Elac JET or similar front speakers on Yamaha RX-V477

[Priy]

Hi all,

I'm looking to upgrade my front speakers and am really interested in Elac speakers, they sound - also in the lows - and look amazing (especially with JET tweeters). However, I am a bit confused about which types of speakers might fit my current set up best. Perhaps you have some suggestions, I'm mostly interested in older models so that I might find them second-hand.

Intended 4.1 setup:
Amplifier: Yamaha RX-V477 - rated for 6ohm 80W speakers
Subwoofer: Yamaha MS50DR 50W 8 inch woofer
Rear: 2x Jamo D110 (70W RMS, 4~8ohm) - currently used as fronts
Front: 2x to be found!

Mainly used for music (cross stereo) but also regular cinematic evenings.

Some options I have explored
1. Elac BS 423.1 423.2 or 423.3
Impedance 4ohm - minimal 3.6ohm
Sensitivity 88dB
Would my receiver be able to power these speakers comfortably? I sometimes do listen to higher volumes.

2. Elac BS 423.4 (newest revision)
Impedance 6ohm - minimal 4.8ohm
Sensivity 85dB
Impedance seems better suitable, but they decreased the sensitivy. Would these speakers be harder to power for my not extremely powerful receiver? Or similar to the prior revisions (1)? I would probably only be able to purchase these new at this stage, so not my preferred option

3. Elac BS 203
Impedance 4ohm - minimal 3.5ohm
Sensitivity 86db
I guess option 1 is better suitable

Other requirements

• I would like to drive the front speakers also with low frequencies (set up as "Large" speakers or set crossover value really low), because my subwoofer doesn't cover many frequencies, as it's not built for a hifi set up but gives a nice boost nonetheless.
• For us it's very important what the speakers look like, as we want them to be one with our interior. Jamo D110 have quite a unique industrial vibe, so we are looking for something that is not entirely different.
  • Black Elac speakers with JET tweeters and/or crystal cones look amazing for instance. Other speakers that have some AMT tweeter - or similar details - would probably also look fine!
• Furthermore, ideally I want to keep using the speaker stands I have, which means I cannot have speakers with a depth of more than ~24cm/9.5 inch. But this is not necessarily a hard requirement

 

[ShanePJ]

So there are a few little bits here. One being that when using an avr, it's always best to set the crossover to 80Hz and set all speakers to small. This way the avr will filter sound down to the woofer when this frequency is reached

For musical playback, simple select the "Direct". You can read more about this feature on page 48 of the manual. This should place the avr into a kind of stereo mode which should filter all the audio through the main two speakers

As for the speakers, the one thing that does bother me is if you really push this baby Yamaha, it could struggle as these speakers are quite difficult to drive. For easy listening either should be fine at lowish volumes

I would say, if you want to hear at louder volumes, them many look at speakers between 88dB and 91dB as this should better suit the Yamaha you currently own

 

[Priy]

Thanks for the input! This weekend coincidentally a pair of Elac 243 came online nearby and I purchased them (a version with ~88dB sensitivity)! They sound perfect and I noticed that with quite a high volume I'm only using around 60% of the power of the Yamaha amp - without warming up significantly. So I think I we can conclude that this receiver is capable enough to drive these speakers (+2 rears at the same time)!

I set my threshold to 80Hz but did configure the Elac to be "Large" speakers, I believe it sounds better this way as they go quite low. However, I'll continue to test and calibrate this a bit more I think. I have the feeling that with test tones my subwoofer is not really picking them up, while when playing music I do hear quite a large difference. Could maybe also relate to the RCA cable towards the subwoofer. Perhaps I should look into a more shielded or thicker wire. Unsure what spec it is, but it looks quite thin (perhaps between 0.75mm² - 1mm²?). Any recommendations on this?

I should also replace my cables soon as I'm now running only 0.5mm² cables to the front speaker! (just ordered new ones)