Wharfedale has announced the latest addition to its Heritage Series of loudspeakers. The new Aston standmount speakers are designed by established engineer Peter Comeau as his 'Signature' speakers, teasing "an absorbing, full-scale sound that belies the cabinet’s compact dimensions", although not everyone can expect to get hold of a set.
Conceived as a limited edition series, the Aston has been limited to just 500 pairs. The new standmounts employ a two-way ported design, a departure from the three-way configurations of the brand's established Linton, Super Linton and Super Denton lines.
The tweeter and mid/bass drive units are new bespoke designs made specifically for the Aston. The new treble draws influence from the design of Wharfedale's Dovedale series, employing a 25mm fabric dome and a damped rear chamber which absorbs vibrations from the rear of the diaphragm, aiming for a more detailed treble reproduction without compromising on top-end smoothness. The mid/bass unit, meanwhile, uses a rigid chassis and a 15cm carbon fibre cone in pursuit of a "natural and expressive performance" through the mid and upper frequencies.
The Aston’s crossovers deploy air-core inductor coils and polypropylene capacitors chosen for their revealing and transparent character. Wharfedale promises that the shape of the crossovers has been refined by extensive listening tests to ensure the speaker is simply "a conduit between the performers and the listener", resulting in a speaker with an engaging, transparent sonic character which excels across all genres of music.
The new speakers' cabinets are constructed using a blend of woods which helps to scatter panel resonances and reduce noise or distortion. The Aston also feature an inner layer of high-density particle board bonded to an external sheet of MDF by a special glue with resonance-damping properties.
Wharfedale has designed a bespoke pair of open-framed stands for its latest standmounts. The frame is constructed using British steel and glass inserts, with all but one of the stands filled with damping material to once again prevent external vibrations and resonances from travelling up to the speaker cabinet.
According to Wharfedale's director of acoustic design Peter Comeau: "By harnessing the latest developments in cabinet, driver and crossover design from key Heritage Series models...I've created a ‘signature’ speaker that entirely fulfils the brief I set myself for my first commercial design: a compact speaker with a wide-bandwidth sound. When you hear the Aston, I hope you’ll wonder how we achieved such a full-scale sound from speakers of such diminutive size".
The Wharfedale Aston are available from late February in a choice of mahogany, walnut or black oak wood veneers. The Aston will retail at £1999 per pair in the UK with the stands included, or £1699 without stands. The stands are also available to purchase separately at £499 per pair.
Outside of the UK, the speakers and stands are available as a package, priced at $3000 / €2500 / AU$5000.
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