Wharfedale Jade 5 Floorstanding Speakers – Cherry

Here we have a pair of Jade 5 floorstanding loudspeakers from one of the best known British manufacturers Wharfedale. Although of course they are now part of the International Audio Group (IAG) they still keep to their original roots with long time loudspeaker guru Peter Comeau being the companies Director of Acoustic Design. Our examples are in fair fully working condition but cosmetically there are a number of small blemishes as shown in photographs. They will be supplied in original factory packaging along with our normal three month warranty.
Wharfedale Said….
Jade is the latest audiophile class speaker design from Wharfedale, the world’s most famous hi fi brand. It incorporates all of the latest improvements in loudspeaker design and manufacture using IAG’s vertically integrated ISO9001 factory facilities. Computer aided modelling and precision tooling enables Wharfedale to produce the highest performance results from this stunningly designed range of speakers. With every single part of every drive unit and component manufactured in our own factory, we have complete control over each and every aspect of quality in manufacturing our loudspeakers to ensure they can provide its owners a lifetime of indulgence.
Engineered to offer something beyond the ordinary and to be considered an exceptional music reproduction instrument, each Wharfedale loudspeaker must meet a number of our exacting criterion. It must present breathtaking detail and resolution which requires a tweeter with a response well into the inaudible frequency spectrum. It must possess a neutral, realistic midrange that’s uncoloured by cabinet boxiness and revealing of the true recording. It must have exceptional bandwidth capable of reaching depths without overhang. It must fully coalesce with a package that is ambivalent to room surroundings and exhibits a broad, even dispersion without phase interference or colouration. Lastly, it must at all times sound relaxed and effortless as it traverses the
octaves.
Apart from submitting each individual drive units under testing and certification by a team of first class engineers, each completed loudspeaker is subjected to scrupulous testing procedures, the results of which have to be confirmed by our Director of Acoustic Design, Peter Comeau.
Jade’s cabinets are a work of art, both visually and in the advanced manufacturing techniques employed by Wharfedale.
Curved cabinet construction incorporates the latest material technology developed by Wharfedale engineers, called Crystalam. This laminated material is formed from a series of critically specified natural wood elements and composites, formulated to reduce panel vibration and acoustic leakage to below the threshold of audibility.
Each Crystalam layer is bonded to allow microscopic sliding of one layer upon another, producing a natural damping effect that effectively quells the usual panel resonance experienced in loudspeaker cabinets. As well as reducing the ‘Q’ of the panel resonance peaks, the composite layers also spread the resonances over a wide frequency band, thereby avoiding the acoustic ‘signature’ readily heard from plain MDF cabinets.
In addition the multi-layer, composite construction provides an acoustic barrier to stop sound from inside the cabinet escaping through the cabinet walls. The total effect of Crystalam is to reduce the sonic character of the cabinet to the point where it cannot be heard below the sound coming from the drive units.
Wharfedale has engineered a new cone material called Acufibre, an advanced material that marries the responsiveness of glass and carbon fibre materials with a self-damping woven matrix. The goal was to produce a neutral radiator which was responsive enough to transfer musical transients without dulling but naturally damp cone flexure to reduce colouration.
Acufibre cones also feature a moulded pattern which automatically breaks up standing waves in the cone to further reduce colouration and distortion, enabling the cone to behave closer to the theoretical acoustic ‘piston’ without the high ‘Q’ resonances experienced by formed metal cones.
The Acufibre cone is coupled to one of the most linear drive motor systems yet devised for a loudspeaker. The voice coil is immersed in a magnetic field focused to produce balanced forces for push-pull linearity. In addition the voice coil features shorting rings to reduce the usual effects of inductance, resulting in cleaner and more extended midrange response.
One of the bugbears of hi-fi loudspeaker design is how to crossover effectively from one drive unit to another. Traditionally this has meant long hours spent measuring and testing each loudspeaker system still with a less than perfect result.
For the Jade Series Wharfedale has utilized the most advanced measurement techniques in conjunction with 21st Century computer crossover modelling systems to help achieve a seamless integration between the drive units.
First the speaker system is measured in Wharfedale’s new anechoic chamber and the mechanical properties of the drive units are characterized by the Klippel system. These characteristics are then imported into the crossover modelling software where Wharfedale’s engineers can model the desired performance.
Each prototype crossover is then evaluated in our listening rooms and optimized by ear using a wide range of musical styles. From that experience the crossover is once again simulated on the computer and any wrinkles in the performance are ironed out. This process is repeated many times until the perfect performance is reached.
In order to achieve a seamless integration between the drive units the crossover has to be phase linear. That means that the ear hears no discontinuity as each drive unit hands over sonic delivery to the next. The result is a cohesive, natural sound that acts as a window into the musical performance – the speakers audibly ‘disappear’ enabling you to concentrate on the music and only the music.
Specifications:
Description/Format: Floorstanding
Enclosure Type: 3-way Aperiodic system
Drive Units:
Tweeter: 25 mm Alu high dome
Midrange: 75 mm Alu-pulp cone
Bass: 2 x 125 mm Acufibre cone
Frequency Response: 42 Hz – 24 kHz (± 3 dB)
Sensitivity: 87 dB (1 W @ 1 M)
Crossover Frequency: 340 Hz, 2.4 kHz
Nominal Impedance: 6 Ω
Recommended Amplifier Power: 50 – 200 W (RMS)
Dimensions: 1055 (H) x 246 (W) x 400 (D) mm
Weight: 27.5 kg