April saw another dealer trip to Wharfedale's production facility in Shenzhen - a sub-provincial city of Guangdong province in southern People's Republic of China, situated north of Hong Kong. Shenzhen is a centre of foreign investment and since the late 1970s has been one of the fastest growing cities in the world. It is also China's second busiest port, after Shanghai.*
Wharfedale's facility employs - wait for it - over 5000 people and is the centre of operations for IAG Limited (Wharfedale's parent company). From here, Wharfedale supplies products directly to over 100 countries world-wide through a simple and well-organised supply-chain.
Manny fron Mannys Musical Instruments, Paul from Drum Power, Greg from Miranda Music and Dallas from Vibrations joined CMI's Peter Trojkovic on a tour of the factory and some sampling of local culture and cuisine.
The factory is responsible for the manufacture of the Titan, SVP, EVP X, LX, Twin series' speakers, R-series, SPX-series mixers and their rack-gear range. It is an impressive facility with all the components, cabinets, amplifiers and crossovers built largely by hand. This is particularly impressive when you consider the price-points of Wharfedale products and the quality you get for your dollar - there are not many audio manufacturers who can claim that.
The dealers also had the opportunity to meet some of the people responsible for the great gear that comes out of the factory, including head designer Steve Hewett (pictured above at far right) and Ali (pictured right at far right) who is responsible for quality control at Wharfedale (and is also, interestingly, Cat Stevens'/ Yusuf Islam's brother-in-law).
All-up, the tour was a whirlwind experience, with a group of tired, but enlightened dealers who can now claim to be armed with first-hand insight into Wharfedale's production methods.
For further information contact CMI on 9315 2244

Our recent Wharfedale shipment saw the arrival of two new additions to the Titan range

The new 'S-Series' amplifiers are the latest dual channel sound reinforcement amplifier line from Wharfedale Pro. The range consists of three models: S-1000, S-1500 and S-2500. Each model is packed into a convenient, two rack space unit with identical functional layout, offering a different power rating allowing for varied and flexible sound reinforcement applications. The front panel of the S-Series models provides simple, real-time status conditions with LED indicators for Power, Protect, Bridge, Peak and Signal Present along with convenient operating controls that include a power switch and volume controls for each of the two input channels.
Various mode assignments are provided on the rear panel with easy-to-use MODE SWITCHES that provide assignment options such as signal limiting, low cut filter engagement and frequency selection, stereo and mono input mode selection and output bridging. Also featured are industry standard XLR and ¼" balanced input jacks along with 4 pin, NL-4 style Speakon™ output jacks and standard binding post output connectors. Multiple wiring output configurations are available.
The S-Series amps are fan-cooled with a cage-protected, rear panel mounted fan that provides adequate air-flow to internal components. An integral AC power circuit breaker is provided on the rear panel and a standard IEC power connector is provided. The S-Series power amplifiers are designed for ease of use, and quality audio performance in portable sound reinforcement applications.

S-1000: 500 watts a side @ 2 ohms
S-1500: 750 watts a side @ 2 ohms
S-2500: 1250 watts a side @ 2 ohms

CMI now has stock of the Wharfedale DS5A Active Nearfield Reference Monitor
The latest addition to Wharfedale's successful line of studio monitors, the DS5A Active Nearfield Reference Monitor fits perfectly into today's computer based recording and production environments.
Its active bi-amp design features a 1" (25mm) soft dome high frequency driver and a sophisticated 5" Kevlar¨woofer. With a range of input connectors and an LF filter, the DS5A is capable of integrating into nearly any studio environment.