mdrew,
The only Wharfedale speakers i heard were at an audio shop about 4 years ago just before i went searching for speakers seriously. I don't recall the model but they sounded very overdone, bassy, heavy and not what i was looking for.
I know for sure they were not the Opus 2s. They were not that expensive.
Tannoy sells a wide range of priced speakers. Unfortunately it seems they've really gone from hard core selling their dual concentric drivers (rather unique and well refined) to making more standard speaker and generic HT audio for the masses stuff. I own a pair of the Revolutions. They are not that exciting.
The Definition line was one of the last models they made that fell into a price range for the "not too expensive" elite category. The small D300 was about $2500 for the pair Cdn, new. The D500s went for $4k new, retail and my D700s for about $6k Cdn. I got mine used at $4k after shipping from the States! At 90lbs a piece, 180 lbs of speaker travelling over 2000 km can cost a small bundle but otherwise the price was about 50% of new. The lesser models, similar drivers, called the
Saturn models are also no longer being sold. Those paired nicely against the Axioms in A/B trials, but they did not have the build quality and were more costly yet NOT wrapped in wood veneer!
The Tannoy Prestige and Kingdom lineups still have the age old Tannoy design and models and those are rather pricey. I love the sound though, but do not find they have the clear resolution of a speaker with a dedicated midrange driver.
Damn big units.
