Upon my return last night night, I rewired them in phase and put them into listening position. Stands are heavy, sand-filled metal (Target?), with the tweeters raised to proper ear level. The LS50's, despite having metal drivers, are not really bright at all, but they definitely have more top-end clarity and extension than the Dentons, but still they capably reproduce whatever midrange lushness is in the source. Indeed, I find them perfectly smooth and 'musical' with tubes, and yet they were forward, crisp, and slightly strident with a (re-capped) '78 Yamaha CR-1020. Their presentation is very much source-dependent, whereas I would expect the Dentons to be more forgiving. (My plan is to eventually use the Dentons with a Pioneer SX-780 that is currently being serviced.)

Do anyone have any of the amplifiers or pre/power combinations mentioned above driving the Denton’s and if “yes” how is the synergy between them? It has the same warmth and same quirk in sound improvements, as in that it performs a bit better with the grilles on. This is caused by the tweeter and woofer that are placed slightly in depth behind the edges of the cabinet. With the grilles kind of functioning as a corrector. Same as with the Lintons which are basically the giant version. Unfortunately, what's true in life applies the same to recordings. Garbage in garbage out. I've thrown CDs away in frustration due the inability to listen to them as they re mastered it horribly. was considering NAD C 326BEE or C 375BEE but since plenty of them have power module issues I have dropped those two)

Denton 85th Anniversary is a two-way speaker in the classic bookshelf tradition, beautifully hand veneered in Mahogany by Wharfedale cabinet makers with an inset front baffle and traditional Tungsten cloth grille. Depending on what it should qualify for. Hifi setups or monitors. The modern Dentons are indeed not allround in performance. They are not monitors and have a signature to them. When it comes to allround, Wharfedale's Diamond 12 series would probably more be there, but for mixing I might leave them for dedicated monitors.

The Dentons came with an introduction price of 750 euro which currently ranges between 599 and 650 Euro in retail. With the family out of the way for an hour, I fired up the Thorens TD309 and spun my US copy of Pink Floyd's The Wall. At a higher listening level: within their dynamic limitations, the KEFs do a bit better here too. The busy sound effects come across cleanly and have real depth too. Definition - inner detail and body - are certainly not the best I've heard. These are, after all, no electrostatic speaker or an Altec 604 driver with a time-aligned crossover, but given the price the KEFs are more than acceptable. The old "PRAT" factor is high with lots of toe tapping enjoyment. Bass with the 6.5" driver is good but if you want to go deeper and louder a sub (or a larger Q-series) would be needed. The new Denton 85th Anniversary Edition will sound lighter and brighter than the 80th, due to raised tweeter output. It has smoother bass that runs deeper and will sound controlled when close to a wall. Sensitivity is very high too. Very good, but with overly strong treble. Underneath the exterior, the Anniversary Edition is a perfect mixture of traditional and advanced technology. The bass unit features Wharfedale’s innovative woven Kevlar cone mounted on a rigid die-cast chassis. The drive units are combined with a highly researched crossover that blends the drivers perfectly.Underneath the traditional exterior, however, the Denton 85th Anniversary is bang up to date and utilises a mixture of traditional and advanced technology. The bass unit features Wharfedale’s innovative woven Kevlar cone mounted on a rigid die-cast chassis, this combination delivers a rich, detailed bass/midrange output with superb dynamic performance. High frequencies are handled by a woven textile soft-dome treble unit with high flux ferrite magnet, engineered for smooth, detailed HF extension. Seamless musical output At moderate levels the difference between the old *Wharfedale Denton and the KEF Q350 speakers are subtle. The Q350s are a touch cleaner with a brighter tone. Detail - neither are what I would call overachievers here - is also a little better, perhaps the difference between aluminum and woven Kevlar drivers. The bass out of the 6.5" KEF woofers go down a touch deeper and with a bit more definition than the 5" unit on the Dentons. Interested in hearing from anyone who wants to share their experiences with either/or, but preferably both sets of speakers. Maybe the 85s solve the top end problem? The Dentons played okay on my 12 watt 6V6 tube amp, but started to give up when the volume crept up or during heavy bass passages. Switching to the 4 ohm tap improved things slightly, but you could still hear the amp straining and not quite waking up the speakers.