ELAC - Adante... what’s the verdict?

Rzemkoski still trying to understand your comment, about the difference between the Wilsons and the Adantes.

Are you saying that the $5k Adantes were nearly as good as the $30k Sashas?  Or that in direct comparison the difference in price vs the difference in performance were trivial?

We are a big fan of the Adantes, as we are a dealer for them so of course we like them. They are ideosyncratic speakers, the point that we have made in previous posts is that the Adante sound reminds us of the Wilson presentation, punchy and visceral, with a big soundstage.

As noted the speakers require careful matching to bring out what they do. 

We would think that the Sasha would present even better low level details with greater subtitly. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Audiotroy,
Your spot on about both speakers and the Sashas are the better speaker in some respects. I have had Wilson Witts, Cubs and Sophia2s so I think I can expound on their glories and faults. I was looking for my "end" speaker and after demoing the Sasha2 with their better tweeter, I thought I could live with them. After a year, it was time for something else.
On certain recordings, they could sound "crunchy" and lacking bass.
I don't want to discount Wilson, because they are a great company. And are very accommodating. Wilson makes an exciting sounding product, but the excitement wanes after a long listening session (for me). My dealer offered a trade-in on the Alexia2s but I wasn't about to spend 30k for 4 more inches of bass drivers.

I, on occasion, would swap out the Sashas for the Elac Debut6. I didn't miss the Wilsons. No slam of course or infinite detail, but a smooth and balanced presentation that persuaded me to reach out to the AS-61s. After the break-in and happy listening, I decided to get the AF-61s. New and sealed for 3,900. from a FL man who was going in another direction.
Their not yet broken in, but I'm thinking with 2 extra bass drivers, they will fill my dedicated 20x30 ft room with  non-fatigueing hi-fidelity.

These will not be the end of my 40 year love affair with the "High End".
Better transducers exist,of course, but I'm having fun!

Thank you for an intelligent response. From now on I'll keep my "verdict" to myself.

Richard the Deaf

Seems to me the moral of this story is that the Adantes need a long, and may need a very long, break-in period in order to sound their best.  This in turn would account for the consideration variations in impressions derived from recent auditions, depending on how many hours the particular units have clocked.

The Adantes do need a considerably long break in period. I will say if you have the patience and willing to take the journey with these speakers you will be rewarded. It's been 4 months and the bass, treble and midrange have opened up to reveal this speakers true ability. It has been a great journey thus far. These have become my favorite speakers so far in my 30+ years in this hobby. Feed them solid quality watts and you will be amazed. 

Rezem,

Your verdict was excellent and appreciated.  

If you remember we were the dealer that started the Elac and Naim thread which got torpedoded by some certain posters who hail the world resolves around a certain speaker company who makes speakers with first order slopes and were threatned by an open discussion.

We personally feel that the industry is making an exciting new turn in somewhat affordable products that produce some remarkable performance and can hint at the best products available. 

We like the Elac Adantes and present them to people looking for a very visceral, dynamic sounding and exciting speaker.

A new addition is the Quad Line to our store, and the Z series and the S series are mind blowing affordable loudspeakers.

The Quad line has two series the S series which starts at a $700 and $1,000 monitor, with 2 floorstanders at $1,800 and $2,100.00

https://www.stereophile.com/content/quad-s-2-loudspeaker

The Quad speakers feature totally proprietary ribbon tweeters and wooven carbon fiber drivers in nicely damped cabinets. 

The more expensive Z series uses a bigger ribbon and more sophisticated drivers, again with an upgraded cabinet, startiing a $2k for a monitor and $4.2 and $5k for their floorstanders. 

http://www.quad-hifi.co.uk/upload/files/HFC_416_InDepth_QUAD_Reprint-LOW(1).pdf

All we can say is WOW!  The Quads are silky sounding, yet  with great detail and a huge soundstage. The Quads are more delicate and airy sounding than the Elacs but lack the Elacs sense of excitement and deep viceral bass. 

The Quad ribbon tweeter is stunning, it creates tremendous detail yet sounds much richer and less harsh then any true ribbon tweeter we have ever experienced. 

The point we are making are both the Elac and Quad lines are challenging much more expensive speakers and yes we sell speakers up to $70k. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ