Elac Debut Reference DBR-62 Speaker Review

[blodsbror]

How do these speakers scale with higher quality amplification and/or more power ?. Is there a relatively low point of diminishing returns ?

 

[notabenem]

your Marantz have pre-outs, you could just use some of those d-amp bricks, however if current speakers can make you happy why bother by the way, what are those "drum perfect speakers"?
3700H you mean denon, specs do not claim significantly bigger power than your current amp, but new unit could work better

Is there a particular amp brick that one should be looking at from a price/performance/quality perspective?

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Marantz SR5003. Old and has issues. But with my current bookshelf speakers, kickdrums really hit me in the chest. Not with the ELACs. I have just placed an order for an DENON 3700H to see if it does better.

Edit: DENON, not ONKYO

EQ'd for the room?

 

[notabenem]

EQ'd for the room?

Only using Audyssey.

 

[LtMandella]

My ears are sensitive in that fatiguing 2khz to 4khz area so I don't like a flat response there. I prefer a 2db to 3db dip in that area, which the DBR-62's have, and you may prefer that too.

IIRC, Linkwitz had something to say about a dip at 4K. Basically that is what happens in real world live music indoor venues.

 

[Chromatischism]

IIRC, Linkwitz had something to say about a dip at 4K. Basically that is what happens in real world live music indoor venues.

I prefer the same thing, but I've never heard that. Is that on his site?

 

[Vaskis]

Is there a particular amp brick that one should be looking at from a price/performance/quality perspective?

If you can get an NC400 amplifier that would be ideal.

I'm looking on these: https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/powe...et400a+hypex_ncore?orderby=price&orderway=asc
Specification of Elac says max power handling 120w (it's not specified 6 or 8 ohms)

So I would like to guess that Ncore NC252MP (2x150W @ 8Ω ) could be sufficient, but as you see above, master @amirm recommends NC400.

 

[notabenem]

I could not find anywhere if 120W is peak or sustained. Some speakers note 240W peak for 120@ sustained power (which i gather is just 3dB more with who knows what distortion).

 

[Vaskis]

"...Impedance is high at about 8 ohms but the phase angle is quite acute at nearly 50 degrees. This means the speaker will ask for current when the output voltage is very low. "

"... Despite use of a single speaker in my testing, it could fill my massive space with plenty of powerful low energy. Mind you, there was 1000 watts on tap to drive it but still, the speaker showed little sign of stress. At extremely high levels (ear bleeding) I could hear some resonances but back off a bit and you were invited to incredible performance."

I think 120 w is RMS

 

[LtMandella]

I prefer the same thing, but I've never heard that. Is that on his site?

yes that is where I read it. I looked again but can't remember exactly which page it is (and there are a few pages on his site
But it was definitely there a couple months ago when I read it and no one is editing now of course so I am sure it it still there in one of his dialogues on speaker design/acoustics.

 

[jaybird396]

Just got a pair of these, I've always wanted to try a nice 2 way monitor type speaker. I was running Tekton Double Impacts which I love but just wanted to try something different. At first I hated the Elacs and after 10 minutes was ready to box them back up and send them back. They just sounded boring and lifeless. But I got both subs dialed in and they filled in pretty good. The Elacs are kind of deceiving, they don't sound very loud even when you put some serious power into them. But in actuality they are playing loud, they are just smooth and low distortion so they don't sound as loud as they are really playing. I'm running a McIntosh MC150 amp which is rated at 150wpc. but puts out close to 200wpc. on the bench. But even with that much power I've still managed to set the Power Guard lights off several times when I've been cranking it.

Unfortunately I've got a huge suckout from 150hz to 300hz at my listening position. This is a moving microphone average from my listening position with psychoacoustic smoothing.

 

[muad]

Just got a pair of these, I've always wanted to try a nice 2 way monitor type speaker. I was running Tekton Double Impacts which I love but just wanted to try something different. At first I hated the Elacs and after 10 minutes was ready to box them back up and send them back. They just sounded boring and lifeless. But I got both subs dialed in and they filled in pretty good. The Elacs are kind of deceiving, they don't sound very loud even when you put some serious power into them. But in actuality they are playing loud, they are just smooth and low distortion so they don't sound as loud as they are really playing. I'm running a McIntosh MC150 amp which is rated at 150wpc. but puts out close to 200wpc. on the bench. But even with that much power I've still managed to set the Power Guard lights off several times when I've been cranking it.

Unfortunately I've got a huge suckout from 150hz to 300hz at my listening position. This is a moving microphone average from my listening position with psychoacoustic smoothing.

View attachment 121801

That's normal for a bookshelf speaker. That 200hz dip is due to a floor bounce cancellation, and is dependent on the height between the woofer and the floor.

Anecdotally, it is questionable wether that dip is actually audible. If you have a sub near each main, you can try crossing over higher and with a shallower slope to fill it in.

Barring that dip, the rest of your response looks incredible!

 

[richard12511]

Just got a pair of these, I've always wanted to try a nice 2 way monitor type speaker. I was running Tekton Double Impacts which I love but just wanted to try something different. At first I hated the Elacs and after 10 minutes was ready to box them back up and send them back. They just sounded boring and lifeless. But I got both subs dialed in and they filled in pretty good. The Elacs are kind of deceiving, they don't sound very loud even when you put some serious power into them. But in actuality they are playing loud, they are just smooth and low distortion so they don't sound as loud as they are really playing. I'm running a McIntosh MC150 amp which is rated at 150wpc. but puts out close to 200wpc. on the bench. But even with that much power I've still managed to set the Power Guard lights off several times when I've been cranking it.

Unfortunately I've got a huge suckout from 150hz to 300hz at my listening position. This is a moving microphone average from my listening position with psychoacoustic smoothing.

View attachment 121801

I find that many rooms have that exact same suckout. Overall, that's actually a fantastic measurement. I bet it sounds great.

 

[ErikHd]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum but I've been a while seen this thread from the first.
I have my DBR62 since January 2021 and so far I'm satisfy with the performance. I use it to hear music and also front speaker for my home cinema.
As a diy'er, I was curious how if I replace the tweeter capacitor since it said sounds dull for some people's, so I bought new capacitors, it's Jantzen Alumen caps which has a good reviews from Troel Graversen and also from Humble Homemade Hifi.
The caps arrived 4 days ago from Germany and yesterday I installed it. To my surprise, Jantzen caps were sooooo big so I glued it inside the box to the back panel right under the binding post. I extended the wire with OFC cryogenic cable (18Awg) about 15cm and use also TRT wonder solder.
I believe the caps need to burn in about 50 to 100 hours, so the initial test so far, the treble flows smoother but more open than the original, the detail not yet noticeable clearly so let see next week review.
nb: sorry I was to excited while installing the caps... I forgot to take picture

 

[ErikHd]

Hey everyone got bored over the weekend and decided to take apart my elac dbr62 figured this would be a good place to post pics, enjoy !

I’ve had these from November 2019 and
love them!

But was thinking of possibly upgrading some components in the crossover circuit, was thinking of starting with the 2.7μf 100v cap for the tweeter swapping it out for a Jantzen audio superior z cap of the same value and swapping out the resistors for Jantzen superes 10w, and upgrading all the internal wire and the binding posts.

Any feedback would be much appreciated!

View attachment 106960View attachment 106962View attachment 106963View attachment 106964View attachment 106965View attachment 106967View attachment 106968View attachment 106969View attachment 106970View attachment 106971View attachment 106972View attachment 106973View attachment 106974View attachment 106975

Thanks for the inside pic, Ive upgraded the caps w Jantzen alumen, the result so far was very positive and not yet fully broken in, how about your upgrade?

 

[Chromatischism]

Unless you took before and after measurements, there is no objective way to know what that cap change did.

 

[Coke101]

Thanks for the inside pic, Ive upgraded the caps w Jantzen alumen, the result so far was very positive and not yet fully broken in, how about your upgrade?

The upgraded crossover was a huge improvement!

The soundstage widened, the soundstage is huge in my setup now, the highs became way more detailed and open but not fatiguing, and the bass became more accurate sounds like it’s goes into the lower octaves with more authority !

Definitely worth the time to upgrade these.

I might go back in and possibly replace the inductors with higher quality ones and try to figure out something for the electrolytic caps on the midrange circuit.

 

[ErikHd]

Unless you took before and after measurements, there is no objective way to know what that cap change did.

actually I did compare of before and after upgrade side by side so I know what the difference

 

[ErikHd]

The upgraded crossover was a huge improvement!

The soundstage widened, the soundstage is huge in my setup now, the highs became way more detailed and open but not fatiguing, and the bass became more accurate sounds like it’s goes into the lower octaves with more authority !

Definitely worth the time to upgrade these.

I might go back in and possibly replace the inductors with higher quality ones and try to figure out something for the electrolytic caps on the midrange circuit. View attachment 122196View attachment 122197View attachment 122198View attachment 122199View attachment 122200View attachment 122201View attachment 122202View attachment 122203View attachment 122204View attachment 122205View attachment 122206View attachment 122207

nice upgrade and you also upgrade the binding post with WBT. keep updating after you replace the inductor please and thanks for sharing.

 

[Jim85IROC]

actually I did compare of before and after upgrade side by side so I know what the difference

measurements or just listening tests?