In this review, we will be comparing GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor and Elysian 2, two Passive Bookshelf speakers from GoldenEar and Wharfedale. Let's have a brief look at the main features of GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor and Wharfedale Elysian 2 first before getting into our more detailed comparison.
In the following sections, we will get into details in order to better understand how GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor and Wharfedale Elysian 2 compares and hopefully end up with enough arguments to decide which one of these loudspeakers is the better choice for you.
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Drivers
One of the fundamental differences between these two speakers is that GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor is a 2-way design whereas Elysian 2 is a 3-way speaker. 3-way designs utilize a midrange driver in addition to the tweeter and woofer on 2-way designs. Designing a crossover for a 3-way speaker is a complicated process and generally increases the overall cost of the speaker. GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor features a " Folded Ribbon Tweeter and 1 x 7" Polypropylene Woofer . On the other hand, Elysian 2 features a 27x90mm" AMT (Ribbon) Tweeter , a 6" Midrange and 1 x 8.5" Coated Fiberglass Woofer with a Crossover frequency at 360Hz and 2900Hz.
Frequency Response
GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor has a frequency range of 38-35k Hz whereas Elysian 2 has a frequency range of 35-22k Hz. With a minimum frequency of 38Hz, the GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor can go slightly deeper then the Elysian 2's min frequency of 35Hz.
Below graphs depict how these two speakers compare with the max, min and average values of the Min and Max Frequencies of other speakers under Bookshelf class in our database.
Low Frequency
Bookshelf Speakers
GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor
High Frequency
Bookshelf Speakers
GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor
Impedance and Sensitivity
GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor is a 8 ohms speaker compared to Elysian 2 which has a nominal impedance of 4 ohms. These two speakers also have different sensitivity levels. GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor sensitivity is rated at 90 dB and Elysian 2's is at 89 dB. This 1 dB difference makes GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor a more sensitive speaker compared to Wharfedale Elysian 2, hence will play louder with the same amount of watts.
Sensitivity
Bookshelf Speakers
GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor
Power Range
GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor has a power range of 10-250 watts RMS whereas Elysian 2 has a power range of 25-250 watts.
Input Type and Bi-Amping / Bi-Wiring
Elysian 2 features Post posts which makes bi-amping or bi-wiring possible. GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor has a 5-way post which doesn't feature bi-amping/bi-wiring.
GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor's 5-way post terminals
Wharfedale Elysian 2's Post terminals allows Bi-amping or bi-wiring
Cabinet Type and Port Position
GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor has a rear firing port whereas Elysian 2 has a bottom firing ports. Wharfedale Elysian 2's bottom-firing port gives more flexibility in placement in regards to proximity to walls compared to GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor with its rear-firing port.
Physical Specs
Size of a speaker can sometimes become an important decision factor due to space constraints or in some cases purely for esthetic reasons. In this section, We are going to compare GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor's and Wharfedale Elysian 2's external dimensions. GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor has external dimensions of 356.0 x 229.0 x 281.0mm ( 14 x 9 x 11-1/16inch) whereas Wharfedale Elysian 2 has external dimensions of 700.0 x 334.0 x 462.0mm ( 27.5 x 13.1 x 18.1inch) .
Wharfedale Elysian 2 is clearly the larger of the two speakers. Its body is 105mm wider, 344mm taller and 181mm deeper than GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitor.