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Wharfedale Jade 3 aluminium tweeter problem

Just bought a pair of Wharfedale Jade 3 standmount speakers, it looks very big, excellent craftsmanship in piano black finish, have been running them for 1 week, overall comment on sound:

Bass: I can't comment much on this, still think in the progress of write in, though I feel that no sense of strain, but I have problems playing some aggressive bass movement tracks, it seem the woofer hit the plastic surround...

Mid: Just fine, no problem

High: Though I will not say it's harsh, but it has too much sparkling and unwanted details, it seem no filter has been done, it makes a lot of tracks not listenable, it just sound not so comfortable bringing out some background noise, or piercing instrument too much

So far, this is my most disappointment in purchase Hifi speakers, I starting to wonder is this amp problem? I don't think so, I got several other speakers play just fine, include Wharfedale Diamond 122, Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary, Wharfedale Diamond 9.1. If let say power is not enough, I don't think so I can play track like Tutti! - Igor Stravinsky - The Firebird - Finale, with enough powerful omph without distortions, and most state of the art recording without problems, what's wrong here? The Jade 3 just does not work so forgiving in playing music?
128x128wim1983
wim1983's avatar
wim1983 OP
221 posts
 
@Zd542: Well, ya I remain cool, I also think that cables won't solve my problem, though I found that equalizer APO help a bit, a lot more tracks are listenable now, but still not as smooth as the Denton tweeter, hmm

@Mechans: well, the price is very friendly to me, but then I still doubt the cables will solve the sound issue, well I will witness that and report back whether it works, I'm afraid it's not easy to sell this not so popular speakers, also it's size is pretty big, not so easy to get rid of xD
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
If all else fails and you are stuck with the speakers here's my suggestion. Get a 2 ohm resistor and put it in line with the tweeter. This is what Magnepan recommends if a listener finds their speakers overly bright. They actually provide different values to try to tame the issue.
I tried it with Maggies and it really did the trick.
wim1983's avatar
wim1983 OP
221 posts
 
@Timrhu: Thx, that's great suggestion for tweaks, seriously now I realize that it's hard to listen to music without any sort of color or tone tweaks, be it speakers be it headphones, it's nonsense when they mention dead neutral, it will sound very thin flat and boring dull, and I guess the sense of natural is in that it seduce you in a light colourful but not overdone way, resulting more forgiving to listen to more and more music
mmeysarosh
126 posts
 
@Wim1983

After reading your description, I recalled that Sterophile had reviewed and measured your speakers a bit back and decided to look through its numbers. A couple of the measurements do seem to substantiate your impression. From about 3.5Khz-12Khz, the tweeter response is elevated by about 5db. Now this could often be used to balance a design that has wide dispersion differences between drivers, but the following dispersion graphs show a wide and well balanced dispersion. The other figure that is of note is a resonance in the tweeter at 20Khz, which will be audible to mostly younger ears.

That being said, no cable will be able to tame this treble response to your satisfaction. If the speaker has that first row presentation, the extra treble energy would be even more apparent. With that information, you might be able to use an EQ to balance out the treble, but the results may still be not to your liking. Some designers do add a little rise in the upper end of the treble to add a bit of air, but this design has its rise through most of the usable treble range. Good luck with it all, but I feel you don't have an ideal match for yourself.
wim1983's avatar
wim1983 OP
221 posts
 
@Mmeysarosh: Thx for the technical details and explanation. I just try to drive it using Marantz PM6005, it seem the high freq smooth a bit, sibilant are gone and not noticeable, but the overall balance still not there, and sound noisy to me, it seem the Jade 3 is a forward speakers, need very careful matching, while the Denton is kinda LS 3/5a sound, pairs with transparent amp, I will say it's not laid back sound, but very engaging to listen to, plus the Denton bass is very good. Hmm I wonder do we have a balanced LS 3/5a amp with just nice bass for forward speakers like Jade 3? Seem hard to match huh?
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