u/dedeckerkevin

Yesterday I went to my local thrift store with the intention of digging through the old CDs. Unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing interesting to be found.

They also have a small “audio” section further inside the store, but honestly… there’s usually nothing worth getting excited about there either. Still, I thought: might as well have a look.

And then I spotted them.

Two slightly larger speakers, hidden behind a pile of other random stuff.

I took a closer look and thought: wait a minute… are those Wharfedales?

So obviously, the next step was removing the grilles.

Wharfedale Linton 25i.

And the price?

€50 for the pair.

I checked them over pretty carefully. The cabinets are in excellent condition, the grilles are perfect, no weird smells (always important with thrift-store speakers), and all the drivers looked completely intact.

I hesitated for about five minutes…

…and then decided to take the gamble.

Once I got them home, I hooked them up to my system and put on some music.

Holy crap.

I honestly nearly fell out of my chair.

For €50, these things sound really good. Obviously, they're not quite on the same level as my Triangle Antal Esprit EZs, but considering what I paid for them, I'm genuinely impressed.

They're going to need their own amplifier eventually, so I'll probably start looking around the used market for something cheap and interesting to pair with them.

What I find particularly interesting is that there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of information about the Linton 25i online. From what I can gather, they may have been made specifically for a particular audio retailer/chain, rather than being a regular Wharfedale model.

So now I'm curious:

Does anyone here know more about the Wharfedale Linton 25i?

I'd love to know when they were made, what they were originally sold for, whether they were a retailer-specific model, and how they compare to other Linton models from that era.

Either way, I think I just made one hell of a €50 thrift-store find.

https://preview.redd.it/8d5dgetmjhth1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1575f17da365cce9c4a4d9ac3eada64a38f4ef65

Something I've noticed lately is how many people immediately ask for advice before they've even spent a few minutes experimenting with their own Bluetooth speaker. Questions like "What's the best EQ?", "What's the best firmware?" or "What are the best settings?" have become incredibly common.

The problem is that there simply isn't a universal answer. Bluetooth speakers don't exist in a vacuum. They sound different indoors and outdoors, in small rooms and large open spaces, on a shelf, on the floor or in a corner. On top of that, everyone has different preferences. Some people enjoy a powerful bass-heavy sound, while others prefer a flatter, more natural presentation. One person's "perfect" settings might sound terrible to someone else.

What concerns me more is the growing tendency to rely on other people's opinions instead of forming your own. It's as if people are afraid to touch an EQ slider or change a setting unless someone on Reddit has already approved it. That approach takes away one of the most enjoyable aspects of owning audio equipment: discovering how it behaves and learning what actually sounds good to your own ears.

The irony is that the knowledge you gain through experimentation is the knowledge you keep. Spend an evening comparing different EQ settings, moving the speaker around the room or simply listening with fresh ears, and you'll learn far more than by copying someone else's recommendations. Those experiences become genuine skills that you can apply to every speaker you own in the future.

Of course, asking for advice has its place. It's useful when you're troubleshooting a real problem, comparing products or trying to understand a technical concept. But asking strangers for the "best settings" without first trying anything yourself often leads to nothing more than a collection of conflicting opinions. You're not learning; you're just replacing your own judgment with someone else's.

At the end of the day, your ears are the only ones that matter. Audio is meant to be experienced, not crowdsourced. Experiment first, listen carefully, and use other people's opinions as a reference—not as the final answer.