Yikes!
I thought I had posted some comments about the UB5 vs AA Monitors here back in July, but don't see them so here goes:
I tried the UniFis for a couple of weeks. Briefly, I thought the Philharmonic AA's were better speakers. Since the UniFi's cost over twice as much, that is pretty disappointing.
I will say that the concentric drivers do have a unique and beneficial effect (but also seem to have their own set of drawbacks as well). For solos performed by directional instruments (such as a trombone), the effect of the wave guide directing the sound as a trombone would, combined with the precise location of the imaging was a great effect! I can say that I preferred the presentation of the UniFis for this isolated situation even though it was clear that the UniFis did not present the full spectrum of the trombone's harmonics (I play in a big band so am very familiar with the sound of a trombone). As soon as more instrumentation was added, the UniFis sound became overly thin compared to the AA's. Something like piano solo was no good. While the imaging was nice, the ambiance of a live piano was missing (like you took away the room). It almost seemed as if I was standing 10' out the doorway of a nightclub listening to the live performance which was in direct view. I could hear the direct sounds (clearly) such as a trumpet pointed at me, but so much content got lost because of the narrowness of the doorway.
But the total undoing of the UniFis (to my ear) was Norah Jones and Katy Perry's voices. With Norah Jones the breathy aspect of her voice took on a metallic quality like you might hear from a poorly executed horn. With Katy Perry, the nuances revealing the edginess and power of her voice (which is what makes her a great vocalist) were all but absent. For the record, I listened to Katy Perry on "MTV Unplugged" acoustic (and jazzy) version of "I Kissed a Girl".
Will the UniFi's be a success? I think so, with the Andrew Jones marketing strategy, they had already made a splash pre-release! The effect of the concentric drivers is appealing, and may be the primary thing people will notice when listening to them in a typical showroom. Certainly an experienced salesman could direct attention to it and play music to showcase the imaging. Without quickly switching between speakers I'm not sure the loss of the room and other details would be so obvious. I guess what I'm saying is I think it would be easy for someone to focus on the imaging phenomena and not really give attention to the other aspects (where the UniFi's fall short) and conclude the UniFi's were superior.
However, if they hear like me and bring some Norah Jones to the show, and don't get overly distracted by the imaging, they will realize that that impressive imaging comes at a price (in sound quality).
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/elac-uni-fi-bookshelf-speakers.104594/#post-1146931
