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How do the Elac Uni-Fi UB5s compare to more expensive bookshelf speakers?

How do the Elac UB5s compare to other popular and well reviewed bookshelf speakers? How would they compare to the Kef ls50s or dynaudio excite x14s or some of the other well reviewed bookshelf speakers around the $1500 mark in Stereophile. I am tempted t get a pair of the Elacs in the slim finished cabinets for around $750 but I don't want to short myself.
brimel1974
chrisr's avatar
chrisr
543 posts
 
If you're looking for a good bang for the buck little bookshelf, and you llike warm sound with wide soundstage amd good imaging, i can recommend wharfedale denton.  They can be had for less than $500, they feature incredibly nice cabinetry for the money, high quality finish and binding posts, and they sound really good.  Speakers i used the most right now are totem hawks, but i like to swap and the dentons are a pleasure to listen too, very very smooth.
hifineubee
56 posts
 

Proud former owner of Elac B6 here.  I would highly recommend Elac but you need to know the differences between Elac and KEF sound.

Elac - very musical and superb midrange, the entry level Elac will play vocal and simple music very well with upstream gear in the same price range.  Elac are fun and make you feel excited when listening to music.  Also very good when double up as home theater speakers.  The speakers require extensive continuous playing hours to break-in 40+hrs in my case.  The difference before and after was very significant that when I used an unbroken in Elac demo pair in my local store to find an amp the sonic gaps were wide.  Also, the Uni-Fi series use aluminum and at least during break in period you'll definitely notice the initial soda can like metallic sound.  The metallic sound is known to go away and smooth out after break in.

However, I was unable to play complex music like big classical piece with lots of orchestral instruments without muddled sound.  I knew for a fact that the Elacs could do much better with more expensive gear but then I ran into the dilemma of buying DAC/amp that would cost 5x-6x the price of the speakers ($1000 DAC +  $1000 amp) which didn't make sense to me and I never went down that road.

If you want to try Elac/KEF and don't plan on investing over $2k of upstream gear, I highly recommend going with the new Debut B6 with walnut finishes to start your audiophile journey.  If money is no issue, I would recommend waiting on the new Adante bookshelf coming out this year for $2500, a new creation from Andrew Jones when cost is not a concern.


KEF - requires much higher end gear than Elac to get good performance, something of a big cost to factor in.  Most people I read about who get great performance from their KEF LS50 are running 2-3k upstream gear at least.  LS50 like all KEFs have a laid back more relaxed nature (relatively speaking).  I listened to the LS50 in the store with Rega Brio-R and the performance was poor, most likely just bad gear partnering.  Versus Elac, the sonic 'style' are very different and you must listen in order to judge for yourself.

contuzzi
413 posts
 
The ELAC B6 and UB5 are dramatically different sounding (and priced) speakers.
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
I had a chance to hear Both UB5 and LS50 twice. The first time the LS50 was paired with a Primaluna integrated and it sounded incredible. I simply could not believe what was coming out of these little box speakers. I had a similar reaction when I heard the UB5 paired with a $400 NAD integrated. A $3500 system vs. an $800 one, both impressive but for different reasons. No question the PL/KEF combo was in a different league.The second time I heard the LS50 I asked the sales guy to switch the amp and hook it up to the same NAD integrated I had heard paired with the Elacs. Even though this was not an A/B test - the dealer did not carry Elacs, I thought the Elacs sounded better - much better bass, detail, etc., with the lesser amp. I just wished I could hear the Elacs with Primaluna amp but I can only imagine how much better they would have sounded. Bottom line (for me) was if I were to buy the KEF, I would either have to be prepared to buy a high quality amplifier, otherwise I'd just go with the Elacs and buy a comparably priced amp. This is all if the SQ is the only criteria otherwise LS50 is in a completely different class when it comes to the build quality.
mesch
3,529 posts
 
I believe in your premise Kalali, balance in a system is important, otherwise one is always chasing the 'weak link'. I have no doubt that the LS50 is capable of exposing the differences between a $500 SS amp vs. a $2000 tube one. Likely the UB5 could do the same. However pairing a set of speakers with an amplification costing 5-10 X the cost is not advisable (not saying you implied this). That said, I can't say I agree when I hear one advise others that they should spend 1/2 their audio budget on speakers. There are situations (upper end budgets) when this may be justified however not for the majority. 

 
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