Wharfedale Evo 4.2 (Couple) Black Speakers Pair

Product Information

I did notice a slight bite in the midrange on rare occasions. An aggressive vocal snap would produce a slight midrange bark to accompany emphasis in delivery but that seemed to be a by-product of the accompanying precision from the speakers as a whole. Not a big deal and it didn’t overly concern me but it’s something to note during a demo. The more time you spend with it, the more you become aware of the fabulous detail retrieval it offers.” ’Hi-Fi Choice’ – Recommended. 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. Featuring a Kevlar woofer cone, the EVO 4.2 delivers class-leading bass precision. With its high rigidity and low distortion movement, the EVO 4.2 follows bass lines intensely, producing a foot-tapping beat. Downwards firing bass ports integrate better with your room and also make the speakers easier to position as they can be placed closer to a rear wall.

Disclaimer: The EVO4.2 was sent to us by the U.S. Distributor in exchange for an honest review. It will be returned once the review is complete. Based on the multi-award-winning 4.4 model, the EVO 4.2 delivers stunning, 3-way sound from a compact enclosure. Having three speaker drive units instead of the more usual two, means each area of the frequency response gets a dedicated driver for more detailed and precise sound. They can either be used as they are, in stereo, or as part of an EVO AV speaker system, with matching centre and rear speakers available. Moving further upscale into the treble, cymbal hits and bell taps provided the delicacy you would hope for with reverb tails here and there to please but the bass focus added a sense of weight to each cymbal proving a certainty to each tap. However, the large format of the EVO4.2 gives it a little more oomph on the bottom end than a mini-monitor, which I like. It also plays with a larger scale. To me, it’s the best of both worlds.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.

As per the company, using the soft dome midrange allows a smoother transition between the high and mid frequencies since the soft dome can play just about as fast as the AMT tweeter. I tested these speakers in two rooms one small and one medium sized. In the process I was able to learn that room size, layout and furnishings have an astounding impact sound. My medium sized room has a tiled floor with a large rug but features less in the way of soft furnishings. The speakers were placed 9-10 feet apart, 4 feet away from side walls and 3 feet away from rear wall. The room acoustics made the highs seem a little sharper yet the room size and placement of the speakers allowed the delicious lower bass to breathe fully, gently filling the room without sounding constrained. The soundstage was wide, deep and immersive, instruments and vocals took on a 3D quality and the room became alive with the sound of music.

What We Dig

As an almost strange counter­balance the refined AMT tweeter is so mild I didn’t get to notice it much. I span Nils Lofgren’s KeithDon’t Go (CD) with its close- miked lacerative guitar work and the strings were solid rather than lacerative, Lofgren’s guitar taking on body, weight and timbral texture . Similarly, Nigel Kennedy’s Stradivarius violin was more big and rich, rather than sharp or edgy, bringing a different character to the sound of most else. I feel like the EVO 4.2 dissected music for effectively breaking it down for the listener to be able to hear more deeply into the music. In contrast the Linton speakers disabled the analytical side of my audiophile brain which helped me relax into the music as a musical whole and this definitely stirs some deeper emotions and is a very foot tapping experience. R&B - low-mid tempo songs sound great, strong vocals really shine through. Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation” sounds phenomenal. 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.

They have a small sweet spot which sometimes stopped me from relaxing fully as I was distracted by making sure I was in the perfect position at all times.I am not a speaker designer neither did I measure the speakers in a way where I can categorically say one is technically better than the other. In saying that I feel like the the Evo 4.2 is a "better technical" speaker than the Linton Heritage, in that it was more transparent, more invisible and created a sound more akin to what I am used to from other much more expensive speakers. Because of this, and the fact that the Audiolab 6000 series has some of my favorite affordable integrated amps, I paired the EVO4.2 speakers with an Audiolab 6000A Play/6000CDT Streaming Amp/CD Transport combo ( read our review here), and I was not disappointed with the result. 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 What was surprising was the mobility and emotion from the lead vocal and the lead electric guitar. Bass never dragged upon these two contrasting sounds. They were both lively and light on their feet. Again, cymbal taps provided finesse but the bass added weight to this instrument. You got the feeling that a heavy piece of metal was being hit here. CONCLUSION