Elac might be better known for its excellent, budget-friendly passive stereo speakers, but the company has now launched its first pair of powered speakers, the Debut ConneX DCB41.
Already available in the USA, they're now making their UK debut and we're more than intrigued thanks to Elac's hi-fi pedigree and a spec sheet that offers a great mix of compact size and features.
With dimensions of 25cm x 14cm x 20cm, these are fairly diminutive speakers that are perfect for small spaces, and can easily be placed on a work-from-home desk. They're much smaller than traditional bookshelf speakers, standing closer in size to the petite, Award-winning Ruark Audio MR1 Mk2 desktop speakers.
Elac promises to deliver a "premium audio experience" with the Debut ConneX DCB41. These are powered speakers in a master and passive configuration, with one speaker housing all the amplification, power and inputs. Each speaker has a 19mm soft dome tweeter and a 10cm Polypropylene mid/bass driver. They are powered by two 50W Class D amplifiers (housed in the master speaker), which have been "acoustically matched" to the drivers.
To get ample bass out of such compact speakers, Elac includes its proprietary XBass Enhancer technology (which can be turned off) and there's a rear bass reflex port that aims to deliver better low-frequency extension and "minimise ventilation noise". For bass heads, there's even a subwoofer output for adding on an extra sub.
There's a good selection of inputs, meaning the Elac speakers can be used with your laptop, TV, games console, turntable or smart device. Physical connections include HDMI ARC, USB Type B and digital optical inputs. You can play hi-res audio files up to 24-bit/96kHz through the USB input, too.
The ConneX DCB41 has a built-in phono stage, so you can plug a turntable directly into the speakers. The analogue RCA stereo pair input is switchable between line level and phono input.
While there's no network streaming here, you can play music wirelessly from your smartphone or tablet thanks to aptX Bluetooth.
Inside the box, you'll get a remote control, fabric grilles, rubber feet to protect surfaces and cables to get you started straight away.
The Elac Debut ConneX speakers are available now for £529 / $595 / AU$900, in black ash, walnut and royal blue finishes.
Can't wait to find out how the speakers perform? You can read What Hi-Fi?'s exclusive Elac Debut ConneX DCB41 review right now.
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