Wharfedale Elysian 4

[dcolak]

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

Oh man, they are awesome. The imaging, the resolution, the bass, everything. They are my main system at home.

I purchased Elysian 4 for my office, I though "maybe this time I could buy a speaker that is not JBL."

I was choosing between JBL 4367 and Wharfedale Elysian 4.

Stupid me, wanted to try something different.

 

[dcolak]

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 to - 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.

30Hz is stronger than 40Hz, it's like a small "blip" in bass before completely disappearing. Listening to them you'd think there is no bass at all.

 

[Audionaut]

@dcolak
Didn't you listen to the speakers first?
Or did you just order 10.000 dollar speakers without listening to them first?

 

[Old_School_Brad]

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 to - 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.

Yeah, the specs and marketing definitely seem a bit questionable.

Maybe I’m just naturally skeptical, but I wouldn’t, under any circumstances, spend that kind of money without knowing exactly what I’m getting.

If I had to buy speakers without having the chance to borrow them and hear them in my own room,and there were no honest specs or third-party measurements available -I’d simply rule them out. It’s the only way to avoid ending up in a situation like this.

That said, it doesn’t really seem like that big an issue if @dcolak is crossing over to subs anyway.

 

[dcolak]

@dcolak
Didn't you listen to the speakers first?
Or did you just order 10.000 dollar speakers without listening to them first?

First time ever I trusted others and didn't listen to before I purchased them.

Read and saw all the "reviews."

Also had older/lower tier Wharfedales that sounded ok.

I can't imagine why/how could Wharfedale let these speakers out into the world.

Something must be wrong!

 

[Audionaut]

Can you possibly exchange them for other speakers?

 

[dcolak]

Can you possibly exchange them for other speakers?

Probably not.

Impressive, you go to youtube and you get all those "reviewers" saying things that make no sense in reality.

Lesson learned.

 

[Old_School_Brad]

First time ever I trusted others and didn't listen to before I purchased them.

Read and saw all the "reviews."

Also had older/lower tier Wharfedales that sounded ok.

I can't imagine why/how could Wharfedale let these speakers out into the world.

Something must be wrong!

There’s nothing wrong exactly.

Marketing took place. And, of course, ad revenue from Google came into play.

The takeaway here might be to not place too much trust in YouTube reviewers and marketing claims.

 

[WillBrink]

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.

I'm starting to think you have broken speakers. Put on base heavy song, turn up volume, and base driver literally not obviously moving?

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Can you email Wharfedale, and see what they say about your experience?

 

[dcolak]

I'm starting to think you have broken speakers. Put on base heavy song, turn up volume, and base driver literally not obviously moving?

They move but not that much and no real bass comes out of them. The suspension of those drivers looks like a mid-bass suspension.

Why would Wharfedale create these huge boxes and then put mid-bass drivers into them?

You know when you lightly tap with your finger on a bass driver's cone, whole box produces the bass immediately?

It's not happening with these boxes. It does not make sense to create these HUGE boxes and then produce no bass.

Did Wharfedale make a mistake with the crossover, did Wharfedale use cheap drivers so that they can have even bigger markup?

I did contact Wharfedale, told me to contact the store. I'm waiting for the visit from the store.

 

[WillBrink]

They move but not that much and no real bass comes out of them. The suspension of those drivers looks like a mid-bass suspension.

Why would Wharfedale create these huge boxes and then put mid-bass drivers into them?

You know when you lightly tap with your finger on a bass driver's cone, whole box produces the bass immediately?

It's not happening with these boxes. It does not make sense to create these HUGE boxes and then produce no bass.

Did they make a mistake with the crossover, did they put cheap drivers in so that they can have even bigger markup?

I did contact Wharfedale, told me to contact the store. I'm waiting for the visit from the store.

Something seems off, even there much less $ models like the Linton's perform better. If those big speakers literally only produce 80Hz, something aint right. You could do a terrible job of design and still do better, and from everything I see of their lower end stuff per Erin, etc, they at least know how to design a decent speaker. Obviously not objective testing, but reviews of the elysian-4 model even noted the powerful tight base from them. As full of BS as many reviewers are, they'd have to mention the speakers were very light on the base if they end at 80hz. Did you look in the cabinets for obvious issues like a wire not connected or connected wrong?

 

[dcolak]

Something seems off, even there much less $ models like the Linton's perform better. If those big speakers literally only produce 80Hz, something aint right. You could do a terrible job of design and still do better, and from everything I see of their lower end stuff per Erin, etc, they at least know how to design a decent speaker. Obviously not objective testing, but reviews of the elysian-4 model even noted the powerful tight base from them. As full of BS as many reviewers are, they'd have to mention the speakers were very light on the base if they end at 80hz. Did you look in the cabinets for obvious issues like a wire not connected or connected wrong?

I did check it all. I measured them with REW, so we know they are connected. My measurements are pretty much the same as the measurements from the German audio magazines.

I do hope that I am all wrong and that there is something wrong with my particular pair of Elysians.

 

[dcolak]

Interesting, looking at an image of a pair from one of the reviewers... it appears that the slot is open at the front, there is also some kind of foam within the slot which mine do not have.

My pair have front and rear of the slots completely closed, with big chunks of wood and only radiate bass to the sides, not to the front or rear of the slot.
I don't think it could make much of a difference... it looks like I could remove those chunks of wood.

 

[PGansz]

Looks like your ports are plugged. Probably why they have less bass.

Get your dealer to remove them.

 

[dcolak]

We just checked all other speakers in the store, they are all "plugged." Must be a new design from Wharfedale.

I am lucky the store is a serious business, they are trying to help. I'll let you know what happened next.

 

[Old_School_Brad]

Almost nothing... I'm waiting for the visit from the store.

The thing is, your measurements suggest they should play fairly low, although they’re quite bright. I’d try applying a -6 dB high shelf from 200 Hz in your Wiim app and then reassess.

Looks like your ports are plugged. Probably why they have less bass.

Get your dealer to remove them.

He explicitly writes that his are open to the sides.

 

[Penelinfi]

Nothing coming out of the slot.

If that's true, then perhaps check there isn't some foam bung in there or something

 

[Audionaut]

Yes, the crossover is of the low order, you can hear 6Khz tone coming clear from the 7" woofers.

Of all the oddities that dcolak describes about these speakers, this is the strangest.

There seems to be something very wrong with these loudspeakers, although I can't imagine Wharfedale delivering anything worse with its largest and most expensive loudspeakers than in the mid-range with, for example, the Linton.

 

[Penelinfi]

Of all the oddities that dcolak describes about these speakers, this is the strangest.

There seems to be something very wrong with these loudspeakers, although I can't imagine Wharfedale delivering anything worse with its largest and most expensive loudspeakers than in the mid-range with, for example, the Linton.

Measurements show 6kHz is -50dB.
So they can hear -50dB 6kHz coming from the woofers but not -10dB in the bass... lol