If you’re short on time and just want the highlights of this article, here it is:
Overall, I was impressed with the ELAC Solano BS283 Two-Way Bookshelf Speakers. It provides a good balance between sound quality and price, and its compact and attractive design make it a great addition to any home. Additionally, the JET5 tweeter provides excellent sound quality with crisp highs and clear details.
The speaker also comes with all the essential connectivity options and it’s easy to set up. However, I would have liked to see Bluetooth connectivity on this speaker. I also felt that there could be some improvement in the low-end and treble range, as well as more dynamics in the sound.
In conclusion, I think the ELAC Solano BS283 Two-Way Bookshelf Speakers are an excellent choice for anyone who is looking for a great-sounding speaker in a compact and attractive package. It’s a great choice for casual listeners or anyone looking to upgrade their home audio system. But it’s probably not the best choice for professional audio setups or serious music producers and sound engineers.
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Now let’s get to its bolts and nuts.
ELAC Solano BS283 Review: Sound quality
Let me tell you something right off the bat.
The sound quality performance you'll end up getting from a speaker will always depend on your room acoustics - particularly room dimensions and speaker positions.
The impact of the combination of these two is actually so strong that in most cases, it doesn't even make sense to utter a single word on sound quality without speaking of them.
This is also why it's not unusual to see completely different reviews of the same speaker.
In one case the speaker might be placed in a sweet spot inside the room and hence the user might be satisfied. In other cases the same speaker might be ill placed and hence user might even have returned it.
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The point most people miss here is that it mostly isn't even about the engineering behind the speaker itself. It's about where you place the speaker inside which room.
So, in order to solve this problem, I've partnered with Acoustics and Audio Engineering PhD Andrea Cicero from AC Acustica and created Soundton - a simple, 2D, browser accessible online speaker placement calculator.
With Soundton, now there's a way to figure the sound quality of most speakers before you buy them.
Read more about its working principles at soundton.com.
The end colormap provides you the locations with the best (green) and worst (red) acoustics.