adante

I have the Debut Reference dbr62 being delivered tomorrow....cant wait to put them tru their paces...

whoever in this post calls the Adantes an absolute flop is a dumb, foolish and ignorant idiot, who probably never ever even listened to them. I own a pair of the AF61 and also a pair of Dynaudio Confidence 5. The Adante Af61s sounded very bright in the first couple of weeks, almost shrill. They do need brake-in time to smoothen out. Once they are fully broken in the silk dome tweeter actually starts to relax and becomes a lot more balanced sounding- same is true for the mid range unit. Bass slam and extension were great from the beginning, but as mentioned before, compared to the Confidence 5, the mid range and tweeter sounded too bright in the first 3 weeks. After that female vocals became spot on. However, one statement is true, the Adante AF61s are very holographic in soundstage imaging, revealing the width and depth of the recorded soundstage with ease. They are also unforgiving- if your gear sucks, they will sound bad as well. On the contrary, you will hear every little upgrade and investment, from fuses to cables and interconnects, when your source and amplification are high quality. I have been using mainly PS Audio gear, BHK250, P15 powerplant, Directstream DAC, combined with a tuned Mystere CA21 tube preamp. Fuses are SR Orange, Interconnects are Nordost Tyr and Wireworld Silver Eclipse 6. Powercords are mainly from Pangea- Ac9SE and AC14XL Mk2 for the preamp, Wireworld Silver Electra 6 for the PS Audio DSD, streaming high res audio from my NAS and via Audirvana from a dedicated Mac Mini. At the current discount prices the Elac Andante AF-61 is a fantastic deal, but they prefer high quality gear to really unleash their true potential. 

Just as an FYI for readers that missed it.

"Conclusions
Yes, I had a few mild critiques of the Elac Adante AF-61, particularly for the need, with some music, in my very large room, of a good subwoofer to flesh out the bottom end, which turned a very good speaker into an exceptional one.

But with or without a subwoofer, I liked what I heard from the Adante AF-61s as soon as I hooked them up. I liked them even better after several weeks of listening. When I went back to check a few last-minute details while writing this review, I found it difficult to listen for only a few minutes and then return to my writing. I wanted to listen longer. I had to pull myself away. If that's not a solid recommendation, I don't know what is."

- Stereophile
Thomas J. Norton
https://www.stereophile.com/content/elac-adante-af-61-loudspeaker

I have had the Adante floorstanders for a year and a half now. I have them paired now with 2 of Danny Ritchie’s open baffle servo subs and some competent electronics. I was lucky to have a a good room to begin with (didn’t have to do any major remodeling) and have my room acoustics tweaked up to the nth degree as of now. I recently walked out of a 100k+ dollar system snickering to myself after realizing what a good thing i’ve got going at home with a pair of speakers that retailed for a measly 5k. I still have to pinch myself when i realize I picked them up for half the price last year.  I sometimes feel like kicking my other speakers that cost ten times as much.

When i sense the disgruntlement oozing out of other guys i know who’ve dropped six figures on a system, i realize what a joke all of this is. 

In any case, I greatly appreciate the "charity" that Mr. A. Jones has provided to the world of hifi.

I just received a pair of Andante AF 61's and installed them first with a humble Naim Unitiqute, just for the kicks of testing the Qute.  I've used KEF's LS50's with the Qute and one of my two Linn LP12's as my home office system for 4 years, and a pair of KEF R700's paired with Naim Superuniti, another Linn LP12 and a Linn Akurate DS/1 in the family room.
Just the basic Qute setup revealed an astonishing speaker in the Andante's without any tweaking.  I had just returned a pair of KEF R3's after being very disappointed with their brittle high-end, although they had a lot going for them in the lower registers and imaging.

Now setup with a Mytek Brooklyn DAC+, and a Nuforce STA200 (another gem in value Audiophilia), the Andante's are delivering amazing sound, with the Nuforce, and at the discounted price they represent amazing value.
It's easy to blow a lot of money on audio equipment with subprime results.  Finding diamonds like these in the rough is what makes this hobby truly exciting.  It's like the Sondek LP12 that I purchased 39 years ago, which is still going strong and carefully upgraded with mostly used components, probably the most rewarding purchase I've ever made.  I have a similar emotion with the Adante's. 

Thank you ELAC and Mr. Jones.