From the top-of-the-line Elysian 4 and down through the series, the complete range has been the proud recipient of countless awards and honours to support its claim to be a boundary-pushing, price-point-defying example of luxurious loudspeakers.
Developed in response to market demand, Elysian 3 brings all the magnificence associated with its preceding sister models but offers the 3-way configuration and floor-standing design, as seen in Elysian 4, but in a generally more living room-friendly, more compact-footprint format.
As with all Elysian models, each component is engineered to the very highest standard. The drivers, the crossover, the cabinet – every aspect has been developed in harmony and without cost constraint to push the project to its performance limit.
The Elysian 3 is loaded with the class-leading AMT HF unit; a radically different way of moving air, using a large, pleated, lightweight diaphragm driven across its surface by rows of strategically placed metallic strips immersed in a strong magnetic field. The pleats in the diaphragm contract and expand under the influence of the musical drive, squeezing the air between them to form the desired waveform.
Not only is this an efficient way of moving air but it is also very accurate as the diaphragm is under close control of the motor system at all times. In addition, the AMT is a velocity, rather than pressure, transducer, capable of producing scintillatingly fast transients and dynamics. The result is a wide bandwidth device that achieves low distortion naturally and delivers wonderful musical detail.
In the spirit of Gilbert Briggs, who was well known for experimenting with new driver materials, Wharfedale investigated a range of options to match the sensitivity and accuracy of the AMT treble unit.
The designers settled on a proprietary woven glass fibre matrix, formed into a 150mm cone. This provides a superb combination of low mass and high strength, with the addition of a high-plasticity coating to control its acoustic behaviour. With such a low-mass cone, only a low-damping, foamed, rubber-like material would match the surround – again, coated for durability.
Drive energy for the cone comes from a 25mm, 2-layer voice coil centred in a magnetic gap fitted with an aluminium ring to control eddy currents, linearise inductance and so increase bandwidth and reduce distortion. The whole assembly is fitted to a die-cast aluminium basket with large ventilation windows below the spider to improve transient response.
A central phase plug is specially shaped to linearise the output across a wide bandwidth, even off-axis, enhancing a natural response to the music which can be heard anywhere the listener wishes to sit.
This midrange driver enables the ELYSIAN speakers to deliver voices and instruments with astonishing realism. Vocalists seem to be present in the room with the listener – simply close your eyes and listen to the palpable presence of singers in the acoustic space.
