ELAC Uni-fi UB5 Bookshelf Speaker (Black, Pair)
$350.00
About this item The perfect speaker for both home theater and music lovers alike ; Nominal impedance: 4 Ω ; minimum 3.4 Ω True 3-Way Design delivers more accurate sound than more traditional 2 -way designs. Frequency response – 46 to 25,000 Hz. Sensitivity – 85 dB at 2.83 v/1m Custom designed concentric driver provides much better imaging and performance compared with standard configurations used by our competitors Dedicated 5 ¼” aluminum woofer delivers powerful bass in a small package. Recommended amplifier power: 40 to 140 wpc A sophisticated crossover design combined with a sturdy braced cabinet helps deliver an audio experience far beyond its price point.
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Description
From the manufacturer
Custom-designed Concentric Driver
The delicacy of a 1-inch soft-dome tweeter and the harmonic accuracy of a rigid aluminum 4-inch midrange cone come together in a symphony of sonic perfection. Positioning the tweeter concentrically within the midrange voice coil achieves a uniform directivity pattern, for flat frequency response and formidable power handling, along with enhanced imaging for both on- and off-axis listening positions.
Sophisticated Aluminum Woofer
Through the use of aluminum, resonances that affect the linearity of common paper cones can be placed beyond the driver’s operating frequency range. An extended size magnet with vented pole piece increases power handling, for accurate reproduction of bass frequencies that are clean, clear and powerful.
Balanced Three-way Design
A three-way speaker offers many advantages in the design of a full-range system. By assigning dedicated drivers to high, mid- and bass frequencies, each is optimized for the frequency range for which its design and material composition is best suited. Drivers like the groundbreaking concentric midrange-tweeter of the Uni-Fi series perform at their best, while larger, aluminum-cone woofers handle the frequency ranges in which they perform best. At the same time, a three-way speaker complement allows for a more straightforward crossover and cabinet design, eliminating complex and costly solutions.
Custom-designed Binding Posts
The custom terminals provide flexibility of speaker wire connections and ensure optimal electron transfer from speaker cables to the speaker itself. Details like this make the difference!
Additional information
| Product Dimensions | 10.8 x 7.9 x 12.8 inches |
|---|---|
| Item Weight | 35.9 pounds |
| Manufacturer | ELAC |
| UNSPSC Code | 52161512 |
| Country of Origin | China |
| Item model number | UB51-BK |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | March 24, 2016 |
10 reviews for ELAC Uni-fi UB5 Bookshelf Speaker (Black, Pair)
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W. Jackson –
I’ve just been playing the Elac Uni-Fi UB5’s for about 12 hours, and I’m loving them so far. My main speakers are Wharfedale Diamond 225’s, but I am about to make my mind up on whether to dethrone the Warfedales or not. The Warfedales are a very smooth speaker with a great soundstage and amazing bass. The Elacs seem to have a more forward and detailed vocal quality, but they are not harsh. I’ve got an album by Vashti Bunyan called “Just Another Diamond Day”. She has a very delicate wispy voice, and on the warfedales I can’t make out about half of what she is saying in the songs, but on the Elacs I can understand every word. I have a CD from the 80’s, Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony on Telarc, and on the Elacs it sounds majestic like it did on my 80’s Boston Acoustic BA-150 speakers, minus the 10″ woofer, but on the Warfedales it sounds sort of bland. Haven’t totally made my mind up yet whether to retire the Warfedales. The Elacs will play louder than the Warfedales, and I guess the reason is my Schiit Vidar amp doubles wattage at 4 ohms, and the Elacs are 4 ohms.Update 1-1-2019:Got about 25 hours on the Elacs, and still digging them. Just played the CD “Charly Antoloni – Knock Out 2000”. It’s a hardcore percussion CD, with about every percussive instrument there is, and Charly Antolini is about the fastest drummer there is. It’s a great CD to test your speakers out. It’s a wild CD, and the Elacs seemed like they were designed using this CD. I cranked it to the top, just to see if they would hold together, and they didn’t miss a lick. There is also a lot of symbols, triangles, chimes, bongos. The Elacs did the symbols and percussive instruments beautifully. The Warfedales do have a better sound stage, and the bass is a little better, but I believe the Elacs are going to win the fight.Update 1-1-2019:The king is dead! Long live the king! Well, just made my mind up, the Elacs have taken the top spot in my main stereo. Just listened to one of my favorite albums, America by America, yeah, the one with A Horse with No Name, and I’ve never heard that album sound so good, so the Elacs win for me. The Elacs need an amp, int amp, or receiver rated for 4 ohms, and the more power the better, because they need more power scotty. The Schiit Vidar, which is what I have is a great choice, or an Emotiva or Parasound amp would be great too.Update 1-1-2019:The sound stage just opened up on the Elacs, and it is sounding magical. I’d say allow 30-40 hours for a total breakin. I’m starting to think Andrew Jones put some Voodoo, or made a pack with the devil on these speakers. They are truly Magical Music Boxes.Update 1-5-2019:The Elacs are sounding better and better, so I guess there is a long break-in period with them. They are on a higher plane then any speaker I’ve ever owned. I’ve heard some people say they were like the KEF LS50″s, but the LS50″s were even better. I don’t know, but I don’t see how it could get any better myself, these things are awesome. They’ll play Godzilla by BOC, Frankenstein by Edgar Winters better than any speaker I’ve ever owned, and that includes floor standers with 10″ woofers. They’ll go from playing rough to playing delicate, and they will take full volume, which is supposed to be 200 watts from my Schiit Vidar at 4 ohms, and it will play at that level with no distortion I can hear. Am I amazed by these speakers? You damn right! I seen where What Hi-Fi? gave these Elacs 4 stars. Man that’s bullshit I’ve got KEF Q300’s and Warfedale Diamond 225’s, and the Elacs are in outerspace, while the Q300’s and 235’s are still in the atmosphere. The Warfedale’s are definitely great, but the ub5’s are up in a higher plane.Update 1-12-2019:These Elacs can play Telarc’s CD Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture with digital cannons. The Boston Acoustic BA-150’s I had in the mid eighties could play the digital cannons on this cd at high volume with no distortion. I’ve never had a speaker after that one that could play the cannons on that cd without bad breakup. The Elac ub5’s can play the cannons very good, not as good as the BA’s did, but they were acoustic suspension with a 10′ woofer. I’m amazed that a ported speaker can play this at all. There is a warning on that cd that it may cause damage to your speakers if played too loud, and I have no doubt that is true, so if you try it, play it at a lower volume to start with, so when the cannons go off you don’t blow your speakers.
Lisa L Wilson –
I have a set of huge (very expensive) JBL reference speakers with my Yamaha amp. It’s 110 per channel but they just never sounded that great unless there was no one home and I could blast it. I bought these, got some really excellent speaker cables, and the rest is history.I have a Polk Audio sub and in combination with these little ELACs the music in our house has never sounded this good. The wife was pissed that I bought them but after playing some of her favs she admitted it was a good purchase. This is the longest review I ever posted here! Love these speakers.
N. Sharif –
Full bodied sound. Nothing really sticks out as much as a superb image, accurate portrayal and very little color. The clear sweet highs mix well with the prodigious mids. The bass is accurate, but I use a sub for the super lows. The pair present no glaring weakness and they present a sound akin to older large cabinet speakers from yesteryear. If you get these for sub $400, they are a steal. Above $500, there may be newer competition that sound a bit more “special”. Very dependent on a rich source and a quality 75 watt or higher amp. They could be a superb big room speaker, but dominate a small room like mine. Keep them 2’ away from the wall and you have a great balance of body and accuracy.
Stereoman –
I bought these on a whim when my much more expensive speakers (from Raidho) were blown by an anomaly in my power amp. I also bought the Bluesound Powernode 2 (I promise a separate review for that little gem!) to power them. I had heard Andrew Jones’ original ELAC speakers at The Show Newport years ago. The room was packed every day of the show, and there’s a reason why: you can’t buy better quality, better sounding speakers at ELAC’s price points. I was so smitten by the sound of these stand mount monitors that I also bought one of ELAC’s very reasonably priced subs (a 10-inch Debut S10EQ) as well. I spent about an hour or so dialing everything in (the sub has incredible flexibility, all adjusted by an app you install on your smartphone!).I’m a diehard audiophile. My reference loudspeakers cost 30x more than these ELACs.I can say without hesitation that this speaker is the best bang for your buck. One piece of advice: spend a lot of time with speaker placement. These are rear-ported bass reflex speakers and placement is EVERYTHING. Also consider putting isolation footers under whatever stand you buy. And don’t skimp on the cost of a good set of isolation footers!Addendum: I bought the Uni-fi UB5 Slim version of the UB5’s. They cost $200 more than the “standard” UB5’s, but I believe it’s money well spent. They are indeed “slimmer” and the finish is a beautiful satin black, which is WAY sexier IMHO! I purchased the VIVO Premium Universal Floor Speaker Stands for Surround Sound & Book Shelf Speakers (STAND-SP03B) which is the best $45 you can spend on a budget speaker stand!
Vladyslav Hrybok –
These are very solid, reasonably priced, great-sounding bookshelf speakers. However, they are 4 Ohm and 88 dba sensitivity, meaning that your need to drive them with a powerful, and therefore somewhat expensive amp. I got Peachtree Decco125 Sky, which is 100+ W per channel and costs around $850. It is very adequate. Sounds coming from these speakers is significant improvement over Klipsch 2-way speakers costing a little less than these, but again, having a good amp may negate savings on these very nice and inexpensive speakers.
Osirus –
Just like the headline of this review states, power them properly and you’ll be rewarded. I’ve run them on several amplifiers and it has become clear that they need power to sound their best. That’s not to say they don’t sound good with less power because they really do. The best way I can say this is that these speakers have a presence that reveals itself more when you drive them with higher end amplification.I am currently powering them with a class D Pioneer Elite SC-87 ($2K MSRP) that dumps around 240 watts into each speaker with both channels driven at 4 ohms. There is absolutely a distinct difference in sound quality when powering them with lesser amplifiers. The bass really is quite surprising and becomes more prevalent as you crank up the volume.#1 – You’ll need an amplifier rated for 4 ohms.#2 – I’d recommend a minimum of 100 watts per channel at 8 ohms when used with an AV receiver.#3 – High-quality cables really do make a difference (I use Audioquest Type 4 cables – $250 MSRP each)#4 – Point them straight ahead; they have a wide sound stage so there’s really no need to point them toward you. Make sure they’re at least 1 foot away from the back wall due to the rear port.#5 – Buy and enjoy :)Feed them well and they will amaze you. Almost 3D sound can be experienced when driven properly. I picked them up used for under 300 least year. At that price I feel like I stole something compared to what I got.
Craig S –
Mission:1. To find, supplant and eliminate three free air excitation devices.2. To coalesce with remaining excitation devices covertly.3. To complete the mission in a fiscally responsible manor.End Result: Mission accomplished!Here’s the deal: I found myself in a position that warranted the replacement of my rather large front left/right speakers (Polk Audio SDA-SRS2s) utilized in my surround system. (When I say “warranted” I mean dictated by the Boss of the House.) I needed a speaker system that would blend somewhat with the Polk Audio F/Xi A6 and F/Xi A4 surrounds and the Infinity Kappa center channel. Kicked it into research mode, hit several review sites, watched several demos on youtube ((headphones) and yes I know that youtube compresses the audio but headphones give a better representation than your typical TV audio)) and came to the conclusion that these ELACs would do rather nicely. I knew that I would be faced with a speaker placement problem as these new speakers were to be installed in our new wall unit. My choices were at the top of each “tower” which would place them approximately 5 feet or so off of the ground. Aesthetically I would need to turn each speaker on its side. Not good considering that the dispersion pattern would be messed up big time. Option 2 was to place the speakers at the bottom of the towers in small cabinets that were (optionally) covered with speaker grill cloth. I decided that this would be the preliminary placement location. Now all that remained was the delivery of the wall unit. Delivery day came and I quickly realized that my Infinity center channel no longer blended into the background. I decided to set-up the speaker configuration to utilize the Elacs in a “phantom” center channel profile until I found a suitable replacement for the Infinity.There is a caveat regarding these speakers in that they are rated at 4 ohms. Please ensure that whatever you use to drive these is rated to 4 ohms. Distortion will result at moderate listening levels and ultimately your amp may enter into a clipping situation which can ruin these (or any really) speakers. That problem lies with the amp, not the speaker.The Bottom Line: These speakers perform SO well, even in the configuration I’ve described that I couldn’t be more pleased. The “phantom” center channel is spot on without degradation of the front L/R surround effects. They are outstanding performers with both sound effects and musical score. They blend seamlessly with my surrounds and provide a pleasing, engulfing sound stage. Additionally, they’ve removed my need for a discrete center channel speaker. They truly DO perform on par with speakers costing many times more than their asking price. They should get a MEDAL!
Pumpkin –
Probably the best speakers I have ever listened to. I own or have owned Definitive Technology BP8020 (pretty good but a bit unexciting – definitely prefer the BP8060), Klipsch RP600M (which are grave disappointments of the year), Fluance ai40 (a very good imaging and enjoyable sounding speaker), Infinity Beta 50, Optimus Pro LX 10, some Bose box Bose speakers from my younger days, Aiwa Exos-9, Doss Soundbox XL, a pair of Sony floorstanders and a variety of headphones including my faves the Sennheiser HD600 and to a lesser extent the Monoprice M1060. Elac UB5 are every bit as enjoyable as my sennheiser HD600.The treble is a bit laid back but usually it is very clear and clean. The mids are slightly imperfect but are usually outstandingly detailed. Bass – these guys can push really low. I don’t need a sub in my room. I have a DIY kit sub from Parts Express the 8″ 250 DSP sub, which is great, but even it takes away from the sound, being slightly not blended and calling attention to itself. I feel no need for it anyway. I mostly listen to Rock. If I listened to more bass heavy music I could probably readjust the DSP settings of the sub to get some reinforced bottom end, but I never felt these were lacking bass – or tonal quality.They say these need a lot of power and beside the Klipsch RP600M they do need more but my 50W Emotiva A100 drives them perfectly well. They do shine, the bass is substantial. Emotiva seems to make solid gear for an affordable price. I picked these up when they were $280 and I am very impressed.I expected these to look rather boring and ugly. However, getting them in my room they look quite modern and delightful. I appreciate the type of material they have used on the box – it is something like a gritty textured machined material. I am sure it is wood but the finish has some sort of metal type of look reminding me of a metal amplifier with the machine lines – so it doesn’t quite look like a simple paint job but something modern andd decorative. I like the bigger box of the old design. They look really cool in my room and the sound is highly pleasurable and smoothly soothing.I have spent a lot of money in audio over 25 years. These $280 speakers are true to source and I endorse them 100%. If you are comparing these with the Klipsch RP600M, I say those were a huge disappointment and Joe’NTell was correct that these Elac UB5 are my favorites, too. If you need a good speaker and can equalize it and need to save money the Fluance ai40 are highly enjoyable speakers and a huge value.Thank you Joe from Joe’NTell, Andrew Jones, Elac and Amazon!
double07double07 –
Excellent bookshelf for the money. I have heard about this when it was first debut. I have heard many good things about this in term of sound quality and imaging. I finally picked one up during the Amazon sale. I just couldn’t pass up the deal. All I can say is “Wow”, this UB5 sounds really good for the price. I have a really good setup already with Polk Audio LSiM707 and I really love. No, the UB5 doesn’t give quite as detail as the 707; but damn… it was really close. I really enjoy the UB5. The bass is good, the mid is forwarding and treble is good. Although, I would prefer a bit more forwarding with treble. but all in all, it is an excellent speakers. If I had not have 707, I will be very happy and as satisfied with just UB5. Highly recommended.
B. GoodB. Good –
I really dig these! I feel like they are an improvement over the Elac Debut B6.2. I think the rear ported design is giving me more bass response and I actually had to turn my subwoofer down. I was getting too much bass. My TV and 2 channel integrated amplifier (PS Audio Sprout100) are set up in the corner so the speakers are back against the wall with a corner of each speaker nearly touching the wall; brick wall by the fireplace on the left and a curtain covered window on the right. They sound great for music and movies. Super fast Prime Shipping, estimated to get here Friday and got here ahead of schedule on Wednesday.