Meet the Best $500 Pair of Speakers We've Ever Heard!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
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Meet Andrew Jones, legendary speaker designer who's now engineering amazing audio gear for ELAC. At CES, Patrick Norton could not stop gushing about ELAC's new Uni-Fi UB5 bookshelf speakers, which only cost $500 for a pair (but sound like they cost thousands). Patrick gets the opportunity to chat with Andrew about speaker design and what makes for good home audio.
Shot by Adam Isaak and edited by Joey Fameli
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Check out ELAC's selection of speakers here: www.elac.com/product/ub5/
I “THINK” I “MAY HAVE” built have built my next audio system.
I already have a Technics SL-1210 M5G Turntable (awaiting a Phono Cartridge - a Nagaoka MP-110 or an MP-200), and a Pro-Ject Debut Esprit (with maybe an Ortofon 2M Bronze), a Schiit Mani Phono Preamplifier, NAD Amplification (either a vintage 3140 Integrated Amplifier, and either an equally vintage 2140 or 2200 Power Amplifier), or an NAD C-358 Preamplifier/Streamer/DAC with a companion C-268 Power Amplifier, a Marantz ND8006 CD Player/Streamer/DAC and these ELAC UniFi UB5 Speakers.
And that is with the right cables, and stands.
With a nice but affordable Subwoofer, this can be a killer kick ass rig around $5K.
This DEFINITELY will form a rig that I don’t need to make any apologies for.
👍🏾👍🏾
-Charles-
I own ELAC, what wonderful sound. Crisp and clean. No wash out. They handle it all ❤️🔥❗️
WOW, I have a new level of respect for Andrew Jones. This is the first interview that i have really heard from him, and the level of enthusiasm that he still has for his craft is really an awesome thing to see.
Obviously it's a $ALE$ video, not an honest demo.
Russell Wallace He talks always the sam about every speaker.. Snake oil
Come on...He is trying to sell these things!
If anybody feels that ANY of what these guys said, is merely snake oil, it is only because they haven't actually heard any of these ELAC speakers. They are every last bit as good as you've been told. Better amplification certainly helps, but regardless of power source, the ELAC bookshelf speakers are stunning. As in mouth-hanging-open, eyes-the-size-of-plates amazing. And that's before you even bother to factor in the ridiculously low prices. Get a pair and hear them in your house. You won't believe it.
@@theoriginalcraig I have heard them, I am a long time ELAC fan.
But the company is not the same with the new owners.
And Debut speakers don't cut it in this price range.
If you absolutely want ELAC and need bookshelf speakers the BS263 is a little wonder - but cost more.
Audiovector might be an alternative to look into.
Every time I see Patrick, I feel like I'm traveling back in time and watching the screen savers
+Luke McGhee I miss techtv and the screen savers was the best show on that channel.
Use to grow up watching screen saves, call for help and extended play.
I remeber patrick smashing things with the sledge hammer and kilt hahaa.
Ya I also remember a young, Morgan Webb. :o
+Luke McGhee and kevin rose'd former gf
Excellent interview with Andrew Jones. It is great to be able to learn about his background and his thinking when designing speaker systems. He verbalized a lot of my own thinking on audio reproduction and the compromises that must be made. Thanks, Patrick.
THAT GUY NEEDS TO FIX HIS BELT BUCKLE!!
You can tell a lot about someone by how they align their belt buckle. heheh
+Genologic I always have to put mine slightly to the side because it's too long :(
+Genologic That was Driving me Crazt too!
+Genologic It looks like he took a shit, and pull his pants in a hurry, probably he was late for filming the video.
+Mekhanic1 you can also tell how young you are by how they speak about belt buckles.. = )
Just love it when someone's passion for their work comes through the videos.. This interview was about as great as they come. I've been planning on getting a new pair of bookshelf's or floor speakers. Can't wait to take a look at these.
Beethoven was deaf and created beautiful music... Andrew Jones doesn't listen to his own speakers until the day of the show and they sound amazing... Now that's talent!
Randy Levine Andrew Jones must have a good crew of people also the unseen I mean
Andrew Jones is such a treasure to high end audio, one of the greatest speaker designers of all time !!!!
Absolutely agree! It is always a good day when a talented speaker designer actually designs a high quality, affordable speaker!
Introducing the manufactures designer after telling everybody how good they are, blows their objectivity instantly.
ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY - WHAT A BULLSHIT PROMO
I agree well said.
pressrolls
It's Andrew Jones... He's kind of a big deal. The point was he heard these great speakers and it turned out they were Andrew Jones speakers - and they were inexpensive at that.
How right you are my friend.
I almost feel like we were Yves dropping on a great conversation, you could tell Mr. Jones is passionate about Audio. Loved the video guys!
I love Patrick giving him the time to ramble on. Good interview!
Patrick, congrats on interviewing an audio legend! Can't wait to audition myself ... but I've heard a pretty good selection of Andrew's products. These are bound to be great!
Loving the new audio focused videos Tested! Keep it up! 👍
Can you guys do a build log of some relatively inexpensive bookshelf speakers? I really love these audiophile videos with Patrick geeking out! Keep em' coming!
Excellent interview. Intelligent questions and Andrew Jones was given the space to talk. Well done!!!
For the record. I love your anecdotes.Your passion really is enlivening. Also I love knowledge
.
I'm actually doing a course in physics at university and I understand so much his passion of understanding more and more just to make the best he can about his products. That's what I want to do in the future. Thanks for the video!
Andrew Jones, the man, the myth, the legend. Great interview!
"BORN IN STEREO" That's freaking Amazing!
Thank you. As well as encouraging me to go and hear the speakers, there is SO much to learn from this discussion and interesting to learn Andrew Jones' background and "philosophy" of speaker design. Being a classical musician, my aim at home is to hear something as close as possible (and, of necessity, affordable) to what I hear in the concert hall.
A pity the video has generated some ridiculous comments.
Great interview. Interesting, educational, and inspiring. Thanks.
I heard these speakers in a record/stereo shoppe in Rochester New York a few months ago.
I have heard and owned many pairs of speakers, KEF, B&W, Advent, Energy, etc..
These were so musical and listenable. They just vanished and left the music.
I find it funny in one of the comments below, someone was complaining about not HEARING them in the video. I guess they did not figure that you would be listening to the sound on your crappy laptop speakers!!! How could they sound good?!?!
Seriously give these a listen The last time I was so impressed with a speaker was listening to a pair of Kef LS35A monitors 30 years ago. High praise indeed.
Totally warranted though....
It would be amazing if you could make video with patrick discussing the basics of finding/pairing an amplifier for/with speakers
with him explaining basics and the essential thoughts you have to put into the decision
WOW !! That was the greatest nap i've had in a long time
I think everyone who likes audio should watch this video. Literally such a good video and I was smiling for a majority of that interview. Very well done and thanks for the good work! By the way, I do love the VR reviews as well and you guys are my #1 reliable source.
I was... to the very end... waiting to hear the speakers... and then realized how dumb i am... xD
Pedro Ponciano lol
me too haha
Seriously..I was waiting for that too these a$$holes are all talk ,no action like hillary..Hope they don't screw us over with crappy big talk and deception like bum-@$$. :D
Well,actually,you would not hear the speakers but yours,in your room,therefore making the demo for nothing...just my thought
I know it can be satisfying, but it's also completely POINTLESS. You can't tell how they sound, listening to them through a recording played on different speakers.
born is stereo ... awesome when u see such guys explaining thing with those bright eyes :D
Elac love
These through my rotel rx603 playing vinyl........sooooo goood! Thank you Mr. Jones!!!!!!
GREAT interview! I was in the audio business over 30 years and consider myself an audiophile. I've has speakers from the 60's (AR) to 80's Klipsch Corner-horns at $3K each to 2000's Electrostatic each floor standing towers. I learned alot about these speakers from the interview. A demo would have been STUPID! You'd be listening to YOUR speakers, not these! It would be like "watching" a Porsche test drive while riding in your VW Beetle....LOL. $500 for a bookshelf set of speakers if they are half as good as described, is a bargain.
As a pround owner of a pair of AJ speakers, I really enjoyed the interview. Good job.
I'm glad I caught this video ...I've been torn between blowing all the dough for the KEF LS50s or going midrange and settling for the KRK Rockits .. This seems like a perfect alternative.
I have the slim version of the Uni-Fi bookshelves and love them. Understand they are a 4 ohm speaker and like 150W+ per channel. If that is an issue, the ELAC debut speakers are also fantastic!
Great to see Patrick Norton again...forward to the past....(Screen Savers) and very good interview.
I enjoyed him and Leo, a great duo.
I really wish there were more in depth interviews with the reps like this. Not just a video of a guy walking around the room at CES going look look look and... video ends. Cheers for making this !
At this price point, you must check out the JBL Studio 530 or the Dali Zensor too. GREAT speakers!
"born in stereo"
Greatest joke ever told and it went right over that guy's head
Andrew Jones A genius out and out,bringing wonderful accurate sound to the old and young. The Brits? Some of the most innovative engineers et al. Im in. Michael Doyle
Andrew Jones is The Main Man when it comes to speakers. Back in the 70's i spent a lot of money on top notch Mission speakers to go with Quad amp and Thorens deck. 45 years later im hearing better superb sound from my Brennan JB7 and Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2 combo. How this is possible im not sure but hearing stuff from uncompressed cds that ive never heard before and have not needed to use sub woofer. Just wow
I really appreciate his honesty. That's a really good sign. I'll have to give these products a listen.
+Alex Demskie "only $500, OMG, it's a miracle, you'd be crazy if you don't rush out and buy a pair" etc etc.. yeah, amazing display of honesty.
He hit it on the head! Most music is manufactured in the studio exactly! That is precisely why I build a system that is fun to listen to as opposed to super accurate. Andrew Jones gets it.
The folks at ELAC definitely know what they're doing, and this particular line of speakers is hard to beat for the reasonable price tag of $500 a pair. No doubt the scope measurements don't lie, but I am quite curious to how they were able to achieve low distortion from a tweeter that's actually mounted to one of the mid-range drivers? Wouldn't there be more vibration (leading to distortion) on the tweeter if it's mounted to a cone that's moving as opposed to solidly fixed on a cabinet?
I love his enthusiasm.
Andrew is the man! was nice to see you this year in las vegas.
I have two pairs of bookshelves, KEF's KIT100s & Audio Engine5 they both sound great together.
I enjoyed that interview as much as I would an interview with Tom Hanks or Tom Jones. It's strange how we value celebrity chat but not vaguely technical chat from knowledgeable types when really these people are no less interesting and in fact can be more so.
This is an amazingly interesting interview and i'm very curious what the speakers sound like now. Hopefully a HiFi shop nearby will demo these speakers when they are introduced.
Excellent interview, Patrick.
Really curious about how those speakers sound. Attended several demos by this guy with the TAD speakers and was blown away every time. Interesting to see how far he got with low budget speakers!
(hard working sound engineer for the last 15 years)
Excellent
Phenomenal. Thanks, Andrew.
I've got some KEF from the 70's. They go well with my Surround.
Agree with LS 50’s that why I own them. Planning to step up to Dali Epicon 2. Can’t wait.
Awesome interview!
Nice interview. I wish Andrew Jones would have answered the one question asked about why there are so many different designs of speakers but he went off on how he designs speakers in a particular series. Would have been interesting to hear his take on electrostatics or planar magnetic's or simply his take on advantages and disadvantages of other speaker technologies. The one thing that is often over looked and was here is what is driving the speakers and quality of the source material. Speakers are important but the equipment and the quality of the source are equally and really more important. Speakers are only as good as the equipment driving them.
Fantastic video, guys!
Don't mind the German approach to speakers, Elac do work well on electronic music. I currently run B&W CM-5 which are very good and I have seen reviews comparing Elac to B&W so they are a similar sounding beast I would imagine.
Okay, I just became a fan. Great info!
I started selling consumer audio in 1970. It all started as a hobby back in the late '50s when I was 8 or 9 yrs old. Amps, tuners, tape recorders, phono cartridges or speakers, I knew ALL the specs and was happy to tell what I knew to anyone interested in hearing them. After a short while, a few years, I began to realize that when it came to speakers, specs actually meant little, to anyone. I could tell you all about a speaker system, from drivers to cross-overs to cabinet specs, power minimums/maximums, etc. and it all sounded impressive. Especially to people who knew nothing about any of it. But, I soon realized that after all I said was absorbed by the customer, few really understood what it all meant or why it was important, to them, the customer. They of course, were right. With speakers, what you can hear, with your ears, not mine, is all that really matters. Two speakers with identical specs, on paper, will sound different. You choose the one that sounds better, to you. You buy a shirt because you like the way it looks. A speaker's appearance will never determine its sound. Once you've taken size and price into the mix, with that out of the way, sound is what determines what's best, for you. A person's right and left ear perceives sound differently. So, no one can tell YOU what YOU perceive to be good sound. It's all yours and yours alone.
I have a set of Andrew Jones floorstanding speakers in my theater room and they are fantastic for the price.
You guys should do a follow up to this - now I need to know what amplifier to buy (best bang for the buck)!
Getting to interview Andrew must've been like winning the lottery for Patrick!
Might have to go and give these a listen. A few christmases ago I bought myself a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 10.1's and have absolutely loved them. I live in an apartment building, so can't really crank anything up, and they still sound awesome.
Too bad my Wharfedale Topaz SW-12 sub gave out a while back, can't get myself evicted with style :(
I appreciated the mic and speaker analogy; they are both transducers. I was hoping for more of this.
liping zhu
2 分钟前
Hi, I sincerely invite you to come to my stereo shop. The following is the address of my shop
hiendchina .com
I enjoyed the interview very much. AJ is a very likeable, intelligent, and open guy. He is living a charmed life. It was good to see Patrick again. Where is Leo?
Great interview, great video very interesting
Wow! Great interview
I was wondering if it would be a good Idee to use 3sets of these in a atmos 7.2 or 7.1 configuration? 2 front left and right and 2 as surround sound and 2 as front from sealing left and right. Maybe even 1 more as center speaker, but then i would have 1 speaker left.. Or are these really not a good choice for the center front-top and surround speakers? I now have a 5.1 speakerset from infinity but am looking to buy a new receaver with 7.2 Atmos and thinking do I buy only the extra speakers I need or all new..
I applaud your enthusiasm. You may want to keep in mind that your listeners don’t unlimited time.
what home receiver/amplifier best fits this pair of ELACS? Please advise, thanks
Freaking Awesome! Great video!
Agreed. Been in the biz for 35 yrs. never heard anything like this for $500 PR.
I loved hearing that story about his acoustics journey.. It puts trust in this product. Thank you for making quality more accessible for hard working people who love music!
I was expecting more about the speakers in this video but it was a good interview
I REALLY need to upgrade my speaks. I have old Pioneer home speaks that the cones are falling apart. Pioneer in the car that is clean until the stock HU maxes out.I want a pair of these SO bad!;)
Please recommend a not too costly amplifier for using these speakers with a laptop only? Thanks Much for any suggestions!!
Yes, awesome! Good on Mr. Norton! Nice to listen to someone who talks correctly about HiFi but, in particular, the misconceptions centered around HiFi sounding like you were right there LIVE! I have never understood those notions except when someone was trying to sell me some over priced under performing piece of equipment.
AWESOME INTERVIEW!
How do these compare to the Sonos One? I know different but sound quality? Thoughts..
I'll be ordering the Debut B5's (for $220 pair) in the coming weeks. I believe these will be game changers in the $500 or under range.
I just scored a new pair of Pioneer sp-bs22lr for $100 from a local guy. God bless Andrew Jones.
That was cool to listen to. He loves his job
No recommendations on the best kind of amp to power the speakers?
Can you tell me which amplifiers (complete system - any other equipment) were ELAC using at this presentation??? ELAC also have stereo amps... Should one go with them or the other thing is if you could let me know what was their own setup...
i still have my kef 104.2s.........incredible speakers!
Nice! I had been thinking of pulling the trigger on a Debut setup, but this Uni-Fi lineup sounds intriguing too. Thanks for the behind-the-scenes info!
+Culturedog What info? Price and ugliness factor?
chaiTV Yes, exactly that!
I wish Elac speakers were sold in Canada!
SOMEWHERE... ANYWHERE!
they are www.summithifi.com/collections/bookshelf-speakers-1
vintage INFINITY IL40 versus Pioneer SP-FS52 ?? any opinions? I can pick up a pair of IL40's for 150.
I'd love to hear these ELAC. The Sony Core series are underrated, not so much with the bass response though. I was hoping to get to the teardown pic in the thumbnail.
The man, the myth, the legend.
What a guy. I'm honored to be selling his speakers to people.
i wonder what his thoughts would be on a pair of moniter11's from Paradigm series 7 i believe. Running of Yamaha 1095 receiver and power by Yamaha amp, not sure of power rating on amp but i think it's about 150 a channel. thanks
This is legit, I had his $200 Pioneer SB series speakers and they were boss. Andrew Jones knows how to design a kick-ass speaker while having constraints. :-)
I hope they will be available in EU stores. I need this
Would love to have a listen. I have a pair of Dali Zenzor 5s that I'm pretty happy with.
Also, it's strange as a Brit listening to you guys and then having a Brit guest.
Me an this guy would get along great... nice video norm
Monitor Audio RX2 are good mid range speakers for the money, at
around £500. Kef R300 are also good high end speakers for £1,000.
I know the latter is a lot of money but for the performance they are
5/5. If you don't have much to spend, find some Mordaunt Short 902i's
on ebay for around £50-100, the sound quality is astonishing for the
price. Extremely clear and detailed.
Darn did not hear them guess I stick to my Quest vintage bookshelfs driven by a vintage Marantz Receiver and sounds fabulous.
How do those compare to those sold by Ascend Acoustics CBM-170 which are around $300? If you have tested them?
Looking for welding video but around 2:46 I have urge to go to Amazon and order these exact speakers !!!!! I don't even have an amplifier. Maybe I can weld them or something.