Elan Speakers? (1 Viewer)

[StewartG]

Doing my first HT upgrade in about 80 years. (I got tired of hand cranking my phonograph.)

I'm inclined to keep my old (1990) Infinity Reference 6 speakers as my main R/L. They are big, but they are NICE.

I'm going to be upgrading my surrounds, my center, and my sub. I'd like to keep total cost for this portion of the upgrade around $1500, no more than 2K max.

I have a friend who does a/v installations. He is suggesting Elan speakers and a Velodyne sub. I'm familiar with the Velodyne, obviously, but not so much on the Elans. I did a search and did not find much.

Does anyone have any opinions on the Elan subs? I've noticed several times where these speakers are suggested by custom installers? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Do they sound nice? Do they offer good value for the money?

My original inclination was to go with B&W, but my friend says more bang for smaller bucks with Elan.

Any input is appreciated.

FWIW, the room is an accoustical nightmare. 20 feet by 20 feet, 18 foot ceiling and hard wood floors.

Any help or feeback or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[mylan]

While I have never heard an Elan speaker, I do know they specialize in custom and whole house audio distribution, amps, etc. and are well regarded in that area. That being said, I do not know of a traditional speaker that they make, only in-wall or in-ceiling. Many custom installers go this route for a clean install but in your case I would stay away from in-ceilings because of the 18' height and would use in-walls for surround at best. Velodyne makes a good sub, I have an older HGS 10, but there are models more suitable for HT.

The Infinity's probably still sound great but there have been many leaps and bounds in speaker design since then and the idea is to timbre match speakers in a HT for a more cohesive soundfield, in other words, as the sound pans around the room, you want the sound to have the same "voice" (for lack of a better word). At the very least I would match the front three (left, center, and right channel) and I doubt finding a center to match the Ref 6 would be easy.

I take it this is in a greatroom? You are correct, this room is an accoustical nightmare being almost square. I.M.O. I would go for a matched bookshelf-type speaker for the fronts and surrounds and at least audition the Velodyne.
A.F.A suggesting specific brands, without knowing what receiver, what volume levels you are looking to achieve, would be a guess. I hope this at least will point you in the right direction.

 

[StewartG]

Fantastic!

Thanks so much for the response!

The more that I think about it, the more it makes sense to match all my voice coils.

Assuming my friend can get a good deal on the Elans, do you think it would be okay if I matched the three front speakers and kept the surrounds as elans?

As far as my listening levels - I do enjoy listening to a loud, clear, distortion free soundtrack. That being said, I do not expect to be listening much at reference level...

I think for the three front speakers, I would like to spend no more than about, oh, $1200 give or take.

My receiver now is a Yamaha VX-595. Older dolby digital receiver, but still going strong. My only problem is the lack of inputs (especially digital) and lack of user assignment for inputs.

My plan is to upgrade to either the Onkyo or Pioneer THX flagship receiver next year.

 

[mylan]

Yeah, using Elans for the surrounds would work. I did a search and came up with three models: THP525LS, THP650LS, and THP650D that I would check out. The first two are monopole or direct radiating and the last is a dipole-type speaker, which you might prefer the sound of.
Keep reading these forums for advice and ideas before you pull the trigger, some internet-direct speaker brands may give you more bang for your buck, especially in the sub department. SVS, advertised here on this forum, will slam pretty much anything Velodyne has out right now, unless you are willing to go four times over your budget. Good luck with the upgrades.