Wharfedale EVO 5.4

In the last decade or so, Wharfedale has done superbly well out of the retro revival. Speakers like the Linton have earned critical praise, been very strong sellers and have, for many people, become the products they associate with the Wharfedale name. This does rather obscure the fact that not every Wharfedale model looks like it escaped from the set of Mad Men. The EVO range is entirely modern in design and outlook, and has recently been updated into its fifth iteration. The EVO 5.4 is the larger of two floorstanding models, and the flagship of the range. 

In keeping with all members of the range, the EVO 5.4 uses drivers designed and built in-house, and that are relatively unusual things to find at this price. The tweeter is an 'Air Motion Transformer', a type of high-frequency drive unit that works on a principle more akin to bellows than your more conventional tweeter. This gives the AMT plenty of radiating area but very little mass, and the result is clean and immediate high frequencies with wide dispersion. The limitation of AMT drivers is that their low-end roll-off is relatively high compared to a dome tweeter - Wharfedale has increased the size of this unit for the new generation, with a view to boosting these attributes.

In order to ensure that this is handled correctly, the Evo 5.4 makes use of a dedicated midrange driver in the form of a 50mm dome that looks very similar to the one I encountered in the Super Denton. This handles frequencies between 1.1kHz and 4kHz, allowing the AMT and the bass drivers to focus on doing what they are good at. The bass drivers are a couple of 165mm woven Kevlar cones that work as a pair, and give the EVO 5.4 a claimed low-end roll-off of 42Hz - a decent number for a speaker at this price-point.

The drivers are encased in a cabinet made from a sandwich of woods of different densities to reduce panel resonance, and that features a curved cabinet side to further help with this. This cabinet ports at the bottom, using a system called ‘Slot Loaded Profiled Port’ (‘SLPP’) which radiates the air in multiple directions to control the airflow better and keep everything inaudible. This is combined with a set of outrigger feet that help stability and allow you to level the cabinet more easily. 

Sound Quality

Let’s cut straight to the chase. You cannot buy a bigger sound than this for £1399 - and when I say ‘bigger’ I mean more than simple low-end welly. 

We might as well start at the bottom, though, because this Wharfedale has seriously good bass. At a point where even floorstanding rivals at the price are generally out of ideas, the Wharfedale extends down effortlessly through 40Hz. The result is a low end you can feel as much as hear and, with large scale music in particular, the EVO 5.4 has considerable heft.

But crucially, it doesn’t make everything sound enormous. More intimate music doesn’t lose any of the delicacy and involvement it needs to convince, and there is no sense of dainty female vocalists being eight feet tall with lungs the size of phone boxes. In this particular area, the partnership between the AMT and that midrange dome is seamless and exceptionally well implemented. It’s genuinely impossible to tell where one driver ends and the other begins, and they maintain a lovely, consistent tonality. I felt this 50mm dome was a bit special when I listened to it in the Super Denton, but it’s arguably even better here. 

These drivers also contribute to the other aspect of scale in the Wharfedale’s performance. The stereo image that these speakers create is something that extends beyond the cabinets themselves and fills the space they are in with a performance that feels like a convincing facsimile of the real thing. Once again, the clever bit of this is when the music being played isn’t vast, the Wharfedale still leverage this ability to put air and space around the performance itself. There is very little anywhere near the price that can match this ability to fill a room with the ‘right’ sound. 

So these are perfect speakers, then? Arguing against it is complicated, and rather subjective. For me, the only real limitation that the EVO 5.4 displays is it’s not the most exciting speaker going. It’s tonally brilliant, spacious, detailed and hard-hitting -  but there are points when listening to music that usually makes me want to nod my head and rock out, I don’t feel the urge quite as much as I’d like. This is a very grown-up sounding speaker - but sometimes I’d like it to be fractionally more childish and willing to have a bit more fun. 

One more positive caveat of this maturity is that, for a speaker as detailed and accurate as this one can be, it’s impressively forgiving of less-than-perfect recordings while excelling with better ones. There have been points during the listening process where I have constantly had to remind myself that they cost £1399 and not rather more than that. 

Living with the Wharfedale EVO 5.4

The parent company of Wharfedale, International Audio Group, rarely (if ever) delivers a product that feels anything other than well bolted together - but the EVO 5.4 genuinely boggles the mind a bit. I do not know how Wharfedale has built a speaker of this size, equipped it with these drivers, and finished it to this standard, for £1399. Every single person who has seen them in the flesh has massively overstated what they think the retail price is.

Of course, this being a speaker that is well over a metre tall does mean the EVO 5.4 does its best work with a bit of room around it. The clever bass port ensures that it doesn’t react too adversely to nearby walls, but it’s capable of overloading smaller spaces if you aren’t careful. 

The Wharfedale doesn’t need a massively powerful amplifier though. The claimed sensitivity of 90dB/w feels believable in use, and while the four-ohm impedance is a little stiff it doesn’t seem to be too much of a problem in reality. 

There are four finishes available for the whole range, and Wharfedale supplied a pair in the new grey sheen finish (black, white and oak are also available). I have to confess that I’m not as big a fan of grey as Wharfedale seems to be, but I will happily concede it’s a good choice for the EVO 5.4 - it helps to keep the perceived mass down while being entirely of the moment. Combined with some styling tweaks that really do lift the aesthetics of the range as a whole, this is the perfect antidote for anyone who feels that some other Wharfedale designs look backwards rather than forwards. This looks and feels like a very serious speaker for the asking price. 

Conclusion

The EVO 5.4 is an impressive statement of intent from Wharfedale. Unlike the vintage members of the portfolio, this is a clean and modern bit of design that is packed with technology that’s very rare to encounter at less than double the price. It takes this tech, and its significant size, to deliver performance that is detailed, refined, spacious and hard-hitting. This is a phenomenal speaker for the asking price.

Listening notes

Dead Can Dance Aion
‍Some tracks on this album are truly vast compositions that need plenty of room. The EVO 5.4 delivers this with bells on, and throws in some superb tonality and serious bass to boot.

Jeff Beck Who Else!
The track entitled Brush with the Blues on this, um, quite eclectic album is pure audiophile tomfoolery - and the Wharfedale rise to the challenge magnificently. You can’t have this track sound better for less money. 

W.H. Lung Every Inch of Earth Pulsates
Listen to the Wharfedale set about this dense and potent album and it’s technically excellent, bringing space and cohesion to the tracks. There are points though when you wish it was prepared to let loose a little more, though.

If you have the space, there is no speaker at £1399 capable of more scale and sheer realism than the EVO 5.4 can muster. It’s a technical powerhouse at an incredibly competitive price, and you need to audition a pair.

Wharfedale’s sister companies Audiolab and Quad make a plethora of suitable amplifiers for the Evo 5.4, but my choice would be to leave the IAG family and head for another stone cold bargain in the form of the Cambridge Audio CXA 81 mkII. This has both the power and just enough spark of engagement in its own right to benefit the Wharfedale. This combination would likely be one of the out-and-out bargains of audio, combining genuinely brilliant sonics with connectivity for days at the same time. The good news is, though, the Wharfedale’s measurements don’t preclude many amps from getting a great tune from them.

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