Wharfedale Evo 4.2 (Couple) Black Speakers Pair
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Wharfedale Evo 4.2 (Couple) Black Speakers Pair
- Brand: Unbranded
Description
The Wharfedale Evo4.2 bookshelf speakers incorporate technology derived from the flagship Elysian series, featuring a 3-way speaker design. A newly designed AMT (Air Motion Transformer) high frequency transducer replicates point-source audio, and is capable of moving large amounts of air for lower distortion and highly accurate musical reproduction. There is also impressively little sense of constraint or colouration from the cabinets. Provided that a modicum of care has been taken when it comes to placing and positioning in the listening room, it manages to disappear from my perception and is impressively difficult to pinpoint inside a big and very consistent soundstage. It benefits from being used with decent partnering equipment, but this is more a reflection of its ability to show the benefits of whatever its attached to is capable of – thanks to its admirable transparency – rather than being a difficult design to drive.
Usually found only on speakers costing well in excess of the EVO 4.2, the dedicated, soft dome mid-range brings vocals to life. With a top quality drive unit, dedicated to the mid-range, vocal reproduction is more accurate than ever with every breath (sometimes literally in some recordings) clearly defined. Other instruments in the mid-range, such as guitars, also benefit through higher resolution. This SLPP (Slot Loaded Profiled Port) receives the lowest frequency energy, profiled, says the company to, “…equalise the high internal pressure to the low pressure in the room.” Because of this, and the fact that the Audiolab 6000 series has some of my favorite affordable integrated amps, I paired the EVO4.2 speakers with an Audiolab 6000A Play/6000CDT Streaming Amp/CD Transport combo ( read our review here), and I was not disappointed with the result.
Upgrading On Your Terms
By the way, the EVOs relatively high sensitivity (88 dB) will let you use a wide variety of high-current amps, and the 50W x 2 supplied by the 6000A play is plenty power-wise. You really have to talk bass from the off, with the speakers. There’s just no getting away from that frequency here. Straight Out The Box: My first reaction as I undressed them from their protective white gowns was that the walnut appeared duller than it looked in the pictures but that they still look beautiful and seem very well made. Their shape and design look very at home in my living room. The first test that had to pass was the wife test, I was nervous. They are larger and have a more imposing presence than the HB1’s but thankfully she liked them and said they look expensive (phew). Way down into the bass regions, you’ll find a Kevlar-based unit, spanning 150mm. That material you can see in the centre (image above) is a woven aramid fibre. The tonal balance was also excellent. No matter how loud the volume, the treble never became hard, and the bass remained controlled. Plus, the mids, normally the strength of a Wharfedale speaker, were extraordinarily refined.
With a size of 17.9 x 9.8 x 13.8 inch (HWD) and a weight of more than 29 pounds, EVO4.2 claims a 90DB sensitivity that invites you to coupling with a wide range of amplifiers. Experience Evo 4.2 yourself with the certainty of our 100% Music Direct Warranty . It’s a 3-Way design with an articulate AMT tweeter for the high end, a 2” soft dome for the midrange frequencies, and a 6-1/2″ woven Kevlar woofer for the low end. Wharfedale’s Evo 4.2s are interestingly different and appealed to me. What you get here is solid presence where vocals and solo instruments have power, projection and a sense of weight. What you do not get is sharpness, or edginess: highs are there but refined. At the price these loudspeakers are different and – I feel – ridiculously good. Get a listen if you can. MEASURED PERFORMANCE The other thing to think about with this speaker is the soundstage. It’s not super wide. I found the presentation mostly between the speakers, which to me was not an issue since the imaging and depth had such good separation.
EVO4.2
The EVO4 series from Wharfedale uses materials and technologies from our flagship speakers, which means that we deliver high-quality achievements without a price tag. The Evo4.2 is the second of the two standmounts in the series and has a rare three-way configuration (at the price) with an AMT tweeter, 50mm soft dome midrange driver and a 165mm woven Kevlar bass driver. The company says that there’s a strong argument for doing things this way. Holly Cole crooned at me about her station antics in The Train Song (CD) and she loomed large: it was almost embarrassing. The 4.2s project – almost alarmingly at times. Methinks that here Wharfedale have come to terms with the fact that their potential audience prefer ‘the BBC sound’ to anything associated with Red Bull and Vodka shots. Additionally, the smooth high end doesn’t draw attention to distortion from CD, making silver disc an easier listen. Drum and bass, no speaker is going to reproduce that shy of a very large floor stander. Listen to DJ shadow three ralphs and tell me where the 10hz tone is through a pair of bookshelves.
I think what your after is a subwoofer to get a full-range sound that will sort out all you ills sound stageing is a placement problem and you can sort for free by taking more time might 2mm out never know. Sound best in medium sized rooms. In a small room they don’t have the space to create the soundscape that makes for a magical experience. What was surprising was the mobility and emotion from the lead vocal and the lead electric guitar. Bass never dragged upon these two contrasting sounds. They were both lively and light on their feet. Again, cymbal taps provided finesse but the bass added weight to this instrument. You got the feeling that a heavy piece of metal was being hit here. CONCLUSION Similarly, with the London Symphony Orchestra playing Mars from Holst’s The Planets (24/48) there was scale, a broad sound stage and again a feeling of solid presence. Kettle drum strikes had strength but did not overwhelm. CONCLUSION This dome midrange unit has a wide frequency response ranging from 800Hz to 5kHz. This response along with the powerful motor system helps it integrate with the AMT tweeter as well as the twin woven Kevlar bass drivers that sit below it on the front panel. The crossover point between the midrange and bass drivers is 1.2 kHz.The new EVO4 represents the dawn of a new standard in hi-fi, from Wharfedale – the most famous name in British loudspeakers. Same for dance. Listen to Poison and mindfileds by the prodigy, I've only heard them reproduced properly once and no bookshelf can do it. No budget floorstander either. R&B - low-mid tempo songs sound great, strong vocals really shine through. Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation” sounds phenomenal.
Moving further upscale into the treble, cymbal hits and bell taps provided the delicacy you would hope for with reverb tails here and there to please but the bass focus added a sense of weight to each cymbal proving a certainty to each tap. Brushed metal spikes sit neatly within the plinths of the Evo 4.4s and Evo 4.2s, and all the speakers feature two sets of terminals for bi-wiring, with brushed metal straps for non-bi-wired set-ups. Wide, deep, immersive soundstage, In the right room given the correct positioning, playing the right songs, they create an environment of music that surrounds you and makes for a truly magical listening experience. I’ve always found Audiolab gear to be an excellent match with Wharfedale Speakers, and to an extent, this is probably by design since China’s International Audio Group owns both brands. In some countries, they are also under the same distribution, but not in the U.S.Well, it gave music a strength but also a real confidence. As I say, bass didn’t dominate to any great extreme here. It never bloomed or strayed too far from where it should be but it acted like the foundation of a house. The sonic structure was given authority by the bass. Bass enabled the music to roam and venture forth with more self assurance than you might normally hear. EVO4's AMT high-frequency unit produces sound in a completely different way than conventional dome testers. The ribbon technology uses a large, pleated, lightweight diaphragm, driven by a series of magnets. This is an extremely efficient and accurate method to create high-frequency sound, so that the EVO4 series has an open and smooth sounding top, without being too bright and hard. Wharfedale’s Evo4.2 is not the complete all-rounder, but I am not sure that’s what the company intends. What this gentle giant can do is deliver certain types of music in a manner that is largely beyond most rivals at the price and if you are happy with its style and can work with its demands it will delight, making it definitely worthy of a thorough audition at the price. JP They also remind me a lot of one of my all-time favorite bookshelf speakers, the Wharfedale Diamond 11.2 ( read our review here), which has a similar woven Kevlar midrange driver, slot-loaded port, and curved cabinet.
- Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
- EAN: 764486781913
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