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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: I got this feel it sound a little bit thin on mid, the bass is still shy to me, but no resonance, just not so excited compare to my ported Denton, the biggest problem is high, a lot of crushing sound came out, I'm using JDS Labs ODAC and Class D Audio 400C power amp, is this a transparent setup like 3X transparent? DAC + amp + speakers? Neutral sound? so if I need a light taste of warm color, what preamp should I use then? Arghhh, those prices just too much for me...

Timrhu: I'm interested to know more, for example, I have some poor/not so perfect live recordings with excellent musical feel, the background noise just bringing out too forward to be listenable, was that your problem that happened too?
mechans
3,048 posts
 
There may be more break in needed with an aluminum tweeter and overall most speakers continue to mature and evolve over the first year or so.
If your using class D power this kind of sound is not that unusual. An expensive approach albeit hard to swallow is to seriously think about a class A power. That isn't cheap but there are some amps that have a bias that produces mainly class A. An even more wild switch and I hope not annoying is to use tube power amps. You may find your audio nirvana that way -honestly it made me stop thinking about any other amps. (well I could be tempted to try some others but...)
Finally if you don't mind using cables as tone controls and I think it is perfectly fine to do so, get warm cables made of copper. I think Cardas has been the best, but the older "golden" this or that were the best at providing full rich sound, don't know the current stuff. I also like Jena labs cables but she's expensive, so I bought used.
Good luck but if you really hate them, just take them back and get the best deal you can for a better speaker for you.
roxy54's avatar
roxy54
8,066 posts
 
Zd and Tim both make Good points. As Zd says, matching is very important, but I also agree with Tim in thinking that they are probably far from broken in yet.
Others speak well of this speaker, so it's not likely that it is as bad as it's sounding to you now.
wim1983's avatar
wim1983 OP
221 posts
 
Mechans, Roxy54: hmm thanks for the clarification, for the moment I'll assume it not fully broken in yet, as no way it the high sound like what I describe...as for the bass woofer I guess it's the same thing, hmm how come so hard to break in? But then what's the break in do?
tls49's avatar
tls49
1,351 posts
 
but I have problems playing some aggressive bass movement tracks, it seem the woofer hit the plastic surround...
If this sound is a somewhat loud pop, then the woofer has reached the limit of its excursion, and you will need to turn down the volume to prevent this, as damage to the woofer will eventually be the result.
as for the bass woofer I guess it's the same thing, hmm how come so hard to break in?
And no, break in will not solve the pop from over excursion. The only solution is to turn down the volume.
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