The new-generation EVO 5 Series speakers succeed Wharfedale’s EVO 4 range, with upgrades to drive units, cabinets and crossovers delivering high-end sound without upscale price tags.
EVO 4 saw a complete redesign for Wharfedale’s mid-tier EVO concept, benefitting from technologies created for the flagship Elysian project. The result was a level of loudspeaker engineering not previously seen at such accessible prices, claims the manufacturer, encompassing AMT treble units, domed midrange drivers and sophisticated cabinets with slot-loaded ports.
The new EVO 5 Series takes the blueprint established by EVO 4 and elevates it across the board. The range comprises five models: two standmount speakers (EVO 5.1 and 5.2), two floorstanders (EVO 5.3 and 5.4) and a home cinema centre speaker (EVO 5.C). Outwardly, a design refresh presents a more contemporary appearance; internally, every detail has been revised to enhance performance.
Like the equivalent models from the preceding range, both floorstanders and the larger of the two standmounters are three-way designs, incorporating dedicated domed midrange drivers. But while the driver configurations echo the previous generation, the new speakers are a little larger, allowing for greater cabinet volumes, upgraded drivers and new crossovers.
In contrast to many speaker manufacturers, Wharfedale designs and makes almost all component parts itself. This ensures complete freedom to create a synergetic loudspeaker without having to mix and match parts made by third parties. It also allows absolute control over key elements such as drive units and the ability to develop evolutionary changes from one generation to the next.
These benefits have been fully exploited in the development of the EVO 5 Series, devising ways to improve every element of EVO 4 and deliver an even more accomplished ‘whole’ through acoustic engineering of the highest standard, whilst maintaining highly competitive price points.
All five EVO 5 models incorporate a new, improved version of the AMT (Air Motion Transformer) high-frequency unit developed for the EVO 4 range. Compared to conventional dome tweeters, Wharfedale’s AMT drivers deliver lower distortion and superior speed and accuracy, claims the manufacturer.
Instead of using a dome or cone to push air forward in pistonic fashion, AMT drivers incorporate a pleated diaphragm made of an ultra-thin, lightweight polymer. Strong magnets are positioned on either side of the diaphragm, creating a powerful magnetic field. When an audio signal passes through the conductive traces, the diaphragm is energised, causing the pleats to contract and expand.
As the pleats move, they ‘squeeze’ and ‘expand’ the air between them, pushing it out in a highly efficient manner. This allows the AMT to move four times more air than a traditional dome tweeter of the same surface area, delivering lower distortion (since the diaphragm moves less) and faster transient response (owing to lower mass and minimal movement). It also produces a wider frequency range and excellent horizontal dispersion.
The AMT unit developed for EVO 5 is larger than the EVO 4 equivalent – 35x70mm compared to 30x60mm – which further improves efficiency and dispersion. It also features a new sound-absorbing material that Wharfedale calls SilentWeave – developed for the EVO 5 Series, this cotton/felt hybrid is added to the cavity behind the diaphragm to reduce soundwave reflections inside the speaker.
All the EVO 5 drive units benefit from a new acoustic damping frame called ResoFrame, made from elastomer and visible as a cog-like shape within the driver’s front panel. In the case of the AMT, an additional elastomer damping gasket between the diaphragm and the front plate further reduces mechanical resonances and smooths the response, especially in the important lower treble band.
These acoustic enhancements to the AMT unit minimise unwanted sound colouration, ensuring c extended treble without harshness and a purer, more natural sonic signature.
To match the new AMT high-frequency unit, Wharfedale has further developed the midrange driver that was designed for the previous EVO 4 models. Deployed in the three-way EVO 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4, it incorporates the same 50mm dome diaphragm, designed to deliver a fast, responsive, wide bandwidth performance that blends with the treble and bass drivers.
The soft fabric dome, damped with a plasticiser coating, is vented aperiodically into a specially shaped rear chamber that is profiled to scatter and absorb rear energy from the dome. This results in a linear response from 800Hz to 5kHz.
The EVO 5 version of this drive unit benefits from several acoustic upgrades, including a ResoFrame acoustic damping frame within the driver’s front panel and SilentWeave material in two places: behind the diaphragm and voice coil and in front of the rear enclosure. As with the AMT unit, these elements reduce resonances and soundwave reflections to deliver a smoother response and improved clarity.
Thanks to its high-flux magnet, the EVO 5 midrange dome’s efficiency is well matched to that of the AMT treble unit, enabling it to respond rapidly to the dynamics of the music. The wide dispersion of this dome and AMT combination ensures that listeners hear all the musical detail, no matter where they are seated, putting them right at the heart of the music.
The EVO 5 Series’ bass drivers utilise the advanced, low-distortion motor system developed for the flagship Elysian models, married to a woven Kevlar cone – 130mm or 150mm depending on the model – fitted with a low-loss rubber surround. This gives a wide bandwidth drive unit that is equally adept at producing powerful bass and a natural-sounding lower midrange.
Wharfedale’s engineers have been working with Kevlar – a strong yet lightweight aramid fibre ideally suited to speaker diaphragms – for over 25 years. The experience gained over multiple product generations has enabled Wharfedale to continually refine its use of the material, producing drivers that reveal impressive instrumental texture whilst delivering bass with palpable depth and authority.
In addition to the ResoFrame acoustic damping frame, the EVO 5 bass drivers (or bass/mid drivers, in the case of the two-way EVO 5.1 and 5.C) are enhanced by Wharfedale’s new ResoSeal – a low-mass elastomer damping ring at the rear of the cone where it meets the surround. This further optimises the lower midrange, allowing vocals to sound richer, more natural and more emotionally engaging.
The drivers’ output is combined via a redesigned crossover network, developed through extensive computer modelling and real-world listening tests, with a revised PCB layout that shortens the path length between components and drive units. In the three-way speakers, the circuit is split onto separate PCBs – one for mid/treble and the other for bass – to minimise electromagnetic interference.
Specially chosen high-grade polypropylene capacitors and air core inductors are used for optimum clarity in the mid/treble section, with laminated silicon-iron inductors in the bass section to minimise signal degradation.
Utilised by the upmarket Aura and Elysian speaker ranges, as well as the EVO 4 Series, Wharfedale’s SLPP (Slot Loaded Profiled Port) bass reflex design was developed from an original idea of Gilbert Briggs, Wharfedale’s founder who ran the company from 1932 to 1964. Rather than using a conventional rear- or front-firing port to augment bass response, the SLPP system incorporates a specially designed slot at the base of the speaker to equalise pressure to the room. This both reduces unwanted turbulence from the port and improves the efficiency of the bass reflex system.
While the EVO 4 speakers’ SLPP vented in two directions, the EVO 5 Series’ revised design is a three-directional system that vents left, right and to the rear. This optimises airflow distribution, further contributing to the speakers’ bass. In addition, because the air is dispersed uniformly in the room, the speakers are less fussy about positioning than many conventionally ported designs.
Every EVO5 Series model features proportionately larger dimensions in comparison to its EVO 4 counterpart, optimally increasing cabinet volume in line with precise calculations. This contributes to deeper bass and improved sound dispersion, creating a more immersive and expansive soundstage.
Each cabinet is built from a sandwich of woods of different densities, designed to reduce panel resonance to below audibility. This multi-layer construction also inhibits the leakage of unwanted sound energy from inside the cabinet, which would otherwise interfere with the forward output of the drive units. The baffle’s radiused edges smooth the flow of sonic energy around the cabinet, helping to integrate the drivers’ output with the room acoustics.
At the base of each EVO 5 speaker is a hybrid metal/wood plinth. This contains the SLPP vents, enhances structural rigidity and helps to isolate the speakers from the effects of external resonance.
Cabinet finishes have been upgraded for the EVO 5 Series. The walnut wood veneer option remains, but the white and black finishes are now super-smooth, high-quality matt, giving the speakers a more contemporary look and feel. There is also a smart new matt option: Lunar Grey.
Speaking about the development of the EVO 5 Series, Peter Comeau – Wharfedale’s Director of Acoustic Design, says, “The EVO 4 Series has been highly successful – a consistent best-selling and multiple award-winning loudspeaker range over the past six years. It was clear that rather than a complete redesign, what its successor required was careful evolution – in keeping with its ‘EVO’ name – to maintain the range’s popular strengths whilst devising ways to elevate key elements.
“EVO 4 already benefited from an exceptionally high level of engineering content given its speakers’ accessible price points. By revising the cabinet volumes, redesigning the crossovers and enhancing the drive units with new techniques and materials, we have been able to deliver substantial sonic improvements – as well as aesthetic enhancements – whilst minimising inevitable increases in cost.
“Designed for music lovers who crave detail, dynamics and emotional engagement, these speakers offer a listening experience that transcends expectations – delivering excellent clarity, nuanced textures and an expansive soundstage.”
The Wharfedale EVO 5 Series is available from June in a choice of matt black, matt white, matt grey or walnut wood veneer.
Matching stands can be purchased for the EVO 5.1 and 5.2, fashioned from high-carbon steel to manage the effects of vibrations and sound reflections and position the speakers at the ideal height.
RRPs as follows:
EVO 5.1: £549/pair EVO 5.2: £749/pair EVO 5.3: £1099/pair EVO 5.4: £1399/pair.
EVO 5.C: £549 EVO 5.4 Stands: £399 EVO 5.2 Stands: £449.