Ok, I'm wondering about the Wharfedale Zaldek line... Again! (1 Viewer)

[Randall Duncan]

I want to buy a pair of Zaldek 2000's, but I'm a little reluctant.
I was wondering if anyone here owns a pair of the 2000's, and
what do they think? Are the woofers weak? Will I fry the tweeters
like I have done on so many PA speakers? Anyone?

Let me give you a little info about my intentions...
I want to set up a system that is purely geared for music.
I want to have a pair of Zaldek 2000's for high volume listening
and a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 8.1's (or 8.2's!) for music monitoring.
My setup will be run with a stereo receiver (Onkyo TX-8511) and
my computer as the source. Don't worry HT nuts, I'll be setting
up a small (budget priced) home theater system in the future,
but I just want to get my music system back up and running.

The kind of music I listen to is mostly progressive-rock and
rock & roll. My favorite bands are Rush, Jethro Tull, Yes, Pink Floyd,
The Who, Supertramp, and Kansas (just to name a few). Quite a
strange list for a teenager, eh?

Let me give you a little info on my current system...
Receiver 1: Onkyo TX-8511
Receiver 2: Technics SA-EX110
Source: Compaq Presario
Loudspeaker System 1: Bose AM3 System (Which I HATE!)
Loudspeaker System 2: Nady THS-1512 PA Speakers
Loudspeaker System 3: RCA STS-520 Bookshelf Speakers

I'm really leaning toward the Wharf's, but some bit of fear
is holding me back from making my purchase. Well, I guess, if
I don't like them, I can always take them back to Best Buy and
just buy some JBL ND310 II's.

Well... Anyone? ...Anyone? ...Anyone?
...Am I rambling?

 

[Randall Duncan]

Oh, come on! Nobody here owns a pair of Zaldek 2000's!?

Well... It doesn't matter. I've already ordered a pair from
BestBuy and I got the pair for just $450!

I'll post what I think when they come in.

 

[Geoff L]

Hi Randall

There has been a couple threads dealing with the Wharfs you ordered. A search will more than likely bring them forth for you to read....

From their discription at Monster Cable and Wharf themselves, their designed for just what your looking to do.

Tweets usually fry from "distortion" or flat out to much "clean power".

I'd be more prone to belive if your blowing tweeters on Stage Monitors/Speaks, you either got very poor pro speaks/monitors, bought under peek power rated speaks/monitors, or more likely one of the "further above" things is happening....

Good luck with the Wharfs and hope they do the trick for you...

Never new Floyd & Rush was considered progressive music. Classic rock maybe, hummm strange....

Cheers
Geoff

 

[Randall Duncan]

The pro speakers that I have are the Nady THS-1512's
and they're designed for front-of-house (FOH) applications.
I recently figured out that it wasn't my speakers' fault that
they were blowing, but rather my receiver's fault. Can you say
CLIPPING!? ...I rest my case. Although, I ain't buying another
Nady Systems product because speakers of that nature should have
overload and power-spike protection built in... Because there's
people like me out there. ...Wharfedale has a value-based line
of PA speakers called the VS Series, and it even has protection
on the tweeters. Well... Anyway, what to do while I wait...
What to do......

Oh, BTW, Rush is definitely considered progressive... Floyd?
I can't say the same for Floyd, they're more classic rock.

 

[Randall Duncan]

Oh, also, I don't have a receiver that clips as much
(or at all) anymore because I switched to the Onkyo for the mains.

 

[Randall Duncan]

Ooohhh!!! I can't wait any longer!!!

 

[Brian Bunge]

Randall,

Any receiver will clip at some point. How high are you turning up the volume when the receiver clips and the speakers blow?

 

[Geoff L]

Where might you think Brian?

0-10=10+

You already know the answer to that!

As a friend of mine use to say, I don't care what you play dude, just play it loud!

 

[Randall Duncan]

I was getting a steady 104 dB with peaks of 114 dB
at the time I blew the tweeters... Which would also explain
the pictures coming off the walls.

Note: The Nady THS-1512 PA speakers have a sensitivity
of 102 dB @ 1w/1m... Which would explain why clipping would
easily destroy the tweeters.

And as for receivers clipping, the Onkyo seems to hold up better
at very high volumes, and it doesn't shut off when I max it!

NOTE ABOUT THESE FIGURES: I'm in a very peaky room, so some
of the frequencies are louder than others, which may mean
that the figures I posted may be a little off because of where
I had the SPL meter. This would also explain the large difference
between the constant and the peaks. I really need to put some
foam on these concrete walls.

 

[Randall Duncan]

Ok, UPS has received the billing stuff and I can't
take it anymore! This is taking too long!
Oh, sorry about that, I'm a little psyched today.

 

[Randall Duncan]

MY WHARFS ARE HERE!!! ...Ok, to be truthful, I've never
owned Wharfedale speakers before, and now I have... These
are by far the best speaker I've owned... I was even surprised how
workhorse-like, yet well behaved they are.

I hope the Diamond 8.1's are more accurate though.

 

[Randall Duncan]

Note: Every speaker I've ever owned has been a stage speaker
or stage monitor... And I think these speakers are better...
Much less harsh and the bass is really smooth... Did I mention
that the woofers are well behaved? ...Well, they are.

 

[Randall Duncan]

I would like to mention one of the drawbacks of these speakers...
When I got them they didn't sound good because one of the tweeters
wasn't connected in the inside... I had to take the front plate
off and take the tweeter out and re-connect it... But, it's
no big deal for me.

I also gotta' add that these speakers do exactly what Wharfedale
says they're designed for, loud Rock music. I feel that these
would kidnda' suck for home theater use, but for loud music,
they're nothing to under-estimate.

 

[Brian Bunge]

Why do you feel they would suck for HT use? I've heard several speakers that I feel were designed for loud rock music that also work fine for HT. I wouldn't want to use them in a high end 2-channel system, but HT is much more about being dynamic than about being accurate.

 

[Randall Duncan]

Well.. I take back that statement... They wouldn't be THAT
bad for HT, but they do produce too much bass for use as mains
or surrounds in a HT system... I don't know really know that
much about HT, other than that good HT systems sound awesome.
Especially when the mains and the surrounds produce little bass
and the subwoofer takes over for the bass. Systems that use
large mains seem to be good, but not as good as the ones that
use subwoofers instead.

I don't know, it's just my opinion... Maybe someone would like
the Zaldek 2000's as mains in a HT setup... Hmmm... Makes me think.

 

[Brian Bunge]

The fact that they apparently produce large amounts of bass means nothing in regards to HT. For best performance you'd still want to cross them over to a subwoofer. In a very large room I'd actually prefer large towers with lots of low end extension. At least I'd know they'd be capable of reproducing the upper bass frequencies without any trouble.

 

[Randall Duncan]

Well... Yea... That does make sense. (And they say that HT nuts
are bass happy... )

 

[Randall Duncan]

Well, now that I've heard these Zaldek's, I think I'm gonna
get four Wharfedale VS12 PA speakers and a nice PA amp or two
for my heart-stopping, bloody-ear, crap-in-your-pants, piss-
off-the-neighbors band sound system later this summer.

 

[MattiM]

I just got my Zaldek 1000's yesterday, and im pleased. I like this sound. Quite bass winning, but i like it. I also bought new integrated reciever with 2*110W, and i like to hear it loud! I like it no matter what other people think

 

[Rory Buszka]

Take the money you'd spend on that second set of 12" mains and instead use it towards a pair of 18" subs (one per side, which is the way to do PA subs). Bands that have subs in their sound system sound better than any band just using top pieces. Then take the money towards that second amplifier and buy an amplifier and an active crossover. Then you will be cooking with bass as well as clean highs. If you play rock, you must have bass reinforcement. The bass amp can try and do it all alone but you will just nitice a huge improvement when you add subs. If the Wharfedale subs are too steep in price, go to Parts Express, where they have some Behringer Eurolive subs.