For serious audiophiles, Wharfedale’s latest announcement is certain to cause a ripple of excitement. The Aston is a limited-edition, UK-made (at Wharfedale’s Huntingdon production facility) Hi-Fi speaker that represents the pinnacle of Peter Comeau’s four-decade-long career in acoustic design.
Combining retro aesthetics with cutting-edge technology, the Aston is a speaker crafted not for the masses (literally) but for the discerning few.
Since its founding in 1932 by Gilbert Briggs, Wharfedale has built a storied reputation in loudspeaker innovation. Over the past 16 years, Peter Comeau has spearheaded the company’s acoustic design, drawing on his extensive experience with brands such as Mission and QUAD.
With the Aston, Comeau set out to create something truly special, a speaker that embodies his signature sound philosophy while remaining faithful to classic British Hi-Fi traditions.
Combining retro aesthetics with cutting-edge technology, the Aston is a speaker crafted for the discerning few…
Engineering excellence: The Aston’s technical innovations
Part of Wharfedale’s acclaimed Heritage Series, the Aston follows in the footsteps of modern milestones like the Linton and Denton. However, unlike those models, reimaginings of past Wharfedale designs, the Aston is an entirely new creation, from the ground up.
The project, which took nearly four years to complete, was free from the usual commercial constraints, allowing Comeau and his team to refine every detail before finally unveiling the speaker in a strictly limited run of 500 pairs.
At its core, the Aston is a two-way standmount speaker. Unlike Wharfedale’s larger three-way Heritage models, such as the Dovedale, the Aston relies on specially developed mid/bass and treble drivers, designed and manufactured in-house.
The mid/bass driver features a 15cm carbon fibre cone housed in a rigid die-cast chassis, designed to produce articulate, extended bass with clarity down to well below 50Hz in-room. A distinctive gold-coloured phase plug sits at the cone’s center, indicative of a smooth and expressive midrange performance.
The treble driver, adapted from the high-end Dovedale model, incorporates a ceramic magnet motor system and a 25mm fabric dome, along with a damped rear chamber that eliminates unwanted resonance. The result is a detailed yet smooth high-frequency response, capable of transparency and balance across the entire spectrum. The crossover network utilises high-specification air-core inductor coils and polypropylene capacitors, chosen for their transparent and revealing sonic character.
The cabinet design is another testament to Wharfedale’s pedantic engineering. Embracing a classic bookshelf design, it boasts a sophisticated multi-layer construction technique that combines high-density particle board, MDF, and a special resonance-damping adhesive to minimise unwanted resonances.
The hand-finished, real-wood veneers are available in walnut, mahogany, and black oak,. Grilles are magnetically attached.
If your bookshelf isn’t up to it, Wharfedale also offers a dedicated stand for the Aston. Made from British steel, the open-frame stand incorporates furniture-grade glass inserts at the top and bottom, with damping-filled uprights to minimize unwanted vibrations. It also features a concealed cable management system, providing both functional and aesthetic benefits.
Says Comeau: “When I designed my first commercial Hi-Fi speakers in the late 1970s, my goal was to create a compact speaker that delivered a wide-bandwidth sound. That idea has remained a cornerstone of my designs ever since. The Aston embodies that vision… natural, detailed, and full-bodied beyond its size. Acoustic engineering of the highest order has made this possible.”
The Wharfedale Aston will be available from late February, priced at £1,999 per pair with stands or £1,699 without. Only 500 pairs will be produced.
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The Luxe Review 
For serious audiophiles, Wharfedale’s latest announcement is certain to cause a ripple of excitement. The Aston is a limited-edition, UK-made (at Wharfedale’s Huntingdon production facility) Hi-Fi speaker that represents the pinnacle of Peter Comeau’s four-decade-long career in acoustic design.
Combining retro aesthetics with cutting-edge technology, the Aston is a speaker crafted not for the masses (literally) but for the discerning few.
Since its founding in 1932 by Gilbert Briggs, Wharfedale has built a storied reputation in loudspeaker innovation. Over the past 16 years, Peter Comeau has spearheaded the company’s acoustic design, drawing on his extensive experience with brands such as Mission and QUAD.
With the Aston, Comeau set out to create something truly special, a speaker that embodies his signature sound philosophy while remaining faithful to classic British Hi-Fi traditions.
Engineering excellence: The Aston’s technical innovations
Part of Wharfedale’s acclaimed Heritage Series, the Aston follows in the footsteps of modern milestones like the Linton and Denton. However, unlike those models, reimaginings of past Wharfedale designs, the Aston is an entirely new creation, from the ground up.
The project, which took nearly four years to complete, was free from the usual commercial constraints, allowing Comeau and his team to refine every detail before finally unveiling the speaker in a strictly limited run of 500 pairs.
At its core, the Aston is a two-way standmount speaker. Unlike Wharfedale’s larger three-way Heritage models, such as the Dovedale, the Aston relies on specially developed mid/bass and treble drivers, designed and manufactured in-house.
The mid/bass driver features a 15cm carbon fibre cone housed in a rigid die-cast chassis, designed to produce articulate, extended bass with clarity down to well below 50Hz in-room. A distinctive gold-coloured phase plug sits at the cone’s center, indicative of a smooth and expressive midrange performance.
The treble driver, adapted from the high-end Dovedale model, incorporates a ceramic magnet motor system and a 25mm fabric dome, along with a damped rear chamber that eliminates unwanted resonance. The result is a detailed yet smooth high-frequency response, capable of transparency and balance across the entire spectrum. The crossover network utilises high-specification air-core inductor coils and polypropylene capacitors, chosen for their transparent and revealing sonic character.
The cabinet design is another testament to Wharfedale’s pedantic engineering. Embracing a classic bookshelf design, it boasts a sophisticated multi-layer construction technique that combines high-density particle board, MDF, and a special resonance-damping adhesive to minimise unwanted resonances.
The hand-finished, real-wood veneers are available in walnut, mahogany, and black oak,. Grilles are magnetically attached.
If your bookshelf isn’t up to it, Wharfedale also offers a dedicated stand for the Aston. Made from British steel, the open-frame stand incorporates furniture-grade glass inserts at the top and bottom, with damping-filled uprights to minimize unwanted vibrations. It also features a concealed cable management system, providing both functional and aesthetic benefits.
Says Comeau: “When I designed my first commercial Hi-Fi speakers in the late 1970s, my goal was to create a compact speaker that delivered a wide-bandwidth sound. That idea has remained a cornerstone of my designs ever since. The Aston embodies that vision… natural, detailed, and full-bodied beyond its size. Acoustic engineering of the highest order has made this possible.”
The Wharfedale Aston will be available from late February, priced at £1,999 per pair with stands or £1,699 without. Only 500 pairs will be produced.
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In Prisoner, the new high octane thriller from Sky, a prison transport officer and a contract killer partner in a race across the country, after a violent ambush leaves them handcuffed together and pursued by ruthless criminals. It’s an outlandish premise but the show moves at such a breakneck pace, you’ll barely have time to…
Audiovector expands Arreté luxury audio family with ravishing new R 5 loudspeaker
Audiovector has expanded its high-end loudspeaker line with the launch of the R 5 Arreté, a premium floorstander that features advanced audio technologies first developed for the company’s flagship R 10 Arreté. Engineered and hand-built in Denmark, the R 5 Arreté arrives after what Audiovector describes as five years of development and more than 2,000…
Ferrari unveils 100ft Hypersail flying yacht with supercar DNA at Milan Design Week
At Milan Design Week, where furniture and fashion usually take centre stage, Ferrari has unveiled its freshly liveried Hypersail, a ground-breaking 100-foot flying ocean monohull. Hypersail is Ferrari’s most ambitious step yet beyond asphalt, a fully foiling yacht designed to ‘fly’ above the water on three points of contact, using a canting keel foil, rudder…
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