If you love the look and feel of vintage audio but want the performance of a modern speaker, Wharfedale’s Super Denton bookshelf speaker might be exactly what you’ve been searching for. Vintage-style gear is making a serious comeback, and Wharfedale has been at the forefront of blending old-school aesthetics with cutting-edge engineering. Their Heritage Series proves that retro design doesn’t have to mean retro performance, and the Super Denton is a perfect example of that philosophy in action.

Inspired by the legendary Denton 3, the Super Denton takes everything people love about classic hi-fi and refines it with today’s best acoustic advancements. The rich wood veneer, the throwback grille, and the warm, inviting aesthetic are all there, but beneath the surface, a carefully tuned three-way driver configuration and a resonance-controlled cabinet deliver clarity, precision, and excellent measured performance. This speaker is far more than just a nostalgia play—it’s a testament to Wharfedale’s ability to bridge the gap between vintage charm and modern sound. In this article, we’ll dive into what makes the Super Denton special, how it compares to other Wharfedale models, and why it stands out in the world of vintage-inspired speakers.

Company History

Wharfedale’s story began in 1932 when Gilbert Briggs built and perfected a loudspeaker in his cellar in Yorkshire, England. Just a year later, Wharfedale’s first commercial loudspeaker hit the market, quickly earning a reputation for its outstanding sound quality. In the 1940s, Wharfedale pioneered the 2-way loudspeaker, delivering expanded frequency response and greater dynamic capability. By the 1960s, they introduced the acoustic suspension cabinet design, allowing for deeper bass in a more compact form. Decades of innovation have solidified Wharfedale as one of England’s premier speaker manufacturers, known for blending cutting-edge engineering with timeless design. The new Heritage Series continues this legacy, pairing modern materials and technology with the classic look and great measured performance that have made Wharfedale speakers so sought after.

Features & Technology

Like the Wharfedale Super Linton that we reviewed here, the new Super Denton takes the base Denton to new heights, much like the Denton 3 did in 1971.  But one thing is for sure: Wharfedale pulled off the classic vintage look perfectly. However, they weren’t happy just with a vintage look; they wanted these new speakers to have a performance that could compete with all of the more modern speakers on the market. In fact, many vintage audio enthusiasts hunt down classic speakers and rebuild them, but one of the biggest challenges is the enclosure. Older cabinets were designed before much of today’s research on cabinet resonance and vibration control, which can lead to unwanted coloration in the sound. This poses an issue for many wanting the vintage look for their rooms but don’t want the problems that vintage speakers come with.

To solve this issue, the enclosure of the Super Denton uses a combination of layers of particle board and MDF. These materials have different resonant properties and will not transfer their separate resonances onto each other. Bonding these layers is a unique resonance-damping adhesive that tamps out vibration. The cabinet is then braced for structural stability and vibration control, and long hair fiber damping material is added to the cabinet's internal volume. All of this adds up to a very resonance-free cabinet that performs much better than classic cabinets from the past.

The front panel is clean with an inset baffle, while the back panel has twin reflex ports and binding posts. We like that Wharfedale chose to use simple but high-quality binding posts and didn’t resort to the cheap plastic terminal cups on many speakers.

These bookshelf speakers are 14.17" x 9.69" x 11.61" each and weigh just over 20 lbs. This means while the Super Denton is designed for high-performance fidelity, it is also designed to fit into rooms and systems their larger models wouldn’t work in. Real wood veneers and a vintage-looking cloth grill finish off the classic looks and offer a finished quality above their price point.

Just like in 1971, Wharfedale took the Denton 2-way speaker design and elevated it by adding a dedicated midrange driver, turning it into a true 3-way speaker. Splitting the frequency range across three drivers instead of two reduces distortion since each driver has less work to do. This also helps minimize intermodulation distortion, which occurs when multiple frequencies interact within the same driver, creating unwanted harmonics and affecting clarity. By introducing a dedicated midrange, the Super Denton delivers a smoother transition between the woofer and tweeter, allowing for more accurate and natural sound reproduction. And the drivers in this speaker aren’t just any off-the-shelf components—each one is carefully engineered to work together seamlessly. Let’s break down what makes them special.

The Super Denton’s tweeter is designed with precision in mind. It features a 1-inch (25mm) soft dome with a neo magnet, built for smooth, detailed highs that complement the speaker’s vintage-inspired design. Much like the Super Linton we recently reviewed, this tweeter delivers clarity without harshness, ensuring an engaging and natural listening experience.

In the Super Denton, this tweeter is offset on the front baffle to mitigate diffraction from the front baffle. When a tweeter is perfectly centered, sound waves interact symmetrically with the surrounding baffle, causing reflections that can impact clarity. By offsetting the tweeter, Wharfedale reduces these symmetrical diffractions, leading to improved imaging and a more expansive soundstage. This is a design improvement that engineers in the ‘60s and ‘70s didn’t fully account for, making the Super Denton not just a vintage-inspired speaker but a true modern refinement of a classic design. Covering frequencies from 4.6kHz to 20kHz, this tweeter handles the upper range with precision, ensuring clear, detailed highs that blend seamlessly with the midrange.

With the Super Denton, Wharfedale introduced a 2-inch (50mm) dome midrange driver to enhance upper midrange performance and allow the tweeter to focus more on the presence region of the audio band. This addition improves vocal clarity and instrument tonality, creating a more natural and engaging listening experience. Acting as a crucial bridge between the woofer and tweeter, the midrange driver ensures a smoother transition across frequencies, reducing strain on the other drivers. Housed in its own sub-enclosure, it remains isolated from the woofer to prevent unwanted interference and maintain purity in the midrange. Covering frequencies from 940Hz to 4.6kHz, it plays a vital role in keeping the sound balanced and cohesive.

At Audio Advice, we always emphasize that the number of drivers alone doesn’t determine a speaker’s quality—proper integration is key. We’ve heard incredible two-way designs and complex four-way setups that don’t quite come together. The challenge with multi-driver speakers is getting everything to blend seamlessly, and Wharfedale has done an excellent job ensuring that this midrange driver enhances the overall performance of the Super Denton rather than complicating it.

The 6.5-inch woofer in the Super Denton is engineered for both power and precision. It features a lightweight yet strong woven Kevlar cone, allowing it to respond quickly and accurately to bass notes without unwanted distortion. A die-cast chassis, a substantial magnet, and a high-excursion surround ensure that it can handle deep, punchy bass while maintaining control. This driver is also used in the 85th Anniversary Denton, but in the Super Denton, it plays up to 940Hz instead of 3.1kHz, allowing for a smoother handoff to the dedicated midrange driver. With a low-end reach down to its specified 40Hz, the woofer sometimes moves significantly to reproduce deep bass. By crossing it over at a lower frequency, Wharfedale reduces the strain of handling both deep bass and upper midrange frequencies at the same time, resulting in lower distortion and a cleaner overall presentation.

Performance

To get the most out of the Super Dentons, we set them up on Wharfedale WH-ST3 24-inch aluminum stands, which provided the perfect height for optimal listening and helped with stability and resonance control. These stands are a great match for the Super Denton, keeping the tweeters at ear level while ensuring the speakers are properly isolated from vibrations that could color the sound.

We tried several amplifiers with the Super Denton, and it proved pretty easy to drive for a 6-ohm nominal impedance speaker that is 87db efficient. Our favorite sound, though, was when we paired the Super Dentons with the Leak Stereo 230 integrated amplifier, a choice that made a lot of sense both aesthetically and sonically. Since Leak is a sister brand to Wharfedale, the pairing felt natural. Both brands share a commitment to vintage-inspired design with modern engineering, making them an ideal match. The Stereo 230’s clean, high-current Class AB amplification gave the Super Dentons plenty of power to shine, while its ESS Sabre32 Reference DAC ensured digital sources sounded crisp and detailed. We played everything from vinyl through its built-in phono stage to high-resolution digital tracks, and the results were consistently engaging.

The combination of the Super Dentons, WH-ST3 stands, and Stereo 230 amp delivered a well-balanced and dynamic sound with excellent imaging and a warm, natural tonality. The dedicated midrange driver in the Super Denton really stood out, bringing out vocal clarity and instrumental detail in a way that felt both refined and effortless. Bass was tight and controlled, never overpowering, and the overall presentation had that immersive, vintage-inspired feel but with the precision and transparency of modern speaker design. Whether we were spinning classic rock, jazz, or acoustic singer-songwriters, this setup provided a rich and musical listening experience that felt true to the spirit of high-quality hi-fi.

Other options that we tested were the Hegel H95 and Primare I15 Prisma MK2, which also proved to be great companions with the Super Dentons. We also thought the NAD C 3050 was a cool-looking combination that sounded great and stayed with the vintage-looking theme. Honestly, Audio Advice has many integrated amplifiers for under $2,500 that would make great companions to the Super Dentons. If you want our help choosing the right one for you, just give us a call or chat with our experts.

One specific album that we tested with these speakers was All Them Witches 2015 album Dying Surfer Meets His Maker, which is a great way to tell if a speaker allows natural tone to shine through or do things like cabinet resonance, diffraction, and just have a lousy crossover design destroy the tone. Their studio recordings aren’t full of overdone effects or over-processed like many rock recordings today. One listen to the tracks “Mellowing” and “Open Passageways” will confirm this. So, a Gibson SG going through a Fender Deluxe sounds like it as long as your speakers allow it. Just like other speakers in Wharfedale’s Heritage line, the Super Dentons keep the same neutral, even-keeled sonic structure. The treble is detailed and smooth but sits nicely in the mix, not drawing too much attention. The midrange has great clarity and allows the natural tone of guitars and voices to shine. And the bass was tight, fast, and punchy if called for it. Remember, this is a stand-mount speaker, so bass will be slightly more limited than a floor-standing speaker. With the offset tweeter, the imaging was rock solid and focused, and the soundstage was wide and deep for a speaker at this price.

We then listened to tracks from The Cure, Songs of a Lost World that we also used to test the Linton and Super Linton. We could immediately hear the family resemblance and thought that the Super Denton would be a great option for lovers of these larger speakers who just don’t have the space. The bass definition was solid, the treble was focused but smooth, and the midrange had the same effortless detail and natural tone. In our opinion, Wharfedale did an excellent job of making a line of speakers that genuinely have a neutral sound and good measured performance while keeping the soul of the music intact. They are competitive and/or superior to other, more modern-looking speakers at their respective price points. So vintage lovers, you finally have a speaker that lives up to today’s more stringent measures, all while keeping a look that harkens back to the golden age of HiFI!

Wharfedale 85th Anniversary Denton vs. Super Denton

With the price points only about $400 apart, many will ask which one is the right one for me. They are both great speakers and offer very competitive sound at their price points. We like to think of the Super Denton as just that, a super version of the already great 85th Anniversary Denton. If you can swing the price difference and the slightly larger cabinet is not an issue, go with the Super Denton all day! The added soft dome midrange makes it a 3-way design, which means the midrange clarity and detail is better. The midrange is where most of the music lives, so anything that can improve it, especially for the small upgrade price to the Super Denton, is a no-brainer. But if your budget or space doesn’t allow the Super Denton, the 85th Anniversary Denton is a great 2-way speaker and one of the best at its price.

Overall Recommendation

The Super Denton impressed us with its level of fit and finish and vintage appeal, but we were even more impressed by its neutrality and excellent sonic performance. Just like the other speakers in Wharfedale’s Heritage lineup, the Super Denton marries outstanding measured performance with a vintage appeal that people love. We can’t think of any other vintage-looking speaker line in their price class that packs this level of performance. If you have been looking at vintage or vintage-looking speakers and want to see if the new Wharfedale Super Denton is for you, give us here at Audio Advice a call, email, or chat with us on our website and see which Wharfedale Heritage model will work best in your system.

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