James, you seem like you have some comprehension issues. Are you REALLY suggesting I haven’t had the extensive time spent with the speakers I am saying I have? I told you I will show photos tomorrow if you’d like.
You took me saying “I heard them at Axpona” and assumed that’s all the exposure I have with them. Not very smart.
I have had easily 30+ hours of ACTIVE listening and tweaking of these speakers. That doesn’t include the 200+ hours of break in (XLO break in disc) they have had.
Based on that I recommended them, stupidly, based on the little I heard and the hype (like Audio Doctor, who just brought them in, without even hearing them).
I heard a lot of promise with them, but kept noticing lots of things that bothered me about the sound. Part of what kept me going was the hype, and what I heard at Axpona. However that was carefully selected tracks in a noisy environment with tons of people. Also the psychological aspect of expecting Andrew’s new speaker to kick ass gave me expectation bias.
I’m really happy you got the speakers without listening to them and want to like them, and I can tell you’re trying hard. Why don’t you, instead of trying to “debunk” me and question my credibility, go listen to them some more?
I’m sure you will have zero issues with anything our resident advertiser (Audio Doctor) has to say, because it will of course be positive, making you feel better about your purchase. Funny how that works.
Looking forward to a 43 paragraph response from him soon too...
I was surprised by it only due to the fact that I am under the impression that reviewers aren’t really “allowed” to truly down talk speakers they review for various reasons. I bet his impressions of the speakers are actually worse than he wrote, but he had to tone it down as to not trash or bury the company. Usually reviewers use “read between the lines” negatives, like the other review that was posted right after by another member that mentioned the bass being nothing special (you have to wonder why no one else has done the same active/passive design after it was tried at KEF) and the response variances between the review pair being pretty bad.
I’m really curious to see how the Argo speakers sound, because right now there is just no synergy or house sound with ELAC. Each line has almost noting in common looks/sound wise. Maybe it’s just due to the driver layout on the prototypes, but I’m hoping the Argo changes that. I still absolutely do not understand why they would not also make passive versions of the Argo either.
I was a bit surprised by Steve Guttenberg's review. It seems that he loves almost everything that comes through his room and usually comes off as a Kool Aid chugger.
Pay attention though — I never said I owned them personally. I do however likely have more time spent listening to them, setting them up in various rooms, setting up an entire theater based on them, etc than anyone in this thread.
Audio Doctor will of course happen to think the speakers are amazing since he now sells them.
Let’s be realistic here.
I don’t want to down talk the speakers, because who knows — maybe I’m an elac dealer myself. However, I will say this... the Debut and Uni-Fi series are dramatically more impressive for their price.
I think there is a reason we aren’t seeing many reviews for these HIGHLY anticipated speakers. I respect CNET for posting an honest review. People should not be buying a speaker based on hype.
Also — hificrazed — try not to be so obvious that you work at ELAC or are a dealer. One look at your post history makes it GLARINGLY obvious. Please don’t insult everyone’s intelligence by denying it. I’m sure there’s a chance that you aren’t, but it’s highly unlikely.
Completely agree with Audio Doctor. These are special and unique speakers. I have them partnered with Parasound gear with Audioquest cables and they are dynamic and truly sing in ways I could not have imagined at this price point.
Seanheis1, this review was kind of a snippet more of a preview, if you read the review, Steve, listened to the speakers in the CNET office with whatever gear was there, he had a few choices, but who knows the quality of the cables, and the source quality which was used, as well as the setup in the room, if I remember the review it didn't go into that much detail. Steve really liked them but found that there were a few things he prefered in the B&W. B&W is generally sold with Rotel, so perhaps the two products were voiced together?
Your comment as some of these are allready showing up used. That is another easy answer, the speakers are frigging huge, they also have way deeper bass then the frequency cut off of 41hz, they positively shake the room. So the combination of very deep bass and way bigger size is going to mean that many people are going to mistakenly think these are going to work in rooms and places that they won't.
When we looked at ordering the Elacs, the speakers especially the stand mounted AS 61 didn't look that big based on the dimensions, but in person they are like the Kef Ref 1 huge for what is called a "stand mount."
Right now we don't know what they will sound like. but with so much hype about them and liking Andrew Jones's designs, we signed on without ever hearing them.
The other reason was to be able to offer our clients one of the best selection of monitors in the New York Tri State/NJ area.
We now have the KEF LS 50, LS 50W, ATC SCM 11 and SCM 19, The Elac Adante S61, the KEF Ref 1, and the Paradigm Persona B, hows that for some cool monitors.
We will update you guys after we have burned in our AS 61s.
I was using AQ Type 4 and switched to AQ Rocket 44 with nordost jumpers. The speakers sounded great at set up. I've had a few days to absorb what these speakers can do. Simply amazing. Low end is exceptional. These speakers benefit from the soft dome tweeter, I know this was a design change from the original debut in Jan 2017. I was planning on purchasing B&W 705 S2 but wanted a stand mount with deeper low end. These speakers best the 705 S2 IMHO.
Changed some speaker cables out. These speakers are amazing. Better than I expected - took a gamble and bought based on the feedback from the shows without auditioning. I was a die hard B&W fan before. These speakers have exceeding my expectations .
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