ELAC Navis ARF-51 Active Measurements

[pastorbarrett]

Designed by the reputed Andrew Jones, and tested by Paul Miller, these measurements look less than exemplary for the not inconsiderable outlay. I suppose there's something of a BBC-type dip, but also some rather other choice tuning if measurements are to be believed.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/elac-navis-arf-51-active-loudspeaker-lab-report

 

[napilopez]

Hmm. Hifinews makes no mention of off-axis performance though and I've heard Jones say he prioritizes off-axis or listening window performance. Can't know for sure until other measurements emerge, but I have to imagine those treble suckouts are filled in at least somewhat to the sides, although those do look more prominent than usual.

For comparison, here's the Andante AF61 in Hifi News:
https://www.hifinews.com/content/elac-adante-af-61-loudspeaker-lab-report

and here it is in stereophile, which posts a horizontal listening window response:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/elac-adante-af-61-loudspeaker-measurements


The Hifinews AF61 measurements don't look quite as alarming as the ARF-51's, but for example that 5-7dB dip at 6Khz is only about 2 dB in stereophile's.

 

[pastorbarrett]

@napilopez Thanks, appreciate context.

 

[watchnerd]

Interestingly, the issues seem to be more around implementation than design concept when you compare the measurements of the kissing-cousins TAD Micro Evolution One:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/tad-micro-evolution-one-loudspeaker-measurements

If you're not familiar, it also uses a concentric mid-tweeter. Andrew Jones was at TAD for the related Compact Reference One and Compact Evolution One.

 

[Tom C]

None of them are all that even, right?

 

[napilopez]

None of them are all that even, right?

Eh, the Stereophile ones are all pretty much within the range of 'flat' The much-lauded blind-test champion Revel Salon2 looks less flat than the Elac AF-61 in stereophile's measurements for the most part.

 

[watchnerd]

None of them are all that even, right?

This looks pretty damn even to me, especially for a design using a passive, non-DSP crossover:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/tad-micro-evolution-one-loudspeaker-measurements

 

[Caylx]

What’s the verdict?
Do these measure well against similarly price alternatives?

 

[mononoaware]

Jones say he prioritizes off-axis or listening window performance.

This is correct.

I saw both on and off-axis measurements for the Navis (ARB-51) somewhere online.
On-axis measurement showed strange frequency response, particularly multiple dips in treble region.
Off-axis response fixed all flaws and the frequency response looked like it should and displayed as good measurement.

So the Navis requires you to have the speakers pointing straight into the room with no angle applied.
Things may get tricky and produce a problem with near-field use, since the distance between the speakers will probably need to be adjusted relative to the listeners distance from the speakers to stay in the ideal listening window.

Sorry I do not have a source for the on/off-axis measurements and I have forgotten where I saw it.