AVS Forum banner

Elac Owners Thread

528K views 3K replies 546 participants last post by  Dé La Tríck 
#1 · (Edited)
Surprisingly there isn't an "official" thread for Elac speakers yet. Following the launch of the Debut line of speakers i thought that an Elac thread would be appropriate. I have just placed an order for a pair of B6 speakers and would like to hear from other owners. I have considered Wave Crest HVL-1,Chane A1rx-c, Dali Zensor 1, KEF Q 100 and Wharfedale Diamond 220 speakers. The ELAC speakers will be paired with the Panasonic SA-XR55 digital receiver - an interesting product in its own right.

Product specifications

http://elac.us/speakers/


CNET review of the B6 speakers


noaudiophile.com review of the B5 loudspeakers

Part-time audiophile: REVIEW: ELAC DEBUT B6 AND F5 LOUDSPEAKERS

Reference Home Theater ELAC B6 Speaker Review

CNET review of the F5 speakers

The under $300 Cheap Speaker Shootout (thorntonhifi.com)
Head to head comparison of nine speakers (including B5 and B6).

avtechreviews ELAC Debut B6 Bookshelf REVIEW


The Wirecutter "Best Bookshelf Speakers for Most People" review should be updated soon to include a test of the B6 speakers.
 
See less See more
#5 ·
I would love to see that review when it comes. These speakers sound promising to low-budget audiophiles who want quality sound at an affordable price. I am considering a pair of B5's myself but they seem to be out of stock currently on amazon.com.
 
#6 ·
I'm an owner, but not yet a receiver! When last checked, FedEx tells me that my speakers were in Clayton, IN at 11:10 last night. Unfortunately, after they arrive on Monday, I'm not going to be able to set them up at my vacation home for three weeks. Thus, they will sit, mocking me, boxed up in the basement. Eagerly anticipating other's reviews.
 
#7 ·
Surprisingly there isn't an "official" thread for Elac speakers yet. Following the launch of the Debut line of speakers i thought that an Elac thread would be appropriate. I have just placed an order for a pair of B6 speakers and would like to hear from other owners. I have considered Wave Crest HVL-1,Chane A1rx-c, Dali Zensor 1, KEF Q 100 and Wharfedale Diamond 220 speakers. The ELAC speakers will be paired with the Panasonic SA-XR55 digital receiver - an interesting product in its own right.

Product specifications

http://elac.us/speakers/


CNET review of B6 speakers

http://www.cnet.com/products/elac-debut-b6/

The Wirecutter "Best Bookshelf Speakers for Most People" review should be updated soon to include a test of the B6 speakers.
Have you owned/auditioned all of those speakers that you listed, or were they just on your list?
 
#9 ·
No, I loathe returning items. I was also waiting for the B6 speakers to come out. My current main speakers are the now defunct Athena Technologies MK II's (a true "bargain" at the time). The Elac B6 will sit on piers next to the "last great plasma" the Samsung F8500. Calling these "bookshelf" is a bit of a stretch as the B6 are rather tall at 14". The piers are open on all sides and very tall and wide but the top shelf still has only about 1" clearance from the top of the speaker. My current subwoofer is the "Andrew Jones designed" Pioneer SW-8MK2 S. That's possibly the weakest link in the setup. The B6 supposedly roll off at 46 Hz while the sub is still useful down to 38 Hz... I am not sure I'm convinced myself but it'll be either speakers by themselves or with the Pioneer sub since I cannot accommodate anything more powerful.
 
#8 ·
The ELAC speakers will be paired with the Panasonic SA-XR55 digital receiver - an interesting product in its own right.

.
Should be an interesting match up. I own 2 of those great Panny receivers.
 
#13 ·
They arrived, at last!

Received my two F5s and one C5 earlier this week. I was order #90 . They sound great! Watched an episode of Doctor Who, streamed from Netflix in PCM surround audio. Lots of special effects sounds,as well as a musical soundtrack all handled well by the speakers. Have also listened to Phantom of the Opera on CD, as well as streamed classical, jazz, and Hawaiian music. Nice!

(I finally replaced my expensive, at the time, 46 year old AR-3a speakers. In today's 2015 dollars, my original $500 AR-3as would now be equivalent to $3419. That's inflation.)

Awaiting the S12EQ sub. I spoke with an ELAC rep today, learned the warehouse has just received the subs. Andrew wants to personally do some QC testing on samples of the EQ subs prior to giving his blessing and allowing them to be shipped out. Should be available on the ELAC website the end of next week.

Remember ELAC ships all their Debut Andrew Jones speakers at no cost to the customer.
 
#15 ·
Received my two F5s and one C5 earlier this week. I was order #90 . They sound great! Watched an episode of Doctor Who, streamed from Netflix in PCM surround audio. Lots of special effects sounds,as well as a musical soundtrack all handled well by the speakers. Have also listened to Phantom of the Opera on CD, as well as streamed classical, jazz, and Hawaiian music. Nice!

(I finally replaced my expensive, at the time, 46 year old AR-3a speakers. In today's 2015 dollars, my original $500 AR-3as would now be equivalent to $3419. That's inflation.)

Awaiting the S12EQ sub. I spoke with an ELAC rep today, learned the warehouse has just received the subs. Andrew wants to personally do some QC testing on samples of the EQ subs prior to giving his blessing and allowing them to be shipped out. Should be available on the ELAC website the end of next week.

Remember ELAC ships all their Debut Andrew Jones speakers at no cost to the customer.
I am waiting on the 10EQ. I note that the iOS App is not at the App Store yet, or perhaps I just failed in my search. There is an ELAC sub App, but it refers to some different ELAC subs. Really looking foward to dialing in the new sub via an iPhone.
 
#14 ·
I'm waiting for the Atmos Add on Speakers to go with my Pioneer Andrew Set...Come on over...
 
#21 ·
Looking at the stats of both the Kef Q100 and the Elac B5, I would get the B5's. They have almost the same sensitivity but the B5's have a much better frequency response. You would also save $70.

Another option is to get the Elac B6 speakers for $280 which is $20 less than the Kef Q100. They have even better specs than the B5's.

Both of these Elac speakers look really good on paper. Now we just need a few people who are waiting for delivery to receive and review them to confirm their quality. Having been designed by Andrew Jones, I predict they will be a HUGE success for Elac and their new North American line.
 
#23 ·
The KEF speakers were $550 until a few days ago. Speaker specifications are loose pointers (like north/south) rather than indications of real world performance. The choice between the two speakers will likely be a matter of personal preference. Of course, that's not much comfort to online shoppers. I don't see the B6 blowing KEF out of the water though (or vice versa). As much as I like Steve Guttenberg I would like to see some other reviews of the B6. I will wait on my Elac order but it better ship soon.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Received my first Elac shipment and set up my new B5's tonight, listening to them now.

So far, I'm enjoying them quite a bit! Very impressive, especially considering price/size. I also have F5's and an S10 on order that will be here on Monday and a C5 that is still in the box...

The B5's are currently connected to a Yamaha RX-V579 AVR, streaming airplay, stereo 2-channel mode. Not exactly high end electronics behind them, but perhaps more typical of how they will be used. I plan on also trying driven by an Emotiva Mini-X a-100, also with airplay (airport express) as source.

I want to try some A/B comparisons:[ B5 vs. F5 ], [ B5 vs. Vanatoo T1 ], [ F5 vs. Vandersteen 2c (just for fun) ].

Eventually, I plan on running the F5/C5/B5/S10 combo as a 5.1 home theater setup, possibly buying a second pair of B5's (or B6's?) for a separate streaming audio setup.
 
#25 ·
Can you provide more feedback about the B5's? Maybe tell us what you find while listening to them. Try out several different types of music such as rock, blues, jazz etc. How do you find the base response out of the B5's? These are all questions inquiring minds want to know. LOL
 
#28 ·
I have a pair of B5's on or back-order from Amazon. Should be interesting. I suspect they will be very respectable speakers. But it's a little depressing to see the comments about the need-for-break-in and the promise of superior performance from premium crossover parts set in so early. You should be able to judge the B5's and most any other speaker right out of the box, or at least with only 5-30 minutes of play time, and throwing more money on designer caps and coils won't make any difference. Just enjoy what's sent you, and be thankful that it didn't cost much.
 
#33 ·
Just ordered some B6's today 10/19. My 14 year old daughter has "discovered" vinyl records. She loves them. I set her up with an old Yamaha receiver I have(love this old receiver), an audio-technic turntable and some cheap Sony Book Shelf speakers I had in the garage. Now I have a new room to rationalize trying out some new gear beyond my home theater room! LOL. I am going to hook up these speakers in place of the Sony's and see what it sounds like. I am running Definitive main speakers in the home theater room with a 2050 Yamaha so that will give a point of reference at least. Looking forward to trying them out with my daughter. I also have NHT bookshelves in the family room so those would make a good similar sized speaker to compare them against.


I must admit, I am chuckling over my daughters new found love of vinyl records. She never has "owned" music in the sense of buying a tangible "thing" that you can touch and feel. She loves the record stores and the artwork that comes with the albums and it give us something to do together on the weekends. Of course, I head to the used bin where my childhood is there in the form of old cheap records.
 
#44 ·
I'm listening to both B5's and F5's, as well as a few other speakers, and while I don't know that I have the listening or descriptive skills to do a highly meaningful review, I know what I like and can say that both of them needed an hour or so of play time before I began to enjoy them...

Break in? Brain adaption? Placebo effect? Not sure, but given the mechanical nature of speaker drivers, it isn't really that much of a stretch to think that they don't necessarily sound their best straight out of the box.
 
#49 ·
#50 ·
"Sadly, I didn't have the ELAC B6 bookshelf speakers on hand to do a direct comparison, but I think that speaker has a more refined, smoother, more accurate sound, with a flatter frequency response and better-defined bass than the RP-150M. The RP-150M counters with bigger, more forceful dynamics and improved sensitivity, so it can play louder with low-power amps, yet also handle up to 300 watts."

Speaker sensitivity was one of my concerns with the new AJ speakers. According to AJ himself "electricity is cheap". Most receivers should however be able to drive these effortlessly.
 
#52 ·
"Sadly, I didn't have the ELAC B6 bookshelf speakers on hand to do a direct comparison, but I think that speaker has a more refined, smoother, more accurate sound, with a flatter frequency response and better-defined bass than the RP-150M. The RP-150M counters with bigger, more forceful dynamics and improved sensitivity, so it can play louder with low-power amps, yet also handle up to 300 watts."

Speaker sensitivity was one of my concerns with the new AJ speakers. According to AJ himself "electricity is cheap". Most receivers should however be able to drive these effortlessly.
The bold part above is what I like to hear. I have listened to the Klipsch and I bet many in the 2-channel group have since they are readily available at big box stores. If you look at speakers like the Kef Q100 and Wharfedale Diamond 10.2 that are both comparable to the B5 by Elac they all have a sensitivity of 85 - 86 dB at 2.83 v/1m but if you look at the frequency response the Elac is the winner with 46 to 20,000 Hz with Keff having 49Hz - 40kHz and Wharfedale having 48-24kHz. If these measurements are accurate the Elac will have higher highs and lower lows. The Klipsch wins with sensitivity and if playing loud music is what you like that would be a way to go. If you want a more refined, accurate sound with better-defined bass then the Elac B5 is the way to go. (Again, this is all on paper mind you)

As you can see, this is comparing apples to apples and the bottom line looks like the Elac B5 at $230 (Amazon) beats out the Kef Q100 $550 (Kef Store) and the Wharfedale $300 (On Sale @ Music Direct).
 
#53 ·
#59 ·
I've been listening to the B5s for a couple of days now and can honestly say that I like them. A lot.

Now, I know nothing of "airiness" or "veils" or such. I just know that they sound much better, to me, than what I replaced (Klipsch Promedia 2.1). I am using these in a near-field desktop setup so they are no more than 1m away from my listening position. They are being powered by an Audioengine N22 desktop amp which is fine for this office setup but would be less than ideal for a larger room or further listening distance. I did feel that the sound could benefit by having a bit more bass so I connected the Klipsch 7" powered sub to the audio out of the N22 and things got a bit better - once again, to me. I've had that Promedia setup for about 10 years and may just be accustomed to having the SW running. That being said, I have every intention of adding a more capable SW in the future.

The speakers sound great with everything that I have thrown at them so far - classic rock (Stones, Floyd), indie (Band of Horses, Neutral Milk Hotel), post-punk (New Order, Joy Division), jazz (Davis, Brubeck), etc. All of this is being sourced from a PC in flac format.

All of this is just one dude's opinion, and this dude's opinion is that the speakers sound great.
 
Top