an almost ‘surround’ quality to what the Super Linton does. 

There are some other changes too. On paper, all the effort Wharfedale has gone to in beefing up the bass driver and increasing the cabinet size has yielded a single extra Hz of bass extension over the standard Linton - but this doesn’t tell the whole story. The Super Linton has a confidence and depth to its bass response that is both superior to its non-Super relative and, indeed, to pretty much everything else at the price. More than out-and-out bass extension, it’s the ability to sound full and confident from the lower midrange down that level more conventionally sized rivals struggle with (particularly at lower volumes). 

The work that has gone into the crossover has also been worth the effort. The cohesion between the three drivers is excellent, and the Wharfedale is more fluid and articulate than you might expect a big wooden box to be. It is still not the most overtly ballistic speaker going - sister brand Mission is more suited to that - but the Super Linton will maintain its fluency even when being pushed with complex material. Something that has been carried over from the standard Linton is a tonal lushness and body that ensures that even fairly edgy recordings sound decent. The work on the tweeter is every bit as effective as it is on the Super Denton, resulting in a speaker that offers good levels of detail without being wearing. 

Living with

Let’s begin with a statement of the blindingly obvious. If your feelings towards the designs of the sixties and seventies is that they should have remained there, the Super Linton is not going to be for you. This is a super-sized slice of retro and, rather more than is the case with the Super Denton, it’s not going to fade into the background of most rooms you place it in. The veneer choices of Walnut (quite brown), Mahogany (very brown) and black (not brown but, you know… still not exactly modern) serve to emphasise this. 

The thing is, Wharfedale already knows that the Linton is popular with a good chunk of people - so the Super Linton takes the same basic recipe with an equally high standard of execution. The build and finish of the Super Linton is truly outstanding for the price - it does an excellent job of feeling special, which is something audio equipment really needs to be good at. From the quality of veneer to the sturdy speaker terminals to the huge grilles, this is a speaker that makes you feel like you’ve spent your money wisely. The Super Linton also fits on the same superb stands as the standard Linton, and these really should be budgeted for when you buy them as nothing else available for similar money is as good. 

There’s one other aspect of life with the Super Linton that I considered putting in the ‘sound quality’ section but feel is better placed here. This is not a hard speaker to drive, and while I would not go so far as to say it sounds coloured, testing with a selection of different devices results in the emergence of the same positive qualities it possesses pretty much regardless of what you use it with. This means it has a few limitations as a piece of test equipment - the Super Linton will do what it does very consistently. 

Conclusion

In some ways the Super Linton isn’t as novel (and therefore exciting) as the Super Denton, but that isn’t its job. This is a Linton that does everything that bit better - it balances a strong visual identity with high perceived quality and a big and expansive sound, to make a very compelling speaker indeed.

Listening notes 

Love Forever Changes 

An iconic album, full of exemplary musicianship - listening to it on the Super Linton gives you some period-correct width and depth that can be lacking on smaller drivers. It’s both nostalgic and bang up to date. 

Black Mountain Destroyer 

This album actually has a picture of a big, retro speaker on the cover, almost as if it’s suggesting that the Wharfedale should be your weapon of choice. Rather unsurprisingly, the result is a fabulous listen. 

Svanborg Kardyb Superkilen

Occupying the hinterland between jazz and electronic music, this album lives or dies on the reproduction of its percussion - and the Super Linton does an absolutely barnstorming job of it. 

Are you looking for a big, authoritative speaker that will perfectly match your lovingly curated ‘mid-century modern’ living space? You absolutely cannot do better than this.