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ELAC Uni-Fi 2.0 UC52 Center review (by Erin)

sweetchaos

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Thanks to @hardisj for another review.

This is the 3-way coaxial center channel by Elac.
CEA2034%20--%20ELAC%20Uni-Fi%202.0%20UC52.png

ELAC%20Uni-Fi%202.0%20UC52%20Horizontal%20Contour%20Plot%20%28Normalized%29.png

ELAC%20Uni-Fi%202.0%20UC52%20Vertical%20Contour%20Plot%20%28Normalized%29.png

ELAC%20Uni-Fi%202.0%20UC52_Compression.png


Discuss!
 

Sancus

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This actually looks considerably worse than quite good the Uni-Fi bookshelf Amir reviewed. Dispersion is uneven for a coaxial. That one got headless only for a specific resonance though. Looking at the THD graphs, this one seems to have the same spike around 550hz, less visible than in Amir's review due to graph formatting.

Be curious to find out if Erin heard anything or checked on that specific problem. This does seem a lot better than most centers at this price.

E: Edited to be clearer that I don't think the flaws are a major problem.
 
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abdo123

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This actually looks considerably worse than the Uni-Fi bookshelf Amir reviewed. Dispersion is quite uneven for a coaxial. That one got headless for a specific resonance though. Looking at the THD graphs, this one seems to have the same spike around 550hz, less visible than in Amir's review due to graph formatting.

Be curious to find out if Erin heard anything or checked on that specific problem.
Oh god not this again.
 

3125b

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Seems fine for the current asking price of 250€. Directivity is decent, better than 2-way centers for similar or simetimes much higher prices will ever be.
 

Sancus

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It's EQ-able.
It has broad radiation (unlike most centers which have a very narrow horizontal radiation pattern).
I didn't hear any resonances in that region of question.
Not sure if you're familiar with the saga in that thread, but at 0:55 on this track Amir heard a pretty bad resonance on the line "He goes.." and there was a ton of back and forth that ended up with recordings being posted, and it did seem like there was an audible issue there.

And that was the justification for the headless rating. Which I do think was a bit harsh given the price point of these Uni-Fis. I'm pretty sure you could make other cheap speakers sound weird if you found a specific track that excited the exact wrong frequency.

I thought the performance was very good for a cheap passive coaxial. They are usually a much bigger mess especially in the treble. I do agree this is a good center for the price, especially if that resonance is absent. It's certainly much better than the 2-ways with disastrous horizontal dispersion. The SVS Prime seems quite good as well.
 

sharock

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Does anyone know if this uses the same coaxial and woofer as the Elac Navis powered speakers?
 

Vict0r

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I would love for ASR to have a baseline or "favorite-product-to-measure-up-to" for center channel performance, like we do seem to have for active & passive speakers, and subwoofers.
 
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sweetchaos

sweetchaos

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I would love for ASR to have a baseline or "favorite-product-to-measure-up-to" for center channel performance, like we do seem to have for active & passive speakers, and subwoofers.
If 2-way? Stay away.
If 3-way coaxial? Kef R2C.
If 3-way non-coaxial? Haven’t found the baseline yet. Although Infinity RC263 looks like the cheapest worthwhile option, if it’s in stock.
 

Vict0r

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If 2-way? Stay away.
If 3-way coaxial? Kef R2C.
If 3-way non-coaxial? Haven’t found the baseline yet. Although Infinity RC263 looks like the cheapest worthwhile option, if it’s in stock.
So there's no horizontal center speaker worth getting in Europe under a $1000?
 
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Yasuo

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Why would a center channel speaker need (bass reflex) ports? Pretty sure those drivers can output at least 80hz. Just trying to figure out...
 

abdo123

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If 2-way? Stay away.
If 3-way coaxial? Kef R2C.
If 3-way non-coaxial? Haven’t found the baseline yet. Although Infinity RC263 looks like the cheapest worthwhile option, if it’s in stock.
The perlisten center speaker should be phenomenal but it’s 3.5 way
 

Vict0r

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Steve Dallas

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A horizontal one, I meant. :)

Lay it on its side. I used three LS50s as the heart of my small 3.2 setup for years. The center was an LS50 laid on its side and angled up slightly by stacking little felt pads. Worked wonderfully.
 

Nwickliff

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Lay it on its side. I used three LS50s as the heart of my small 3.2 setup for years. The center was an LS50 laid on its side and angled up slightly by stacking little felt pads. Worked wonderfully.
Yup! Q100 here for my center duty. Great little speakers. A couple of 18 in subs to pick up the slack on the low end.
 
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sweetchaos

sweetchaos

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The perlisten center speaker should be phenomenal but it’s 3.5 way
Yikes, this center channel costs more than most bookshelves and a few towers.

$6,995/each (standard finish); $7,995/each (special edition finish).

I would never consider spending this much on a center channel.
 
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