The Wharfedale EVO4 comprises of a range of six models designed to meet the needs of music lovers and home cinema fans.

The EVO4 Series sits between the British brand's Diamond 11 Series and the forthcoming, flagship Elysian speakers.

The six models include a pair of standmount speaker models in the EVO4.1 and 4.2, the EVO4.3 and 4.4 floorstanders, the EVO4.C large home cinema centre speaker, and the EVO4.S wall-mounted surround speaker. Additionally, there will be a more compact centre speaker (EVO4.CS) added to the range towards the end of the year.

The EVO4 Series shares much of the engineering and tech with the Elysian project. In fact, the EVO4 speakers even share a family resemblance such as the substantial cabinets with their curved sides and sophisticated driver array.

AMT tweeter

On the subject of drivers, starting at the top, you will find the Air Motion Transformer (AMT) high-frequency unit created for Elysian.

EVO4's AMT unit utilises a large, pleated, lightweight diaphragm that's driven across its surface by rows of strategically placed magnets. The pleats in the diaphragm contract and expand under the influence of the musical drive, squeezing the air between them to form the desired waveform.

Not only is this an efficient way of moving air, but it is also highly accurate as the diaphragm is under close control of the motor system at all times. The upshot is a wide bandwidth transducer that achieves extremely low distortion with plenty of musical detail and dynamics.

Domed Midrange

To match to the AMT treble unit, Wharfedale has developed a fast and responsive domed midrange driver. Thanks to a damped rear chamber the mid driver boasts a wide bandwidth.

The soft fabric dome, damped with a plasticiser coating, is vented aperiodically into a specially shaped rear chamber. The chamber is profiled to scatter and absorb rear energy from the dome resulting in a linear response from 800Hz to 5kHz.

Go Low

The EVO4 Series’ bass drivers take advantage of the system developed for the Elysian bass units, married to a woven Kevlar cone fitted with a low-loss rubber surround. The wide-bandwidth drive unit, says Wharfedale, is equally adept at producing powerful bass and a natural-sounding lower midrange.

Bass performance is augmented by Wharfedale's signature slot-loaded port. Dubbed SLPP (Slot Loaded Profiled Port), it ensures that the rear output of the bass units is not wasted. Instead, the lowest frequency energy is vented to a slot at the base of the speaker, specially profiled to equalise the high internal pressure to the low pressure in the room.

Cabinets

Finally, the EVO4 cabinets are hand-finished in handsome wood veneers beneath which is a sandwich of woods of different densities, designed to reduce panel resonance to below audibility. Also, the baffle's radiused edges smooth the flow of sonic energy around the cabinet, helping to integrate the drivers' output with the room acoustics.

Peter Comeau, Wharfedale's Director of Acoustic Design, told StereoNET:

Other than some inventive names for 'fancy' cone materials, it might seem that little has changed in moving coil loudspeakers over the past 50 years. That's why it's refreshing to work with the advanced motor systems we've incorporated into the EVO4 Series, along with our version of a dome midrange and an AMT treble unit that has grown out of our research for the Elysian project. This Wharfedale speaker range is distinctly different, yet it continues to do what Wharfedale does best: deliver superb material and sonic value-for-money.

Price and Availability

The Wharfedale EVO4 Series is available from October in a choice of black, white or walnut wood veneers. RRPs are as follows:

• EVO4.1: £449 per pair
• EVO4.3: £999 per pair
• EVO4.S: £999 per pair
• EVO4.2: £599 per pair
• EVO4.4: £1199 per pair
• EVO4.C: £499 each

For more information, head to Wharfedale.

Tech Spec