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ELAC UBR62 Speaker Review

NightFlight

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No you can't. But I also don't put a terrible amount of stock in A/B instant switching. In some cases (like cables), I've found that you have to listen to them and get comfortable - say over a few days or weeks and then swap them out. The difference can be jarring. Your brain will adjust shortly and loose memory of the abrupt change and forget it.

*shrug* some people say that amplifiers don't make a difference. I think those types are f'in deaf.
 

wric01

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Get with the times, single crystal and cryo wires and tellurium / copper connectors all make immediate difference, yes 99.9% of your plated f-ing brass connectors sound like Schitt in comparison. As for all your charts and measurements, none what so ever do any use kid's undamaged ears used to measure / compare (yes i had my kids to confirm what i'm hearing). Respect youthful ears, hell even a simple choice of plugging the speaker cable to tweeter binding post instead of bass driver posts get a immediate difference in clarity. Obviously i can't blame old ppl / can't hear difference with 30+ years of hearing damage that comes with this hobby. I got 40+ years more to enjoy life thus splurge a few coffee cup investment into wires/connectors for 40 years of better enjoyment is a bargain. We are all scientific yet the fools don't even respect the gran daddy bible of International Annealed Copper Standard (IACS) standard established in 1914.
 

pkane

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Get with the times, single crystal and cryo wires and tellurium / copper connectors all make immediate difference, yes 99.9% of your plated f-ing brass connectors sound like Schitt in comparison. As for all your charts and measurements, none what so ever do any use kid's undamaged ears used to measure / compare (yes i had my kids to confirm what i'm hearing). Respect youthful ears, hell even a simple choice of plugging the speaker cable to tweeter binding post instead of bass driver posts get a immediate difference in clarity. Obviously i can't blame old ppl / can't hear difference with 30+ years of hearing damage that comes with this hobby. I got 40+ years more to enjoy life thus splurge a few coffee cup investment into wires/connectors for 40 years of better enjoyment is a bargain. We are all scientific yet the fools don't even respect the gran daddy bible of International Annealed Copper Standard (IACS) standard established in 1914.

If you don't invest in some cables from First Run Copper, you're going to waste the 40+ years you have left, believe me! You've simply got to try these:

http://firstruncopper.com/

Have your kids listen to them and tell you what a huge difference these make.
 

Streamc

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What the problem with UBR62? I already have R3. Maybe that? Or problem name is called LS50 Meta?
 

Beershaun

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If you don't invest in some cables from First Run Copper, you're going to waste the 40+ years you have left, believe me! You've simply got to try these:

http://firstruncopper.com/

Have your kids listen to them and tell you what a huge difference these make.
Measurements showing their impact on noise and distortion? Surely you can show the analyzer output from an reference amplifier showing the difference as Amir does in his measurements.
 

pkane

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Measurements showing their impact on noise and distortion? Surely you can show the analyzer output from an reference amplifier showing the difference as Amir does in his measurements.
Are you kidding? Who needs measurements with cables like these? You know, virgin copper is the best for sound quality. This has been reviewed on YouTube, just ask @SimpleTheater .
 

Beershaun

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Are you kidding? Who needs measurements with cables like these? You know, virgin copper is the best for sound quality. This has been reviewed on YouTube, just ask @SimpleTheater
Your satire is amazing! I love that video in all the ways it seriously pokes fun at so much with so little! Please sir take a bow for that performance!! Seriously, that is pretty great fun right there...
 

pkane

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Your satire is amazing! I love that video in all the ways it seriously pokes fun at so much with so little! Please sir take a bow for that performance!! Seriously, that is pretty great fun right there...
Not my doing, but I’m also a great admirer of the creator and founder of First Run Copper company.
 

wric01

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Can any verify the resistor in middle? Says 10W 0RJ? I'm guessing it's missing the 1 in the space. So it's 10W10RJ. Gonna replace it with mills resistors.
 

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Beave

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It doesn't matter what resistance value you choose. With audiophile quality mills resistors, any value will lead to hyper-realistic soundstages and tonal bliss coming from these speakers.
 

cavedriver

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Just received a pair of these and so far:
-bass lacks the character of the DBR-62, looking again at the measurements the DBR-62 there's about 5 more Hz of extension, but as I've previously talked about, the DBR-62 also has great bass "character", which I suppose could be either cone speed, cone flex (or lack of), or maybe the surface texture of the CF cone? The UBR-62 bass is accurate, noise-free, but lacking in depth and character. I am not surprised, but disappointed nonetheless as I want to use these for library listening so no sub. Maybe with more break-in time the bass character will improve, only about 8 hours so far.
-they do not play super loud happily, unlike the DBR's which seemed to love power. I was worried I might damage the UBR's despite their 140 w continuous rating. This seems to be confirmed in Erin's review with the compression results? I'll name specific pieces of music and levels in a follow-up.
-they have excellent clarity and midrange, voices are very good, they are enjoyable to listen to at low to moderate volumes, much better than the DBR-62 in this area
-agree with others they fall down a little on "ethereal" highs. not getting some of the atmospheric effects I would expect at this price, but more testing needed since placement is sub-optimal right now.
-imaging could be good, still need to test with the speaker placements set properly- I have them too far apart and too close to the listener at the moment. I will say that I don't think the vertical dispersion is that good. The test data is apparently good so not sure what's going on. horizontal is ok, but I had them upside down with the tweeters slightly above ear level initially and they were beaming pretty bad, it was obvious they were too high. With better placement it's still narrow. Edit: KEF's arrived today and positioned as the Elac's initially were the vertical off-axis image is better. The KEF's off-axis is looking very good, maybe won't "place" instruments so well but they sure sound good atm. More testing to do to see.

I'm about to receive three other speakers to test them against - the KEF LS50 meta's, Monitor Silver 100 7G, and Wharfedale EVO 4.2. I expect the KEF's will beat them on the highs and imaging but let me down even more on bass (the old LS50's did). Not sure what will happen with the Monitors and Wharfes. The Monitor bronze's I tested last year had bad port chuffing and then weak bass if you plugged the port, and highs were simply unremarkable, but I've heard good things about the silvers and a brief test of the previous silver towers suggested they imaged very well, giving Pink Floyd's the Wall better depth of soundstage than I expected at that price point.

As an aside, also just briefly listened to the Fyne 502MP's and holy crap are they good (granted at $6k a pair). I suspect I will find some flaws with more listening but tentatively very exciting, and I dread to imagine how badly they probably measure.
 
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cavedriver

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Just not at all satisfied with these- granted I was looking for a near-to-midfield speaker and at low volumes - but they retain and I grow annoyed with the weaknesses. The vertical off-axis immediately becomes apparent if I move around, the bass is anemic, and on top of that those poor, hardworking tweeter/mid drivers just sound overloaded if I try to fill the room with sound and stand back (~95 dB?). Monitor Audio Silvers are better on all these accounts if they perhaps are a little dim in the upper bass and the treble verges on harsh at times. Too bad Monitor's US import prices are sky high compared to what they cost in the UK.
 
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I agree these don't look like the best deal at 1200 USD but in Europe I can get them for 750 EUR and that brings the value for money proposition into a much better place.

I am considering them for a nearfield setup to replace my Dali Oberon 1 which seem to be lacking some oomph.

My main setup uses KEF R3.
 

delta76

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I agree these don't look like the best deal at 1200 USD but in Europe I can get them for 750 EUR and that brings the value for money proposition into a much better place.

I am considering them for a nearfield setup to replace my Dali Oberon 1 which seem to be lacking some oomph.

My main setup uses KEF R3.
in EU even for 750 EUR it has some serious competition. Focal Aria 906 can be had for 600 EUR or less (And less than 500 EUR is easy if you're patient/lucky). Pref scores are about the same, so it's down to look, and Made in China vs Made in France :)
 
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in EU even for 750 EUR it has some serious competition. Focal Aria 906 can be had for 600 EUR or less (And less than 500 EUR is easy if you're patient/lucky). Pref scores are about the same, so it's down to look, and Made in China vs Made in France :)
Feel free to link a single eshop selling aria 906 for less than 800 eur per pair. The cheapest I have found them locally is 1000 eur.
 

delta76

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Feel free to link a single eshop selling aria 906 for less than 800 eur per pair. The cheapest I have found them locally is 1000 eur.
https://www.homecinesolutions.fr/p/17034-focal-aria-906-dark-ebony request for confidential price could make it 275 eur/piece (I don't know, did not do it)
If you follow the trend, the lowest recorded was 450 eur, but they are at 500 eur range quite often.
note that this is shipping from france, as focal is produced there, the retailers get very good price. a lot of people I know (from this forum and else where) bought from them. me too. less than half price for local retailers where I live.
 

cavedriver

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I agree these don't look like the best deal at 1200 USD but in Europe I can get them for 750 EUR and that brings the value for money proposition into a much better place.

I am considering them for a nearfield setup to replace my Dali Oberon 1 which seem to be lacking some oomph.

My main setup uses KEF R3.
I've listened to the Oberon 1's and I would definitely take the UBR over those, but it's not price equivalent. But I would take the Monitor silvers over either.
https://www.homecinesolutions.fr/p/17034-focal-aria-906-dark-ebony request for confidential price could make it 275 eur/piece (I don't know, did not do it)
If you follow the trend, the lowest recorded was 450 eur, but they are at 500 eur range quite often.
note that this is shipping from france, as focal is produced there, the retailers get very good price. a lot of people I know (from this forum and else where) bought from them. me too. less than half price for local retailers where I live.
Europe has an advantage in this area over the US. A supreme court decision maybe 15 years ago that (or was it a federal law that was passed?) enabled manufacturers to enforce resellers to use list prices. The previous law went back to anti-monopoly practices of the early 1900's when the ability to force reseller pricing gave manufacturers near-monopoly control in certain markets. The problem is that now it's hard to find any new higher end product (anything not a commodity) for sale for less than list prices from retailers, but you still can in Europe from what I gather.
 

terryforsythe

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I just bought a pair of the Uni-Fi Reference UBR 62 speakers. Here are my thoughts:

Background:

We are near the end of an extensive home renovation. My previous speakers were paradigm Millenia 30's mounted on either side of the TV, paired with a sub-woofer. They looked good (made wife happy) but, as far as sound goes, I'll just say that they had a poor price/performance ratio. They were not irritating to listen to, but music never really came to life with them. This time around we are not putting speakers on the wall (the TV will be centered above the fireplace where the blue junction box is located in the picture I attached), and my wife was giving me serious push back on even having speakers at all in the family room.

A few weeks ago I came across a review of the UBR 62 speakers by Cheapaudioman. He really likes them, but the key was that, aesthetically, those speakers in white/oak match our family room decor better than any others I found and, being bookshelves, they are not too large. Without telling my wife, I ordered a set of factory reconditioned UBR 62's $300 below list price. That worked out - I gave them a careful inspection, and they look brand new. I also ordered a set of nice, but cheap, stands from Amazon. I figured once my wife saw the setup, and how the speakers match our decor (even the oak vinyl wrap on the speakers matches the wood flooring on our stairway), she might be able to tolerate them. That also happened to work out for me.

Sound:

Initially I hooked up the speakers to my Adcom GFA-5802 amplifier, and setup the speakers a couple of feet in front of the wall spread about 8' apart, without a subwoofer. By themselves, the UBR 62's have pretty good imaging and sound staging, and respectable lower bass extension for bookshelf speakers. But, they are lacking a bit in the midrange. Vocals just seem a little repressed. It could be the dip from 250 Hz - 700 Hz Erin identified in the frequency response. Also, my family room has a significant room response dip that centers around 150 Hz or so, which made matters worse.

Next, I brought my subwoofer online (Velodyne HGS18BG) and started tuning the crossover with my new MiniDSP SHD. Initially I played with 24 dB/octave and 48 dB/octave Linkwitz-Riley and Butterworth filters between 80 Hz and 120 Hz. The 150 Hz centered dip remained problematic though. I could equalize it out with the DSP (Dirac Live), but my concern is that adding 8-10 dB of boost to the bookshelves in the 100-200 Hz region might be pushing the 6" woofers a little hard at high listening volumes. So, to fill in the 150 Hz dip a bit, I experimented with overlapping the bookshelves and subwoofer in that frequency range. I thought the woofer (located in the audio cabinet to the right of the speaker in the picture, door open while listening) might be detectable pushing over 100 Hz, and it is detectable during the frequency response sweeps, but while listening to music from my listening position, I can't detect that the bass is coming from the cabinet, and the sound stage is preserved. The filters I ended up using were 120 Hz 48 dB/octave Butterworth on the bookshelves and 200 Hz 24 dB/octave Butterworth on the subwoofer (the subwoofer also has a built in roll-off above 200 Hz). I never before envisioned using such a crossover, but for these speakers, this subwoofer, and my family room, it seems to work well to fill in the dip without adversely affecting sound staging.

Having the crossover setup, I then implemented Dirac Live for my listening position. Wow, that brought the speakers to a new level. Vocals came to life, and the imaging and sound staging, which already were good, improved quite a bit. On Dire Straights' "Ride Across the River," toward then end of the song I hear the crickets all around me like walking through a forest at night. With Kris Isaak's "Heat of the Jungle" I can pinpoint individual instrument locations, and some instruments even sound like they are coming from behind me in certain parts of the song. There are details in the music coming out that I have been missing since giving up my custom Focal speakers years ago. It's very nice to have them back.

The MiniDSP SHD has four configuration presets. I loaded Dirac's filter data for a completely flat frequency response to the first preset, and to the second preset loaded filter data for Dirac's default room response, which is linear, but sloping from about 3 dB at 20 Hz to -3 dB at 20 kHz. With the UBR 62's, some music sounds better with the first preset, while some recordings sound a little bright and sound better with the second preset.
 

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terryforsythe

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Can any verify the resistor in middle? Says 10W 0RJ? I'm guessing it's missing the 1 in the space. So it's 10W10RJ. Gonna replace it with mills resistors.
Have you mapped out the circuit components? Specifically, I am curious as to how the steel core inductor is wired on the midrange circuit. I speculate that it is in parallel with the midrange, shunted to negatIve. If not, and instead it is in series with the midrange, replacing it with an air core inductor probably is the biggest bang for the buck for improving midrange clarity. I may pull mine apart to check how it is wired if you have not already done so.
 
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