Wharfedale Elysian 3 Speakers are a more compact, living room friendly version of the award winning Elysian 4. It still has the three-way configuration, but with a more compact footprint.

Every component of this floorstanding speaker is engineered to the highest possible standard and without cost constraint. The pleated tweeter is an efficient low distortion design, with a large surface area and great musicality. The midrange cone is made of woven glass fibre for low distortion and a wide frequency response. Elysian 3 has two 220mm woofers and a computer modelled crossover.

Pleated diaphragm tweeter

Elysian 3 Features a class-leading AMT tweeter, with a large pleated diaphragm. This is driven by metallic strips that are sandwiched between two magnetic pole pieces. The pleats in the diaphragm are modulated by the audio signal creating sound. This squeezes the air like a concertina. This type of high frequency driver is very efficient and accurate. Additionally, this is a velocity rather than a pressure device. The result is very fast transients and stunning dynamics. Moreover, this wideband device has low distortion as well as great musical detail.

Elysian midrange

The Elysian 3 midrange unit features a low mass cone made of a woven glass fibre matrix. The 150mm cone has a high strength, and high-plasticity coating, to control the acoustic behaviour. To go with the low mass cone is a lightweight low damping, foamed, rubber surround.

The midrnge speaker is a good match to the treble unit. The cone is driven by a 2-layer voice coil that is fitted into the magnetic gap with an aluminium ring. This controls eddy currents and helps to linearise the inductance. As a result, the bandwidth is increased and the distortion reduced. Furthermore, the whole assembly is then fitted into a die-cast aluminium basket. The basket has large ventilation windows that improve the transient response.

Finally, a central phase plug is used to even out the frequency response so that it is flat. Even off-axis the sound is natural, giving voices an astonishing realism.

Large excursion woofer

To match the midrange unit, the Elysian 3, has two 220mm bass units with glass fibre cones. These are also mounted in a highly flexible rubber surround. The low distortion motor system is mounted on a die-cast aluminium chassis. There is an aluminium ring that reduces eddy currents. The large 38mm diameter voice coil has a large excursion of 12mm. Finally, the Elysian 3 has two woofers that go down as low as 28Hz for full bodied impact, with percussion.

A quailty well damped cabinet

Elysian 3 has a reduced footprint, but still boast a well finished cabinet, with handcrafted veneers. The piano finish lacquers are hand-polished to six levels of depth to give a truly beautiful sheen. Below the veneer sits a sandwich of different density woods. This is designed to dampen any resonances and block any leakage of sound that would interfere with the front drivers. There is also a slot loaded bottom firing bass port. The distortion is reduced compared to a typical bass reflex system. As a result, the bass has a thunderous impact.

Computer modelled crossover

The drivers are controlled by an advanced computer modelled crossover. This has been developed with hundreds of hours of listening tests. Each crossover is fine-tuned to ensure that the blend between drive units is as even and flat as possible. The crossover slope of each unit is measured and then matched with the crossover frequency so that the linearity of the sound is optimised. The result is great phase consistency, enabling a wide range of seating positions, anywhere in the room.

General Description

- 3-way floorstanding speaker

- Enclosure Type - Bass reflex

- Transducer Complement - 3-way

- Bass Driver - 7" (180mm) coated fibre glass - matrix cone x 2

- Midrange Driver - 6" (150mm) coated fibre glass - matrix cone

- Treble Driver - 27 x 90mm AMT

- AV Shield - No

- Sensitivity (2.83V @ 1m) - 89dB

- Recommended Ampli?er Power - 30-200W

- Peak SPL - 108dB

- Nominal Impedance - 4Ω (compatible 8Ω)

- Minimum Impedance - 2.3Ω

- Frequency Response (+/-3dB) - 44Hz ~ 22kHz

- Bass Extension (-6dB) - 35Hz

- Crossover Frequency - 375Hz, 2.9kHz

- Cabinet Volume (in litres) - 9.4L, 35L

- Dimensions (mm) -

- Height (on plinth) - 1050mm

- Width (on plinth) - 263mm

- Depth (with terminals) - (285+30)mm

- Carton Size - 425 x 415 x 1155

- Net Weight - 28.45kg/pcs

- Gross Weight - 35.37kg/ctn