srey Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 (edited) SOLD Item: Whatmough P32 Floorstanding speakers Location: Sydney Inner West Price: $600 as-is might consider a trade for bookshelfs (with adjustment if required) if something really takes my fancy, but my preference now is for a straight sale. Item Condition: Cosmetically good to very good, functionally the the bass drivers have some coil rub, see details below. Reason for selling: Regretfully have to admit that they're just too big for me place. Payment Method: Pickup - Cash Extra Info: I've had these for a year or so now, picked them up from the original owner in the Blue Mountains. I chased a set for a while as I'd always loved the look of them and regretted selling the smaller Whatmough Opus 20s I had for a while. Didn't really think I'd be moving them on, but things change! These things are beautifully made, lovely curved sides and top on the cabs, all finished in beautiful Bubinga veneer. I applied a coat of wax to them not long after getting them (discussed the suitability with Kee at Whatmough first) but they'd probably benefit from another coat and a buff now if you really want them to glow. They are big. 115cm tall, 36cm deep and weigh in at ~33kg each from memory. They certainly look big in my little apartment... Sonically, I found these very impressive, full sounding and detailed with a great wide soundstage. Sadly, to get the best imagining from them they really need a bit of space behind, space which I just don't have in the current place. They're a 4ohm load, but quite effecient at 92dB, and I was even able to comfortably drive them with my big Denon AVR as part of my HT setup. On to the less good bit: ome of you might have seen my previous thread here regarding these speakers, and the issue they recently developed with voice coil rub. Since posting that I took them into Speaker Hospital to get assessed and the guys there confirmed that the rub is due to corrosion on the coils. Thankfully they gave a big thumbs up to the condition otherwise, so once the coil rub is resolved these things should go back to sounding as good as they look for many years to come! In terms of repair options, there's a couple: Repair at Speaker hospital The guys advised they'd be confident to strip all four drivers, clean them and reassemble without replacing. Cost on this was quoted to me at $264 per driver. Replace the drivers with new units Replacement drivers in Aus will apparently run you ~$400ea, if you can find them. Overseas is a much better option. I've been in touch with the guys at audax-speakers.de and they advised that the HM170G10 driver is the direct replacement for the HM170G0 that's in them now, the only difference is the phase plug and a new, improved surround. They have them in stock at 79euro ea in a quantity of 4. Even better, insured freight to Sydney with DHL is only 65 euro. So the total there is 381 euro, but that includes VAT of 50.45 which shouldn't be payable, so the purchase total should be 330.55 euro, or ~$535 AUD. This looks to be the cheapest option, and replacement of the drivers themselves is simple. If I was keeping them, this is the way I'd be going I think. DIY? No idea what sort of skillset you'd need to make this work, I think it's outside my comfort zone, but I'm sure there's more skilled people on here that might be interested in trying the driver repair themselves. Worst case, you can always fall back to the replacement option I guess. So I've priced these at $600 as is, taking into account the replacement drivers, you should have them up and running like new for under $1150, which I think is pretty good value. A pair of these in way worse physical condition, and with one split driver went for $910 on ebay a couple of weeks back. Happy to be told though if I'm off the mark though. Given the size and weight of these things, and the fact I have no packaging they're pickup only. Happy to hook plug them in to demo them on inspection. Let me know if there's any questions! Cheers, Shayne. Photos: Apologies for the sub-par pics, my phone has decided to crap itself today. Happy to try and take more photos if an interested party needs to see something specific. This one's just to show how beutiful the veneer on these can be in the right light! Edited June 1, 2019 by srey 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misternavi Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 if only you were in Melbourne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat-with-one-t Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 Is it possible to do better at that price!? Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robc Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 Just lovely! I was tempted to try the DIY option but too short on time at the moment. I'll bet they don't last long at that price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiohifiaudio Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 Thats cheap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvuka2013 Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 11 hours ago, misternavi said: if only you were in Melbourne. I second that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nij Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 (edited) Lovely speakers, I bought my set off Colin Whatmough himself. The shape and finish make them very partner friendly (well, of anything this size can be). They really are impressive bits of furniture rather than AV equipment and the curved tops mean no pot plants! Good job on describing the condition and researching the rectification Shayne, useful information for any owners to know. Have attached the brochure for this series for anyone interested. Nij. Whatmough Performance Series Brochure - P32-P7-PFX.pdf Edited June 2, 2019 by nij 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srey Posted June 2, 2019 Author Share Posted June 2, 2019 Thanks everyone, they really are beautiful things and I'll be sad to see them go. For now they've been replaced with a set of Monitor Audio Bronze bookshelves I picked up last week; they're not bad things by any stretch, but pluggin the whatmough's back in to test yesterday migh have been a mistake .... To be expected I guess though, the P32s were going for $3.5k when they were new Nij is definitely right too, no way my better half would have put up with speakers this size in such a small place if they didn't look as good as these. I found this pic I took of the grain on top after I waxed them last year: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mani Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 If this was in Melbourne I would’ve snap it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srey Posted June 2, 2019 Author Share Posted June 2, 2019 Lots of interest from down south, surely there's someone interested in the nation's greatest City too![emoji14] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickRPT Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 Me too for Melbourne . I cannot understand why when I sell audio stuff I have to post all interstate, and when I want to buy it's all interstate 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spammoj Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 Been looking at this thread a few times over the weekend, good lord those cabinets are lovely. Add me to the list of Melbournians interested in these Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewmission Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 Sydney side interested here.What kind of bookshelf speakers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srey Posted June 6, 2019 Author Share Posted June 6, 2019 Come on everyone it's a long weekend, great chance for a little drive to grab some beautiful speakers! The longer they sit there at my place the more likely I am to do something silly like try and keep them, then the better half will get silently shitty and it'll become a whole thing.' So come on, save me from myself! Shoot me an offer, worst I can say is no. On 03/06/2019 at 8:11 PM, anewmission said: Sydney side interested here. What kind of bookshelf speakers? Something that isn't too fussy about placement (will be close to the back wall) and passes the boss' approval re: looks. I was interested in the Focal Chorus 806s that LWA had up a few weeks back, just missed them. At this stage though my preference is for a straight sale I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewmission Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 How do they sound as is?The finish is just so nice Come on everyone it's a long weekend, great chance for a little drive to grab some beautiful speakers! The longer they sit there at my place the more likely I am to do something silly like try and keep them, then the better half will get silently shitty and it'll become a whole thing.' So come on, save me from myself! Shoot me an offer, worst I can say is no. [emoji3] Something that isn't too fussy about placement (will be close to the back wall) and passes the boss' approval re: looks. I was interested in the Focal Chorus 806s that LWA had up a few weeks back, just missed them. At this stage though my preference is for a straight sale I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srey Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 13 hours ago, anewmission said: How do they sound as is? The finish is just so nice I wouldn't advise anyone to buy them with the intention of not repairing them. On one of them the rub is pretty minimal, but on the other it's definitely noticeable. Obviously the top end is unaffected as the tweeters work (and beautifully) but on cleaner bass lines especially you can definitely hear the rub from one channel. I'm happy to plug them in of course for anyone who's serious. I think you'll still get a great idea of what they're capable of, but they need to be repaired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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