Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

May be HR could also review the new Polk Audio L-100 bookshelf/stand-mount speakers ($1,200/pair) ..... L-100s were favorably mentioned by RS, in a recent dealer demo ....... L-100s are in the same price range as KEF LS-50 and the Elac Carina bookshelf/stand-mount speakers :-) .........

... speakers "sounded more refined than any similarly priced loudspeaker I know of" and that "the word elegant kept forcing itself on me."

But, does he remember stating that the comparably priced Wharfedale Linton Heritage speakers "merge a refined, elegantly detailed, full-range sound with a magnetic personality that made me want to play records—made me want to listen longer, and to understand more of what I was listening to?"

https://www.stereophile.com/content/wharfedale-linton-heritage-loudspeaker-page-2

So HR, if the sound quality of both speakers is refined and elegant, do the ELAC Carina speakers also have that certain "magnetic personality" factor that makes you want to play records and listen longer - or not?

Or, could you be tempted by a pair of JBL Studio 590 speakers, presently on sale for only $880/pr.?

https://www.jbl.com/home-audio/STUDIO+590.html?cgid=home-audio&dwvar_STUDIO%20590_color=Black-USA-Support#start=1

and as always the gentleman poet of audio reviews. I wait for your articles and they are always kind and informative. My Kef LS50 Black Edition and (recent) Rogue Sphinx V3 are my current hot date, and that, thanks to you. Long may you write. (and paint)

These are the kind of speakers I'd go out and just buy without even hearing them--except for two things. First, I'd be happier if that base was metal, rather than plastic. But more importantly, a 6.5" woofer rather than a 5.5" one, with a slightly larger cabinet, would give greater bass extension and would make this a more useful speaker, as far as I'm concerned. I wonder why ELAC made their only bookshelf speaker in the range such a small one?

At this price range I would not have expected fig 4 to look this excellent. Even the cross-over graphs do not show the huge dips the crossover regions we normally see.

Could this Elac Carina bookshelf model be the first Elac bookshelf model to make it to the Stereophile Class-A limited LF? ........ Stay tuned to this same channel :-) .......

Nicely done.

(12/29) edit: My first reaction stands, but... I think there is some room for some inexpensive improvement, in that I think it could well use a wide rectangular waveguide on the tweeter, out to the full width of the baffle, to better control the tweeter's directivity, most especially the horizontal directivity over most of the tweeter's passband and down into its highpass stopband, and perhaps to widen directivity at higher frequencies, and to provide a little more tweeter sensitivity with some useful boost to excursion limited SPL for a slightly lower crossover frequency.

Liked the review but baffled by all of the incorrectly hyphenated words. Is this a result of some automatic editing function in some program? e.g. - audio-designer, cheap-vinyl-covered booxes, front-side, com- pound curvature, super-focused image. high-speed, high-volume air movement. There are more littered throughout the review. What gives?

Sorry Herb, but with Be, Ti and AMT tweeters I've heard good and I've heard terrible. Was it the material or the implementation?

The best in all categories disappear and sound like nothing at all. If you can tell the type of tweeter by listening to it, it isn't a very good tweeter.

Best,

E

How well do these speakers work on a desktop for near field listening? I'd love to get something like LS3/5a type speakers, but these seem like a potentially less expensive alternative.

My ELAC B6 speakers are now in an upstairs closet due to their having been displaced by a new pair of Maggie LRS speakers. Recently I got them out, reconnected them alongside the maggies, and gave them a listen. They were the same speakers I had listened to for a few years past, but now, for the first time, I heard two distinct things I had not noticed at all before getting the maggies. First, the treble had a gritty metallic distortion and second the mids sounded as if they were coming out of a horn. They were still excellent speakers for their price and the inherent limitations of dynamic drivers in a wooden box. But they gave me a new appreciation for the maggies. I wonder how the ELAC AMT tweeters would compare with the Raidho ribbons. That would be a good shootout. Forty years ago I owned a pair of ESS speakers with AMT drivers and I remember them being the smoothest sounding speakers I ever heard. But now I find nothing compares with the maggie LRS (except for electrostats which I dislike for reasons having nothing to do with SQ). And best of all, 700 dollars!!!! Oh, and a new Schiit Vidar amp too.

Carina or Quad S2?

Thanks, once again, Mr. Reichert for another of your thorough reviews. I especially appreciate the comparisons of how the Elac Carina BS243.4 loudspeakers sound with various amps, and comparison to their competition. One of the things that is important to me in the world of recorded sound playback, is soundstage. Could you please comment on your impressions of the Carina soundstage – depth, width, anything that struck you as noteworthy?

thanks, and best wishes to you

Greg
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