[Bactilago]

Hello,
I am enjoying the Wharfedale Evo 4.2, they are a bit picky with positioning but overall they are good for the money.
I was wondering if it makes sense to upgrade the crossover with better parts. I would like to refine the sound and not change it significantly. Any suggestions?




Thank You.

[Bactilago]

Adding a better picture.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

My son has the Evo 4.4's and they sound great.  If you like the way they sound, then the only thing that I might change are those rectangular sandcast resistors and replace them with Mills resistors.  These will change the sound but not as much as changing the caps. Changing the caps will change the sound significantly. Also consider changing the wire to better wire although it looks like they used decent heavy gauge wire.  If you really want to upgrade the crossover then talk to Danny at GR-Research.  You would have to send the speakers to him and he would do measurements and then make recommendations.  You may or may not like the new and improved sound.

https://www.gr-research.com/

Mills resistors-
https://www.partsconnexion.com/mills-resistors.html

[Bactilago]

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, it is not possible for me to ship them over to Danny. I would like to try his binding posts though. I'm also thinking about Mills resistors and Audyn Caps at the moment.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, it is not possible for me to ship them over to Danny. I would like to try his binding posts though. I'm also thinking about Mills resistors and Audyn Caps at the moment.

Without doing before and after measurements you may make things worse.  Changing out the resistors are a safer bet and should clean up the sound.  Those sandcast resistors are terrible.  The Mills are very smooth sounding with a little bit of warmth when I used them on the tweeters on my Magnepans.  They sounded much better  than the sandcast resistors that Magnepan supplied.

[Bactilago]

I'll definitely change the resistors. I'd get caps some and experiment with them just for the fun of it.  Thanks for the piece of advice.

[Igor2711]

Hi Bactilago,
did you make any of the discussed modifications? was it worth it?
have the 4.2s and am very interested in modding them based on past good results with other makes / equipment.
best,
igor

[Xavier54]

Hi There,

I just bough a couple of these recently, I just love the way they look !

As per sound signature, they sound on the neutral side with a considerable roll-off on the highs.

I have them positioned against a wall, since I really don't have the room to spare, so they sound a bit boomy (there is certainly no lack of bass with these speakers ), and I have somehow corrected this with eq (more on this later).

When I was at the shop, overall I liked these , as they sound very clean overall, but I really liked the highs of the Diamond 12.3 better. I guess my ears are more suited to old school soft dome tweeters. The Evo 4.2 have a considerable (measurable) drop after 5 kHz.

I am definitely NOT looking for a "flat" sound. I am looking for an emotionally engaging sound.

I have to say I brought my NAD C315BEE to the shop as I know this plays a very important part, and I ended up buying a Rega Brio instead - I had NO idea that the amp could make such a difference, the Rega just destroys the NAD in every respect- dynamics, transients and overal tone.

Long story short, I sold my soul to the dark side and added a 2x15 band eq to the equation. High pass filter at 75Hz has gotten rid of all the boominess, and +3 dB at 6,3kHz and 10 kHz has brought the highs back. I can't really play too loud as this is an apartment block.

I am happy with the sound now, but I would just like the speakers to have more treble than they have, so I am not sure if by tweaking the crossover I could achieve that. I have seen what GR research did with the 4.4 , and this is one of the areas they improved. I just don't see the point in spending 600$ in a pair of speakers that cost 899$. I am wondering if changing the 33mF eletroc cap at the HF to a smaller value one would do the trick.

Sorry for the rant !! Thanks for reading....

[I.Greyhound Fan]

One thing to try to get a little more treble is to toe the speakers into your seating position.  I am shocked that the speakers sound rolled off.  My son's 4.4 do not sound rolled off.  I do know for a fact that Wharfedale tried real hard to make the AMT tweeter not to sound bright though.

[Xavier54]

One thing to try to get a little more treble is to toe the speakers into your seating position.  I am shocked that the speakers sound rolled off.  My son's 4.4 do not sound rolled off.  I do know for a fact that Wharfedale tried real hard to make the AMT tweeter not to sound bright though.

Already did that........ I actually measured L+R from my seating position, with 1/3 of octave smoothing, and this is what came out.

The peak in the low frequencies is due to being stuck to the wall, but after 5 kHz thinks fall apart very quickly.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Are you sitting at tweeter height or are you off axis?

The frequency response of the 4.4's on the GR website looks different than what you measured for your 4.2's.  I wonder if there is something wrong with the speakers or if they use different X-over parts than the 4.4's.

[Xavier54]

Are you sitting at tweeter height or are you off axis?

The frequency response of the 4.4's on the GR website looks different than what you measured for your 4.2's.  I wonder if there is something wrong with the speakers or if they use different X-over parts than the 4.4's.

That's with the tweeters pointing at my face...... the Xover board is the same for the whole Evo series, only some of the components change depending on model. This is why I think I am a few caps and resistors away from a solution.