Zeitschrift:

(UK)

ELAC FS 607 X-JET

JET Stream

Heft Nr.:

11 / 2005

Autor:

David Price

Urteil:

Bristling with trick technology, ELAC`s FS607 X-JET is an extremely interesting floorstanding loudspeaker, but does it fly? David Price stands by...

"... now there's ELAC's FS607 X-JET to join the select few technologically interesting transducers. ...
... innovative to make it a genuinely significant design ..."

THE TECHNOLOGY

"ELAC is a particular favourite of this magazine, thanks to its propensity for ribbon tweeters are still surprisingly rare considering the obvious benefits they bring in terms of treble quality, but maybe this isn't so unexpected when you remember that conventional dome tweeters are ten a penny and ribbons are not. Essentially, their light weight makes for a fast, finessed sound that's far less likely to 'beam'. This means a more 'phase coherent' speaker, better integration between treble and mid/bass drivers and a sweeter and more delicate sound.

ELAC has been using ribbons for a good long time now, and speakers such as the £ 900 FS207.2 use it to great effect, making for a warm yet subtle sound that’s quite different to all its other price rivals. The FS607 X-JET you see here is more than 'just' a 207 with go-faster stripes however ...

First, it's a three way (or a 'three and a half' to be strictly true), which means it runs a separate woofer, midrange driver and tweeter in each speaker box. This, whenever properly implemented yields substantially superior results to a two way, not least better linearity, superior power handling , and a wider and more even frequency response. Of cause, three ways are harder to do properly, which is why the practice is rarely as good as the theory. The 607 is obviously very well implemented however, not least because it introduces a new 'coaxial' tweeter and midrange unit, which used – yes, you've guessed it – ultra lightweight honeycomb diaphragm ribbons!..."

"ELAC call it the X-JET, and it's what makes the speaker truly exotic. The lightweight 50mm and 105mm diaphragms are driven by a 78mm moving coil, using coppered aluminium flat wire, edgewise- wound, on a ventilated Kapton® bobbin. The result is an extremely delicate drive unit with a claimed cut- off point of 50kHz.

The FS 607 X-JET runs two 180mm woofers, which are aluminium sandwich designs, each with a double rubber surround. The 37mm moving coil is wounded on a Kapton® bobbin by means of heat-resistant wire. A homogeneous magnet field is created by magnets with ferrite rings that meet tight tolerances, and they're done in-house. All this results in very dry bass, says ELAC, optimum large signal behaviour and increased bass levels of up to 10%, providing a precise cut-off frequency of 28Hz.

In my view, second to the X-JET coaxial tweeter/midrange unit in significance is the elaborate metal cabinet. So many rivals use variations on the MDF theme, which isn't ideal and needs serious amounts of damping to tame, whereas this speaker boast an elaborate extruded aluminium casting and MDF with horizontal and vertical internal tension rods. Despite being quite tall at 1080x290x282mm, it's very dead when struck with the knuckles and is exquisitely well finished to boot, giving the FS607 a truly esoteric appearance ..."

"few loudspeakers take into the studio and show you all four walls..."

"The crossover network of this loudspeaker is build with high quality components and Van den Hul internal wiring - crossover frequencies come in at 150,410 and 2,350 Hz. The terminals, with gold-plated WBT connectors, are easy to access and allow larger cable diameters (16 sqmm), as well as high quality spade connectors. The terminals provide high quality biwiring cable suspension bridges (Van den Hul wiring) with gold-plated banana plugs. ..."


SOUND QUALITY

" ... The ELAC FS607 X-JET is certainly an interesting listen: we ran the gamut of classic and modern recordings, via digital and analogue sources, and found them never less than extremely revealing ..."

" ... On every song and with every singer, they sounded beautifully finessed, very delicate and (apparently) detailed, extremely composed and ordered. Image placement was superb, as was reproduction of the recorded acoustic. In a way, there sound was extremely electrostatic-like, being so tidy and clean ... "

" ... The FS607's sound which make them genuinely rewarding to listen to with a whole range of programme material. For example, Gabrielle's 'There She Goes' was a joy; the superb midband/tweeter integration makes them brilliant on female vocals, which is - of course - one of the hardest feats for any loudspeaker. Gabrielle's vocals were deliciously husky yet smooth and velvety with it; the ELACs conveyed the 'grain' of her voice brilliantly, showing its innate 'roughness' yet never becoming harsh. This famous treble/midband pairing paid dividends time after time. Steve Earle's 'Esmeralda's Hollywood' yielded a brilliant sense of the recorded acoustic; few loudspeakers take you into the studio and show you all four walls so well. There was a superb sense of the recorded acoustic, with all instruments in the mix located with riflebolt precision. The ELACs conveyed the speedy transients of the strummed steel string guitars brilliantly, sounding upfront yet never once veering into harshness ... "

" ... Once again, the ELACs went straight for Gerry Rafferty's wonderfully deep, sonorous and silky vocals on an original vinyl pressing of 'Night Owl' showing the superb quality of this twenty eight year old recording ... "

" ... In addition to all those superb technical qualities – were showing they had a human sound too ... "

" ... They had superb 'texturally' too, lending superb finesse to James Dewar's vocals. Once again, these speakers offered up oodles of filigree detail, and bristled with tiny 'microdynamic' information across the midband. Treble was subtle and delicate ... "

" ... It's soft, sweet and subtle like no conventional dome can be, and projects out into the room brilliantly ... "

" ... The ELACs offering a wide open window into the famous acoustics of Compass Point, Nassau ... "

" ... Classical fans will love this tidiness and texturality ... "

" ... The image placement within it is exemplary; better, I'd say, than Quad 988s. A 1972 Decca recording of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. I (Vladimir Ashkenzazy, LSO, Andre Previn), reissued on Decca CD, sounded superb. Violins were eerily smooth, piano had deliciously sparkling harmonics and brass and wonderful rasping (yet never rough) texture to it. Once again, the individual elements of the orchestra were located with pin-point precision, and there was a tremendous 'rightness' about orchestral music."


CONCLUSION

" ... Lovers of simply acoustic playing, female vocals and indeed classical music will appreciate their stunning imaging, excellent treble-midrange integration, smoothness and evenness right across the frequency band, plus the superb finesse that only ribbons done properly can give. ..."