Since leaving Pioneer in 2015, speaker designer Andrew Jones has continued to provide among the greatest audio system for the cash in his new residence at Elac America. His latest speaker, the Debut Reference, shares DNA with the unique dam-busting Debut B6, which produced a heat sound and numerous bass for a compact speaker. The Reference is the true sonic successor to the primary Debut, with its personal heat but vocally expressive sound.
LikeWarm tone handles jazz, folks and vocals significantly properly.Forgiving and versatile with many techniques.Premium design for the cash.
Don’t LikeThey lack the drive demanded by rock and pop.Cheaper Elacs provide higher worth for the cash.
As a lot as I loved listening to the Elac Debut Reference DBR62, it is debatable if it is value the additional price in comparison with Elac’s Debut 2.0. The 2.0 is superior in some ways at half the worth, whereas the Uni-Fi provides an much more detailed efficiency for a similar cash as than the Reference. Neither of these look or really feel as premium because the Reference, although.If you do not crave out-and-out pleasure in your music, and as an alternative need a laid-back efficiency for jazz or vocal-intensive music the Debut Reference appears to be like and sounds the half. The Elac Debut Reference Bookshelf Speakers DBR62 can be found for $600, £600 or AU$1,000.
Dig that walnut wrap.
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
Wood and metallicThe Debut Reference is among the most essentially the most engaging Elac audio system but. They look high quality with the magnetic woolen grill in place, which reveals off the vinyl walnut wrap of the again and sides. But I most popular them with out the grill. The visible star is the metallic mesh over the dome tweeter, which provides a futuristic look to the massive speaker design. Below the tweeter is a 6.5-inch aramid fiber woofer and flared bass port. On the rear you will discover gold-plated binding posts. The speaker is available in two finishes: a white baffle with an oak cupboard, or the model I reviewed, a black baffle with a walnut cupboard. It’s 8.18 inches huge by 14.13 inches excessive and 10.82 inches deep, and at 18 kilos per speaker, it feels hefty as you take away it from the field.The DBR62’s frequency response is rated at 44Hz to 35,000Hz with a most really useful energy enter of 120 watts.
Grill-off FTW.
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
How it soundsEven if it isn’t essentially the most thrilling pay attention, the brand new Debut proves you do not have to sound crazy-bright to be actually hi-fi. The Debut is very delicate to midrange devices like voices and acoustic guitars, and offers folks and jazz a real sparkle. While it isn’t the primary speaker I’d select for couch-jumping to hair metallic, it would not make exhausting rock sound unhealthy by any means, both.I in contrast the Elac towards two very British designs, the Q Acoustics 3030i and the Bowers and Wilkins 685 with a number of music and flicks. I used the DBR62 with an Onkyo TX-RZ830, a succesful midrange AV receiver, with pleasing outcomes.During coronavirus lockdown I’m reviewing audio system from residence so I did not have a pair of the Debut 2.0s to match straight. But I do know their sound properly sufficient to understand instantly they’re totally different audio system altogether than the Reference collection. The Debut 2.0s have a really ahead character in comparison with the laid-back nature of the Reference, they usually demand much more care in system matching.
I began my testing with the bombast of Dead Can Dance’s epic Yulunga (Spirit Dance) and whereas the Debut Reference Treble wasn’t as cavernous-sounding as the opposite two, it had its personal charms. Of the three it was the one one to make the shaker eggs sound sensible, for instance. The bass drum was taut and the vocals had higher element on the perimeters of notes. There was an ease to the Reference that I heard many times, though it did translate to a slight loss in dynamics.The Q Acoustics 3030i supplied the best sense of area on this expansive recording and a very good sound stage, even when the underside finish was a little bit flabby sounding. The B&W was the brightest — significantly with the shakers — and its sound high quality was someplace between the Debut and the 3030i, however with out the element retrieval of the previous.
The Elac Reference got here out forward once more with the straightforward guitar and voice of Ben Harper’s Widow of a Living Man. With the Q Acoustics on my speaker stands the 3030i made the main edges of his voice appear processed in a method I hadn’t heard earlier than. But it was the Debut Reference stopped me in my tracks: that over-etched sound was gone, and simply the haunting efficiency remained.Turning to enviornment rock, I placed on Foals’ Mountain at my Gates, and the Debuts lastly betrayed their acoustic leanings. With this and different rambunctious tracks the Debut’s stored me at a distance. It wasn’t boring however the track did not leap at me the best way the B&Ws did. It was the Q that sounded poorest with this monitor — it isn’t essentially the most audiophile combine however as soon as the refrain kicked within the sound was actively disagreeableFinally, I turned to residence cinema the place the Elac slipped comfortably into my Frankenstein residence system consisting of a Canton sub, Klipsch Atmos audio system, and SVS rears. In Spider-man 3, as Peter Parker bursts by way of an workplace constructing window, there was an amazing synergy with the Elac — as the entire room appeared to twinkle with shattered glass. Though I manually calibrated the audio system every time, the outcomes weren’t fairly as magical with the Q Acoustics. The 3030i did not mix as properly with the rears and there appeared to be a disconnect between the entrance of the room and the again. More importantly, the dialogue and results have been a little bit harsher sounding. Q Acoustics is a house theater speaker, nonetheless, and Spiderman 3 imbues it with loads of pleasure.Should you purchase it?The Elac Debut Reference DBR62 is a refined speaker with elegant cosmetics and a profitable sound. While it isn’t the most effective with slamming rock or dance, it provides folks and jazz followers a sweet-natured efficiency. It’s additionally surprisingly good with films.Speaker patrons on the lookout for most worth ought to to contemplate the cheaper Elac fashions first, significantly the Debut 2.0, the Elac Debut Reference is a captivating speaker which is able to slot in readily into most stereo or AV techniques.