ELAC Uni-Fi - UF5 or UB5?

Paradoxex

DSkip wrote: »

If you have a thousand perfectly capable drivers that were just off in color, you'd toss them all? This is an opportunity for people to get into these speakers for even less than they originally anticipated. There is nothing poor about the quality of the drivers... It's just a dye mistake. I guess I don't see where this is something they should be given grief over as B-stock happens. The only thing going against them is the massive publicity and customers foaming at the mouth to get them in hand.

That's why they should be given grief, and this isn't just something that "happens." This was the first run, past date, and they made promises to consumers. Most B-stock items I see show up on items with existing inventory or an established supply chain, thus B-stock turns lemons into lemonade. Here everyone paid for, and was promised the real deal up front.

I see this as the down side of driving so much hype around speakers, doing pre-orders, establishing an aggressive delivery date - all of those are promises you have to keep. When you start to default on a few of the promises (delivery date, error-free execution), people begin to doubt some of the others (quality of product overall). ELAC deserves some of the benefit of the doubt, sure, but they deserve some derision. Otherwise there's no incentive for anyone to be honest with their deliver timeframes, etc.

madmax

I think I'm good with the anomally. If nothing else its an item of interest in history.

halo

Paradoxex wrote: »

That's why they should be given grief, and this isn't just something that "happens." This was the first run, past date, and they made promises to consumers. Most B-stock items I see show up on items with existing inventory or an established supply chain, thus B-stock turns lemons into lemonade. Here everyone paid for, and was promised the real deal up front.

I see this as the down side of driving so much hype around speakers, doing pre-orders, establishing an aggressive delivery date - all of those are promises you have to keep. When you start to default on a few of the promises (delivery date, error-free execution), people begin to doubt some of the others (quality of product overall). ELAC deserves some of the benefit of the doubt, sure, but they deserve some derision. Otherwise there's no incentive for anyone to be honest with their deliver timeframes, etc.

I agree. This is what I was thinking and you did a good job of articulating it.

heiney9

Good luck Victor and others. Hopefully they make it right and the product ends up being a winner. It's sooooooooo hard for start ups in the audio business these days. Lots of good companies never seem to make it very long even though they have a great product.

H9

AsSiMiLaTeD

I'm with Skip on this one. It's not like they're trying to pass these off and ship them out to consumers, that I could certainly see getting pissed about but it's simply not the case here. Any time you pre order a product you do so with the understanding that it's a pre order and **** happens and there may be a delay, I can't remember the last pre order I placed that showed up on time. If you're not comfortable with that risk going in then don't pre order, simple as that.

It's unfortunate there was a production issue, but ultimately things are run by humans and humans make mistakes. The issue sucks, but I can't think of a better way they should go about handling it.

I also wouldn't be worried about QC issues in general, their other products including the entry level Debut line have been fine, and if anything they're probably less likely to make a mistake going forward after this issue...plus I'm sure those responsible for the mistake and those responsible for the people responsible for making the mistake have all been sacked

madmax

At least it wasn't super bright green or a purple box.

lightman1

I saw some purple boxes that sounded phenomenal.

voltz

Can you say Monkey Pod

Delays are normal for the most part, Life is never prefect or on time!

OldSchoolPolk

Check out Ty Pendlebury's UB5s review on CNet. In the video you can see a slight green hue to the mid but it does not seem as pronounced as the photo above.

Whats more concerning is the vinyl wrap that has frayed on one, if not two corners. Ty states that they move their test units around a lot and that may have contributed to the peeling vinyl. But for Pete's sake, they've had 'em for what, 3 - 4 weeks? Uncovered MDF is not what you want. Can you imagine the results 3 years from now?

I'll admit it, I'm as big of a Andrew Jones fan as I was a fan of Matthew Polk back in the day, but this does not look good for ELAC.

These B stock units might be C stock units soon.

halo

OldSchoolPolk wrote: »

Check out Ty Pendlebury's UB5s review on CNet. In the video you can see a slight green hue to the mid but it does not seem as pronounced as the photo above.

Whats more concerning is the vinyl wrap that has frayed on one, if not two corners. Ty states that they move their test units around a lot and that may have contributed to the peeling vinyl. But for Pete's sake, they've had 'em for what, 3 - 4 weeks? Uncovered MDF is not what you want. Can you imagine the results 3 years from now?

I'll admit it, I'm as big of a Andrew Jones fan as I was a fan of Matthew Polk back in the day, but this does not look good for ELAC.

These B stock units might be C stock units soon.

I saw and heard the demo models at AXPONA in April. No discolored mid or mismatch on the color.

I have to disagree with @AsSiMiLaTeD - pre orders don't mean "hey, throw whatever you have together and send it my way ASAP!" Of course, I am exaggerating but I do expect a quality product from a company that's been in business for 80 years.

halo

heiney9 wrote: »

Good luck Victor and others. Hopefully they make it right and the product ends up being a winner. It's sooooooooo hard for start ups in the audio business these days. Lots of good companies never seem to make it very long even though they have a great product.

H9

Thanks Brock.

ELAC is hardly a start up company. They've been in business for a long time. This is their 90th anniversary! elac.com/about

heiney9

My bad on the "start-up" comment. But then there is no excuse!

AsSiMiLaTeD

halo wrote: »

.

I have to disagree with @AsSiMiLaTeD - pre orders don't mean "hey, throw whatever you have together and send it my way ASAP!" Of course, I am exaggerating but I do expect a quality product from a company that's been in business for 80 years.

They are literally NOT doing that, they found an error and are giving folks the opportunity to take advantage of their error with a discounted price. Let's be honest, what you're really pissed about is a further 8 week delay. I get it, but that's always the risk with pre ordering a product, you're ordering something that doesn't exist yet based on an estimate of when a company thinks they'll get product out the door.

I'm actually not a big fan of pre orders in general, but I do understand the associated risk going in.

ELAC has been around a while, but mass produced products built in China are a fairly new thug for them, so I'm not too concerned about this issue.

FWIW, I don't own any ELAC gear and don't care either way, just trying to add an alternative perspective.

madmax

They are worth the wait, and the green.

I put some really good electronics and cables/interconnects with the B6s over the weekend and they kept up easily with the upgrades, responded like champs to it.

[Deleted User]

Well,

I couldn't wait and pre-ordered the new MITs.

madmax

rednedtugent wrote: »

Well,

I couldn't wait and pre-ordered the new MITs.

I got 5% off of my pre-order because the wire colors were green and blue instead of red and black like they were supposed to be.

Nightfall

Wasn't there a run of MIT EXp wires that had the arrows facing the wrong direction so they sold them at a discount? Seems to me it's just something that happens from time to time, not a reason to discount an entire brand over.

madmax

I like things with a historic past.

halo

@AsSiMiLaTeD - I appreciate your opinion and your perspective.

I do expect more from ELAC based on their history and, at the same time, I'm not thrilled with a further delay for a properly finished product.

I've decided to take them up on their discount offer and I'd like to get a matching Green E**** Mid driver Center Channel Speaker so I can have a matching front row.

I still don't know if these will best the Energy speakers that I have now but I'm hopeful that the ELAC speakers will work well in my environment. Time will tell.

F1nut

That off color driver would bug me.

I've waited over a year for a pre-order, so 8 more weeks ain't nutin'

halo

F1nut wrote: »

That off color driver would bug me.

I've waited over a year for a pre-order, so 8 more weeks ain't nutin'

That's with the assumption that the problem would be rectified in 8 weeks. lol.

It's a decent discount so I'm taking the leap. I can always leave the grills on the speakers. The important thing is the sound quality; I mean, that's what I'm after.

madmax

I wonder what they will do with the amazon pre-orders? Maybe just wait until they are black? Charge more cause they are green?

halo

madmax wrote: »

I wonder what they will do with the amazon pre-orders? Maybe just wait until they are black? Charge more cause they are green?

Over on the AVS forum Andrew Jones and a guy named Chris, who appears to be in charge and responsible for UniFi preorder, said that they're working with Amazon to try and figure out the best way to handle all the preorders.

I placed my order for a pair of the "blemished" UF5 floorstanding speakers and a "blemished" UC5 center channel speaker.

I'm still thinking about grabbing a pair of the UB5 at the discounted price as well for use in the bedroom.

msg

Man. $100 off green UB5's. That's a pretty significant concession. It doesn't even look too terribly unnatural. I respect what they're doing here. That's quite a nice customer service move.
http://elac-america.myshopify.com/products/cosmetically-blemished-elac-ub5-bookshelf-speakers?variant=20105012870

madmax

Green is the new gold!

msg

prob just oxidized copper.

MillerLiteScott

I wonder if they will become collector items?

madmax

I now have my new digital system set up with the KEF LS50s. I will be substituting the ELAC greens when I get them to compare. This is the stiffest competition for the ELACs that I can imagine.

msg

ELAC greens

love it

madmax

Yes, my particular ELACs will have a special order exotic material green cone, not your run of the mill piece of crap aluminum look-alike driver.