New Uni-Fi Speakers from Elac!
It’s almost unfair. What Elac is doing to the inexpensive speaker market is… decimating the competition. Shipping any day is the Uni-Fi Series of speakers that consists of three models. There will be a set of towers, bookshelf speakers, and a center.
All three models will employ the new Concentric midrange-tweeter element designed by Andrew Jones. The line was shown at the winter Consumer Electronic Show in January. The advanced reports are glowing. Can the speakers live up to such high praise? Given the performance of the Debut line introduced in 2015, we have confidence that they WILL!
ELAC Uni-Fi Family
UB-5 $500 per pair, Bookshelf Speaker (12 3/4h, 7 7/8w, 10 3/4d)
ELAC UB-5
UB-5 is a legit three way for only $500 per pair. It starts with a 1” silk tweeter, mounted concentrically with a 4” aluminum midrange driver. It is rounded out by a 5.25” Aluminum woofer.
The concentric mid-tweet and woofer, are each housed in their own chamber, which provides massive internal bracing for the loudspeaker. All this for $500 per pair?!
TAS Awards Best Sound at CES for the money: “The Elac UB-5 would have received my vote even if it cost $1500- it’s that great of a bargain.”
UF-5 $1000 per pair, Tower Speaker (38h, 7 7/8w, 10 3/4d)
ELAC UF-5
UF-5 uses the same Concentric, silk tweeter and aluminum midrange as UB-5 above. UF-5 employes three additional 5.25” aluminum woofers. The chambers are separate, so each is precisely tuned and unencumbered by the mating drivers. While the mids and treble sound the same, UF-5 delivers much more octane!
UC-5 Center Speaker, $350 each (7 7/8h, 18 3/4w, 10 3/4d)
ELAC UC-5
You probably already know that the matching center will use the same Concentric Mid-tweet as its brothers above. It also has two 5.25” aluminum woofers to bring a bit of muscle to the party.
Elac F-5 Tower Speakers, $560 per pair
ELAC F-5
Are you thinking that’s a typo? When I type it… I have a hard time believing it myself! Andrew Jones of Elac has created a great, inexpensive line of speakers.
Any speakers in this price range are coming from China. But Elac is different from everyone else. While the other guys are trying to save every ounce of weight to save money on transportation, Elac is NOT!
Andrew was hired by Elac and given his head. He insisted on putting real hardware in the speaker. Each F-5 weighs 33lbs. If you check the other guys making speakers in China, they aren’t even doing that at $2500 per pair!
In addition to a thick walled cabinet with H bracing, F-5 features a silk dome tweeter. The top end is indeed, smooth as silk! Everyone else in this range provides a nasty metal dome tweeter by comparison. If you want your music hot and bright, check out the other guys, not Elac.
F-5 uses a 5.25” Kevlar midrange driver. It emulates the sophistication of B&W in its prime, at less than half the money.
F-5 also features two 5.25” Kevlar woofers. The magnets on the back of these drivers are so large they barely sneak into the cabinet.
Evaluate what anyone else makes that’s close. You start with a silk dome tweeter in a heavy cabinet with H bracing. You have three 5.25” Kevlar drivers. The mid-tweeter chamber is isolated from the woofer section. Each weighs 33 lbs!
What you’ll find is, B&W and the other guys make something kinda/sorta similar (5” paper woofs), but with a 30 pound cabinet (sans plinth) and two paper woofs, for $2500! It’s a good speaker but NOT better than F-5 which runs 1/5th the price!
Bryston Power Amp Roll Over
Bryston 4B SST ‘3
About every 8-10 years, Bryston rolls over its line of power amps. That’s happening now. Stop by if you’re interested in a good demo price on some of the best power amps in the world, with long warranty. You won’t see pricing like this again for … most likely, about ten years!
MSRP Pricing- Discounts in the shop only:
B-135-SST/2 Integrated amp, $4700, 135×2
7B-SST/2 mono blocks, $5100 each, 600×1 each
28B-SST/2, mono blocks, $9800 each, 1000×1 each
Where did these band names come from?
Pink Floyd:
The name honors two Georgia bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.
Led Zeppelin:
The band was told their music would go over like a lead balloon.