Vintage wharfdales - help!

[Tom wardle]

Hi all

My dad gave me a pair of old wharfdale speakers. They look great but I don't know how to get them working! each speaker has one single black wire coming out of it. What do I need to buy and do to get them connected up to my amp?

Any help much appreciated!

Tom

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi all

My dad gave me a pair of old wharfdale speakers. They look great but I don't know how to get them working! each speaker has one single black wire coming out of it. What do I need to buy and do to get them connected up to my amp?

Any help much appreciated!

Tom

It looks to me as if there are two wires coming out. I think if you look you will find it is a double wire. If not you will have to open the cabinet and identify the input of the crossover and put in new lead in wires.

If that is a double wire, are the two wires distinguishable? If not then you will need to end the wires and take off the speaker grills. Then you will need a 1.5 volt battery. Connect a wire to +ve and the other to -ve. When you connect the battery to the wires, note which way the woofer cones moves. When you have the connection to the battery such that the woofer cone moves forward on contact, mark the wire on the positive battery terminal a +ve and the other -ve.

Now you will need some terminal strip like this.

Connect each speaker wire to one +ve form the amp and each -ve to the corresponding -ve on the amp. That is how you connect them.

Most of those old Wharfedales had foam surrounds on the woofer, which will be rotted out by now. So you need to remove the grills and see if the foam is rotted out. If it is, you will have to remove the drivers and refoam them.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Tls advise is 100% right. Second image clearly shows two wires in a single cable.

 

[Tom wardle]

It looks to me as if there are two wires coming out. I think if you look you will find it is a double wire. If not you will have to open the cabinet and identify the input of the crossover and put in new lead in wires.

If that is a double wire, are the two wires distinguishable? If not then you will need to end the wires and take off the speaker grills. Then you will need a 1.5 volt battery. Connect a wire to +ve and the other to -ve. When you connect the battery to the wires, note which way the woofer cones moves. When you have the connection to the battery such that the woofer cone moves forward on contact, mark the wire on the positive battery terminal a +ve and the other -ve.

Now you will need some terminal strip like this.

Connect each speaker wire to one +ve form the amp and each -ve to the corresponding -ve on the amp. That is how you connect them.

Most of those old Wharfedales had foam surrounds on the woofer, which will be rotted out by now. So you need to remove the grills and see if the foam is rotted out. If it is, you will have to remove the drivers and refoam them.

Thanks so much for this - really helpful!

A few questions:

1. What do you mean by 'ending' the wires? Do you mean pulling them apart? I'm not sure how I would do this.

2. What is the purpose of taking off the speaker grills?

3. Do I need to buy speaker cable to go from the amp to the terminal strip? And what plugs into the amp?

Many thanks!

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks so much for this - really helpful!

A few questions:

1. What do you mean by 'ending' the wires? Do you mean pulling them apart? I'm not sure how I would do this.

2. What is the purpose of taking off the speaker grills?

3. Do I need to buy speaker cable to go from the amp to the terminal strip? And what plugs into the amp?

Many thanks!

Yes, I mean separating the wires for a few inches, then removing enough insulation to connect to the terminal strip I showed you.

You need to remove the grills so you can phase the speakers with the battery test. It is vital you know the polarity of those wires, otherwise you have a 50% chance of having the speakers out of phase. Also you need to inspect those drivers to see what the surrounds of the woofers are made of. If they are foam, which I suspect they are, then it will almost certainly be rotted by now and need replacement. You don't sound like someone who will be up to this task to me, so if that is the case you will need professional help.

Lamp cable will be fine to go from the terminal strip to your amp. You must preserve polarity.
I do not know what your amp is, or what the speaker output sockets are.

 

[-Jim-]

Keep it simple (KISS Principle - one of my favorites) just to prove these old speakers still work. In this vintage some manufacturers used cables like the one shown here with a "rib" on one side of the cable along it's length to denote polarity.

What I would do it separate the 2 conductors up to the speaker using a decent pair of scissors, and carefully strip (remove) about half an inch of the insulation (like in the photo) with a knife. Connect a speaker wire from your Amp (with the ends similarly prepared) and individually twist connect them, arbitrarily connecting the positive (red) from the amplifier to the Ribbed lead.

For testing purposes I wouldn't bother to solder, or even tape them off. Just pull the connections apart and don't let them touch while testing. (Tape them up if you are nervous about this. Just about any tape will do temporarily.)

When connected to an amplifier ensure the volume is turned all the way down before turning it on. Then slowly increase the volume with any input into the amplifier operating.

Just my 2 bits -so you save buying terminals or taking the speaker apart.