Dropped by our ELAC dealer yesterday to listen to the ELAC 248 floorstander.
My oh my....for such a slim size (about 20% slimmer than the M60), the dynamic, clarity, accuracy and the bass are awesome!!!
It immediately gain my attention as soon as the music begin playing using a NAD entry level CDP and a VTL power amp. But the speakers do need high power amp to drive it as when they change to a Yamaha 1065 to drive it....the sound becoming so-so only.
The price is a killer though as it's made in Germany but for those who like to experience it, I can say it's better than the M60 (I have not heard the M80) by many ways, but the M60's price is a killer. I could buy 3 pairs of M60 to get a pair of the 248.
But I would say it even beats the B&W 8xx series (which is even more expensive) to my ears.
Hope your Axiom lovers don't flame me, it's my hobby to listen to others the gaining high rave review and I think that ELAC is not that popular in the US though.
Elac is a luxury German speaker. Their speakers look really nice and I bet they sound really good as well. Must have been a fun experience to audition them.
Its always nice to hear about other speakers. I seem to remember a review of these on Audioholics or some other place. As I recall they give a lot of performance for such a slim package, but you pay for it.
Thats the thing about Axiom, they may not produce the definitive speaker, but they get you most of the way there at an unbeatable price.
If I ever win a lottery, I would be tempted to buy a pair of B&W 800Ds, but I sure am happy with my M80s.
I haven't heard the 248, but I have listened to several of their bookshelf speakers, and they have a very smooth natural sound. Voices are especially well reporduced. But yes you pay for it. I'd put them in the same class as Dynaudio.
Going back many decades, to the 1960s and early '70s, Elac was a brand of German turntable fairly well distributed in the US and Canada. To my knowledge, Elac speakers were never available in North America.
In a way, I'm surprised at your impressions of the Elac speaker. I've never heard it, but over the years I've heard and reviewed several different brands of German speakers, which were traditionally "voiced" to please German and European consumers. Typically, the preferred tonal balance had exaggerated upper bass and a very zippy, sibilant treble, both of which I disliked, as did my fellow blind listening panel members.
Recent German speakers I've heard at the Consumer Electronics Show seemed to continue the tradition of German voicing. Maybe Elac is an exception, which would be great.
p.s. I've never seen Elac monitors in any North American recording studios I've visited.
These are the impression by one of the Taiwan mag recent visit to the ELAC factory in Germany. I've put the page under Google translate, but if you knew Chinese, it would be a much better read.
Maybe Axiom could show us some of their speakers making process in the website also :p
At 6:08, they mention that in the Late 70's and early 80's they got into the speaker business, and they partnered with "AXIOM Electroacoustic Speaker Specialists". http://elac.us/aboutelac/
At 6:08, they mention that in the Late 70's and early 80's they got into the speaker business, and they partnered with "AXIOM Electroacoustic Speaker Specialists". http://elac.us/aboutelac/
It's interesting you say the Andrew Jones Pioneer speakers are lackluster. I heard the bookshelves a number of times at different venues, including my own home, and was very impressed.
A few weeks ago, I brought them into my new space to compare against my Dreamcatchers. The big problem with my Dreamcatchers is they can't handle higher SPLs for those songs when I just HAVE to turn it up. So I was really hoping the Pioneers, being quite a bit larger and more favorably reviewed and measured, would do the trick. The Pioneers are exemplary on the test bench; the Totems not so much.
The Pioneers were indeed fuller and achieved higher SPLs and I could not bottom them out but they sounded very "thick". I thought it was just me so I left them in place for a week and had a few buddies over to get their opinions. There was no contest actually. Right from the get-go, everyone preferred the Totems. Much wider and more distinct soundstage and microdynamics.
So I do agree they sound lackluster but then again, they can be had for $100/pair compared to $600 or more for the Totems. I really do wonder what Andrew Jones could have achieved by integrating a better tweeter into the design.
For the price they are great speakers. But when you're used to something special, as you are Mojo, they seem pretty lackluster.
I would agree with your "thick" description of their sound. They lacked air and sounded a little ho hum.
Not a knock against him, as Andrew's TAD reference one speakers got an A rating in Stereophile. They are supposed to be among the greatest ever made. I think they were $45k or so.......
I do not know where the link is for the Dennis Murphy modified speakers are on his web site, but here is a DIY version of the Pioneer speakers with the modification that Dennis Mruphy performs: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.p...cations.610820/
The Pioneers were indeed fuller and achieved higher SPLs and I could not bottom them out but they sounded very "thick".
I had a similar experience. I use Axioms (M22s) for my music system, but I had some H/K satellites for my theater system. So given the price I figured it couldn't hurt to try the Pioneer bookshelves. At first they sounded much better, but after just a little exposure I heard that "think" sound. Still an improvement, and I can crank them, but I'm looking forward to converting the larger room and I can swap in some M80s.
Did you have a chance to compare the Pioneers against the M22s? What version by the way?
I never did an A/B comparison in the same room. But listening to them in their respective rooms it's not even close, there's absolutely zero chance that I'd think the Pioneers are anywhere close to the Axioms.
I have to added an addendum to my answer comparing Axiom M22s to Pioneer BS22s (and I don't think any Axiomites will be surprised).
I was hopping around listening to different kinds of material on both of the speakers yesterday and was reminded that when listening to poorly recorded older material the Axioms bring out the worst in the recording. Some old rock and blues sounded particularly bad. But it's not the genre, I also listened to some recently recorded blues (Keb Mo) and it sounded fantastic.
So if older recordings are a large part of your mix, you may want to add other candidates to your list. (I still don;t think the Pioneers would be my choice.)
