Elac UniFi review?

[Audiobibleman]

I watched the video and read the overview. The overview said that there will be a full review coming, just curious if that ever was going to happen? Audioholics is the first place I turn to for reviews on equipment.

 

[KEW]

I watched the video and read the overview. The overview said that there will be a full review coming, just curious if that ever was going to happen? Audioholics is the first place I turn to for reviews on equipment.

I believe that video is over a year old, so probably should not hold your breath.

In case you missed it, I posted a personal, subjective review here:
https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/elac-uni-fi-bookshelf-speakers.104594/#post-1146931

Hope you find this useful.
I too would like to see an AH review with measurements.
I did come across one measurement of their FR from sound and Vision (purple trace):

Probably the most damning thing in the FR is the hump at 1.5-2.5kHz immediately followed by the low shelf from 3-10khz. These measurements were taken about 5 months after my review, so I did not have the benefit of a FR chart when I did my review.
According to my handy pro-audio recording chart, too much 1-2kHz can sound "tinny", which is probably why I heard a metallic quality to Norah Jones voice instead of her normal breathy quality. The low shelf from 3-10kHz includes the ranges of "vocal recognition/hard consonants", "clarity and definition", and "crispness".
True these are not horrendous variations in SPL, but they are in the range that our ears are most sensitive. And when I compared them directly to the AA's with instant level-matched switching these deficiencies were obvious.
The roll-off at ~500Hz is probably why they sounded thin to my ear. The hump at around 120Hz is in the area of "Boom/Punch" per my chart and I remember being puzzled that they did have a good "hit" on a drum despite not having a "full" sound from the drum. (Good punch, but thin sound character)
To my ears the AA's are a superior speaker for a lot less $; however, if you tell us your situation - room size, function (music vs HT), budget, and purpose (surrounds, mains, etc) - we can suggest speakers for you to compare to the UniFi's.
If the UniFis are still available from Amazon, you'd have until 1/31/18 to return them, so now is a good time to perform comparisons in your home!

I bought a wall chart copy, but the chart I am referring to is here. It is interactive! Hover your mouse over frequencies of interest to get information about them:
http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm

Hope this helps!

 

[Dennis Murphy]

I believe that video is over a year old, so probably should not hold your breath.

In case you missed it, I posted a personal, subjective review here:
https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/elac-uni-fi-bookshelf-speakers.104594/#post-1146931

Hope you find this useful.
I too would like to see an AH review with measurements.
I did come across one measurement of their FR from sound and Vision (purple trace):

Probably the most damning thing in the FR is the hump at 1.5-2.5kHz immediately followed by the low shelf from 3-10khz. These measurements were taken about 5 months after my review, so I did not have of a FR chart when I did my review.
According to my handy pro-audio recording chart, too much 1-2kHz can sound "tinny", which is probably why I heard a metallic quality to Norah Jones voice instead of it normal breathy quality. The low shelf from 3-10kHz includes the ranges of "vocal recognition/hard consonants", "clarity and definition", and "crispness".
True these are not horrendous variations in SPL, but they are in the range that our ears are most sensitive. And when I compared them directly to the AA's with instant level-matched switching these deficiencies were obvious.
The roll-off at ~500Hz is probably why they sounded thin to my ear. The hump at around 120Hz is in the area of "Boom/Punch" per my chart and I remember being puzzled that they did have a good "hit" on a drum despite not having a "full" sound from the drum. (Good punch, but thin sound character)
To my ears the AA's are a superior speaker for a lot less $; however, if you tell us your situation - room size, function (music vs HT), budget, and purpose (surrounds, mains, etc) - we can suggest speakers for you to compare to the UniFi's.
If the UniFis are still available from Amazon, you'd have until 1/31/18 to return them, so now is a good time to perform comparisons in your home!

I bought a wall chart copy, but the chart I am referring to is here. It is interactive! Hover your mouse over frequencies of interest to get information about them:
http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm

Hope this helps!

One thing I always try and remind people of is that the Sound and Vision measurements are made with the grill attached, so that often explains some of the smaller dips and peaks, although not the general contour.

 

[Audiobibleman]

Thanks for the replies. My room size is 13 x 24, 60% home theater 40% music. I've actually had the Pioneer Andrew Jones 5.0 set up for a couple years now and loved it, but the upgrade bug hit me. I have actually tried the Klipsch rp-150m side by side with the Andrew Jones pioneers, and half the time the Pioneer sound better, half the time klipsch sound better, depending on song choice. I did purchase the whole elac UniFi surround set, uf5, ub5, and uc5. I'm still waiting on the center Channel, but I've had the other speakers for a week now. The Imaging compared to the Klipsch is no contest. The Klipsch just sound like it's coming from the front of the room, kind of like what I think of a wall of sound is. where the elac towers sound like it's coming from individual spots on stage.I am using a Denon 3805 receiver and have 2 stereo Integrity 18" sub woofers one in a full Marty box and another in a sealed box near field.For bass management I have all speakers set to small with an 80hz crossover. I love the elac speakers so far, but just wondering if there was anything else I should be looking at. I got all the elac speakers on a really good deal for $1150. I do have till the end of January to return the elacs. Thanks again.

 

[shadyJ]

One thing I always try and remind people of is that the Sound and Vision measurements are made with the grill attached, so that often explains some of the smaller dips and peaks, although not the general contour.

S&V's chart is a listening window, not a single angle of frequency response. I would think that the diffraction effects of the grille would be somewhat mitigated by the different angles involved in creating the listening window curve.

 

[KEW]

I think it would be hard to beat the imaging of the concentric Elacs. That was definitely their strong point!

Since you mentioned Klipsch, I have Klipsch for my HT system. They are not my best speakers for listening to music, but I have found that aiming the front two speakers about 2 feet in front of me yields the best response for stereo music and, in that configuration, they are quite good. Fior HT, however, I believe they are a great value. The clarity of dialog and their "impactfulness" in a suspenseful scene when the "sh!t hits the fan" is up to par with far more expensive speakers. You might try toeing them in as I described and do your listening test again.

You have a very solid AVR and I presume your DIY subs are pretty amazing!

So you have $1150 to put into a speaker upgrade! This is what I would do in your situation:
1) Buy a pair of SVS Ultra bookshelf speakers for $1000 (ideally for $800 buying B-stock, but no guarantees they will be available - there are none today). SVS allows you 45 days to try them out and pays for shipping if you decide to return them, so you are totally risk free!
2) Keep your Pioneer surround speakers. There just is not that much content in the surrounds and our ears are not designed to be so sensitive behind us! (watch a favorite clip with the front 3 speakers unplugged to see what I mean - unplug from AVR instead of at the speakers to avoid accidentally shorting the speaker wires)
3) For now, just run the front with a phantom center (give it a try, you'd be surprised!). Take your time while saving up, and keep your eyes open on the SVS Outlet site until they have a $400 B-stock Ultra bookshelf to use as your center.

http://www.audioholics.com/bookshelf-speaker-reviews/svs-ultra-bookshelf-speakers
https://www.svsound.com/products/ultra-bookshelf
You can also buy through Amazon Prime if that is more comfortable for you.

To me it doesn't make sense to spend $1000 incrementally upgrading all 5 speakers when you can have a quantum leap upgrade of your main speakers for the same money. You can always upgrade the surrounds later, but at $2500 for 5 of the Ultras how soon would you actually get there if you keep upgrading all 5 at once (and how much money would you spend along the way)?

Free to try, and I think these are a budgetary sweet spot where diminished returns start to kick in - you can buy better but it will cost a lot to buy substantially better!

 

[Audiobibleman]

Those subs were the best upgrade I ever made. I went from an Infinity 10 inch powered sub and a Dayton audio sub-1200. I actually only spent $550 for both 18" subs with boxes and an inuke6000dsp. My couch physically shakes during movies. my wife said it's like you're on one of those rides at Universal Studios. My friend has a full set of SVS Prime bookshelves and Center how do those compare to the Ultras?

 

[KEW]

DIY seems to be an especially perfect fit for subwoofers!

I'm afraid I have never heard the SVS Primes. From what I have read, they are decent speakers at a fair price.
The difference between them and the Ultra's is that the Ultras are in a totally different category of performance (as they should be at twice the price)!

If you want a 5.0 system to compare against the Elacs, the Prime is probably not a bad option.

The Ultras will get you a clear step up in sound quality. However, concentric drivers like the Elac's (or KEF's) should image better than any other 2 or 3 way speaker.

If imaging is paramount to you, I would encourage you to still take the same approach I am proposing with the Ultras, which is to buy a pair of higher level R&L and flesh out the rest of your system as funds become available rather than swapping all 5 speakers every time.

If you happen to be in the Atlanta area, I can let you listen to the AA's and/or the pioneer FS-52's that Dennis Murphy modded and may have a pair of Ultras available in a couple of weeks!
(I'm not trying to sell anything, just like to help people learn from my own mistakes).

In his review conclusion for the Ultras, Gene states:

I believe the SVS Ultras are among the best value in high performance bookshelf speakers and I think you may agree if you give them a try.

http://www.audioholics.com/bookshelf-speaker-reviews/svs-ultra-bookshelf-speakers

The SVS Prime would not be considered a "high performance" speaker by Gene.

 

[Audiobibleman]

I actually live in Minnesota. Sorry about the Falcons if your a fan. Go Vikings. I will probably have to go listen to my friends SVS. My brother and my dad both came over and said that the elac speakers were amazing, but I definitely don't mind auditioning other speakers.

 

[KEW]

I actually live in Minnesota. Sorry about the Falcons if your a fan. Go Vikings. I will probably have to go listen to my friends SVS. My brother and my dad both came over and said that the elac speakers were amazing, but I definitely don't mind auditioning other speakers.

LOL, I'm not much of a follower of football and had no idea about the Falcons. However, having a daughter who is at University of Georgia, I am very aware of their win over Auburn which makes them SEC champions and lines them up for the playoffs, so F*** the Falcons!

I think if you can take advantage of the free trial of the SVS Ultra, you would realize a totally different level of performance.
However, if it is possible, the ideal would be to take your UB5's and AVR to his house. Put his and your system in pure direct with the speakers side by side. Most DVD players will play CD's and have both HDMI and Toslink (or RCA) audio outputs so you can run sound to both systems at the same time. Level match the volumes and use the mute button to switch back and forth. If you both have Denons, turn one of the AVR's off, mute the one that is on then turn the other one back on. Now every push of the mute button will swap speakers.
In my experience the difference between the sounds of speakers has always been greater than teh differences between speaker position (I put them side by side), but I always like to physically swap their locations just to make sure.
Be sure to alternate the speakers (A-B-A-B) going across the front. If one pair is closer together and teh other is spread out more, this would obviously effect the width of the sound stage.

 

[zieglj01]

I actually live in Minnesota. Sorry about the Falcons if your a fan. Go Vikings. I will probably have to go listen to my friends SVS. My brother and my dad both came over and said that the elac speakers were amazing, but I definitely don't mind auditioning other speakers.

Look at the NHT C1 sold each
https://www.nhthifi.com/products/16548-c-1-bookshelf-speaker?category_id=1964842-bookshelf-speakers#specs

Also the word on the KEF Q150 has been good and are stated to be better than the Q100 -- and KEF did a lot more to the crossover network -- sold as a pair
https://www.amazon.com/KEF-Q150-Bookshelf-Speakers-Black/dp/B071P6KQZX/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1512362953&sr=8-2&keywords=kef+q150

 

[KEW]

Audiobibleman, since you are new here, I wanted to point out that Zeiglj has heard a ton of speakers and keeps well informed on many others.

The KEF's would give you the same imaging as the Elacs and I bet they sound better.

I really think the Elacs were designed in part to impress buyers on paper. Making a 3-way bookshelf really doesn't make sense at this pricepoint - for example, KEF is a well engineered product and their 2-way ls50 represents a $1500 MSRP bookshelf speaker that has made a major impact and I think has already established itself as a classic/great speaker. The cost of adding another driver and crossover comes out of the other components.

Andrew Jones has talked about the rush/push to get the UniFi in production. It is a first pass. AJ is a great designer, but just as he tweaked the Pioneer 51 and 21 to make the 22 and 52, I'm betting he sees a thing or two to tweak on the Uni-Fi.
KEF is company that is playing a long term game, and probably did not rush the Q100 to market (Elac is trying to get the best and quickest benefit out of their celebrity hired gun, Andrew Jones). The Q150 represents the new and improved version, so you can feel sure you are getting a mature design.

Look at the NHT C1 sold each
https://www.nhthifi.com/products/16548-c-1-bookshelf-speaker?category_id=1964842-bookshelf-speakers#specs

Also the word on the KEF Q150 has been good and are stated to be better than the Q100 -- and KEF did a lot more to the crossover network -- sold as a pair
https://www.amazon.com/KEF-Q150-Bookshelf-Speakers-Black/dp/B071P6KQZX/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1512362953&sr=8-2&keywords=kef+q150

If you are not interested in the Ultras, I think you should try the Q150's through Amazon. If the imaging wowed you with the Uni-Fi's, you should at least compare it to another concentric design before committing.
If you are a tower guy, here is the tower that I believe goes with the Q150's. A system with towers would be beyond your budget, but like I say, you should shoot higher and phase it in. If you like the KEF better, get the mains first and fill in the center and surrounds later.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0725VQ5SZ/ref=sxbs_sxwds-stvp_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3341940462&pd_rd_wg=uYgyS&pf_rd_r=TH4P6RX2C71T93RGXZZ8&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-bottom-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B0725VQ5SZ&pd_rd_w=51LXM&pf_rd_i=kef+tower+speakers&pd_rd_r=bc694020-701b-4f53-ae0b-1a1aa13bb04a&ie=UTF8&qid=1512428017&sr=2

 

[ThunderClap]

How are the 150's and KEF's in general for HT?

 

[Audiobibleman]

The pioneer speakers that he designed. were using off the shelf parts. where as the unifi, he had those speakers design just for that speaker line. I would assume more longevity with the unifi speakers for that reason. Many review sites have the unifi speakers as editors choice, and even Audioholics have the elac debut speakers as product of the year winner. I usually listen to the review sites, because they listen to a lot more speakers than I do. The uc5 center channel comes tomorrow. I will let you know what I think of the whole setup. Thanks for all the responses.