Elac Reference UCR52 Review (Center Speaker)

[Ata]

Oof, I auditioned this for a few days and was pretty disappointed. I was hoping that given Amir's non-terrible subjective feedback I might like it but it did not work in my space at all (pretty noticeable slop/muddiness though the midrange/upper midrange that even Dirac couldn't fully tame).

Shame, I think there's a fair pit of space for an inexpensive and compact 3 way center that plays well with cabinets (sealed or front ported) and has wide dispersion horizontally... but this isn't it.

I have had good results with horizontally mounted KEF Q150 (back ported coax driver speaker), I cross at 100Hz and seal the port with the supplied buns. I don't think you need a 3 way centre if you use a sub -- in my case the two are very close.

The older KEF Q100 is front ported, if you prefer a front ported design.

 

[Varjo]

Could you share how you have it set up? Maybe a picture would help. Remember Amir listens to speakers in open air.

Here's the setup, I've got a Kef q250c in there now and it's playing a lot better in the setup. I did a fair bit of listening with the center speaker on a spare stand too, the Elac still struggled in my (definitely acoustically challenging) space.

 

[Chromatischism]

Custom woodworking? Very nice.

 

[Varjo]

Thank you! Yes it is custom from a family friend. Obviously there are some acoustic compromises but it was interesting to see how much worse the Elac seemed to cope than the kef even post Dirac, off axis strangeness to blame I'd assume (wide seating area with a 9 foot couch).

 

[Chromatischism]

The glass table in front of you is doing horrible things for reflections, also.

 

[Doodski]

The glass table in front of you is doing horrible things for reflections, also.

That and the proximity of the speakers to the sidewalls.

 

[JRT]

One important question in the minds of many audio lovers that has not been assessed here yet is whether bi-amping makes any difference.

Center speakers like this are mostly used with AVRs that have too many amps for most users and thus give the option to bi-amp.

Bi-amping can potentially be assessed for the impact on:

1. Distortion levels
2. SPL at the same AVR volume
3. Frequency response

If there is time and interest to perform such analysis on this or any other speaker supporting bi-amping this would be super appreciated!

Regardless the system resource economics, opportunity costs associated with biamping loudspeakers with passive crossovers, it would be interesting to see the separate load impedance measurements of the high and low frequency sections in addition to the loads combined in parallel. Only the latter is shown. Temporarily removing the external jumper bars at the input terminals and measuring the separated sections would not be a big additional effort.

It would also be interesting to see an EPDR curve included with impedance magnitude and phase. The EPDR curve includes both magnitude and phase into an equivalent peak dissipation resistance. VituixCAD can provide that, and can import impedance measurements from CLIO, ARTA, REW or SoundEasy.

 

[geoemm]

Going to pull the trigger on this, got one (open box, barely used) for 250€. Missed out on a 140€ KEF Q200C (visually flawless). So hope it's going to go well with my ELAC DBR62