Customer Reviews

Fantastic speakers, but only with the right amplification

I've had these speakers for about a year now and the are very good, but highly dependent upon amplification. They need a lot of power and current delivery to sound their best. I've used a Jolida tube amp running KT120 tubes, Rogue Sphinx v3 and an Outlaw RR2160 MKII. By far the best sound is with the Outlaw. It's advertised at 110Wpc into 8 ohms and 165Wpc into 4 ohms, but was measured by Stereophile clipping at 150Wpc into 8 ohms and 230Wpc into 4 ohms. They just didn't come alive with the other amps - you need POWER to get the best out of them.

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ELAC Uni-Fi Reference UFR52

Exactly what I wanted: room-filling sound, great lows and clear midrange and highs, with the additional bonus that they look great.

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ELAC Uni-Fi Reference UFR52

In summary, after using these for about a month as home stereo speakers I'm impressed with the sound....they have clarity, definition, a reasonably large soundstage well imaged and great sonic balance regardless of volume level. The bass is strong enough for my taste without a sub, and tight. My BGW power amp, conservatively rated at 100 WPC is more than enough. The power amp supports 2 sets of speakers, so I have these bi-wired. I'm coming off 901 Series VI speakers which were great for what they're known for, but my listening preferences changed. I auditioned these against a couple of other floor standers...a little sketchy 'cause you don't really know how well each set is broken in. But these seemed to hold the most promise. And they have really blossomed after more use. They don't fill the room like the 901's did, but I knew that going in. Instead, they give me clear, well defined sound from high hat to double bass, a quality the 901's couldn't. And that's what I wanted. Yes, I would have preferred that the cabinet's finish were more congruent with the sound quality. One of the speakers I auditioned was Wharfdale EVO4s in walnut...yikes what a difference! But then I closed my eyes and followed my ears and for the music I listen to, think Pink Floyd variants, the ELACs won. Say it again...clarity, definition, sonic balance at any volume level.

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Pure Magic at an affordable price

I was ready to purchase KEF r3 until a local audiophile friend introduced me to a set of Uni-Fi Reference series. After about an hour of listening to various genres of music, I was completely sold. These sound very similar to KEF reference, but with slightly more openness and sparkle. KEF certainly has a little meatier bass, but I absolutely fell in love with the overall balance of the UFR. Mids/upper Mids are really the star of the show. Female vocals are absolutely buttery without any sibilance, yet retain all the texture you would want to hear. Bass is also very controlled and musical. I have a decent sub controlled by Dirac Live, but I get a better and more musical bass running the speakers via direct mode without any room eq applied. I spent a good deal of time A/B'ing against KEF r7, Polk R700, Martin Logan motion 40i. All great speakers, but for me, UFR52 stood out as the cleanest and most magical well-rounded/balanced set. It replaced a set of venerable Polk RTi A9s, which were great for HT, but not great for music. I am running it on Emotiva 140/channel amp and am really enjoying the sound that fills 13'x30' family room. I've also considered UBR62, but found the UFR gives much better base control with wall boundaries and a significantly better imaging when the rear ports are placed correctly. For smaller room, UBR62 would make a lot of sense. These are the first Andrew Jones speakers I've owned and I am a believer now. Highly recommended.

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ELAC Uni-Fi Reference UFR52

I bought these strictly for use in a two channel setup for music (no sub). No movies. I power them with a 20 year old Denon PMA 2000R (80 W) and do most of my listening through an equally old Denon DCD 1650AR CD player. My room is 17'x24' with lots of windows, multiple types of flooring and wall coverings, and a slightly peaked ceiling (a living room, not a 'listening room'). Music ranged from classical to hard rock to jazz to indie rock. I compared them to several other towers: Wharfedale EVO 4.4, Paradigm Premier 800F and Monitor Audio Silver 300 (Thank-you, Crutchfield for making that possible!). For various reasons, I wanted to like each of those other speakers more. In part, I wanted the slightly larger woofers and higher sensitivities and impedance to give me a 'bigger' sound. But, the ELACs always won out with clarity, warmth and depth of sound. They always had more stage depth. And the best bass performance of the bunch. I'm not wild about the vinyl wrap (I wish they were just matte black instead) but the build construction is terrific. I like the grilles - they are a bit retro and the more I look at them the more I like them. If you're someone who's buying a set of speakers to listen to music and have a decent amp I can recommend these. You don't need state of the art equipment or a perfectly calibrated listening room to make them sound good. I'm impressed and a happy ELAC customer.

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