Wharfedale Super Linton Loudspeakers w/ Stands

Why choose the Wharfedale Super Linton

The Wharfedale Super Linton is a three-way, vented-box standmount loudspeaker built as an extensively upgraded addition to the Heritage series, sitting between the standard Linton and the UK-made Dovedale flagship. It's aimed at existing Linton owners who want a genuine step up in bass extension, midrange clarity and treble dispersion without changing their room layout, and at buyers who want Heritage-series cabinetry and driver engineering without moving to the Dovedale's price and specification. Where the original 1967 Super Linton earned its name mainly through cabinet improvements, the current Super Linton revises the bass, midrange and treble drivers, the crossover and the enclosure together, so the upgrade runs through the whole signal path rather than one component.

What separates the Super Linton from the standard Linton?

The Super Linton is fitted with a different driver array and larger cabinet volume than the standard Linton, changing performance across the whole frequency range rather than in one band. Its 200mm bass driver uses a black woven Kevlar cone driven by a more powerful motor system, and this larger diaphragm and stronger motor combine with the enlarged cabinet to extend bass response down to 32Hz at -6dB, reaching lower than the standard Linton. The 135mm midrange driver, also a black woven Kevlar cone, sits in a revised chamber lined with multiple layers of long-hair fibre damping, which cancels mid-band back waves and lets vocal and instrument frequencies come through without the colouration that back-wave reflections cause. A split-PCB crossover, set at 550Hz and 2.5kHz, keeps the bass, midrange and treble filter sections physically separated on the board, which avoids electromagnetic interference between the networks driving each unit. For a buyer already familiar with the Linton, this is the practical distinction: it's a wider-bandwidth, more resolved loudspeaker built from the Linton platform rather than a cosmetic variant of it.

Who should choose this model over the standard Linton or the Dovedale?

The Super Linton is the clearer upgrade path for buyers already running standard Lintons, since it uses the same footprint and the same Linton stand while delivering deeper bass extension, a damped midrange chamber and a revised treble unit. It also sits closer to buyers who want the Dovedale's engineering depth but not its UK-built pricing or dimensions, since Wharfedale positions it explicitly as a bridge between the two models. Anyone assembling a vinyl-focused system who values LP storage space beneath a standmount speaker keeps that benefit here, as the cabinet dimensions were only modestly increased over the standard Linton. Buyers who don't need the extended bass reach or the revised crossover, and who are working to a tighter budget, are better served by the standard Linton rather than paying for this model's additional driver and cabinet engineering.

What amplifier does it need?

The Super Linton has a recommended amplifier power range of 25 to 200W, a nominal impedance of 6Ω that's compatible with 8Ω-rated amplifiers, and a minimum impedance of 3.9Ω. This range means the loudspeaker suits amplifiers from modest valve or integrated designs at the lower end through to higher-powered solid-state amplifiers at the upper end, so buyers can match it to a range of existing systems rather than needing a specific amplifier class. A sensitivity of 90dB (2.83V @ 1m) and a peak SPL of 110dB indicate the speaker doesn't need a high-power amplifier to reach reasonable listening levels, though headroom toward the top of the recommended range supports dynamic peaks without strain.

Does it fit where a standard Linton already sits?

The Super Linton stands 605mm tall on its plinth, 300mm wide and 330mm deep with a further 20mm allowed for terminals, around 50mm taller than the standard Linton but unchanged in footprint. Because the footprint matches the standard Linton, it's designed to use the same Linton stand for correct positioning, so an owner replacing standard Lintons with Super Lintons doesn't need to source new stands or replan speaker spacing. The stand's LP storage shelf, a feature Linton owners have valued, remains usable with the taller cabinet.

What gives the treble its character?

The Super Linton's treble unit is a 25mm soft dome, a lightweight fabric weave dome with a damping coating, driven by a ceramic magnet motor system. A revised short horn profile in front of the dome extends smooth output down into the upper midrange, and a new front plate improves high-frequency dispersion, designed to match the transient speed of the new bass driver so the two extremes of the frequency response move together rather than one lagging the other. Across the full range, this results in a frequency response of 39Hz to 20kHz within +/-3dB, the practical figure a buyer can use to judge how it will integrate with a room and existing system.

What is the cabinet built from and why does it matter for sound?

The Super Linton is built using Wharfedale's sandwich cabinet construction, combining two layers of MDF with a layer of acoustic damping glue between them. This layered structure reduces cabinet resonance, meaning the enclosure itself contributes less audible colouration to the sound reproduced by the bass, midrange and treble drivers. The enclosure is a vented bass-reflex design using an auxiliary bass radiator rather than a conventional port, with a combined internal volume across its chambers of 6.6 litres and 33.4 litres, which is how the cabinet supports extension to 32Hz without requiring a longer or wider footprint. Net weight is 19.8kg per speaker, reflecting the density of the layered MDF construction relative to a single-layer cabinet.

What's inside the crossover and cabling?

The Super Linton's crossover is a split-PCB design that separates the bass, midrange and treble filter sections onto physically distinct boards, avoiding the electromagnetic interference that can occur when crossover coils and components for different drivers sit close together. Wharfedale specifies custom components through the crossover chosen for neutrality and signal transfer, and uses PE dielectric and LCOFC (long-crystal oxygen-free copper) internal cabling, both intended to preserve signal integrity between the crossover and each driver. For a buyer evaluating build quality beyond the visible cabinet, this crossover and cabling specification is where the engineering differs most from a standard passive crossover design.