Wharfedale Elysian 4

[mj30250]

I thought so too. If these are marketed primarily for home theatre, then I think this would be expected?

I don't see anything about home theater mentioned on their website marketing, it seems to be entirely music-focused. I was surprised to see that these retail for $11K per pair...wow.

They do look to have a good on-axis response and sensitivity is higher than many comparable speakers, so they are naturally trading away some bass extension to make them easy to drive. If you like the speakers otherwise, add subs? If you can't or don't have the desire to, I'd look for something else, especially at that price point.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Wharfedale specifically talks about driver cone when mentioning the size.

They say it's a cone driver, not that the spec refers to cone size.

According to here,

Mid/Low drivers are Scan Speak Discovery:

https://www.scan-speak.dk/datasheet/pdf/15m-4624g00.pdf

https://www.scan-speak.dk/datasheet/pdf/22w-8534g00.pdf

According to the datasheet, that's a nominal 22 cm driver.

Dimensions are roughly comparable to a Visaton W200S:

Who, mind you, also offer this as their classic W200 and as such don't seem to differentiate between 8" and 8.5":

Remember CRT monitors and their sizes? Yeah. Cone drivers (and conventions around them) have been around for a looooong time.

BTW, I don't get the "tweeter height" problem. My ear height is about 110 cm sitting on my couch or 120 cm on a chair, and these speakers are only 118.8 cm high.

 

[dcolak]

Whoa, that German newspaper has the same measurements I had with mine.

NO BASS BELOW 80Hz!!!

How in the world can all those "reviewers" and "experts" say these speakers have good bass?

How can Wharfedale say these speakers are 30Hz-22Khz +/- 3dB (26Hz -6dB)

Those are Wharfedale numbers. Unbelievable.

Look, it even has the same "upwards ripple" in the bass I saw in my measurements.

This cannot be. They cannot sell these huge speakers with no bass under 80Hz and say they are -3dB at 30Hz and -6dB at 26Hz.

And charge 11K USD!!!

That's false advertising, that is illegal.

This is the last time I ever trust any reviewer, minus Amir and Erin.

 

[Robert-Hifi]

German magazine Audio (now called Audio Stereoplay) also measured them (in issue 04/2020).
They measured the -6 dB point at 57 Hz.

 

[dcolak]

Jesus!!! What in the world!!! Yes, they have NO BASS AT ALL!

What is going on here? How can Wharfedale say they are 30Hz +/- 3dB and 26Hz -6dB???

How can all those reviewers say these have "tremendous bass?!"

There is none! That's why I purchased a microphone, ADC and went into REW to measure them, I heard no bass, no matter how I positioned them in the room.

I was even changing rooms, smaller, bigger, did not help at all!

Can a guy from South America sue Wharfedale?

 

[Mart68]

Wharfedale are quoting an in room response - as mentioned earlier - presumably not a big room and with speakers against a boundary.

Note they don't say 'anechoic' when quoting the response. It's becoming commonplace, regrettably.

These speakers are £7K over here. I mean they seem to be pretty smooth on axis but I'm not seeing seven grand in value overall.

 

[dcolak]

Wharfedale are quoting an in room response - as mentioned earlier - presumably not a big room and with speakers against a boundary.

Note they don't say 'anechoic' when quoting the response. It's becoming commonplace, regrettably.

These speakers are £7K over here. I mean they seem to be pretty smooth on axis but I'm not seeing seven grand in value overall.

I did that, I put them in a small room, 1/4 space, NOTHING, they do not produce any bass.

Against the wall, far away from the wall, NO BASS.

"Woofers" hardly move, no bass comes out of the slot.

Imaging is also terrible, you have to keep your head at one spot and not move, otherwise it all falls appart.

The measurement above confirms it, just 10 degrees off-axis and highs disappear completely!!

Now I know I'm not crazy, these speakers are horrible.

Something is terribly wrong with these speakers. They have these HUGE boxes and two "8 inch" "woofers" in them...

WHY?! If they don't produce anything meaningful below 80Hz?!

 

[ckernel8]

You need to calm down man.

 

[Old_School_Brad]

Jesus!!! What in the world!!! Yes, they have NO BASS AT ALL!

What is going on here? How can Wharfedale say they are 30Hz +/- 3dB and 26Hz -6dB???

How can all those reviewers say these have "tremendous bass?!"

There is none! That's why I purchased a microphone, ADC and went into REW to measure them, I heard no bass, no matter how I positioned them in the room.

I was even changing rooms, smaller, bigger, did not help at all!

Can a guy from South America sue Wharfedale?

Hi there,

They’ve published in-room measurements. I understand why you feel misled. I also think they’re pushing the limits of their specifications a bit too far in this case. It does come across as somewhat dishonest, even though they do mention it in the manual -you just really have to look for it.

 

[Mart68]

I did that, I put them in a small room, 1/4 space, NOTHING, they do not produce any bass.

Against the wall, far away from the wall, NO BASS.

"Woofers" hardly move, no bass comes out of the slot.

Something is terribly wrong with these speakers.

Given they are flat anechoically to 70Hz they should at least have some bass - that's better than most bookshelf speakers manage and they don't have 'no bass'.

Unlikely but is it possible there is a fault? Binding posts wired to the crossover the wrong way round? It happens. Try swapping your connections.

I don't know what load they offer to the amp but I'm assuming you use an amp that has no trouble with 4 ohm speakers? That can be another reason for no bass.

 

[dcolak]

You need to calm down man.

You spend 11K and be calm, seeing you've been conned!

 

[Old_School_Brad]

I’m thinking -if you’re planning on keeping them -it might be worth trying to EQ them a bit, maybe with a shelf filter or something similar, if you have the DSP available?

 

[Snoopy]

Can’t imagine the results are that far off the specification. I got the Wharfedale Evo 4.2 and the Super Linton and I don’t feel like that there is no bass. With the Super Linton I even took my small subwoofer out of the Setup.

So I can’t really imagine that a 7K £ wharfedale speaker would have no bass.

 

[ckernel8]

You spend 11K and be calm, seeing you've been conned!

Why would you spend $11k sight unseen?

 

[dcolak]

Hi there,

They’ve published in-room measurements. I understand why you feel misled. I also think they’re pushing the limits of their specifications a bit too far in this case. It does come across as somewhat dishonest, even though they do mention it in the manual -you just really have to look for it.

View attachment 439848

Hey, I have other speakers:

JBL Array 1400
JBL S38II
JBL S310II

Studio monitors

JBL LSR2328P
JBL LSR2325P
Adam a5v

Amps

NAD M3
TOPPING LA90 x 2 bridged

Studio

Yamaha P5000s
Yamaha P3500s

We all know the specs are usually "in-room."

In the case of Wharfedale Elysian 4, they are an absolute, blatant lie.

 

[dcolak]

Why would you spend $11k sight unseen?

I live in a 3rd world country, not many options.

 

[dcolak]

I’m thinking -if you’re planning on keeping them -it might be worth trying to EQ them a bit, maybe with a shelf filter or something similar, if you have the DSP available?

View attachment 439854

Yeah, I use WiiM, I have them EQ'd a bit... also got two sub-woofers to replace the missing <80Hz bass....

Still, this makes NO SENSE.

I would sue Wharfedale, if I could. They are blatantly false advertising.

All those "reviewers" and "experts" on youtube.

I keep thinking of them.

 

[Mart68]

You have JBL Array 1400 - they're fantastic - just use those!

 

[mags65]

Just to be sure, the jumper cables were installed correctly?

 

[tmtomh]

Hi there,

They’ve published in-room measurements. I understand why you feel misled. I also think they’re pushing the limits of their specifications a bit too far in this case. It does come across as somewhat dishonest, even though they do mention it in the manual -you just really have to look for it.

View attachment 439848

Thanks for that screenshot. That strikes me as very strange - an official spec that lists the F6 down at 22Hz, and an in-room spec that shows the bass being less extended, down to 28Hz - seems like the opposite of the normal situation where in-room response goes deeper than spec because of room reinforcement.

What's also interesting - though it could just be a coincidence - is that my reading of the OP's first FR graph for the speaker is that the F6 the OP measured is around 30Hz, which is for all intents and purposes identical to that 28Hz in-room statement in the manual.