The company has developed several efficiencies in the production process, enabling significant cost reductions - and it’s passing these on to you.

Wharfedale essentially created the modern-day ‘budget’ hi-fi loudspeaker category with the introduction of the Diamond in the early 1980s. Since then it has delivered successive generations of low-cost, high-value speakers that have continued to raise the bar while keeping prices remarkably constant, despite inflationary pressures.

The D300 Series has been around since 2018 and has found many fans since. The new D300 Series RRPs are remarkably similar to the retail prices of highly acclaimed budget speakers from two decades ago. However, although the prices appear historical, the quality of the engineering, the materials and components used, these speakers are very much modern.

The D300 Series speakers feature a high-quality bass/mid driver with a woven Kevlar cone, super-long-throw voice coil motor system, one-piece pole plate with copper cap, oversized ceramic magnet and a basket ribbed for additional rigidity.

Additionally, the WFR (Wide Frequency Response) treble unit features a textile dome, an oversized ceramic magnet and a pole piece with a copper cap that vents through a precisely shaped and damped rear chamber.

The downward-firing P-EQ (Pressure Equalisation) port reduces the pressure differential between the high pressure in the port and the low pressure in the room. Finally, the crossover network features high-quality components, including low-loss polypropylene capacitors and laminated core inductors.

Cabinets are finished in a choice of black, white, walnut or rosewood, critically braced and lined with a specially developed fibre, with the drive units mounted in an acoustically profiled front baffle.

Design is a collaboration between Wharfedale’s acoustic engineering team, led by renowned loudspeaker designer Peter Comeau, and industrial designer Kieron Dunk – a man whose CV includes award-winning designs for the likes of Q Acoustics, Denon and Marantz, as well as Wharfedale’s sister-companies Mission and Quad.

Peter Comeau, Wharfedale’s Director of Acoustic Design, told StereoNET:

Little did I realise, when I started designing and manufacturing commercial speakers in 1979, that entry-level prices for real hi-fi loudspeakers would remain practically unchanged for 40 years! This is only possible because of economies of manufacture which Wharfedale can pass on to the customer, enabling the speakers I am designing today to offer the most incredible value that music enthusiasts have ever seen. What is even more amazing is that the level of performance and standards of finish have increased dramatically in that four decades. I’m very proud to uphold the Wharfedale tradition of delivering such extraordinary value for money.

New prices