Once upon a time, before you chose your hi-fi, you were wise to choose your dealer. These days we are bombarded with channels on this platform, which goes a long way to make up for the lack of dealers and increase in direct to market manufacturers. However, just like the dealers back in the day, not many are worth your time. Tarun, your reviews are a model of clarity and I would have no hesitation in seeking your advice if I were upgrading my main system. Thanks for the insight and entertainment. Oh, and I look forward to walking the dog tomorrow whilst listening to Bob Marley 😀. In case you’re wondering, the Elacs, definitely not my Brownian motion generator, even though they are a proper size. Can’t help wondering why he didn’t opt for a smaller midrange driver, perhaps 100mm to help the upper mids and confine the bass to the big boy below.
Thank you Mark. Very kind of you to say and very much appreciated. I agree, I think a 3 way would have cleaned up that mids quite a bit. I suspect they went for the extra low frequency output to appeal to home cinema enthusiasts. Enjoy Bob whilst your walk with the dog 🐶😊👍👍
You eloquently describe why I subscribe to ABA. Although I live in a major metropolitan area, there are a scant few high-end hifi dealers. And I trust Tarun's ears. He does have those ProAcs!
I traded these Solano's for PMC Twenty 24i's and the difference is unbelievable! This review is excellent and describes these speakers perfectly. I would call these quite dull
Hi Tarun. You definitely have a thing for difficult names 😂 Good to see a floor stander speaker being reviewed. Elac build some fine speaker's and these look well made and very clever tweeter technology. I'm very eagerly waiting for your review on the Ophidian p2's. Thanks for this excellent review.
Thank you Steve. Let’s see how many names I can butcher by the time the year is out 😂 I have the Mambo 2 coming soon. If I like them, I may look at the P2s later 😊👍
Tarun, as usual, you produced a review that provides real clarity when it comes to the characteristics of this speaker. Based on this review, it seems these could be a bit overpriced for what your getting. I too have a 2 1/2 way speaker floor stander priced similarly..uh maybe a little cheaper doing the currency exchange. I think they aren’t as nimble as they should be. For me, either go 3 way or drop the extra drivers and stay 2 way.
I've played with several speaker brands but have yet to try out an Elac. But I will say that what you described here really appeals to me. I've only had one speaker provide sufficient bass in my room without a subwoofer, and that speaker had way too many weaknesses for me to prefer it over my current, rather neutral speaker. It is possible that a bass null in my room is steering that preference but I will say that a warm speaker is always the best way to go for a first speaker in my opinion. The worst thing you could end up with is a bit of a dull sounding speaker... and I'd take that over a speaker that assaults my ears any day.
@Jingle Nuts my current amp does not have tone controls but my last one did... And let me say that it was a very high end amp with excellent tone controls and even loudness control. But I found the tone control only served to make it sound worse for my ears.
@Jingle Nuts I think you're inferring that the use of tone control increased the amount of audible distortion... which it did not. What it did do was make the sound bloated if bass was increased, and dull if treble was decreased. Although I will admit it was useful for filling out tracks with thin bass.
Sir Hegelton 😉 Excellent no fluff thorough honest non biased review! Although I'm not intrested in these, I think I learned about why I was expierencing some distortion from my KEF LS50 WIRELESS ii Metas at some higher frequencies during complex passages in certain songs From Freya Ridings, Carrie Underwood Never Enough, and etal. After back and forth with Kef I gave up and got Focal Kanta No 2. However, another great speaker that maybe a worthy apponent for the Elac Salonos for you to review are the Wharfdale Evo 4.4.
Another comprehensive and informative review. What’s so helpful? That Tarun will always help us understand design uniqueness, the purpose behind that particular design, and explain the virtues of what he’s reviewing for the sake of those that might be searching for it. I learn at every review!
Great review Tarun! Bit of a fan of Elac speakers, I have a pair of large Elac desktop speakers in one of my bedrooms. Always been very impressed by the bass and tone they produce for a relatively small speaker. Elac are know for offering a lot of "bang for the buck" so @ £2,699 I thought the FS287's might be up there with some 4 or 5k speakers. While the fact they appear to fall well short of that is disappointing its still good to know! :)
Thanks for your review, which is as enjoyable as ever. Im delighted you are reviewing a floor stander, as unless the room will not allow it, i much prefer the sound of a decent floor stander, where I fancy the extra lower end grunt is heard all through the mid range too (and even above) and gives me a timbre i associate with the real instruments. Interesting sounding speakers, and im a big fan of amt's. I wish I had the chance to check these when i bought earlier this year, but i expect Id still have made the same choice. I was prepared to pay up to £3k, but ended up paying £1200 for a speaker that blew all the others away imo. Wharfdale evo 4.4s are a 3 way design with a fine amt, crossing to a mid range dome. They are so cheap as they are made in china for wharfdale. Id love you to hear them, im not the only one who believes they blow away speakers more than twice their price, and they provide the wonderfull rich fast airy sound im seeking, and I belive they would show these a clean pair of heels! I'd recommend anyone looking at these units to also audition the evo 4.4s too. Appreciate you having reviewed these, and as always your insightfull comments seem to get to the heart of what these units are about. Looking forward to your next post, thank you .
Thank you Titntin. Very much appreciated 😊👍I have heard the Evo 4.3 at a show and was very impressed. I would love to get Wharfedale Evo’s in for review but they don’t respond to my messages.
With that Kevlar cone are they still able to produce a natural timbre in the midrange and what's the base extension like? My speakers have to go down low!!
@@jamesdwright The 4.4's go low and have lovely weight coupled with a foot tapping speed too. The have a full dome mid driver which covers the whole mid range and sounds great to these ears! Well worth listening too as a point of reference if nothing else.
Also own the Carinas FS247.4, I’m not sure if Andrew Jones designed the Solanos vs the latest Carina/Velas. Moved to a much more capable MA8900 integrated looking for a good pair of speakers to pair it with. Excellent videos thank you.
Hey Tarun, I'm close to buying my first pair of decent bookshelf speakers. Here in Australia, I can buy the Tablette 10's, or the Response DB1 or DB3, the Harbeth P3ESR, the LS3/5A in its various iterations, the Dali Menuet SE, and now recently I've discovered the Elac BS312, and the Mon Acoustics Super Mon Mini. Talk about being spoiled for choice. Today I lean toward the ProAc's, yesterday it was the Harbeth's, and tomorrow it will be something else. At 76 this will be my final stab at some decent speakers, and my long-suffering wife probably won't allow me another shot. So this is it. It'll take AUD$5-6K to buy any of the above, some cheaper than others. They're all available here, though not all easily available to review. Or I may just say bugger it and stick with my hundred year old DIY 1/4 wave Voigts which my wife loves. I recently bought the Cyrus CDi CD player to replace my ageing Marantz CD6004, though we're in the process of moving to a retirement villa and I can't play anything at the moment. The joys of the new Cyrus will have to wait. Maybe it'll make my old Voigts sing, and I won't need a new set of bookshelf speakers. I'll know next week.... Incidentally the old Voigts might be considered "similar" to the Sibelius about which you're clearly enthusiastic, but the comparison ends at "looks". Mine use a Fostex 4 inch paper driver, not the much more modern and arguably much better Mark Audio drivers, although it would a small task to rip those old Fostex out and sub in Mark Audio drivers, which are very cheap here. It would probably muck everything up tonally so maybe I won't bother. But hey, that's what DIY is all about....
Great to learn about your experiences. I am sure you will have a lot of fun exploring the options you have described. May I suggest another one? Building another TQWP enclosure based on Mark Audio drivers. It may be a fun project 👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Ha ha. Thanks for your reply Tarun. If we didn't live across the globe my wife would come round and beat you over the scone with a rolling pin for such suggestions. Moving to a small retirement villa means I no longer have a shed/workshop, and now the mere suggestion of diy is anathema to my wife. She's tolerated my dabblings for 53 years so enough is probably enough I think... No, it looks like another visit to a reputable hifi shop is in order. There are some really good ones here.. Your videos have been an excellent guide and a source of inspiration, my dude, and you've renewed my interest in ProAc. Never affordable until now and I'm very tempted. I know you wax lyrical about yours, and sometimes that's all it takes. But I must make some effort at exploring alternatives I guess. The Harbeth and the Dali I mentioned are still very high on my list... I will let you know what transpires, and thanks for your encouragement...
It seems that the tweeter is better than the other two drivers. The compromises with driver speed would be a bridge too far for me. I have PMC's, so detail and rapid bass is a given. As always, well presented, clear and easy to follow. I lost at Tarun bingo this week. No 'bunch.' :-)
Thanks Toruń Andrew Jones is becoming a legend in his own life time , bit like you bless you 😀 . But it might just be me but I feel he’s becoming to prolific in these constant updates and tweaks , no sooner a new model hits the market another is in the production stage. Yes I know that’s what the public wants, but to me I’d like more time spent refining a product till it becomes it’s self a legend . Because let’s face it we need more like the stalwarts of yesteryear to become tomorrow’s classics . My monitor audio system r352 are still giving a good account of themselves even after 40 odd years . But are there speakers waiting in the wings to fill the gap like my old faithfuls . Which with the best will in the world will not go on for ever . Kind regards as always. 😀👍👍👍
Thank you Michael. Very kind and very much appreciated. Good point you raise. I suspect at the more accessible end it becomes about shifting as many boxes as possible for manufacturers. Short life cycles with continual updates encourages people to do just that 😊👍
Thanks Tarun for another excellently detailed review and of floor standing speakers too, nice. As you may remember from previous comments I'm currently looking at the possibility of buying new speakers and have recently tested the KEF R7. Next on my list are the B&W 702 S2. I was hoping these Elac could give me another option but your description of their sound quality doesn't quite seem to match the profile I'm looking for, but thanks again for your excellent review.
@@abritishaudiophile7314 I have a pair of KEF C95 from 1988 and I consider these to be quite warm in their character although that may be my misunderstanding of 'warm'. They're easy listening and I feel they add a little something to the original sound which I quite like. I won't buy the R7 even though I think they're great speakers just because they are still very similar to my C95's. Are they worth the price - yes but are they worth me paying that price for something sounding quite similar (albeit a little better) to what I already have? I'm awaiting a test on the B&W 702 as these seem to have a totally different sound to KEF which I believe is much more 'natural' (neutral?) and yes, I'll still keep my old KEFs alongside whatever I buy.
Great review as always. It sounds like these speakers would pair up nicely with the Yamaha 3200 which, apparently, has an upper mid bump and dry bass. I have seen reviews of many speakers where the designers push the mid bass too high to get to the tweeter. I guess profits count,, more than sound quality, by eliminating a midrange, to many companies. Or so they think. That is what I like about the KLH at 2K american. A simple three way design with a midrange that takes the stress off of the woofer and tweeter. That allows for a simple crossover because there is a lot of overlapping response between drivers. All of that allows for a veritable bargain. All of this pushing drivers to the edge of their abilities ends up costing money and performance from my Monday night quarterback seat (american saying). Oh, and the bass is punchy, fast and relatively deep by all accounts. Again no complicated engineering provides the most for the least. Occam's razor if you will.
@@abritishaudiophile7314 yup. And it is a sealed box. My favorite for bass definition and smooth (er) phase response. If I didn't build my own speakers, I would definitely give the KLH speakers a listen.
excellent review (as always!) and great to see you reviewing a tower speaker. perhaps this elac solano could start the 'barely recommended' bracket from your channel. seems they have too many issues. hope one day you can review Q acoustics concept 40 tower speakers. I've seen too many reviews on their budget speakers and a couple on their very expensive Concept 500, but none on the Concept 40. I think they are right on the spot of $$ accessible and still, perhaps, really musical and engaging? would be fascinating to have your take on those.
Thank you. Funny enough, I have just received the Concept 300 in for review. Now I have a contact for the U.K. distributor I would like to review more of their speakers in the future 😊👍
Thank you Tarun for another excellent review. And btw I prefer floor standers. Giving up some imaging to gain full range response is a trade I gladly make. Someday I'll have to replace my B&W 640s from the 1990s. British made and better sounding than current Bowers &.
Really enjoyed this review, Tarun -- particularly the explanation of how ribbon tweeters work, since I have very recently purchased a pair of Quad S2s which also have them. As Mark Carrington has already remarked below, the articulacy and clarity of your reviews is second to none. In a way, you're an ideal top-end speaker yourself! ;-)
Very very late to this, but another great review. Thank you. Have you heard any Audiovector speakers by any chance to compare please? Specifically, their models with AMT tweeters?
Hope there will be more reviews of AMT based Loud speakers in your future. Cannot wait for your first Magnapan speaker review. Curious but have you at least heard any dipole planar speaker before?
@@abritishaudiophile7314 There aren't many reviews for ProAc, Spendor classic series, Graham and Stirling broadcast. And there is where I will look for my life time speaker. ( and Harbeth ofcourse) Hope to see them on your channel someday. Also for your pleasure.
@@abritishaudiophile7314 as a Proac owner that’s disheartening. Are they afraid of criticism? Or are doing so well they don’t care ? I wonder. It’s quite interesting especially since covid made access to hifi stores more difficult.
So Elac is buying the folded ribbon tweeter from ATC. Good choice there. From you review it sounds like everyone might have benefitted had Mr Jones incorporated more ATC product in these speakers.
Hello Tarun, an interesting topic for us Patreon supporters might be a shallow deep dive into speakers lingo and specs. I still don’t fully understand what all that means -3db or -6db at 35hz as an example. Paradigm‘s Founder series might be interesting for you to review. The 80f (I like this model for its size /performance) costing $4.5k (pair) Canadian or $2.6k sterling. Compact and beautifully crafted in Canada. My local dealer has the entire line and they sound very, very, good. Take care, Brian
@@abritishaudiophile7314, To be honest, I like that "German" sound signature, I have a few collections from Heco, Canton, and MB Quart (now German Maestro) very good with my style of music, metal, and rock genre, for orchestra also very good. I listened Elac DBR series from Andrew Jones, sound boring, I don't like them. When saw your review about other series from Elac, looks like Elac is not on my list. Thank you for your great review.
It's interesting to note you didn't find them lean with that tweeter, but actually the reverse if anything. Sounds like a nice balanced speaker for the $ that perhaps tries too hard to be all things to all people for the $.
Interesting tonal balance choice by Elac with these. I don’t get the sense from other reviews that the Velas are like this. I would love for you to be able to review and compare a set of those.
Great Rewiew Tarun 😊👍 I have the vela fs 408 and i think they are fantastic. The loudspeaker disserpers….The bass i tight and deep, and the tweter are the best i have ever heard…..and i have tried B&W 804 d3 and the Proac d40, too me det Elac 408 is the best 😊👍
You tube says it has been a year since this review. I really would have loved to know your opinion of the difference between these and the Vela floor standers. I am curious if you think that they improved on the weaknesses. Thanks.
Still not available in the USA. The Jet5 tweeter is the best I have ever heard. And I agree that it is not suited for a 2 1/2- way speaker; it needs to blend to a dedicated mid-range as in the Vela 409s.
I didn’t think there was any special synergy between the Elac’s and the Willsenton. It is a speaker that has a particular sound and works well with lots of amps 😊
This was interesting because my Adam audio monitors also have a ribbon tweeter. Was curious about how that worked. Sounds like height is very important. I'll experiment as my stands are variable height.
Hi Tarun, appreciate if you could review Spendor D line specifically D7.2 or D9.2 speakers (prefer D9.2). I am intrigued, the sound quality and signature that they are rated at on the net seem to be positive. I want to know your perspective and thoughts to make an informed decision. Please note they are not available for an audition in my location currently and I await dealer/ distributor partnership for the same. Your insight would be good to progress further, thanks!
@@abritishaudiophile7314 I did get a prompt and helpful response from Mr. Paul Clewes at Spendor Audio Systems U.K when I had reached out. He directed me to a dealer Mr. Gary Penska from Analogue Seduction. Hope this helps to facilitate a demo unit of the D9.2, cheers!
It's a bit what I noticed when I went from the 247 to the 407. The quality, speed and texture and impact of the bass on the 407 was lightyears ahead of that on the 247. The 247 really is underwhelming in the bass departement
Wish more manafacturers would go sealed or acoustic suspension. Using a ribbon or AMT it's pretty stupid to waste it in a bass reflex cabinet beyond all but the most supremely accomplished builder's.
@@cougar2465 normally the speakers in the same range have a very similar tonal balance. On paper the warm Elacs should balance the cooler NAD but you can only truly tell by trying 😊
This transducer gets resounding faint praise from this channel. Looks like Andrew Jones has nothing to fear from other elac designers....other than being mistakenly credited for these:-/
@@jbt6121 You certainly have a point there. I love KEF and have a pair of C95's from 1988, still going strong and as I already posted I've tested the R7's which are brilliant and highly recommendable but not for me as they aren't almost €3000 better than what I already have.
Thank you FM. Whilst, I find sound demos entertaining, I believe using them as a tool to judge hifi equipment is misleading. You can’t listen to a system through another system and draw any meaningful conclusions 😊
Once upon a time, before you chose your hi-fi, you were wise to choose your dealer. These days we are bombarded with channels on this platform, which goes a long way to make up for the lack of dealers and increase in direct to market manufacturers. However, just like the dealers back in the day, not many are worth your time.
Tarun, your reviews are a model of clarity and I would have no hesitation in seeking your advice if I were upgrading my main system. Thanks for the insight and entertainment. Oh, and I look forward to walking the dog tomorrow whilst listening to Bob Marley 😀.
In case you’re wondering, the Elacs, definitely not my Brownian motion generator, even though they are a proper size. Can’t help wondering why he didn’t opt for a smaller midrange driver, perhaps 100mm to help the upper mids and confine the bass to the big boy below.
Thank you Mark. Very kind of you to say and very much appreciated. I agree, I think a 3 way would have cleaned up that mids quite a bit. I suspect they went for the extra low frequency output to appeal to home cinema enthusiasts. Enjoy Bob whilst your walk with the dog 🐶😊👍👍
You eloquently describe why I subscribe to ABA. Although I live in a major metropolitan area, there are a scant few high-end hifi dealers. And I trust Tarun's ears. He does have those ProAcs!
@@brown-eyedman4040 thank you my friend. Very much appreciated 😊👍👍
@Mark Carrington
Brownian motion generator 😅 ("cup of tea" to those benighted souls not familiar with The hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy :-)
This weekend won’t be incomplete. More straight shooting. Great job!
Thank you Jeremy. I hope it was worth waiting for 😊👍
I traded these Solano's for PMC Twenty 24i's and the difference is unbelievable! This review is excellent and describes these speakers perfectly. I would call these quite dull
Thank you 😊
Always a pleasure to see another review.
Thank you CO 😊👍
Hi Tarun. You definitely have a thing for difficult names 😂 Good to see a floor stander speaker being reviewed. Elac build some fine speaker's and these look well made and very clever tweeter technology. I'm very eagerly waiting for your review on the Ophidian p2's. Thanks for this excellent review.
Thank you Steve. Let’s see how many names I can butcher by the time the year is out 😂
I have the Mambo 2 coming soon. If I like them, I may look at the P2s later 😊👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 thanks my friend and I will be looking forward to seeing them. 😁
Tarun, as usual, you produced a review that provides real clarity when it comes to the characteristics of this speaker. Based on this review, it seems these could be a bit overpriced for what your getting. I too have a 2 1/2 way speaker floor stander priced similarly..uh maybe a little cheaper doing the currency exchange. I think they aren’t as nimble as they should be. For me, either go 3 way or drop the extra drivers and stay 2 way.
Thank you Steve. I greatly appreciate your support. I agree, I would generally go for a 3 way in this size of speaker too 😊👍
It sounds like a nice speaker for the price though I prefer a more up front, monitor type. Thanks for the review.
Thank you for watching Lonnie 😊👍
Brilliant Tarun , I was always curious about ribbon tweeter , thanks for detail provided once again a big thank you 🙏
Thank you Atri. I hope it was worth the wait 😊👍
I've played with several speaker brands but have yet to try out an Elac. But I will say that what you described here really appeals to me. I've only had one speaker provide sufficient bass in my room without a subwoofer, and that speaker had way too many weaknesses for me to prefer it over my current, rather neutral speaker. It is possible that a bass null in my room is steering that preference but I will say that a warm speaker is always the best way to go for a first speaker in my opinion. The worst thing you could end up with is a bit of a dull sounding speaker... and I'd take that over a speaker that assaults my ears any day.
@Jingle Nuts my current amp does not have tone controls but my last one did... And let me say that it was a very high end amp with excellent tone controls and even loudness control. But I found the tone control only served to make it sound worse for my ears.
Thank you for watching and sharing your experiences Amir 😊👍
@Jingle Nuts I think you're inferring that the use of tone control increased the amount of audible distortion... which it did not. What it did do was make the sound bloated if bass was increased, and dull if treble was decreased. Although I will admit it was useful for filling out tracks with thin bass.
Sir Hegelton 😉 Excellent no fluff thorough honest non biased review! Although I'm not intrested in these, I think I learned about why I was expierencing some distortion from my KEF LS50 WIRELESS ii Metas at some higher frequencies during complex passages in certain songs From Freya Ridings, Carrie Underwood Never Enough, and etal. After back and forth with Kef I gave up and got Focal Kanta No 2. However, another great speaker that maybe a worthy apponent for the Elac Salonos for you to review are the Wharfdale Evo 4.4.
Thank you for watching and sharing your experiences. I appreciate the suggestion 😊👍
Another comprehensive and informative review. What’s so helpful? That Tarun will always help us understand design uniqueness, the purpose behind that particular design, and explain the virtues of what he’s reviewing for the sake of those that might be searching for it.
I learn at every review!
Thank you John. I appreciate you watching and your kind words of support 😊👍👍
Good to know as I research floor standers. Thanks once again
Thank you buddy 😊👍
Great review Tarun! Bit of a fan of Elac speakers, I have a pair of large Elac desktop speakers in one of my bedrooms. Always been very impressed by the bass and tone they produce for a relatively small speaker. Elac are know for offering a lot of "bang for the buck" so @ £2,699 I thought the FS287's might be up there with some 4 or 5k speakers. While the fact they appear to fall well short of that is disappointing its still good to know! :)
Thank you for watching and sharing Chris. I suspect these speakers are tuned to appeal to hifi and home cinema enthusiasts 😊👍
Thanks for your review, which is as enjoyable as ever. Im delighted you are reviewing a floor stander, as unless the room will not allow it, i much prefer the sound of a decent floor stander, where I fancy the extra lower end grunt is heard all through the mid range too (and even above) and gives me a timbre i associate with the real instruments.
Interesting sounding speakers, and im a big fan of amt's. I wish I had the chance to check these when i bought earlier this year, but i expect Id still have made the same choice. I was prepared to pay up to £3k, but ended up paying £1200 for a speaker that blew all the others away imo.
Wharfdale evo 4.4s are a 3 way design with a fine amt, crossing to a mid range dome. They are so cheap as they are made in china for wharfdale. Id love you to hear them, im not the only one who believes they blow away speakers more than twice their price, and they provide the wonderfull rich fast airy sound im seeking, and I belive they would show these a clean pair of heels! I'd recommend anyone looking at these units to also audition the evo 4.4s too.
Appreciate you having reviewed these, and as always your insightfull comments seem to get to the heart of what these units are about. Looking forward to your next post, thank you .
Thank you Titntin. Very much appreciated 😊👍I have heard the Evo 4.3 at a show and was very impressed. I would love to get Wharfedale Evo’s in for review but they don’t respond to my messages.
With that Kevlar cone are they still able to produce a natural timbre in the midrange and what's the base extension like? My speakers have to go down low!!
@@jamesdwright The 4.4's go low and have lovely weight coupled with a foot tapping speed too. The have a full dome mid driver which covers the whole mid range and sounds great to these ears! Well worth listening too as a point of reference if nothing else.
Honest and forthright review, will be interested to see if ELAC will come back to you with another speaker for review.
Thank you Michael. Yes it will 😉👍
Thanks for another informative review tarun, I've always liked a floorstander and elacs sound pretty good as a all-rounder.
Thanks Paul. They are a nice looking speaker with a warm sound 😊👍
Please try the Elac Carina floorstanders!They are excellent for their price!You will be amazed.
Thank you for the suggestion 😊
Also own the Carinas FS247.4, I’m not sure if Andrew Jones designed the Solanos vs the latest Carina/Velas. Moved to a much more capable MA8900 integrated looking for a good pair of speakers to pair it with. Excellent videos thank you.
@@andyrocha
FS247.4 is a downgrade from 247.3 as it no longer uses JET5.
Thanks very much! Great review and insight. :)
Thank you M Yu 😊👍
I like your simple clear style
Thank you Jerome 😊👍
Great review! I have the B5 Debut and they are outstanding for the price👍
Thank you Paul. I hope to review some more Elac speakers this year 😊👍
Hey Tarun, I'm close to buying my first pair of decent bookshelf speakers. Here in Australia, I can buy the Tablette 10's, or the Response DB1 or DB3, the Harbeth P3ESR, the LS3/5A in its various iterations, the Dali Menuet SE, and now recently I've discovered the Elac BS312, and the Mon Acoustics Super Mon Mini.
Talk about being spoiled for choice. Today I lean toward the ProAc's, yesterday it was the Harbeth's, and tomorrow it will be something else. At 76 this will be my final stab at some decent speakers, and my long-suffering wife probably won't allow me another shot.
So this is it. It'll take AUD$5-6K to buy any of the above, some cheaper than others. They're all available here, though not all easily available to review.
Or I may just say bugger it and stick with my hundred year old DIY 1/4 wave Voigts which my wife loves. I recently bought the Cyrus CDi CD player to replace my ageing Marantz CD6004, though we're in the process of moving to a retirement villa and I can't play anything at the moment. The joys of the new Cyrus will have to wait. Maybe it'll make my old Voigts sing, and I won't need a new set of bookshelf speakers. I'll know next week....
Incidentally the old Voigts might be considered "similar" to the Sibelius about which you're clearly enthusiastic, but the comparison ends at "looks". Mine use a Fostex 4 inch paper driver, not the much more modern and arguably much better Mark Audio drivers, although it would a small task to rip those old Fostex out and sub in Mark Audio drivers, which are very cheap here. It would probably muck everything up tonally so maybe I won't bother. But hey, that's what DIY is all about....
Great to learn about your experiences. I am sure you will have a lot of fun exploring the options you have described. May I suggest another one? Building another TQWP enclosure based on Mark Audio drivers. It may be a fun project 👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Ha ha. Thanks for your reply Tarun. If we didn't live across the globe my wife would come round and beat you over the scone with a rolling pin for such suggestions. Moving to a small retirement villa means I no longer have a shed/workshop, and now the mere suggestion of diy is anathema to my wife. She's tolerated my dabblings for 53 years so enough is probably enough I think...
No, it looks like another visit to a reputable hifi shop is in order. There are some really good ones here..
Your videos have been an excellent guide and a source of inspiration, my dude, and you've renewed my interest in ProAc. Never affordable until now and I'm very tempted. I know you wax lyrical about yours, and sometimes that's all it takes. But I must make some effort at exploring alternatives I guess. The Harbeth and the Dali I mentioned are still very high on my list...
I will let you know what transpires, and thanks for your encouragement...
It seems that the tweeter is better than the other two drivers. The compromises with driver speed would be a bridge too far for me. I have PMC's, so detail and rapid bass is a given. As always, well presented, clear and easy to follow. I lost at Tarun bingo this week. No 'bunch.' :-)
Thank you Billy. Much appreciated. I had a little time off. Back up and running now. Your PMC will be a more revealing speaker 😊👍
Thanks Toruń Andrew Jones is becoming a legend in his own life time , bit like you bless you 😀 . But it might just be me but I feel he’s becoming to prolific in these constant updates and tweaks , no sooner a new model hits the market another is in the production stage. Yes I know that’s what the public wants, but to me I’d like more time spent refining a product till it becomes it’s self a legend . Because let’s face it we need more like the stalwarts of yesteryear to become tomorrow’s classics . My monitor audio system r352 are still giving a good account of themselves even after 40 odd years . But are there speakers waiting in the wings to fill the gap like my old faithfuls . Which with the best will in the world will not go on for ever . Kind regards as always. 😀👍👍👍
Thank you Michael. Very kind and very much appreciated. Good point you raise. I suspect at the more accessible end it becomes about shifting as many boxes as possible for manufacturers. Short life cycles with continual updates encourages people to do just that 😊👍
To make it clear, Andrew Jones did not have any hand in designing the Elac models with the Jet tweeter.
@@robertwillemen6407actually he designed the Carinas… would love to see Tarin give those a try.
Andrew Jones didn’t have anything to do with these speakers. Check out the Elac Carinas…those were his design.
Very insightful review 👌
Thank you DW 😊👍
Thanks Tarun for another excellently detailed review and of floor standing speakers too, nice. As you may remember from previous comments I'm currently looking at the possibility of buying new speakers and have recently tested the KEF R7. Next on my list are the B&W 702 S2. I was hoping these Elac could give me another option but your description of their sound quality doesn't quite seem to match the profile I'm looking for, but thanks again for your excellent review.
Thank you Keith. The Solano FS287 have a much warmer sound than the Kefs and B&Ws 😊👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 ... and I thought KEFs had a warm sound.
I haven’t reviewed the recent ones but Kefs are typically a little on the cool side of neutral 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 I have a pair of KEF C95 from 1988 and I consider these to be quite warm in their character although that may be my misunderstanding of 'warm'. They're easy listening and I feel they add a little something to the original sound which I quite like. I won't buy the R7 even though I think they're great speakers just because they are still very similar to my C95's. Are they worth the price - yes but are they worth me paying that price for something sounding quite similar (albeit a little better) to what I already have? I'm awaiting a test on the B&W 702 as these seem to have a totally different sound to KEF which I believe is much more 'natural' (neutral?) and yes, I'll still keep my old KEFs alongside whatever I buy.
@@keithwood4031 I am hoping to get some B&Ws in 😊
Another good review. Thanks Tarun! :)
Thank you Cesar 😊👍
Best Hifi Channel 👍 Adam vs Elac vs Hedd vs Unity Audio - would be an interesting Comparison
Thank you Marcel. Very kind. That would be an interesting comparison between AMT designs 😊👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 spec. because Unity use also Elac Drivers for their models
Another great and interesting review
Thank you Richard 😊👍
Great review as always. It sounds like these speakers would pair up nicely with the Yamaha 3200 which, apparently, has an upper mid bump and dry bass. I have seen reviews of many speakers where the designers push the mid bass too high to get to the tweeter. I guess profits count,, more than sound quality, by eliminating a midrange, to many companies. Or so they think. That is what I like about the KLH at 2K american. A simple three way design with a midrange that takes the stress off of the woofer and tweeter. That allows for a simple crossover because there is a lot of overlapping response between drivers. All of that allows for a veritable bargain. All of this pushing drivers to the edge of their abilities ends up costing money and performance from my Monday night quarterback seat (american saying). Oh, and the bass is punchy, fast and relatively deep by all accounts. Again no complicated engineering provides the most for the least. Occam's razor if you will.
Thank you JK. I would like to review the KLH Model 5. It has some similarities to the Elipson Heritage XLS 15s 😊👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 yup. And it is a sealed box. My favorite for bass definition and smooth (er) phase response. If I didn't build my own speakers, I would definitely give the KLH speakers a listen.
excellent review (as always!) and great to see you reviewing a tower speaker. perhaps this elac solano could start the 'barely recommended' bracket from your channel. seems they have too many issues. hope one day you can review Q acoustics concept 40 tower speakers. I've seen too many reviews on their budget speakers and a couple on their very expensive Concept 500, but none on the Concept 40. I think they are right on the spot of $$ accessible and still, perhaps, really musical and engaging? would be fascinating to have your take on those.
Thank you. Funny enough, I have just received the Concept 300 in for review. Now I have a contact for the U.K. distributor I would like to review more of their speakers in the future 😊👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 hey! awesome. looking forward
Thank you Tarun for another excellent review. And btw I prefer floor standers. Giving up some imaging to gain full range response is a trade I gladly make.
Someday I'll have to replace my B&W 640s from the 1990s. British made and better sounding than current Bowers &.
Thank you buddy. A big part of this hobby is all about working out which compromises suit us best 😊👍
Really enjoyed this review, Tarun -- particularly the explanation of how ribbon tweeters work, since I have very recently purchased a pair of Quad S2s which also have them. As Mark Carrington has already remarked below, the articulacy and clarity of your reviews is second to none. In a way, you're an ideal top-end speaker yourself! ;-)
Thank you John. Very much appreciated. It is getting feedback like that which makes it so worthwhile 😊👍👍
Oh I guessed correctly! Solano, nice! 👍
You certainly did. I was impressed at how quickly you worked it out a couple of weeks ago 😊👍
Very very late to this, but another great review. Thank you.
Have you heard any Audiovector speakers by any chance to compare please? Specifically, their models with AMT tweeters?
@@guulyian thank you. Audiovector is on my radar 😊
Thank you.. .. Informative review...
Thank you Antony 😊👍
Hope there will be more reviews of AMT based Loud speakers in your future. Cannot wait for your first Magnapan speaker review. Curious but have you at least heard any dipole planar speaker before?
Thank you. I have heard Maggies a few time and always enjoyed the sound. I would love to review one 😊
Love this review Chachu!!!!
Thank you sweetheart. Looking forward to seeing you this summer ❤️😊👍
Nice hounest Review. Thats what we Need…..
Thank you buddy 😊👍
As every week, it's nice to see new review. But I have to admit that every week I hope it will be ProAc Db1.
Thank you Michal 😊👍
I spoke to the ProAc PR agent this week. They still will not send out products to UA-cam reviewers 😢
@@abritishaudiophile7314 There aren't many reviews for ProAc, Spendor classic series, Graham and Stirling broadcast. And there is where I will look for my life time speaker. ( and Harbeth ofcourse)
Hope to see them on your channel someday. Also for your pleasure.
@@abritishaudiophile7314 as a Proac owner that’s disheartening. Are they afraid of criticism? Or are doing so well they don’t care ? I wonder. It’s quite interesting especially since covid made access to hifi stores more difficult.
@@michas4185 some of those traditional speaker brands haven’t embraced the UA-cam platform as yet but I will keep trying 😊
@@Nightjar726 i just think they are old school and don’t see any value in the UA-cam platform as yet.
So Elac is buying the folded ribbon tweeter from ATC. Good choice there. From you review it sounds like
everyone might have benefitted had Mr Jones incorporated more ATC product in these speakers.
Hi Jeff, Andrew didn’t design this one. It uses Elac’s own Jet 5 tweeter 😊
Hello Tarun, an interesting topic for us Patreon supporters might be a shallow deep dive into speakers lingo and specs. I still don’t fully understand what all that means -3db or -6db at 35hz as an example.
Paradigm‘s Founder series might be interesting for you to review.
The 80f (I like this model for its size /performance) costing $4.5k (pair) Canadian or $2.6k sterling.
Compact and beautifully crafted in Canada. My local dealer has the entire line and they sound very, very, good.
Take care,
Brian
Thank you buddy. I appreciate the suggestion and will look into it 😊
I have this speaker its awesome 😃
Cool 😎
I always thought speakers brand from Germany are super bright, very detailed, and have authoritative bass. Looks like Elac is an exception.
I need to try some more in their range. Thank you for watching 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314, To be honest, I like that "German" sound signature, I have a few collections from Heco, Canton, and MB Quart (now German Maestro) very good with my style of music, metal, and rock genre, for orchestra also very good.
I listened Elac DBR series from Andrew Jones, sound boring, I don't like them. When saw your review about other series from Elac, looks like Elac is not on my list.
Thank you for your great review.
@@noco-pf3vj thank you for sharing and your support Faisal 😊👍
It's interesting to note you didn't find them lean with that tweeter, but actually the reverse if anything. Sounds like a nice balanced speaker for the $ that perhaps tries too hard to be all things to all people for the $.
Hi Will, I think they have gone for one thing that will appeal to home cinema enthusiasts 😊
Interesting tonal balance choice by Elac with these. I don’t get the sense from other reviews that the Velas are like this. I would love for you to be able to review and compare a set of those.
Thanks Rick. Now that I have a contact with Elac, I hope to review more of their products 😊
Great Rewiew Tarun 😊👍 I have the vela fs 408 and i think they are fantastic. The loudspeaker disserpers….The bass i tight and deep, and the tweter are the best i have ever heard…..and i have tried B&W 804 d3 and the Proac d40, too me det Elac 408 is the best 😊👍
@@gonzol46 thank you for watching and sharing your experiences Yasmine 😊👍
Good one Tarun.
Thank you buddy 😊👍
Still no Monitor Audio speakers :P Great review btw as always !
Thank you 😊👍
I contacted them a couple of times but never heard back 🤔
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Wow thats kinda sad from them I would lend you mine but Montréal Canada is far a bit :S
You tube says it has been a year since this review. I really would have loved to know your opinion of the difference between these and the Vela floor standers. I am curious if you think that they improved on the weaknesses. Thanks.
Thank you for the suggestion 😊
Great Review. Thanks a lot! If I found KEF R3 is a bit bright (upper mid, to treble, need more roll-off), will this pair fit my need?
Thank you. It is a little rolled off on top. They also do a stand mount version 😊👍
I have lost track as to whether you reviewed the new Reference Unifi $1k model?
Not as yet Jeff 😉
Still not available in the USA. The Jet5 tweeter is the best I have ever heard. And I agree that it is not suited for a 2 1/2- way speaker; it needs to blend to a dedicated mid-range as in the Vela 409s.
That is a shame.
It is said AMT tweeters sound particularly good with tubes vs transistors. Did you notice that with the KT88s?
I didn’t think there was any special synergy between the Elac’s and the Willsenton. It is a speaker that has a particular sound and works well with lots of amps 😊
The JET is one of the best tweeters around.
It is reputed to be 😊
thanks for the video, did you compared the elac vs the monitor audio silver 300g7? what would you choose and why ?
I didnt, sorry 🙂
This was interesting because my Adam audio monitors also have a ribbon tweeter. Was curious about how that worked. Sounds like height is very important. I'll experiment as my stands are variable height.
The vertical off axis isn’t usually great with most AMT designs Paul. Getting them at the right height is critical 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 thanks for the tip.
@@paultasker7788 you are most welcome 😊👍
Alltid bra recensioner 👍🏻. Du skulle kanske testa Guru Q10
Hi Tarun, appreciate if you could review Spendor D line specifically D7.2 or D9.2 speakers (prefer D9.2). I am intrigued, the sound quality and signature that they are rated at on the net seem to be positive. I want to know your perspective and thoughts to make an informed decision. Please note they are not available for an audition in my location currently and I await dealer/ distributor partnership for the same. Your insight would be good to progress further, thanks!
Thank you Roshan. Great brand. I would love to get some in. I will have to find out who to speak to in the U.K. 😊👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 I did get a prompt and helpful response from Mr. Paul Clewes at Spendor Audio Systems U.K when I had reached out. He directed me to a dealer Mr. Gary Penska from Analogue Seduction. Hope this helps to facilitate a demo unit of the D9.2, cheers!
@@roshansequeira6799 thank you Roshan 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Let me know developments if possible it would be great to hear if you get to review, cheers!
It's a bit what I noticed when I went from the 247 to the 407. The quality, speed and texture and impact of the bass on the 407 was lightyears ahead of that on the 247. The 247 really is underwhelming in the bass departement
Thank you for sharing 😊
I would like to hear your opinion about solano versus vela.. :) Vela seems more natural to me and has more controlled bass. Greetings from Poland!
Thank you for the suggestion 😊
Tarun can you make a video about harbeth what's inside,since Alan boast of it's quality,I am curious to know.
I would like to start with their P3ESRs
Wish more manafacturers would go sealed or acoustic suspension. Using a ribbon or AMT it's pretty stupid to waste it in a bass reflex cabinet beyond all but the most supremely accomplished builder's.
How about reviewing the Proac Response D2 R?
Unfortunately, ProAc don’t send products out to UA-cam reviewers 😢
Please review the Elac BS-312
Thank you for the suggestion 😊
I am looking at getting the Solano BS283 to pair with NAD M10. Have you reviewe the BS283? or planning to?
Thanks
I haven’t, just the floorstanders 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Do you think the Solano BS283 and NAD M10 is a good match?
@@cougar2465 normally the speakers in the same range have a very similar tonal balance. On paper the warm Elacs should balance the cooler NAD but you can only truly tell by trying 😊
Um ... why is there a twenty-hour upload of a "Paper Mario Origami King" walkthrough, in the middle of the speaker-review playlist? :D
Hello, do you think it's a good idea to associate them with MARANTZ X MELODY M CR 612 ?
I wouldn’t know but you could try 😊
If I understand the review well, this speaker could do with an additional 4" mid range driver.
It would be interesting to see a 3 way version 😊
👍
Thank you Sundar 😊👍
The woofer surrounds looks mega beefy, kinda like subwoofer surrounds - they must have a ton of excursion.
They are beefy. Well spotted. I dint go about about 85-90 dB 😊
They look a bit like my Monitor Audio RX8
Cool 😎
Hi, Tarun, we want to cooperate with you, do you have interest?
Sorry, I have been very busy. I will have a look at your products and get in touch 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Ok, friend, keep in touch, would you mind tell us your email address so we can send your our store link?
This transducer gets resounding faint praise from this channel.
Looks like Andrew Jones has nothing to fear from other elac designers....other than being mistakenly credited for these:-/
Thank you for watching and sharing Carlito 😊
british audiophile and no kef reviews :/
Sadly not many of them are made in Britain anymore, just reference and upwards.
@@keithwood4031 still designed there though. It would be nice to hear his opinion on the metas or the r series.
@@jbt6121 You certainly have a point there. I love KEF and have a pair of C95's from 1988, still going strong and as I already posted I've tested the R7's which are brilliant and highly recommendable but not for me as they aren't almost €3000 better than what I already have.
I have requested to review the Metas but was turned down. I may try again 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 see if you can get some kef r3s or one of the 3 towers. Loving the reviews! :)
the whole british thing, it is so much pushed in, that it becomes a bit irritating if you ask me really, no?
honest review, so not that british, very good.
@@exodusvelo thank you 😊👍
You need to put some sound demo to your otherwise informative reviews.
Thank you FM. Whilst, I find sound demos entertaining, I believe using them as a tool to judge hifi equipment is misleading. You can’t listen to a system through another system and draw any meaningful conclusions 😊