Wharfedale Elysian 2 – Piano Black – Bookshelf Speaker

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About the Wharfedale Elysian 2 – Piano Black – Bookshelf Speaker:

A true embodiment of luxury audio, ELYSIAN offers indulgence in design, materials, aesthetics, and performance. A thorough and uncompromising approach has led Wharfedale's engineers to create a benchmark for affordable, audiophile-quality luxury loudspeakers. Advanced design and leading-edge technology combine to deliver a musical performance that will proudly challenge the world's finest speakers.

From the piano-finished cabinet, crafted with true craftsmanship details, to the AMT (Air Motion Transformer) high-frequency transducers and European-made bass drivers, ELYSIAN represents a new standard in the world of home audio experiences.

The resulting sound, from the finely balanced driver selection and expert crossover design, matches the pristine design with a level of natural transparency that will leave you breathless.

One for the connoisseur and one for the history books, ELYSIAN makes you wonder, how is that possible in this price range?

ELYSIAN is truly an audio-technical work of art.

Elysian AMT

The AMT (Air Motion Transformer) is a radically different way to move air. A large, pleated, lightweight diaphragm is driven across its surface by rows of strategically placed metal strips immersed in a powerful magnetic field. Under the influence of the musical drive, the pleats in the diaphragm contract and expand, forcing the air between them to form the desired waveform.

This is not only an efficient way to move air, but it is also extremely precise because the diaphragm is under the precise control of the motor system at all times. Furthermore, the AMT is a velocity transducer rather than a pressure transducer, capable of producing sparklingly fast transients and dynamics. The result is a wide-bandwidth device that naturally achieves low distortion and delivers beautiful musical detail.

Midrange

In the spirit of Gilbert Briggs, who was known for his experimentation with new driver materials, Wharfedale explored a range of options to match the sensitivity and accuracy of the AMT treble unit.

The designers opted for a patented woven fiberglass matrix, formed into a 150mm cone. This provides an excellent combination of low mass and high strength, with the addition of a high-plasticity coating to control the acoustic behavior. With such a low-mass cone, only a layer of dampening, foamed, rubber-like material would be suitable for the surround – again, coated for durability.

The cone is driven by a 25mm, two-layer voice coil centered in a magnetic gap, fitted with an aluminum ring to control eddy currents, linearize inductance, and thus increase bandwidth and reduce distortion. The entire assembly is mounted on a cast aluminum basket with large ventilation windows under the spider to improve transient response.

A central phase plug is specially shaped to linearize the output over a wide bandwidth, even off-axis, amplifying a natural response to the music that can be heard wherever the listener chooses to sit.

This midrange driver allows the ELYSIAN speakers to reproduce voices and instruments with astonishing realism. Vocalists seem to be present in the room with the listener – simply close your eyes and hear the palpable presence of the singers in the acoustic space.

Wharfedale Elysian 2 Bass – Piano Black – Bookshelf Speaker

The midrange unit is combined with a fiberglass matrix cone for the bass unit, in this case sealed with a highly flexible rubber surround and driven by a specially developed low-distortion motor system. Mounted on a die-cast aluminum chassis, the magnet system features an aluminum ring for eddy current control, immersing the 17,5 mm long, 38 mm diameter voice coil in a high flux over a linear excursion of 12 mm.

To plumb the depths of the lowest frequencies in recorded music, the 220mm bass units – one in the ELYSIAN 2, two in the ELYSIAN 4 – are capable of reaching into the room down to below 28Hz, revealing the full body and impact of percussion, string and wind instruments.

The firm

For ELYSIAN, we wanted to create a cabinet that both enhanced the acoustic output of the drivers and was a piece of furniture the owner could be justifiably proud of. Hand-crafted, exotic veneers are echoed by genuine piano lacquer, hand-polished to six levels of depth for a truly beautiful finish.

Beneath the veneer, working unseen, is a sandwich of different woods designed to reduce panel resonance to a level below audible. This multi-layered construction, PROS (Panel Resonance Optimization System), has another benefit: it prevents the leakage of unwanted sound energy from the cabinet, which would otherwise disrupt the forward output of the drive units.

Crossover

The bass drivers are loaded by an advanced version of Wharfedale's signature slot-loaded port. Called SLPP (Slot-Loaded Profiled Port), it ensures that the rear output of the bass drivers isn't wasted. Instead, the lowest-frequency energy is channeled into a slot at the bottom of the speaker, specifically profiled to equalize the high internal pressure with the low pressure in the chamber.

This reduces the distortion typical of bass reflex systems and increases the port's efficiency. Furthermore, because the air is evenly distributed throughout the room, the speakers require less finicky placement.

Combined, the bass drivers and SLPP bass reflex system form the solid foundation upon which the rest of the musical performance rests, allowing you to both feel and hear the full impact of thunderous low-frequency information. The high overall system sensitivity, approaching 92dB for 1 watt of input, allows each amplifier to reveal the full dynamic range of the music fed to it, without strain or limitation.

Combining the drivers' outputs is a sophisticated computer-modeled crossover developed over hundreds of hours of listening testing, fine-tuned to ensure a seamless blend between the drive units. Crossover slopes are modeled after each individual driver's acoustic response, matched to Linkwitz-Riley characteristics, with crossover frequencies chosen to maximize the optimal, linear performance of each drive unit. Of particular importance is the phase consistency across the drive unit output, allowing for a wide range of seating positions and encouraging highly linear power response throughout your listening room.

Crossover components have been chosen for their transparency, with silicon iron core coils in the bass and midrange with low DCR giving the amplifier excellent control over the drivers, plus air core coils in the highs and low ESR, Polypropylene capacitors throughout the signal path, ensuring you hear all the musical detail without anything being held back.

You'll hear the full range of instruments like cello and bass guitar, without straining to enjoy the full dynamics of the musical recital. Whether you're listening to solo piano, a full orchestra, a jazz trio, or a multi-instrument rock performance, ELYSIAN is more than capable of bringing the thrill and excitement of the performance into your listening room.

Technical Specifications of the Wharfedale Elysian 2 – Piano Black – Bookshelf Speaker

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