Wharfedale Elysian 4s

[Dkclimb]

Hey audioholics,

My first post and I’m looking forward to picking your brains. I have an opportunity to buy Wharfedale Elysian 4s at less than half price! But, am I slightly crazy to think they would be fine in a 4m by 4m room with a low ceiling? The room is well treated though and is a dedicated listening room

thanks

 

[TLS Guy]

Hey audioholics,

My first post and I’m looking forward to picking your brains. I have an opportunity to buy Wharfedale Elysian 4s at less than half price! But, am I slightly crazy to think they would be fine in a 4m by 4m room with a low ceiling? The room is well treated though and is a dedicated listening room

thanks

Square rooms are always a problem, no matter how you treat them. Those speakers look like good speakers. In any event, the better the speakers the better the sound no matter the room.

 

[Dkclimb]

Thanks for the input @TLS Guy for the money, it seems crazy not to

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I have never heard of that particular model, but I generally like Wharfedale's typically warm sound signature. As far as value - I think even at 1/2 price you should do more homework than to ask on forums. I won't buy such expensive speakers without seeing extensive and in-depth 3rd party measurements as well as a sufficiently long audition of these speakers with music I know well.
Some speaker brands have proven they consistently deliver top-notch value/performance regardless of cost, some are nearly as good and then there are many others that ask exorbitant prices without delivering the goods.

I would agree with TLS guy remarks on a (small) square room - it's going to be an issue getting the best audio performance.
Further reading:

What Acoustic Treatment For A Square Room Do You Recommend? – Acoustic Fields

"Do you have any recommendations for acoustic treatment for a square room or is it always impossible no matter what the usage?"

www.acousticfields.com

What kind of sonic problems putting my stereo in a square room?

The room I have my stereo in doesn't sound very good no matter how I position my Maggies. One speaker is against a side wall and the other isn't and it...

forums.stevehoffman.tv

 

[dolynick]

They'll overpower the room for sure plus there's the squareness issue, but that doesn't change the deal you're getting. I've only seen one review of them but it was definitely positive. Certainly more attractive as a purchase at $5k vs the regular $10k.

 

[Trell]

They'll overpower the room for sure plus there's the squareness issue, but that doesn't change the deal you're getting. I've only seen one review of them but it was definitely positive. Certainly more attractive as a purchase at $5k vs the regular $10k.

Why would they “overpower” the room, whatever that means?

 

[dolynick]

Why would they “overpower” the room, whatever that means?

Perhaps I should have said they'll be far more than what is required for a room that size?

They're also fairly physically large in this case.

I've used large towers in a small room before. It works fine, even if it's not their ideal target space.

 

[Dkclimb]

Great discussion. @BoredSysAdmin the speakers get great reviews and the saving grace of my room is that 2 of the walls are not vertical. Yes, it’s not ideal, but it’s not bad.

Nice perspective @dolynick and when you say that large speakers worked, how did you manage the speakers in the room? Did you do anything specific?

 

[dolynick]

Nice perspective @dolynick and when you say that large speakers worked, how did you manage the speakers in the room? Did you do anything specific?

It was a bedroom so there was little that could be done. They were stuff in where they could go and it was relatively corner restricted. They were my Paradigm Studio 100 v2s - a little shy of 4' tall, ~100 lbs each and rated 25Hz (DIN) - 20kHz in a room that was 13'x11' or so if I recall. Far more speaker than needed for the room and not a scenario to really get best out of them, but I still enjoyed them during their time there.

I believe the Elysian 4s are even larger. They have 10" or 12" woofers if I recall and I think they're also taller than the old Studios.

I'm not remotely a treatment expert, but you can probably do some stuff to help the mid to upper ranges being a bit too lively/reverberant in a smaller room like that. Bass you'll have to rely on placement to try and tame, but I suspect a small square room is going to be peaky and there's probably not a lot you can do about that other than just tuning down the bottom end in EQ given their output potential. Fortunately, room EQ is far more ubiquitous nowadays. It was barely on the radar yet in my case.

 

[Mikado463]

seems like a hell of a pair of speakers for less than half price ! Regardless, the smaller the square room the tougher it is to tame. Would the same deal be available on Elysain 2's ?

 

[Matt34]

Congrats, I have the next tier down in the Wharfedale lineup. Those Elysian 4 look fantastic in person!

 

[Dkclimb]

Hi @Mikado463 the best deal I can find on the 2s are more expensive than these 4s. They would be closer to my current vintage Acoustic Energy AE2s

Thanks @dolynick It sounds like the dimensions are quite similar. 1.2m by 0.4 by 0.4. Interestingly, they would end up only 20cm taller than my current stand mounts (stand + speaker AE2s). I’ve been using the treatment advice from Jesco at Acoustic Insider. And good point about the EQ.

 

[Dkclimb]

Congrats, I have the next tier down in the Wharfedale lineup. Those Elysian 4 look fantastic in person!

View attachment 70761

Nice. The ones I am looking at are also white. Not my first choice, but it’s difficult to pass up the deal. And how do you find them @Matt34 ?

 

[Eppie]

Great discussion. @BoredSysAdmin the speakers get great reviews and the saving grace of my room is that 2 of the walls are not vertical. Yes, it’s not ideal, but it’s not bad.

Nice perspective @dolynick and when you say that large speakers worked, how did you manage the speakers in the room? Did you do anything specific?

If two of the walls are not vertical and you have a trapezoidal shaped room, that should help with room mode issues typical for square rooms. Let us know if you get 4's and what you think of them. They are very well regarded.

 

[Dkclimb]

Ok. Update!
After a 9 hour round trip, I got the speakers. So the main questions were, are they too big for the room, would they ‘overpower’ the room, and the answer to both is NO.

AMAZING SPEAKERS

Up to the same listening levels as previously, 85-92db, they are effortless and far superior to my AE2s. Yes, after this point, then things start to rattle lol. But my sitting position is only about 2m away, so I don’t need it to be any louder

Playing Billie Eilish Bad Guy was phenomenal and didn’t cause any problems in the room. Stereophonics Vegas Two Times is a tricky track. The start was amazing and it was like I was standing in the room listening to the chatter, but when the track starts up properly, I did have to drop the level, but this was the same as before. I would love to know if anyone else struggles with this track?

I know it’s a cliche but sonically they disappeared. Physically they are big, but actually not imposing at all. The footprint is not much different than the stands I had. I have had to angle them down to my ears as the tweeter is higher, but I’ll mess around with this a bit more today

Overall, I am very happy