Elac B6 loudspeaker review

don0

I have seen the Andrew Jones Elac B6 loudspeaker mentioned on here.

Some might be interested in the review on the Stereophile website.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/elac-debut-b6-loudspeaker#GdYErYuhC7g52S0r.97

halo

@madmax Do you agree with the reviewer's assessment of the ELAC Debut B6 speakers?

madmax

Somewhat, although I don't get his point about massive vibrations causing a change in sound, nor have I noticed massive vibrations, it doesn't seem so in my room anyway. So far I've really enjoyed them, especially in the imaging and overall sound. I think I described the sound as Majestic previously. As with all speakers the setup in the room and associated equipment can make you love them or hate them. The guy seems all over the place though, kind of like I am once in awhile when I turn on one of my systems and hate everything I hear while knowing it has sounded great for the longest time. Mood, attitude, time of day etc. Could be he found that special mix of sounds that just didn't senergize well. Overall I don't know whether or not he quite understands what he heard and why.

halo

I think it was explained in the technical analysis in referring to the vibrations present in the cabinets.

Are any cabinets completely free of vibrations?

I guess the more costly the cabinet the more dense the material?

madmax

I'll play them tonight an feel for vibrations. I noticed what AJ said was that stiffening the boxes just brings the vibrations up into the audible freqency range so I'm guessing they must vibrate at a very low frequency.

To me, really, if they sound great what do I care. Don't the Harbeths use stiff real wood panels because you can hear them resonate and it adds to the overall sound in that particular design?

halo

madmax wrote: »

I'll play them tonight an feel for vibrations. I noticed what AJ said was that stiffening the boxes just brings the vibrations up into the audible frequency range so I'm guessing they must vibrate at a very low frequency.

To me, really, if they sound great what do I care. Don't the Harbeths use stiff real wood panels because you can hear them resonate and it adds to the overall sound in that particular design?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

I'm not in the business of reviewing audio equipment and I understand the whole concept of what you're saying. If he hadn't pointed it out in the article, we wouldn't be talking about it.

I've watched a few videos of Jones discussing the compromises that he has to make to stay within a certain budget and I get that. I wouldn't have pre-ordered a pair of the UB5 speakers if it weren't for all the positive press and F1Nut's post about the new UniFi line from ELAC.

mhardy6647

For most of the history of loudspeaker design, the prevailing philosophy embraced acoustically 'dead' cabinets, imparting no resonance to the reproduced waveform. However, there are examples of deliberately designed 'lossy' or flimsy enclosures. The best known may be the BBC LS-3/5A nearfield monitor specification; LS-3/5A "compliant" loudspeakers were - and still are - made by several vendors & were, and are, in demand. The modern loudspeakers made by Harbeth were influenced and inspired by the idea of the LS-3/5A mini-monitor specification. The Harbeth monitors are held in pretty high regard in many circles.

http://www.harbeth.co.uk/usergroup/showthread.php?351-BBC-style-thin-wall-cabinets-Why-so-special

madmax

I thought that was the case. Awhile back I was thinking of building a pair of speakers from some blueprints and there was a lot of talk on their forum of things such as MDF makes them sound bad in some aspects and that changing between a few different types of wood made certain notable differences. Not necessarily making them better or worse overall, just different tradeoffs and a different character. As to what is best sounding is really up to the designer and the person considering building or buying them.

I too wouldn't have ordered the UB5s if I hadn't already been won over by the B6. I guess I read that "sex toy" comment and the thing about the stethoscope and pretty much disregarded the reviewers opinions, it turned me off.

madmax

halo wrote: »

Are any cabinets completely free of vibrations?

I played some music loud with plenty of bass output and the B6 cabs vibrate but nothing out of the ordinary as far as I could tell. So then I hooked up the LSiM 703s and they vibrated as well. The B6 seemed to vibrate at a lower freqency than the 703s but thats the only difference I noted.

halo

Thanks for posting your observations