ELAC Unifi Reference UBR62 vs Kef R3

[Mgnickel]

Hello,

I‘m putting together a theater now, beginning stages. I have been looking for a good 3 way speaker. The ELAC Unifi Reference UBR62 is a newer speaker, and I can’t find a ton of reviews. There are a ton of people with the Kef R3. The Kef is on sale now for 1,699. The ELACs are 1,199. Can anyone compare the two or offer any insight? I’ll have a 7.2.4 with HSU subs and a denon x3700. I’ll match the rest of the speakers to the front stage.

 

[gibbsy]

Welcome to the Forum.

AVF is a UK based Forum and so there is going to be price differences from the US market. The Elacs are going to be an easier drive for the X3700 being 6 ohm speakers against the 8 ohm KEFs. Downside is that the X3700 is going to run hotter but certainly within specifications.

In the UK the Elacs are almost a third of the price of the KEFs (£499 against £1300, full price) and would be more in contention with the KEF Q350s and not the R3. KEF currently have a 20% off for the R3s in the UK and I think your price of $1699 reflects a similar reduction in the US.

Forget the comparisons go with the KEFs, they are a superb speakers equally adept at music as well as home theatre. I run the older R300s which have now achieved something of a legendary status as one of the best three way standmounts made. I also run a Denon AV amp to drive them and know that they play very well together.

 

[Gasp3621]

Hello,

I‘m putting together a theater now, beginning stages. I have been looking for a good 3 way speaker. The ELAC Unifi Reference UBR62 is a newer speaker, and I can’t find a ton of reviews. There are a ton of people with the Kef R3. The Kef is on sale now for 1,699. The ELACs are 1,199. Can anyone compare the two or offer any insight? I’ll have a 7.2.4 with HSU subs and a denon x3700. I’ll match the rest of the speakers to the front stage.

They are both good speakers, but there is some things to look at. I believe Andrew Jones has designed this Elac model and it´s surely step up from Q350 as the lower ranges are more in line with that. AJ worked at Kef too and he is using similar 3-way coaxial design here as Kef does with R3. These are often aimed more for audiophiles though than theater use. Why i say this is is cause the measured sensitivity was very low meaning it needs tons of power if you listen at very high volumes. Also it showed higher distortion at higher SPL levels than R3. So for movies in mind R3 with R2c would be better choice if judging these. Keep in mind that you don´t have to "match" necessarily the rest of speakers, you can go with Q350 for surround l/r and surround backs to save some cash.

However if you don´t require shiny hifi speakers i would look Monolith THX range speakers which are one of the best deal for cinema use without blowing budget. They do come with upfiring modules, but you don´t need to use them. As you live in US you have 30day buy&try period.

Monolith by Monoprice THX-365T THX Certified Ultra Dolby Atmos Enabled Mini-Tower Speaker (Each) - Monoprice.com

The THX® Speaker Series has been engineered to deliver the highest level of accuracy and reproduce all the dynamics and detail of the best home theater soundtracks and music.

www.monoprice.com

Monolith by Monoprice THX-365C THX Certified Ultra Center Channel Speaker (Each) - Monoprice.com

The THX® Speaker Series has been engineered to deliver the highest level of accuracy and reproduce all the dynamics and detail of the best home theater soundtracks and music.

www.monoprice.com

Monolith by Monoprice THX-265B THX Select Certified Dolby Atmos Enabled Bookshelf Speaker (Each) - Monoprice.com

The THX® Speaker Series has been engineered to deliver the highest level of accuracy and reproduce all the dynamics and detail of the best home theater soundtracks and music.

www.monoprice.com

Monolith by Monoprice THX-465T THX Certified Ultra Dolby Atmos Enabled Tower Speaker - Monoprice.com

The THX® Speaker Series has been engineered to deliver the highest level of accuracy and reproduce all the dynamics and detail of the best home theater soundtracks and music.

www.monoprice.com

 

[Kapkirk]

Welcome to the Forum.

AVF is a UK based Forum and so there is going to be price differences from the US market. The Elacs are going to be an easier drive for the X3700 being 6 ohm speakers against the 8 ohm KEFs. Downside is that the X3700 is going to run hotter but certainly within specifications.

In the UK the Elacs are almost a third of the price of the KEFs (£499 against £1300, full price) and would be more in contention with the KEF Q350s and not the R3. KEF currently have a 20% off for the R3s in the UK and I think your price of $1699 reflects a similar reduction in the US.

Forget the comparisons go with the KEFs, they are a superb speakers equally adept at music as well as home theatre. I run the older R300s which have now achieved something of a legendary status as one of the best three way standmounts made. I also run a Denon AV amp to drive them and know that they play very well together.

The UBR62 Ref's are a newer model to the Debut Ref62's and are more expensive than the DBR Ref62's at around £750-800 UK. They are a 3 way design and do compare favorably to the KEFR3 (in terms of SQ) and are significantly better than the Q350. They are a little more detailed than the DBR's and have tighter bass compared with the DBR Ref62.
If he really wanted to go for Elac's he would probably be better off with the DFR52 floorstanders for HT use.
For the money tho it's hard to beat the Wharfedale Evo4.2's which would be a great alternative for him if price is a major consideration, and sure If he has the fund's the try out the KEF R3's.
Personally I would not use the Elac UBR62's for Home Theatre duties as they would be better suited to 2CH Music listening.

 

[WozzaB]

Welcome to the Forum.

AVF is a UK based Forum and so there is going to be price differences from the US market. The Elacs are going to be an easier drive for the X3700 being 6 ohm speakers against the 8 ohm KEFs. Downside is that the X3700 is going to run hotter but certainly within specifications.

In the UK the Elacs are almost a third of the price of the KEFs (£499 against £1300, full price) and would be more in contention with the KEF Q350s and not the R3. KEF currently have a 20% off for the R3s in the UK and I think your price of $1699 reflects a similar reduction in the US.

Forget the comparisons go with the KEFs, they are a superb speakers equally adept at music as well as home theatre. I run the older R300s which have now achieved something of a legendary status as one of the best three way standmounts made. I also run a Denon AV amp to drive them and know that they play very well together.

I was under the impression that 8 ohm speakers would be easier to drive than 4 or 6 ohm speakers, or am I getting confused?

 

[gibbsy]

I was under the impression that 8 ohm speakers would be easier to drive than 4 or 6 ohm speakers, or am I getting confused?

4 or 6 ohm speakers will allow the amp to produce more volume at a lower power because there is less resistance. The trade off is that more voltage is used and amps do run somewhat hotter because of the extra voltage being passed but is usually within specification providing the amps are given adequate ventilation. My Denon certainly runs hot enough driving 8 ohm speakers.

The biggest problem with amp and speaker combination, certainly with 8 ohm speakers such as the KEF R3 or R300s, is the dip in ohms in this case to 3.2 ohms. You need a good power supply to sustain those drops and allow the amp to recover, hence KEFs are known to be difficult to drive.

 

[Kapkirk]

I was under the impression that 8 ohm speakers would be easier to drive than 4 or 6 ohm speakers, or am I getting confused?

Yes that is usually the case, but you should also check the efficiency rating of a loudspeaker in the specs, an efficient loudspeaker would have an efficiency rating of say 91.5 dB @ 1 meter whereas an inefficient speaker would be something like 85dB at 1 meter. Lower efficiency speakers require more power to get the same volume.

In use, a loudspeaker's impedance changes with frequency because a loudspeaker is a reactive load and can go as low a 3 ohms or as high as 100 ohms so most manufacturers quote a nominal impedance (average) on the back or in the specs. So, if you are going to drive a 4-6 ohm (nominal rating) speaker it would be best to use an amplifier of at least 50w per channel with a high current power supply. A speaker with a Nominal impedance of 8 ohms would generally be an easier load for an amplifier than one of 4 ohms.

 

[WozzaB]

4 or 6 ohm speakers will allow the amp to produce more volume at a lower power because there is less resistance. The trade off is that more voltage is used and amps do run somewhat hotter because of the extra voltage being passed but is usually within specification providing the amps are given adequate ventilation. My Denon certainly runs hot enough driving 8 ohm speakers.

The biggest problem with amp and speaker combination, certainly with 8 ohm speakers such as the KEF R3 or R300s, is the dip in ohms in this case to 3.2 ohms. You need a good power supply to sustain those drops and allow the amp to recover, hence KEFs are known to be difficult to drive.

Yes that is usually the case, but you should also check the efficiency rating of a loudspeaker in the specs, an efficient loudspeaker would have an efficiency rating of say 91.5 dB @ 1 meter whereas an inefficient speaker would be something like 85dB at 1 meter. Lower efficiency speakers require more power to get the same volume.

In use, a loudspeaker's impedance changes with frequency because a loudspeaker is a reactive load and can go as low a 3 ohms or as high as 100 ohms so most manufacturers quote a nominal impedance (average) on the back or in the specs. So, if you are going to drive a 4-6 ohm (nominal rating) speaker it would be best to use an amplifier of at least 50w per channel with a high current power supply. A speaker with a Nominal impedance of 8 ohms would generally be an easier load for an amplifier than one of 4 ohms.

Thanks for the detailed explanations guys, the info is very useful

 

[Muziekliefhebber]

I am a lucky owner of the Elac Uni-fi reference UBR62 myself in dark oak colour for a few months now and do like the speakers and the open clear sound of them. I am driving them however with the Elac DS-A101-G streaming amplifier witch is not a good choise i think. This amplifier is not the best match you can think of.

 

[Prebel95]

The UBR62 Ref's are a newer model to the Debut Ref62's and are more expensive than the DBR Ref62's at around £750-800 UK. They are a 3 way design and do compare favorably to the KEFR3 (in terms of SQ) and are significantly better than the Q350. They are a little more detailed than the DBR's and have tighter bass compared with the DBR Ref62.
If he really wanted to go for Elac's he would probably be better off with the DFR52 floorstanders for HT use.
For the money tho it's hard to beat the Wharfedale Evo4.2's which would be a great alternative for him if price is a major consideration, and sure If he has the fund's the try out the KEF R3's.
Personally I would not use the Elac UBR62's for Home Theatre duties as they would be better suited to 2CH Music listening.

Hello,

I've been searching all over this and other forums and haven't found anything.

I have the Cambridge cxa81 integrated amp with the elac b6.2 debut 2.0 series which are pretty good but am looking at the UBR62'S as an upgrade to make the most out of the amp. Would this be able to power them sufficiently to be worth it? They are rated 120 watts at 4ohm and 80 watts 8ohm. So they should be able to feed around 100 watts. Or maybe I should be looking at more efficient speakers. Thanks for any input