Elac Vela Speakers - Something Truly Special

Elac has come up with something very special with their Vela range. An evolution of their 400 range this series has truly taken the range to a new level. The Elac Vela BS 403 is being spoken of as a BBC LS3/5A monitor with an extra octave on the top and the bottom - accolades don't come much higher. Vela describes the constellation "Sail of the ship".But not only the attachment to the maritime culture, one would like to express it, the shape of the speakers should take up this name.

Elac Vela BS403

The ELAC Vela BS 403 has been created to make high performance loudspeakers appeal to those who value style as much as content. The ELAC Vela BS 403 generates serious power from a tiny package. And rarely does so much dynamism come with such refinement. The Vela demands quality amplifcation with plenty of grip and relishes room to breathe.In addition to the JET tweeter of the fifth generation, which has been a figurehead of the Kiel-based manufacturer for many years, an AS-XR mid-range woofer is used for the lower frequencies.

The Jet 5 planar tweeter is a variant on the Heil Air Motion design with neodymium magnets. With the JET5 high-frequency driver, ELAC relies on the original concept of the loudspeaker pioneer Oskar Heil. It uses a folded foil membrane that requires so much precision in its construction that robots are used for the most demanding part of the process. The extreme speed of the tweeter claims to be especially good at reproducing transient dynamics up to a truly ultrasonic 50Hz.

The Vela BS403 incorporates a sandwich mid/bass driver with a paper cone backing bonded to a sheet of stamped aluminium foil, a combination said to reduce colouration and improve power handling. The large surround provides for plus/minus 15mm of excursion, so it should be able to ‘belt it out’ if required. For a more flexible speaker placement and to minimize ventilation noise, the bass reflex port is directed to the floor, exiting the bottom of the speaker cabinet in a down-firing configuration.

Rarely does such a highly advanced tweeter and mid/bass driver come together in such a small enclosure that is as acoustically smart as it is beautifully constructed. If you’re after an aesthetically stunning speaker that balances form and function with few compromises at an attractive price, you’ve found it. The ELAC Vela BS 403 are among the best bookshelves you will ever hear. 

The Elac Vela FS407

For a tower speaker, the Vela 407 is really very gracefully designed, just under 26 inches in depth underline that. But not only the design is successful, the workmanship is also at a high level. Thus, the applied paint has a nice depth in its degree of gloss and is complemented above and on the transducer of excellently machined aluminum parts. Visually, this sculpture of a speaker is not only first-class processed, but also offers something for the eye.

According to the data sheet, the 407 should play from 30 to 50,000 Hertz, which is an ambitious project for such a slim speaker. However, as with the Vela BS 403 the 407 delivers in spades. The Vela  FS407 sound as good as they look. The sound image is incredibly delicate in its training, the sound transducers act optimally in their frequency ranges and together result in a symbiosis of transparency, power and detail.

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