Wharfedale Elysian 4 Incredible build quality and sound, but made in China.

Aside from China or USA made, wharfedale makes one Heluva speaker no matter the price point. I still Love my Diamond 225's....those Lintons have received rave reviews from everyone....

@arcticdeath,

"apple the biggest,iphones, iPads, pods, etc etc.

they have about 30$ worth of parts, and stuff, yet, they sell em for 1,000$
profit is the ultimate goal. Nothing else matters."


Yes, but this is how they became the biggest company on the planet.

And let’s not even talk about suicide nets outside windows for those poor workers nailed down into doing double shifts all year round.

I’m not usually too bothered about where stuff is made providing it’s made well, and built to last, but I’m drawing the line at suicide nets.

Especially when the company concerned seems totally unwilling to share even the tiniest tiniest portion of its incredibly vast profits with the people that provide the labour.

I’d like to think that the IAG group who are also responsible for Quad, Audiolab, Mission, Luxman, Leak and Castle as well as Wharfedale don’t do business in such a way.

https://www.wharfedalepro.com/about.php?id=76

After looking at my audio system outside the Jena labs cables nothing I own is made in the USA,and it sounds killer to me...I could care less where it comes from..my amp is from New Zealand, my back up tube amp is from China,my failing cd player from Japan,my speakers are from Korea,my sub from great Britain.

Same product, only made elsewhere.


apple the biggest,
iphones, iPads, pods, etc etc.  

  they have about 30$ worth of parts, and stuff, yet, they sell em for 1,000$
profit is the ultimate goal. Nothing else matters.

Yes, but how do they sound?

If this is Wharfedale's best loudspeaker, then shouldn't we be interested?

Business ethics can only have very little to do with the way the modern world operates. Price and quality come first.

Having said all that I would be most reluctant to ever buy another Apple product again.

As long as there are alternatives.

China has essentially no protections for workers or the environment. The electronics manufacturers aren't so bad but speaker manufacturers are terrible. Workers spraying paints and lacquers with no respiratory protections, literally poisoning themselves. Then, at the end of the day after clean up, all the solvents are simply dumped on the ground, poisoning the water for entire communties. Meanwhile, domestic manufacturing is hollowed out and everybody has to work at Walmart or Amazon for poverty wages and crap benefits.

But, hey, we saved $5000. Woohooo!

 

We may not be able to avoid all Chinese made components, but we can certainly TRY to buy products that say "Made in the USA," rather than those which proclaim blatantly that they're made in China. Disengagement from Beijing is necessary in all areas if we are to return to being self-sufficient and not subject to undue international pressure.

People in the Wharfedale Facebook group who own Elysians say that they love the sound. I'm waiting for an official review in print or on YouTube. Tharbamar has been showing off his pair of Elysian 2's  on YouTube, but he has yet to review them. 

yeah ok but how do the wharfedales sound????? do they sound as good as they look?

VERY little of everything made in USA does not have Chinese parts !

Very few products are truly completely "Made in the U.S.A.". From procuring materials, sub - assemblies and final assemblies most things are partially made from all over the world. Even your made in the U.S.A. speakers, is the MDF from the USA? The crossover components? internal stuffing? Veneer? Drivers? Don't be fooled by the made in the USA BS, most things are not. Even your all - American F150 has parts procured and sub - assembled throughout Asia. 

 My buddy has the ELysian 4 and absolutely loves them. He also has the $45K-50K AG Duo's so it says something to me that he keeps the "4" in rotation with those babies.  Revel 206/208 (I had the 208) arent remotely close in sound quality OR appearance to the "4". Not in the same league at all.   If your going to make a realistic comparison to Revel use the Studio 2 or Salon 2 please. 

Most stuffs including speakers are made in China. I would say 90% of stuffs at Walmart probably made in China.

Also it’s interesting OP thinks $10K speakers are a bargain :-) It’s a rather basic three way with two bass drivers, probably 4th order filter ... everything done basically by the book. I would say $10K is rather expensive for something rather conventional. More like $5K.

You could get a set of  Revel F206 for less than $5K.  They are both 3way with 2 bass drivers, 4th order filter.
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-ojnQLviKONt/p_265F206BK/Revel-Performa3-F206-Piano-Black.html

Entirely due to nothing intentional, and nothing against Chinese manufacturing particularly (all my clothes, phones, computers...you get it), my Klipsch Heresy speakers, Schiit items including my preamp, and Dennis Had hand made power amp...all USA made. Who knew? Note that some of my Neutrik items were made in Liechtenstein...do we have any issues with them?

stereo5, you are the only one here thumping your chest and crying. I have zero interest in american politics. I value companies that take pride in their rich history and heritage and am willing to pay a premium for it. I stand by what I said, if a speaker was made in the USA, I would pay a significant premium for it. That is why I am looking at upgrading to Wilson, or other made in USA speakers one day. It annoys me that my JBL were made in Mexico.

And by the way I already bought my McIntosh gear like two weeks before I even made my comment at close to full retail price, a brand new MC462 power amp and matching C53 preamp. I spent over $20,000 Canadian dollars on the equipment. Your assumptions about me and calling me out on BS were and are unfounded.

I have no interest in the subject of this thread but wanted to say, let's please keep politics out of this forum. There are plenty of places for that and we don't need it here please.

Doubtful you would pay an extra 5K for the speaker to be made here.  Talk is cheap and you are full of it.  Golden Ear is an American company in case you forgot.  I also own 2 Hyundai car and suv. You can now cry about that too.  Don’t blame China, blame the American companies that got huge tax breaks and instead of hiring more workers or move manufacturing to the US, they bought back their own stock.  Reagan’s trickle down effect didn’t work then and it still does not work now. 
If I were you, I wouldn’t buy anything made in China, including 90% of all medications.  Do your homework before you thump your chest and cry for American made products made here.   The only reason you are all against China is because a big fat blowhard cried about it on Twitter.  Can you guess who?

Why would you pay $5k more for the exact same quality speaker? Makes no sense.  
Why? Because Communist China is an enemy country. It’s time to divest in china and make more things here. I’d rather pay extra for a product made in the USA, including audio. Buy American, easier said than done, but the process needs to start.

Keep buying “made in china “ and it will turn into your only option. Pharmaceutical is a current example that could turn into an issue (I believe all ibuprofen is made there)

@d2girls,
"I’d pay the extra 5k for the speaker to be made in USA, at least so far as the Tritons are concerned "

You would pay $5,000.00 more for the same speaker if it was made in the USA yet you were looking for a discount on McIntosh.  Who is kidding who?  I call BS.

@hiendmmoe,  can you tell us more about the sound?  I am dying to hear these. 

Why would you pay $5k more for the exact same quality speaker? Makes no sense.

I’d pay the extra 5k for the speaker to be made in USA, at least so far as the Tritons are concerned 

My GE Triton Reference speakers are made in China and at $10,000.00 are a fantastic deal. There is a lot of technology packed into the speakers.  If it was manufactured here, it would probably cost 15K or more.