Wharfedale’s Evo 4.2s are interestingly different and appealed to me. What you get here is solid presence where vocals and solo instruments have power, projection and a sense of weight. What you do not get is sharpness, or edginess: highs are there but refined. At the price these loudspeakers are different and – I feel – ridiculously good. Get a listen if you can. MEASURED PERFORMANCE Switching to John Batiste and Cory Wong's extensive improvisation Meditation, where the space around the notes is almost as vital as the notes themselves, the Evos again do a wonderful job illuminating the long ambient reverb tails of guitar and piano as they wrap around each other. Evo 4.2 Crossover also deserves a special mention. Using specially designed computer aided optimization technology during extensive listening tests, the technicians of Wharfedale have adjusted the separation filter so accurately that Evo 4.2 reaches a balanced integration of the driver, the woofer and the tweeter - so that the loudspeaker practically disappears and your attention is established On the music program that you own. Evo4.2 is an all-rounder and offers detail where audiophiles loved and where dynamics lovers are in the house to desire. The Air Motion ribbon tweeter in the Evo 4.2s are a folded diaphragm with a large surface area. The large area, requiring small movement makes for an excellent transient response and low distortion. The soft-domed mid driver is also fast and responsive with wide bandwidth and dispersion. This is again a highly efficient driver which matches perfectly with the AMT.

It's striking that when we start playing Dune in 5.1 on the Evo 4.4 surround system, it immediately prompts us to question whether there is any need for Dolby Atmos. Of course, there is, but it’s a great reminder that if you have quality speakers capable of detailed precision and fluid transparency, you don’t need to go all-in on rears and height channels to have a seriously immersive home system. The EVO4 series from Wharfedale uses materials and technologies from our flagship speakers, which means that we deliver high-quality achievements without a price tag. Instead of a cone or dome-shaped driver, AMTs use a light, pleated diaphragm with electrical circuit traces within a magnetic field that expands and contracts like a concertina as a music signal is applied, pushing sound out towards the listener. The light mass of the thin, folded film means it has the potential to be more responsive and immediate than drivers made with heavier materials, while the large surface area makes it particularly efficient and less prone to distortion. Same with blues, jazz and all acoustic music that's why is sounds good it fall into that natural bass band 40hz and above.small ones. The AMT is a folded ribbon in effect and reaches down to 3.9kHz Wharfedale say. The problem this poses is of finding a drive unit that works up to 3.9kHz to match it – and this demands use of a midrange unit. A cone or a dome are options and in the Evo 4.2 Wharfedale use a dome, ‘cos they reach higher. According to Wharefedale, this system offers an improved and finer sense of control. Much more accurate, says the company, than a bog-standard dome tweeter: larger bandwidth, higher speed, lower distortion…all that good stuff. The sound of this speaker reminds me a lot of a British mini-monitor with its natural midrange and pinpoint imaging. It also has a smooth, detailed treble with no trace of edginess. Usually found only on speakers costing well in excess of the EVO 4.2, the dedicated, soft dome mid-range brings vocals to life. With a top quality drive unit, dedicated to the mid-range, vocal reproduction is more accurate than ever with every breath (sometimes literally in some recordings) clearly defined. Other instruments in the mid-range, such as guitars, also benefit through higher resolution. The Wharfedale Evo4.2 bookshelf speakers incorporate technology derived from the flagship Elysian series, featuring a 3-way speaker design. A newly designed AMT (Air Motion Transformer) high frequency transducer replicates point-source audio, and is capable of moving large amounts of air for lower distortion and highly accurate musical reproduction.

Brushed metal spikes sit neatly within the plinths of the Evo 4.4s and Evo 4.2s, and all the speakers feature two sets of terminals for bi-wiring, with brushed metal straps for non-bi-wired set-ups. unit choice in the Evo 4.2. And, providing the drive units work well in themselves, what you can expect to hear from such an arrangement are apparently solid and obvious vocals from the dome, with smooth almost character-free treble from the AMT tweeter. Yes, the AMT tweeters I have heard had less of the sheen of a conventional ribbon, coming over as almost peculiarly “quiet”. I know that’s a funny way of putting it, but really good loudspeakers are drama free – they just let the music through without embellishment. With an AMT expect nothing rather than something! Our frequency response analysis of the Evo 4.2 shows a broadly flat charac­teristic across the audio band from 40Hz to 16kHz, making the ‘speaker fundamentally accurate. There is no treble lift as is now so common, so no emphasis of distortion harmonics, from CD for example. The sudden dip and peak around 160Hz is due to floor return, so not an intrinsic FREQUENCY RESPONSE I found that a slight toe-in gave me the best balance of image focus and soundstage. Most speakers I point almost directly at the listening position, but with the Wharfedales, I found them to play more open that way.Hence, the bass and the treble provided true sonic bookends for a host of midband detail that entertained and delighted while the bass itself acted like a football coach, encouraging and influencing the rest of the music to greater heights. Lower bass plays an important role in this genre, the 4.2’s full bodied bass offering sounds plentiful and complements the genre, the vocals shine through, the highs are there in pleasing amounts. The swirling psychedelic echo effects in dub reggae are especially well suited to the immersive soundscape these speakers create. Burning Spear, Fat Freddys Drop & Gentlemans Dub Club sound brilliant. These 8 Ohms speakers offer a decent sensitivity rating of 90db so you’ll only need an amp upwards of around 25W to drive them.

They also remind me a lot of one of my all-time favorite bookshelf speakers, the Wharfedale Diamond 11.2 ( read our review here), which has a similar woven Kevlar midrange driver, slot-loaded port, and curved cabinet. This works up to point, although the Evo4.2 sports a set of dimensions that are a long way outside the norm considering the price. Standing at 450mm tall, it is significantly larger than any rival I can think of and this has some implications on how it is best positioned. I initially try it on a 60cm high stand, but this places the AMT tweeter above the height of my ear when sat in the usual listening position so I switch to Atacama’s shorter SE24 stand. You will need to budget for new stands if you’ve previously had a more traditionally proportioned standmount in place.

Listening to the Wharfedale EVO4.2

These floorstanders prove that Wharfedale has the ability to mix it with the very best at more premium prices. The Evo 4.4 are entertaining and detailed with enough in the way of refinement to make them an excellent long-term choice. If you’re looking for floorstanders at this level, put these towers high on your shortlist. You won’t regret it. Speakers don't just sound good with a certain form of music complete myth, yes they may react differently to different pieces due to the recordings and the simple physics of the box. Similarly, with the London Symphony Orchestra playing Mars from Holst’s The Planets (24/48) there was scale, a broad sound stage and again a feeling of solid presence. Kettle drum strikes had strength but did not overwhelm. CONCLUSION