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Photos too small? Click on photos, screenshots and diagrams in articles to open a Larger View gallery. January 2010
Other recent issues: | Wharfedale Titan 8Passive PA speakersPublished in PM June 2008  Printer-friendly versionReviews : PA: Passive Wharfedale's Titan series packs a lot of performance into a range of highly affordable, compact enclosures. This passive unit, based on an eight-inch cone driver and 1.2-inch compression driver and offering 150W RMS power handling, proves to be something of a star performer.  Just when you think you've finally got enough speakers for every conceivable occasion, along comes a slightly different request. In this case, I needed to cover a large conference area and the client was insistent that the sound — for mainly spoken word presentations — should be as natural as possible, and should be at an unobtrusive low level for reinforcement only, with two speakers at the front and two at the rear of the room. The speakers had to be physically small, they had to look new or as good as, and preferably they mustn't be black. They also had to be easily moved because the layout had to be changed part way through the event. So, not too particular then... As it happened, the only units in my inventory that fitted most of the requirements were powered types, which would have meant running mains cables and signal cables. So four small, passive speakers, not black, formed the basis of my shopping list. As I wasn't sure how much use the speakers would get after this event, I didn't want to spend a fortune, and after a bit of looking around, I decided to go with the recommendation of the ever-helpful Jonathan at E-AV Pro Audio, which was a set of the Wharfedale Titan 8s. The basics  On the rear panel, there are Speakon connectors and standard jacks in parallel. The Titan 8 is a compact, full-range, passive speaker housed in a lightweight moulded cabinet. The two-way design comprises an eight-inch LF/MF driver, which has a 1.5-inch voice coil and is constructed using a cast aluminium frame, and a one-inch (exit) HF driver with a 1.2-inch diaphragm — the manual states that the diaphragm material is 'cloth'. With a power handling rating of 150W continuous, 600W peak, these are 'proper' PA speakers, although they are smaller than my studio monitors and weigh a mere 5.5kg, which happens to be the exact weight of our dog... My choice of very compact speakers was limited by the fact that not all the products on offer incorporate full 35mm pole mount sockets, but the Titan 8s are very well equipped and the enclosures are just like a scaled-down version of a bigger cabinet. They have nice large clamp screws, twin Speakon connectors, plus twin standard jacks on the back panel, a very good carrying handle with a rubberised grip, and they even incorporate M6 threaded inserts for installation. The moulded enclosure is made from injection-moulded polypropylene, and is well finished in a subdued grey colour. The horn that hosts the HF driver is a large (relative to the cabinet) integral elliptical horn at the top, providing 90 x 60-degree dispersion, with the LF driver being protected by a round metal grille, mounted flush with the front panel. Two ports complete the frontal picture, and at the rear there is the aforementioned connection panel, with all four sockets wired in parallel for daisy-chaining. The rear of the cabinet even has cable-wrap ears moulded into its design, which is a nice little extra. The overall shape of the enclosure is trapezoidal, and the Titan 8 can be used lying on its side as a very compact monitor speaker. I haven't opened up one of the Titans yet to have a look at what's inside, but I do know that there's the usual form of series-bulb protection for the HF compression driver. Overall frequency response is quoted as 70Hz to 20kHz at the -3dB points, and peak SPL is given as 124dB against a (1W/1m) sensitivity figure of 96dB. Unwrapped and wired On removing the Titans from their boxes, I found that each is supplied with a slip-on cover, which is useful for keeping dust out and for protecting against minor handling scuffs, although it's not by any means a transit bag and wouldn't be up to the rough and tumble of frequent gigging. There is a pukka nylon zip-up case available as an optional accessory, although these speakers are so small you could probably find a modest flightcase to protect them. The appearance of the Titan 8 is not flashy and over-styled, and the grey colour suits them well. When I mounted them on their stands, they looked good and met with my customer's approval on first glance. Mounting these speakers on stands is a breeze, as in addition to being very light anyway, the shape is easy to grip even without using the recessed handle. Having positioned the speakers around the room according to instructions, I ran a single cable to each rear speaker, then ran another to the second cabinet, all of which took a couple of minutes. When it came to testing the system, I was surprised at the amount of bass these tiny speakers were putting out. I had brought a pair of small subwoofers with me, just in case the sound was too thin, but I needn't have bothered and everyone was very happy with the full-range sound coming from the Titans. The top end was very clear and I was able to achieve my main objective of keeping the voice reinforcement at a very low level, whilst maintaining intelligibility. For the presentations with lapel mics, I backed off the HF a bit and the LF by a much bigger bit, and didn't need to mess with the overall system EQ at all. For the DVD part of the show, I ran the system nearly flat, with the LF backed off just a touch, and it sounded very even — I didn't notice a great deal of difference in balance between very low and medium volume levels. In terms of coverage, the horizontal dispersion was fine. With only one speaker operating, I walked around the room, and the HF dropped off only when I was quite a way off to the side. And with two speakers connected, the coverage was very good across the (approximately 25m) venue width. I preferred the sound when only the front pair of speakers were running, but the organiser was so focused on having the system running very low that this wouldn't have worked for those sitting right at the back. After the presentations had finished for the day, I had an opportunity to run the system up to a much higher level, and I was impressed with the sound balance. The top end was never harsh and even over-cooking the bass didn't cause anything really horrible to happen. The Titan 8s had met the objective and seemed capable of going onto (within reason) bigger and better things. At the end of the job, the organiser was happy with the sound I had provided and I was even happier when I was able to carry the entire speaker system away without so much as a grunt — I think the speakers were just about the lightest components in the entire system! Crossing over When I got back to base, I decided to give the Titan 8s a bit of a thrashing by using them in conjunction with a pair of subwoofers. Letting subs handle all the low end is a bit of a magic formula for most 'full-range' speakers, in that it allows them to operate much more efficiently in the middle and high regions, with a noticeable improvement in performance. I ran the Titan 8s with a couple of Mackie SWA1501s that happened to be handy and powered them with one side of a C-Audio ST600 power amp, on the basis that they are 'programme' rated around 300W per speaker and so 600W between them would be a good test, provided the signal was absolutely clean. Because I was a bit short of time, I ran a full-range signal into the Mackies' inputs, then took the high-pass outputs back to the power amp to feed the Titans, and let go with a few Steely Dan tracks, with pretty pleasing results. They say appearances can be deceptive, and these little speakers really achieved a respectable output level in this configuration. I only backed it off in the end because I remembered that I'd actually bought them, but they seemed more than happy to be let off the leash at last, and they're certainly good for much more than the odd conference! And am I happy with my purchase? Well, my customer was happy that I had ticked all his boxes, and therefore I'm happy that the Titan 8 was the right choice at the right price. After all, it's not often that their first paid gig covers the cost of four speakers, is it? 0  Published in PM June 2008  | Wharfedale Titan 8 £116 These Titan 8 passive speakers produce a surprising amount of bass, achieving a respectable output level for their small size. With great clarity at the top end, they allowed me to reinforce speech at a conference in a low-level, natural way, whilst maintaining intelligibility. But they are certainly capable of much more...
Tech Spec Titan 8 Two-way passive speaker system. Frequency response ± 3dB: 70Hz to 20kHz. Sensitivity (dB 1W@1m): 96dB SPL. System impedance: 8Ω. 124dB max. SPL peak. Power handling: 150W continuous RMS, 300W program, 600W peak. Eight-inch LF driver. HF compression driver. 90 x 60-degree horn dispersion averaged 2kHz to 10kHz. Crossover frequency/filter: 2.4kHz, 12dB per octave. Two NL4 Speakon type connectors, two quarter-inch phone jacks (all wired in parallel). Eight M6 threaded inserts. Grey or white finish. Dimensions (WDH): 266 x 221 x 396mm. Weight: 5.5kg. |
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