Elac Debut Reference DBR-62 Speaker Review

[delta76]

Thank you so much for this. Any specific recommendations? I have been going crazy the last week in trying to find something suitable so some direction would be super helpful.

if you can find one, I would trust denon x4300h/x4400h or x3300h/x3400h to be perform reasonably well and with enough features (HDMI 2.0 (4k HDR), atmos etc.) in case you want to expand to a home theatre later.

my x3400h is driving my focal aria 906 as surrounds (also drive 948 and cc900) without problem, so I would say it can drive DBR62 well enough. you can throw in an amp later if you want to.

sadly we don't have enough measurements, so we don't know which AVRs are best bang for the buck used, but my bet is with denon x3xxx/x4xxx

 

[SimonSays]

Is this for stereo or home cinema use?

It is for multi purpose. Djing via XDJ RX, listening (Stereo I assume) and home cinema use

 

[SimonSays]

if you can find one, I would trust denon x4300h/x4400h or x3300h/x3400h to be perform reasonably well and with enough features (HDMI 2.0 (4k HDR), atmos etc.) in case you want to expand to a home theatre later.

my x3400h is driving my focal aria 906 as surrounds (also drive 948 and cc900) without problem, so I would say it can drive DBR62 well enough. you can throw in an amp later if you want to.

sadly we don't have enough measurements, so we don't know which AVRs are best bang for the buck used, but my bet is with denon x3xxx/x4xxx

Thank you so much for this. Will see if I can get my hands on any of these second hand. Really appreciate the help.

 

[SimonSays]

if you can find one, I would trust denon x4300h/x4400h or x3300h/x3400h to be perform reasonably well and with enough features (HDMI 2.0 (4k HDR), atmos etc.) in case you want to expand to a home theatre later.

my x3400h is driving my focal aria 906 as surrounds (also drive 948 and cc900) without problem, so I would say it can drive DBR62 well enough. you can throw in an amp later if you want to.

sadly we don't have enough measurements, so we don't know which AVRs are best bang for the buck used, but my bet is with denon x3xxx/x4xxx

Found the Denon x4400h and someone who is willing to let it go for 400$ without the remote and the calibration microphone. I think I will go for it. Feels like a fair price.

 

[delta76]

Found the Denon x4400h and someone who is willing to let it go for 400$ without the remote and the calibration microphone. I think I will go for it. Feels like a fair price.

Yes. Microphone and remote can be found on ebay. I use the remote app which is more convenient to me. Make sure everything works as expected. Enjoy!

 

[SiR]

Thanks guys for the response and shared knowledge...

I'm considering Marantz PM 8006 because of the Power Amp Direct in option, which I can use for the HT Bypass

 

[Bernard23]

Anyone using a sub? Bass is pretty full and punchy, but I know how much extra a sub can add. Can't find the Elac 1010 in the UK, so thinking of the wharfedale sw150 that's around for less than £150 which is a good price.

 

[Triliza]

Anyone using a sub? Bass is pretty full and punchy, but I know how much extra a sub can add. Can't find the Elac 1010 in the UK, so thinking of the wharfedale sw150 that's around for less than £150 which is a good price.

There was a deal posted on some Elac sub in the European deals thread (from a German shop), don't know if it'll be of interest to you:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...udio-product-sales.23706/page-32#post-1431050

 

[Bernard23]

There was a deal posted on some Elac sub in the European deals thread (from a German shop), don't know if it'll be of interest to you:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...udio-product-sales.23706/page-32#post-1431050

Thanks for the link, the thread alone is worth a virtual beer cheers

 

[cavedriver]

the keywords are "properly designed". I believe Marantz has HDAM which intentionally distorts the sound to give the "signature" warm sound.

crap, you mean companies are still pulling that shit? I remember when Yamaha thought everyone wanted a fuzzy sound to their music and made all their receivers sound "soft". I don't remember what their marketing speak was for it but it pretty much turned me off to ever trusting anything with the name Yamaha on it.

fwiw, if you're looking to use a receiver I'm partial to various vintages of Onkyo receivers although from my understanding they are no better or worse than a variety of Denon or other receivers. Note that many receivers that are 3-6 years old can be had for very little money from Craigslist or similar sites. I got an Onkyo sr805 and then an nr1030 for about 250 each. If you need less power similar receivers are around 100. Anything with pre-outs lets you insert a cheap and powerful class D amp to drive the front channels for music. I've also discovered that one of the key reasons people get rid of receivers is that they don't support current HMDI specs. One way to avoid this is buy a 4k blu-ray player that has dual HDMI outs. One goes direct to the TV to preserve full resolution and color depth and the other goes to any old receiver that has whatever Dolby audio modes you want. That's how I'm using the nr1030 even though it doesn't support HDCP2.3 or eARC, both critical features for a new high-end receiver.

 

[euge_lee]

Anyone using a sub? Bass is pretty full and punchy, but I know how much extra a sub can add. Can't find the Elac 1010 in the UK, so thinking of the wharfedale sw150 that's around for less than £150 which is a good price.

I had two leftover (unused) Martin Logan subs (one 10" and one 12" sealed)... so I use them in my home office desktop setup.
Elac DBR62
MiniDSP Flex DSP
Parasound HCA-1500A Amplifier (overkill but again, left over stuff)
Martin Logan subwoovers

They're integrated nicely to the point you don't "notice them"... and despite them being placed (after testing all location options) "behind me"... they sound great and add a lot of "fullness". I used REW and created PEQ filters to flatten the response for the speakers... and also had convolution filters created by Home Audio Fidelity (HAF) which I loaded into Roon. All in all, sounds great to me.

 

[Jim Shaw]

Hi all,

Completely new to this forum and would appreciate some help as I am trying learn. After a lot of research I went ahead and bought the Elac Debut Reference DBR-62 speakers.

I am now looking for an amplifier and I came across a used Pioneer VSX-924. Can anyone help me decipher if this would be a good amplifier to drive these speakers.

Some things I am interested in is
1. Strong and powerful enough to drive the speakers
2. Able to plug in a projector via HDMI (sound)
3. Ideally able to do some kind of room correction
4. Ideally able to do some kind of wifi streaming
5. Ideally some kind of EQ
6. Ideally able to plug in a sub

It seems this product has all of those except the wifi streaming which can be solved via a dongle. But I am primarily interested in point 1 - is this product good to drive these speakers?

Thanks in advance.

I won't speak to most of your questions, That said, I employ the DBR62s in a pretty large, open living room. Mine are driven by an Emotiva A300 150 wpc amp. Low bass below about 60 Hz is handled by two different model powered subwoofers. The 62s don't get frequencies below 50 Hz. 150 watts seems right, and I observe that the 62s start to compress at above about 75 watts each. So the A300 has some headroom.

The DBR62s don't seem to care so much about the amplifier because they are pretty flat in response. I'm not sure they are ideal for rock or cinema, where you might want speakers with a particular character rather than flat response. But for serious music, they are a good choice.

A turntable, streamer, DAC, preamp, tape deck, and such are not detailed here. I don't employ room correction.

 

[Phidel]

I would not get that Marantz integrated amp.

Three reasons:
1) no room correction software.
2) no subwoofer output and crossover ability
3) not enough power.

Expanding
1) the biggest impact on sound quality after good speakers is room correction software to manage room modes and equalize your speakers.
2) the other top impact to sound quality is good low frequency response. You will need a subwoofer for that. And for that you need an integrated amp that has a subwoofer output and the ability to set a crossover point to send all the low frequency to your sub and free up you main speakers and amplifier from trying to handle those high power low frequency notes.
3) small speakers are inefficient and need more power. The elacs in particular dip down into 5 ohm territory and the marantz makes from ,70-100 watts depending on the resistance. Not enough for the low notes on this speaker.

I have the Marantz nr1200 and I want to know if your reasons are the same for this model.

1- It has no room correction. I bought it because I think it is not important in a 2.1 setup, are you ok with me or not?
2- My model has a sub pre out and a Low Pass Filter that I set at 60Hz but I don't know if it is the same as a subwoofer out and crossover ability.
3- This model has 2x135W at 6ohm. I think is more than sufficient for the DBR62.

 

[Ed the Dog]

Thanks guys for the response and shared knowledge...

I'm considering Marantz PM 8006 because of the Power Amp Direct in option, which I can use for the HT Bypass

I have an 8006, 62s, and a Kef Kube 8 in a 12' x 15' room 10' ceilings that opens to a dining room on one long side. I have a couple of full bookshelves and an IKEA 4x4 filled with records. I also listen to CDs and Amazon music. The 62s are on stands about 2' from the wall. I have the bass turned down just a bit and the treble turned up an equal little bit on the 8006's tone controls. Occasionally I'll pull the speakers out a bit further. I enjoy it very much.

 

[Bernard23]

So I bought an open box Wharfedale for £130, so worth the punt. The downside is I needed to buy a new amp too....here we go again Mr wallet, hold on tight, severe turbulence ahead....

 

[Beershaun]

I have the Marantz nr1200 and I want to know if your reasons are the same for this model.

1- It has no room correction. I bought it because I think it is not important in a 2.1 setup, are you ok with me or not?
2- My model has a sub pre out and a Low Pass Filter that I set at 60Hz but I don't know if it is the same as a subwoofer out and crossover ability.
3- This model has 2x135W at 6ohm. I think is more than sufficient for the DBR62.

First: I am definitely okay with you! This is a safe space for us all to learn and talk and share ideas about our common interest. I am not going to bash the equipment you have. I'm just trying to give advice on what I think is important to consider when people are looking to purchase new stuff.

Room correction makes a noticeable improvement to sound quality. The ability to measure frequency response of your speakers and correct them to a target curve is also a powerful improvement to your sound quality. So when folks ask what they should look for in an integrated amplifier before they purchase one I always recommend they get something that has room correction. And when people ask what they should buy next to improve sound this is one of the top things to add that will yield real noticeable improvement.

If though, in your case, where you already have an integrated amp that doesn't have it. Then that's fine. Enjoy what you have. Just when you decide you want to upgrade, I'd put room correction/dsp at the top of your list.

Thats great that you have a subwoofer output with low pass filter. It definitely makes it a much more capable unit. If you don't have a subwoofer already then I would put that on the top of your list to purchase to make a noticeable improvement in sound. They thing you'd want to improve that particular feature if you ever decide to upgrade your amp, is a high pass filter for your main speakers. So the signals below 60hz are not being sent to the mains. That's what I consider a crossover. You have a high pass for the mains and low pass for the subwoofer. This reduces the power demands on your amplifier and reduces the distortion your main speakers will produce. Bass notes require lots of power and big woofers to reproduce without distortion. So it's good to only have those going to the subwoofer if possible.

Regarding power. My setup is about the same power wise and sounds great. If you are buying new and it's just for 2.1 I'd look for something that does 200w+ at 8ohms. There are some great measuring class D amps that are enabling 200w+ per channel with much better efficiency and lower noise and distortion. So the bar has been raised and I think the ~100w at 8ohms a/b amps are no longer the value sweet spot they were just a few years ago.

 

[Bernard23]

First: I am definitely okay with you! This is a safe space for us all to learn and talk and share ideas about our common interest. I am not going to bash the equipment you have. I'm just trying to give advice on what I think is important to consider when people are looking to purchase new stuff.

Room correction makes a noticeable improvement to sound quality. The ability to measure frequency response of your speakers and correct them to a target curve is also a powerful improvement to your sound quality. So when folks ask what they should look for in an integrated amplifier before they purchase one I always recommend they get something that has room correction. And when people ask what they should buy next to improve sound this is one of the top things to add that will yield real noticeable improvement.

If though, in your case, where you already have an integrated amp that doesn't have it. Then that's fine. Enjoy what you have. Just when you decide you want to upgrade, I'd put room correction/dsp at the top of your list.

Thats great that you have a subwoofer output with low pass filter. It definitely makes it a much more capable unit. If you don't have a subwoofer already then I would put that on the top of your list to purchase to make a noticeable improvement in sound. They thing you'd want to improve that particular feature if you ever decide to upgrade your amp, is a high pass filter for your main speakers. So they signals below 60hz are not being sent to the mains. That's what I consider a crossover. You have a high pass for the mains and low pass for the subwoofer. This reduces the power demands on your amplifier and reduces the distortion your main speakers will produce. Bass notes require lots of power and big woofers to reproduce without distortion. So it's good to only have those going to the subwoofer if possible.

Regarding power. My setup is about the same power wise and sounds great. If you are buying new and it's just for 2.1 I'd look for something that does 200w+ at 8ohms. There are some great measuring class D amps that are enabling 200w+ per channel with much better efficiency and lower noise and distortion. So they bar has been raised and I think the ~100w at 8ohms a/b amps are no longer the value sweet spot they were just a few years ago.

This!
I know how to measure my room responses, but since I now have an analogue system, with sonos connect being the digital feed, I don't know how to correct it, other than bass and treble controls or an analogue graphic equaliser, but I don't want to do that! Even if I could only EQ the sonos digital feed I'd be pretty pleased!

 

[Phidel]

First: I am definitely okay with you! This is a safe space for us all to learn and talk and share ideas about our common interest. I am not going to bash the equipment you have. I'm just trying to give advice on what I think is important to consider when people are looking to purchase new stuff.

Room correction makes a noticeable improvement to sound quality. The ability to measure frequency response of your speakers and correct them to a target curve is also a powerful improvement to your sound quality. So when folks ask what they should look for in an integrated amplifier before they purchase one I always recommend they get something that has room correction. And when people ask what they should buy next to improve sound this is one of the top things to add that will yield real noticeable improvement.

If though, in your case, where you already have an integrated amp that doesn't have it. Then that's fine. Enjoy what you have. Just when you decide you want to upgrade, I'd put room correction/dsp at the top of your list.

Thats great that you have a subwoofer output with low pass filter. It definitely makes it a much more capable unit. If you don't have a subwoofer already then I would put that on the top of your list to purchase to make a noticeable improvement in sound. They thing you'd want to improve that particular feature if you ever decide to upgrade your amp, is a high pass filter for your main speakers. So the signals below 60hz are not being sent to the mains. That's what I consider a crossover. You have a high pass for the mains and low pass for the subwoofer. This reduces the power demands on your amplifier and reduces the distortion your main speakers will produce. Bass notes require lots of power and big woofers to reproduce without distortion. So it's good to only have those going to the subwoofer if possible.

Regarding power. My setup is about the same power wise and sounds great. If you are buying new and it's just for 2.1 I'd look for something that does 200w+ at 8ohms. There are some great measuring class D amps that are enabling 200w+ per channel with much better efficiency and lower noise and distortion. So the bar has been raised and I think the ~100w at 8ohms a/b amps are no longer the value sweet spot they were just a few years ago.

Show me one with HDMI arc connection, I use my speakers with my TV as a PC monitor.

 

[cavedriver]

This!
I know how to measure my room responses, but since I now have an analogue system, with sonos connect being the digital feed, I don't know how to correct it, other than bass and treble controls or an analogue graphic equaliser, but I don't want to do that! Even if I could only EQ the sonos digital feed I'd be pretty pleased!

If you have a digital out from the Sonos then I would think you have a number of options to do DSP. Using a raspberry pi with a HiFiBerry card comes to mind:

HiFiBerry DAC+ DSP

Here it is: the DAC+ DSP! It is the board you always wanted but were afraid to ask for! The HiFiBerry DAC+ DSP is a high-resolution digital-to-analogue converter for the Raspberry Pi (newer models with 40 pin GPIO connector). It combines a Burr-Brown DAC used on the HiFiBerry DAC+ with digital...

thepihut.com

 

[cavedriver]

Show me one with HDMI arc connection, I use my speakers with my TV as a PC monitor.

Note that for music you want eARC because ARC's bandwidth is too low (or so I am told).