Small Package, Big Sound
GERMANY-BASED ELAC was well known in the 1960s and 1970s for its automatic (Miracord) turntables. The company disappeared from North America in the ensuing decades while transitioning into a major European loudspeaker brand. A few years ago, it decided that the time was right to return to the U.S. market. To produce new designs for that move they lured veteran speaker designer Andrew Jones away from his extended gig at TAD/Pioneer. The ELAC Debut line (now in its second generation) came first and seriously shook up the budget speaker sector. That was followed not long after by the pricier, but hardly pricey, Uni-Fi series. (Reviews of both the Elac Debut and Uni-Fi series speakers in 5.1 configurations can be found at soundandvision.com.)
It was inevitable that ELAC would climb higher up the price ladder, and the first result of that process is the new Adante range. But the climb was only a few rungs. While the Adantes will be considered expensive by K-Mart shoppers, in the audiophile world their prices are highly competitive.
The AS-61 standmount
