The Sound
Contents
The Wharfedale Evo 4.3 in white look great in the living room. The tapered cabinet makes them look slimmer than the sizes suggest and to my knowledge no other brand has that at this price point. This should benefit the sturdiness of the speakers and also the quality of the sound. For the price, the finish is of higher quality than what you might expect. I am genuinely surprised at the difference between the press photos and the gems I now have in front of me.
Wharfedale if you are reading this, invest in better press photos, they do the Evo 4.3 no justice!
The placement
Just for your imaging; the living room is 12 meters long and 5 meters wide. Next to the right speaker is a tall aluminum heater, door with glass in it and large windows. Between the speakers is a wooden TV cabinet with our Sony 55 inch KD-A8 Oled TV. In front of the speakers, a wooden TV cabinet on a rug with a fabric L shaped bench where the center of the bench is the listening position. Then to the left of the left speaker a large open space.
Why do I mention this? It is a living room space where the acoustics are challenging and there is no optimization (yet). This is where the Yamaha R-N 803D network amplifier with its YPAO room correction will be important. After several months of practice, the actual reviewing can finally begin!
We start with the opening track of the wonderful film TENET composed by Ludwig Goransson. Those who have seen the movie know that after about 30 seconds of introduction, the first scene begins very energetic to the accompaniment of the song “Rainy Night in Tallinn”. The track is full of dynamics. And just like in the cinema, your editor at home is startled again. Without blinking an eye, the speakers strongly reproduce first the calmness, then shows the suspension and finally thus the dynamic and rhythmic pace of the track
At the cutting edge
What also stands out is the sharpness with which the strings are turned on. Too much of a good thing? Certainly not, but it is immediately clear that we are dealing with transparent and neutral speakers that seek the edge. When I aim the speakers directly at the listening position, the image is put on too sharp, you lose width of the image and it is not suitable for sensitive ears.
Instead, I decide to turn the speakers in just a little and am welcomed by a clear landscape of sound where everything clearly has its place; both in depth, width and also height. This is underlined yet again by tracks like Bubbles by creative genius Yosi Horikawa. Each individual ping pong ball, marble and dice bounces and rolls expertly across a table or down a flight of stairs. It’s so well recorded that a surfeit of atmospheric sound falls over you, as it were. Whereas the first track especially gave strong dynamics, rhythm and clarity, now it is mostly a relaxed and calm experience of natural sound.
Vocal
The combination of mid-dome driver and AMT tweeter makes me suspect that vocally the Wharfedale Evo 4.3 must be very strong. To test this, we play “Formidable” by Stromae. Almost immediately there are goose bumps on the arms, what an emotion the speakers convey. They know how to play this song in such a vulnerable way, very impressive!
To stay within the same bandwidth, we then listen to “There will be time”, a collaboration between the British folk rock band Mumfurd & Sons and the Senegalese singer Baaba Maal. From the subdued beginning with micro details, the song switches halfway into a swinging party that makes you want to get up and dance! The emotion starts to get the better of me. These speakers ensure that the music can really touch me, delicious.
To not get stuck in the vulnerability and emotionally captivating songs we switch to harder, rawer and especially faster work. Starting with a stonebank remix of the song “Spitfire” by Infected Mushroom. Wow! What speed suddenly comes out of these Wharfedale’s! While they remain transparent, detail rich and neutral, it’s speed and rhythm at mach ten.
Small notable point, they clearly do not reproduce an excess of bass. If that is on the wish list then you could opt for the bigger brother the Evo 4.4. Do the woofers disappoint then? Certainly not.
When we switch to the album “here’s the drop” by Deadmau5 it goes deep, hard and again fast. We regularly feel the low pressure. And that despite playing with pure direct on the Yamaha. The volume knob goes to the right and stays there while we close with Tool and specifically the song “The Pot”. As far as I’m concerned, all songs can last more than 10 minutes if they sound as wonderful as this! Is there nothing negative to say about these speakers? Please read on.
