ELAC - Uni-Fi 5-1/4" Passive 3-Way Floor Speaker (Each) - Black

Great set of speakers, sound is phenominal. First pair of what i would consider high end. Sound systems have come a long way over the yrs. New Technology demands speakers that can wow the listeners and this pair does just that. Very affordable for the avid movie and music experience. Deffinately recommend if your in the market.

These speakers are capable of sonic performance that rivals speakers 3-5 times their price. However, you must know what you are doing to get that performance. First, these are fairly low efficiency at 85 db. No problem, just feed them more power, right? Not so fast . . . they are also 4 ohm nominal impedance. That's a bad combination if you have a large space and you are on a budget. To get reference quality sound out of these under those conditions you need VERY clean amplification from a very strong amplifier. For example, I used to run these with a Harman Kardon AVR-7300 which did quite well in my 16x24 room. That was also a $2700 flagship receiver from one of the more honest manufacturers as far as power specs go. That receiver pushed 150 CLEAN real watts per channel at 4 ohms. Unfortunately, that amp died and I needed a replacement. I tried a $600 Onkyo receiver that was "THX Certified" at 110 watts per channel (yeah, right. In your dreams Onkyo!). It did fine until the volume was increased to reference levels in my large space. The receiver simply could not push clean power. The sound stage shrunk like George Castanza after a cold shower, the speakers became congested, and the distortion was infuriatingly imposing. It was simply upsetting to listen to and made me wish for better times like when I got a root canal or my last prostate exam. Desperate for improvement I upgraded to a Yamaha Avantage RX-A1080. This was much better (and also cost me $1300! Amazing receiver though!). It wasn't as clean as my old HK receiver, but close except at the highest volumes with challenging source material such as deep female voices and resonant mid/high-bass instruments like an Hammond B3 organ, cello, or clarinet. This was acceptable for a while but it ultimately left me wanting. Having kicked the wife to the curb ad thus eliminating the oppressive Wife Acceptance Factor from the equation (or maybe she kicked me to the curb, but whatever, the semantics are irrelevant), I decided to experiment and ordered an Emotiva BasX 2-channel dedicated separate amp just for these speakers. That's when things became utterly ridiculously freakin' magical. These speakers just sing at all volumes now. They are smooth, accurate, and incredibly dynamic. It is not uncommon for me to laugh out loud like a mad man during a listening session because I am amazed at the way these sound. Then again, perhaps I am just a mad man. Regardless, $1,000 speakers have no business sounding like these, especially in the environment I use them. Imaging, bass, mid-range, and highs are so locked in and precise it's really hard to believe at times. Even at volume there is little to no break up. A lot of people comment about how good these are "for the price"-- and that's a fair an obvious point-- but they are just darn good for any price except for something crazy like $10k. These would easily go toe-to-toe with my old Paradigm Studio 100 v5 speakers which cost over $5k. Selling those speakers was one of my greatest regrets (Wife Acceptance Factor at work) until I discovered how great these Elacs sound with a good amp. Now, that being said, I'm sure these would sound fine in a smaller space with a lesser amp but understand that these will expose that amp at high volumes. Frankly, I'm not sure why you would get the towers in lieu of the bookshelves in a small space but whatever floats your boat I guess. Notwithstanding the stunning sound, they are okay speakers in all other respects. The outrigger feet are very nice. The build quality is solid. The binding posts are very nice too but I'm disappointed that these cannot be bi-amped especially considering the aforementioned concerns with driving them in large spaces. The textured vinyl finish is not my cup of tea though. It just looks odd and screams "budget speaker". It is a bit frustrating to have elite-quality sound combined with rather pedestrian appearance but reality has its limits. Bottom line, if you want the the best sound possible for under $1000 these cannot be beat. Honestly, I think you have to start spending $3k and up to beat them and the margin would be very small. Obviously Andrew Jones (The iconic speaker designer who made these) is just a stud and the messiah for us audiophiles on a budget looking for hi-fi sound in an unforgiving world. Thank you sir, may I have another....

Right out the box these speakers have excellent imaging. Like any quality speakers the woofers have greatly improved as they break in. Base is tight and getting deeper daily. Vocals are amazing and treble is clear but not harsh. I've owned a lot of speakers but these are the best quality that I've had. I can't believe that they were that cheap to buy.