ELAC BS 5 (UB5 SLIM) Detailed Harmonic Distortion testing (unifi bookshelf version 1) with High Pass filter included as well.

[ROOSKIE]

I offered to measure the Harmonic Distortion in my pair of ELAC BS 5 (UB5 Slim) speaker set, here are the results.

Within the ASR review this speaker measured with comparatively high levels of HD.
I have the exact unit that Amir measured & I measured the 2nd speaker that came in the set of 2.

Today I took several measures of both speakers in a room in my house.
The tests can not be compared directly with tests performed by other people in other environments. (that said they match Amir's extremely well) I previously posted some HD tests I conducted and it would be very fair to directly compare them to these results today as the condition were exactly the same with no variances. Here is that thread...

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-in-room-with-several-similar-monitors.18481/

Link to ASR review of ELAC BS5 https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s-u5-slim-3-way-coaxial-speaker-review.13735/

Link to ASR review of JBL A130 https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/jbl-stage-a130-review-speaker.18260/

Before the graphs, in a nutshell my results parallel Amir's & others around the web. This speaker does have higher measured levels of HD, vs some competitor's. It has less than some others. Whether or not this is an issue I can not say. For example the JBL 308P has much higher levels and yet it is loved by many. In the reverse the JBL A130 which costs half as much money in the USA, has significantly lower levels of HD as measured here.

Okay some more notes.

• I took care to measure 13 inches exactly from the metal grill that covers the tweeter, on direct axis. I took a C-weighted SPL reading of 500-2500hz pink noise and calibrated the levels to equal 86db and 96db @ 1 meter.
• JBL A130 HD measures, fresh from today are included below as well so one can compare. I chose that speaker as Amir reviewed it here and published his HD so there is an additional reference.
• *Please. Do not infer IMD from these tests. Do not buy a speaker or not buy a speaker based solely on HD testing. There are many, many other factors to good/great sound. Generally HD is lower on the list than many factors that lead to a good choice.*
• I included 4&5th HD, these tend to help reveal mechanical resonances & this speaker has a strong cabinet/mechanical vibration around 470hz. (CIRCLED IN RED) This resonance is audible during the HD sweeps and very audible at the 96db SPL level. It is not audible during a pink noise test, this means that it may not really affect musical playback even though it is quite obvious in a sweep.
• The elevated 3rd order HD of the tweeter centered around 2.8khz falls rapidly off off axis. I am not sure why. I'd like to eventually remove the metal tweeter grill and retest. (circled in light blue)
• The speaker is pulled way out into the room and the port in the rear, thus bass reinforcement from the port is not accurately measured. It MAY mean that the distortion is a bit lower relative to the fundamental when near a wall.
• Several tests below show HD with a high-pass applied as noted, again do not infer IMD, stored energy or other junk. This is a HD only test. IMHO at low-medium volume listening, a 35-40hz/24db octave HP is all the speaker needs & even if using full range I recommend it as you will hardly lose any bass response and the speaker plays & measures much cleaner. IMHO at higher volumes a 50-80hz value would be a good choice.
• NO SMOOTHING, is unchangeable REW parameter. (it is actually 1/24 smoothed by REW but reads as such)

SPEAKER (B) is the one Amir tested and (A) is the second sample.

COPIED FROM ASR

Here is the JBL A130, showing lower harmonic distortion from 60hz-20khz. The A130 does not have any strong, obvious, mechanical resonances in the HD sweep.

COPIED FROM ASR

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ELAC BS5 on axis and then off axis at Approx. 10-15degrees and 20-25degrees. 96db@1m equivalent.

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ELAC BS5 with various HP filters as listed

Higher Volume level 96db @ 1m equivalent

COPIED FROM ASR
JBL308P

ASCEND SIERRA 2

DEFINITIVE D11

SVS ULTRA

AFFORDABLE ACCURACY MONITOR

GENELEC 8030C

NEUMAN KH 310A

REVEL M106

KEF R3 (taken at a much higher SPL, 105db vs 86/96db)

 

[amirm]

Man, you did get very close to my measurements. Good to have this kind of verification with a completely different setup. It indicates that you can make other measurements and have them have high chance of being correct.

 

[Dougey_Jones]

Well, this isn’t encouraging