I've talked to the guys at ELAC, and they said they're finding out if it has something to do with over-tightened screws on that midrange driver. I don't want to speak on their behalf, but I think they will resolve the issue. I haven't had time to test to see how that affects things.
New member and long time lurker here.
I bought a thrashed pair of these on eBay. The trim pieces around the drivers were protruding on both units and I couldn't shove them back flush to the face of the cabinet. Before I even listened to them I popped the trim pieces off to see if I could get them reseated properly. Low and behold the concentric driver baskets on both speakers were badly distorted from over torqued attachment screws leaving gaps between the cabinet and the driver flange gasket between the screws. The woofer basket was fine.
The distorted driver frame was preventing the trim rings from seating. I unplugged the concentric drivers from both units and went to work making a jig to hold and straighten their frames (not easy). I put some cellophane around the back of the straightened drivers and temporarily seated them into a bead of silicone applied to each mounting flange. I just lightly but snugly tightend the screws for this step. After the silicone had time to set I removed the drivers, pulled the cellophane off and reinstalled them. This time I tightened the screws, by hand, until they were done turning. I popped the trim pieces back on and both pushed in perfectly flush with the face of the speaker cabinet.
I'm hoping someone in the ownership chain over tightened the screws because if these speakers made it out of the factory like this ELAC has some serious QC issues to address. I am disappointed that the driver baskets are flimsy, stamped, and quite easily deformable, sheetmetal. There is no way either of these unit's sub-enclosures for the concentric drivers were sealed as designed. I hadn't read this thread yet nor did I listen to them before I did all this because I figured they weren't going to sound right with such a massive problem. I don't know if these started out as Headless Panthers, but I bet they were.
As it is, I've listened to all of my test tracks over and over on these speakers. The first couple times to see what they sound like and the rest because they sound so good. I must have them close to spec now, because these are extremely captivating speakers with a sub crossed around 60Hz. Very neutral, in a Sennheiser HD600 way, but without the veiled sounding highs. Weak in the bass, but come on, it's a wee little speaker. They sound good on a Marantz SR7005 I used to make hooking up a sub easier. They sound great on most of my Mosfet amps. My Hitachi HMA-7500 mkii in particular loves these speakers. Everything sounds dynamic and alive, yet completely under control. My HMA-8500 mkii is a close second followed by Technics SU-V9 and SU-V909 integrated amps. The Technics are the only BJT amps I have that sound great with them. I haven't mic'd them in room yet because I can't hear anything objectionable and I don't want to waste time doing it when I can be listening to them. Usually I'm tweaking within hours or a day at most.
In conclusion, I love them, but I wouldn't risk more than $300 or so on a pair in good used condition. You may luck out and get a pair manufactured while the dude who put mine together was on break, but you'll be tearing them apart if he was on the clock. If you don't mind gutting them and making sure the concentric basket and mounting flange are straight and true you will likely be rewarded with a really good pair of speakers.
Sorry for the novel as my first post and thanks for having me.
