Wharfedale is the name of a prominent audio equipment manufacturer in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, best known for its loudspeakers. It is currently part of the International Audio Group

International Audio Group

The International Audio Group is a Chinese manufacturer of consumer and professional audio & HiFi components. It is based in Huntingdon in the UK.-Products:In the past the IAG purchased several British HiFi manufacturers:...

.

Wharfedale also used to manufacture television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

s, DVD player

DVD player

A DVD player is a device that plays discs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. These devices were invented in 1997 and continue to thrive...

s, set-top box

Set-top box

A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...

es and Hi-Fi players. But since 2008, they have only manufactured and sold audio equipment.

History

Wharfedale Wireless Works was founded in 1932 by Gilbert Briggs

Gilbert Briggs

Gilbert Briggs founded Wharfedale Wireless Works in Yorkshire, England in 1932, and was a leading figure in the early development of High Fidelity loudspeakers introducing such basics as the two-way loudspeaker and the ceramic magnet, as well as writing some famous books on audio and loudspeakers...

, and became one of Britain's leading manufacturers of audiophile

Audiophile

An audiophile is a person who enjoys listening to recorded music, usually in a home. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the...

 equipment, particularly loudspeakers. In addition to winning awards by groups such as the Bradford Radio Society, in mass public testing at Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

 Wharfedale speakers proved indistinguishable from live music. Innovations introduced by Wharfedale under Briggs included such basics as the two-way loudspeaker and the ceramic magnet.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Wharfedale became famous for its technique of eliminating cabinet resonance

Resonance

In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at a greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others. These are known as the system's resonant frequencies...

s by using a double cabinet, with the space between the inner and outer shells filled with sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

. Purchasers of the loudspeaker systems would receive the appropriate quantity of sand which had been shipped from Wharfedale in England. (Wharfedale

Wharfedale

Wharfedale is one of the Yorkshire Dales in England. It is the valley of the River Wharfe. Towns and villages in Wharfedale include Buckden, Kettlewell, Conistone, Grassington, Hebden, Ilkley, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Otley, Pool-in-Wharfedale, Arthington, Collingham, and Wetherby...

 in Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 is the site of numerous sand quarries). Briggs sold the company in 1958, and it has been through several owners since then.

Licensing of Wharfedale name

The brand name has been licensed to Argos

Argos (retailer)

Argos is the largest general-goods retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland with over 800 stores. It is unique amongst major retailers in the UK in that it is a catalogue merchant...

 for the manufacture of electronics products. All Wharfedale-branded speakers are still made by the original firm.

Manufacturing

The manufacturing site was located in Cross Gates

Cross Gates, Leeds

Cross Gates is a large suburb in east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Seacroft and Swarcliffe to the north, Whitkirk and Colton to the south, Killingbeck to the west and Austhorpe to the south east...

, Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

.