CES 2016: Elac Speakers and Electronics

[amirm]

Elac was the hit of the show at RMAF. I don't think there was a person who attended that show who did not walk away with the great value Andrew Jones had delivered in their tower speakers.

Alas the bloom was off the rose at CES for me. This time they were showing their bookshelf speakers. They did get loud and produce more bass than one imagines but the overall experience was not impressive. At a high-end show, I expect them to showcase their upper range, not lower.

They are done with speakers and driving hard to deliver on the rest of the chain from media player/server to amplification.

Here is a neat subwoofer/calibration software they have. You use any phone and hold it close to the speaker. Knowing the speaker response, it then calibrates what it is hearing through your phone. You then hold it at your listening point and it calibrates the speakers and your sub. Very neat.

Business end of their Roon Media Server running Linux. Said performance scales up to about 5,000 albums.

 

[Joe Whip]

A friend has the smallest speakers in for review and I have had the chance to listen. I was not thrilled with the sound.

 

[Blizzard]

Must be tough to compete in the passive loudspeaker space these days with so many great value options to choose from. Total different landscape than it was back in the 90's. That's the information age for us. But great for innovation and value for the consumer. Although the outsourcing to Asia isn't really healthy for anyone in the big picture.

 

[amirm]

And here is the all important playlist!!!

Funny that I bought that Yello album per Bob's recommendation last night!

 

[DaveC]

As I've said, the ELACs are good but good tweeters aren't cheap. ELAC speaker are cheap, and they don't have good tweeters.

 

[nc42acc]

Dave it's almost like a Davey and Goliath syndrome, people want the little guy to beat the big expensive speaker bully. Good design and implementation can go a long way as Mr Jones has proven at Elac but I agree parts quality does make a big difference in speaker drivers and the end result.

As I've said, the ELACs are good but good tweeters aren't cheap. ELAC speaker are cheap, and they don't have good tweeters.

 

[DaveC]

Dave it's almost like a Davey and Goliath syndrome, people want the little guy to beat the big expensive speaker bully. Good design and implementation can go a long way as Mr Jones has proven at Elac but I agree parts quality does make a big difference in speaker drivers and the end result.

Agreed, ELAC would be my first recommendation in the price range and I'm sure they can compare to some in higher price ranges too, but, well... ELAC did run a brilliant marketing campaign.

I do hope their music server turns out good, a $1kish Roon based server sounds great.

 

[nc42acc]

Sounds like the Elac server might be a big winner. At the asking price it will surely be worth giving it a try.

Agreed, ELAC would be my first recommendation in the price range and I'm sure they can compare to some in higher price ranges too, but, well... ELAC did run a brilliant marketing campaign.

I do hope their music server turns out good, a $1kish Roon based server sounds great.