Heavenly musicality at surprisingly affordable prices: this is the promise with which the new EVO 5 Series from Wharfedale is presented, one of the sacred names of British sound as well as the undisputed leader in quality/price ratio for its proposals. Developed by the team led by the charismatic Peter Comeau, it replaces the EVO 4 Series, a constant bestseller since its launch in 2019. This represented a complete rethinking of the EVO concept of the British company, applied to mid-range products and taking advantage of the technologies created for the firm’s reference family, the Elysian Series. The result was a level of engineering never seen in such value-priced versions, embodied in AMT tweeters, dome midrange speakers, and elaborate enclosures with clever slotted charging ports. In these coordinates, it seems logical to affirm that the EVO 5 adopts the pattern established by its predecessor and surpasses it cleanly, being made up of five models: two shelf/stand-mounted monitors (EVO 5.1 and EVO 5.2), two columns (EVO 5.3 and EVO 5.4) and a central speaker for Home Theater (EVO 5.C). Externally, the renewed aesthetics of the EVO 5 allow them to exhibit a markedly contemporary appearance, while inside all the details have been revised to improve overall performance.
Like their EVO 4 counterparts, the floor and the larger of the two shelf units are three-way systems. As for the enclosures, those of the EVO 5 are a little larger, having more internal volume and have higher-level speakers and frequency divider filters. In this regard, it is essential to remember that Wharfedale designs and builds the bulk of the components of its products, a feature that guarantees absolute freedom to create perfectly synergistic speakers without having to resort to parts manufactured by third parties. It also provides full control over key elements such as transducers and the ability to make evolutionary changes from one generation to the next. Thus, as far as the tweeter is concerned, the EVO 5 includes an evolved version of the device based on AMT (“Air Motion Transformer”) technology used in the EVO 4, which can move four times as much air as a traditional dome with the same surface area. Thanks to this, distortion is lowered (since the diaphragm moves less) and the response to transients is increased, expanding the range of frequencies that can be reproduced and horizontal dispersion. Specifically, the AMT that equips the EVO 5 has a larger surface area than its EVO 4 equivalent (35×70 mm versus 30×60 mm), further refining efficiency and dispersion. In parallel, the use of a state-of-the-art absorbent material called SilentWeave (a hybrid of cotton and felt) reduces the reflections of sound waves inside the speaker.
This leads to another feature common to the EVO 5 speakers: the presence of the acoustically treated ResoFrame frame, made of elastometer and visible as a kind of gear within the support of each transducer. In the specific case of the AMT tweeter, an additional elastomer damping gasket between the diaphragm and the front plate additionally attenuates mechanical resonances and regularizes the response, especially in the sensitive mid-high band. Moving on to the middle zone of the spectrum, it should be noted that in the EVO 5.2, EVO 5.3 and EVO 5.4, the 50 mm soft dome transducer and high-power magnetic motor of the previous family have been modified. Thus, the aforementioned dome, made of soft and cushioning fabric with a plasticizing coating, is periodically ventilated in a rear chamber with a profile designed to disperse and evacuate the rear energy of the dome, the result being a linear curve from 800 Hz to 5 kHz, a very notable record for this type of transducer. For its part, the reproduction of the lower octaves is entrusted to woofers equipped with the low distortion motor of the elite Elysian Series and cones of intertwined Kevlar fibers of 130 or 150 mm in diameter and low-loss rubber peripheral suspension. These transducers are complemented by Wharfedale’s imaginative SLPP (“Slot Loaded Profiled Port”) bass-reflex ports, used in the brand’s superior Aura and Elysian collections, and whose original idea is due to Gilbert Briggs, the company’s remembered founder.
Instead of using a front or rear output port to enhance bass, the SLPP system incorporates a dedicated slot in the base of the cabinet to equalize the pressure to that of the room, reducing unwanted turbulence in the port and improving the efficiency of bass-reflex loading. Furthermore, in the EVO 5 a revised scheme is used that is reflected in three-dimensional ventilation (left, right and behind versus the bidirectional of the EVO 4). In this way, the distribution of air flow is optimized, effectively helping to “naturalize” the bass and at the same time multiplying the ease of location. Seamlessly integrating the different EVO 5 speakers is a computer-designed crossover filter, which combines printed circuit boards (1 for 2-way models and 2 for 3-way models) with minimized signal paths and audiophile-grade components (polypropylene capacitors, air-core coils and laminated silicon-iron coils). The quality of the enclosures is also up to the ambitions of the EVO 5 Series, with its construction based on a sandwich structure made up of wood of different densities, which blocks the leakage of unwanted sound energy from inside the box, which could interfere with the direct emission of the speakers. Finally, let us point out that the rounded contours of the different front panels soften the flow of sound energy around the room, better adapting the speakers to the acoustics of the listening room, while providing two optional floor stands, the EVO 5.1 and EVO 5.2 Stands, custom made for, respectively, the EVO 5.1 and EVO 5.2 monitors.
