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A HiFi newbs Elac Adante review

First post here! (I’ll keep this relevant soley to the adantes) :)

Background: I have a fairly lengthy audiophile habit in car audio but not home HiFi. As a first time home buyer Ive been chomping at the bit to piece my first system together without concern of bothering neighbos! so needless to say, I’m new to home HiFi - recently purchased the adante stand mounts and picked up a roksan k3 integrated to power the beasts (these suckers are huge). Bear in mind this is my first HiFi setup so I put almost all of my budget into the speakers and an integrated amplifier as a foundation.

I’ve gotten some time under my belt now listening and am quite happy with the combo. The setup simply stated just sounds "fun" by that I mean open, precise and has a massive stage with solid bass. The best way to describe this is just a large wall of sound coming to my seat with pinpoint stereo accuracy of vocals coming right down the middle. I certainly find the bass adequate but feel a sub thrown in the mix would make a significant impact. I listen mostly to accoustic folk, modern r&b, alternative and newer hip hop streamed thru a Chromecast hdmi to my TV and the TV’s digital out to an ifi micro dac. I’m aware my source is not ideal but until I cash a few more checks and finnish my 24’ x14 dedicated listening room (former spare bedroom) it will have to do. I completely blew my budget but can’t say that eating hot dogs and ramen in front of a bad ass stereo for a few weeks is all that bad haha. The only thing that comes to mind that could use improvement is that I could see how others might think these are overly direct or in your face in regards to the top end but feel I can take this down once I move everything to the man cave.

Currently using home Depot 14g wire off the spool and a less than ideal source so I’m confident there is PLENTY of room to grow! Can’t wait to see where this journey goes in the mean time 😁

Any forum thoughts on using a mini DSP? Used these in my car setup for 2 way active xover and t/a with a ton of success and want to get the he mini DSP with Dirac for room correction and integrating a stereo sub set up. Oh Wich reminds me, any thoughts on rel vs svs sealed for something like this?

Pic of current setup
https://i.imgur.com/RmZ4mr8.jpg

Cheers!
Chris
128x128clucas65
clucas65's avatar
clucas65 OP
3 posts
 
@audiotroy thanks for all the input! My choice on the roksan came down to reviews on the web. Originally I chose the nad c388 since I had a chance to demo but felt I would get more for the money buying second hand. The roksan definitely sounds better to me. As compared to the nad it has a fuller sound. I still might pick up a c368 and a set of monitor audio silver 200s for my living room once I move the adantes to their permenant home! I loved how that combo sounded. 

I hate to say this because I wouldnt want to shy anybody away from these speakers thinking the design may be inadequate (they aren't) but the allure of this speakers bass cabinet bandpass design was what made pull the trigger. I think it's a really cool/unique design! Come on!? Concentric tweeter and bandpass to passive radiator....how cool is that!!?? 

Along with sounding great they make a stellar conversation piece and I'm truly intriguiged by the design. Now this I can really appreciate. 

I feel as though some people have a negative opinion on these speakers for being direct and having such a high level of detail as a near flaw. I saw this as an opportunity to purchase the rest of my system based on the other components individual sonic characteristics. I love to tinker and always need an excuse to change things as I go so this works perfect. I feel strongly that these will play true to source. 
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,911 posts
 
enjoy !!!!
long before investing in subwoofers, i would improve cables and since you are building a dedicated room, some analysis tools ( Audiotools and a calibrated mic ) and some treatments...most dedicated rooms end up sterile, get some natural diffuser/ absorber in there....sounds like a great dog helps....our ancient Labrador likes listening with me...
dont rule out Audioquest cables, copper is affordable, neutral and has DBS
of course the Roksan is good stuff !!!
seanheis1
624 posts
 
The Home Depot wire is actually pretty brilliant. For fun buy some and test it out. You may prefer it to Nordost, Kimber, etc. 
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
3,780 posts
 
Clu,

I would think the Roksan would be better than the Nad, we had a Roksan Black on trial for a few days and it was good, we just felt that it wasn't better than our other integrated amps with dacs but it was very good. 

As per subs we had the SVS SB 13 on trial trade in, and it was a bit boomy the JL Audio was much faster. 

The Adante sub just arrived yesterday, so after we have a chance to play with that one we can tell you what we think of the sub.

The Elac woofer may be an excellent choice due to the fact that it is designed probably with the AS 61's in mind 

Will post findings after we have gotten it burned in and setup.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
motberg
18 posts
 
Thanks for the review Chris!

I have a couple of the miniDSP HD´s (2x4) that replaced the standard miniDSP model used for supertweeters and subs management (main speakers running full range).. even there, I felt the HD was a nice step forward compared to the standard version. I am thinking that with the level of detail you are describing, you may notice any additional ADDA conversions though (I think there is digital I/O available, not sure)..

I would consider room treatments and speaker/listening positions tweaking good  place to start dialing things in once you get your stuff into the cave... there is a lot of info available online, but I have found this a very time-efficient resource.
http://getbettersound.com/index.php 

I am thinking with those speakers and your music preferences, you may want to audition some other flavor of a R2R or multibit DAC to compare against your iFi. A DAC that offers a NOS (non oversampling) option may be a good match, but watch so you do not lose that sound stage depth/width at the expense of tonality.

Here is a somewhat-off-the-radar company making source components that seem high value,   https://www.allo.com/index.html ..

Good luck and will be looking forward to any additional comments you have time to share.
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