Radiient Elara Build Quality
The Elara system came in two boxes, one for the mains and one for the center and surrounds. If I hadn't already suspected that these speakers were bookshelves, the size of the boxes would have given it away. Each of the speakers was packed in molded styrofoam and arrived undamaged. The mains have a tweeter on top that sits in an empty spot in the endcap. I'd like to have seen some sort of protection specifically for them as well.
The speakers are constructed out of 5/8 inch MDF and are front ported (except for the center which is sealed). Between the port and the woofer is the single brace in the speaker (no bracing at corners). The speakers are liberally glued together and covered with a vinyl wood-grain veneer. The center speaker is an MTM design with no internal bracing. The mains and surrounds have a true 6.5" coaxial driver since there is a real tweeter in it. The woofer basket is stamped metal and the interior of the cabinet is lined with sound foam (grey, egg carton type) to help reduce cabinet resonance at ¼ wavelength of the cabinet's vertical dimensions which is certainly a good thing and sometimes lacking in speakers of this price class. The crossover is made of decent parts including: film resistor, machined air core inductors, and electrolytic caps. The mains have an additional soft dome tweeter on top of the speaker in a plastic housing that I couldn't get into without risking irreparable damage. The center speaker has two 5.25" woofers with dust caps and one soft-dome tweeter. Each of the side walls of the speakers are scored with thin vertical cuts to allow the wood to be bent into the trademarked trapezoidal shape. The center channel has four, half-spherical rubber feet while the rest of the speakers have threaded holes for provided spikes which can be covered with little sticky felt rounds if so desired. The mains and surrounds have two sets of binding posts so that the speakers can be bi-amped while the center one has one set.
One thing I noticed when disassembling the speakers is that all of the screws are simply driven into the wood. There are no threaded inserts glued in to make disassembly and reassembly easier. At first I didn't think much of it until I reassembled a speaker for the second time and noticed that the screw felt like it wanted to strip. This got me thinking, with heavy use, could these screws come loose by themselves? With all the vibrations it seemed possible.
Editorial Note on Screws
Most manufacturers simply screw threaded screws into the bare wood. MDF is susceptible to the phenomenon if the screws are torqued too tightly or repeatedly removed and reinserted. Consumers are not advised to service their own speakers so this should never be an issue, assuming the manufacturer tightened down the screws adequately during assembly. If however one does find the need to service the drivers and discovers the original screw holes to be stripped after re-assembly, simply rotating the driver and making new holes is a simple and practical solution.
Radiient Elara Fit and Finish and Performance
I was immediately impressed with the finish of these speakers as I took them out of the box. For sure they look like high quality esoteric speakers. The five-way binding posts are of the highest quality, the inclusion of spikes, the tweeter sitting on top of the mains, the wood-grain finish... they all scream esoteric. On closer inspection a couple of things became apparent. First, the vinyl veneer wasn't of very high quality. I noticed some bubbling at the edges and the grain just didn't feel right to the touch. While the provided spikes give the speakers that esoteric feel, they really aren't that practical. In what application do I need carpet spikes for a bookshelf speaker? Perhaps if you want to put them on a shelf with some of those brass feet (which should be provided as well if that is how the manufacturer sees these speakers working in a room) I could see it. Regardless, I felt there should be some rubber feet provided as well as the spikes. The five-way binding posts were of high quality but I would have liked to have seen them moved down on the speaker for practical purposes. While I think they look neat up there, the location near the top of the rear of the speaker makes hiding wires difficult.
The fronts of the speakers were gorgeous with the wood grain ending at a black, piano gloss faceplate and a black grill. I actually would have preferred a different color grill as the black faceplate tended to get lost behind it. In the room, however, it worked as the fronts of the speakers disappeared into a darkened room. The swept back nature of the speakers gave them a kind of elegance that I really appreciated. It also accentuated the binding posts making my complaint about their location less important in my mind.
The posts for the grill double as the mounting screws for the black face. This creates a very nice, clean front that adds to the elegance of the speakers. From a purely aesthetic point of view, there are a very nice looking set of speakers! Everything is designed so that the speaker is not just the deliverer of sound, but a piece of furniture that either compliments a décor or becomes of the focal point of it.
The big thing as you can clearly see, it that these speakers look great - at least with a cursory glance. If you really examine them, some of the issues with the vinyl veneer become readily apparent. If a better veneer were used (like the ones used by Axiom) these speakers would get the highest marks for aesthetics (though likely cost more than they do, so there is a balance). The matte finish on the housing for the top tweeter seemed out of place to me. Something that matched the faceplate would have made more sense. As it is, your friends will likely think you spent thousands on esoteric bookshelf speakers.
Loudspeaker Placement and Set up
I set these speakers up in the traditional 5.1 configuration with the surrounds off to the sides of the couch on stands just behind the main listening area. My only real problem with the set up with these speakers was that the surrounds (which are the same size as the mains) are fairly deep, forcing them to be off the wall. Frankly, my listening room is small and I don't have much room on the sides of my couch so it took a bit of finagling to get them in there and pointing in relatively the right direction. There doesn't appear to be a way to wall mount these speakers easily, so I imagine that they are meant to be stand mounted behind a couch. Given the looks of the speakers, I can see why.
I calibrated the elara speakers using the test tones on my Denon AVR-3805 to 75 dB and used my reference Axiom EP500 sub. Even with the mains having a rated frequency response down to 50Hz, I crossed them over at 80 as I felt there was too much sound loss at the 60Hz option even in two channel mode. This also becomes moot as the rears and center are only spec'ed down to 60 Hz. The off axis response of these speakers seemed limited and I had to point the mains directly at me to get any sort of convincing soundstage.
Sound Quality
The first thing that I immediately noticed after calibration was a bit of midbass bloat with these speakers. In the long run, I didn't mind it as it wasn't excessive, but it was noticeable in a direct comparison with my Axiom m22s. Overall, I found the sound to be very lifelike and accurate, especially in the higher registers. Cymbals, bells, and higher notes were all delivered with conviction. The soundstaging was fairly good in the sweet spot but there were times that I felt it was a bit diffused. At higher volumes (and I do mean higher ) the speakers did tend to break up a bit, both the woofer and the tweeters. The highs became shrill and the midbass muddied. In my room, you'd almost never want to listen to anything that loud (especially with the wife at home) but I do think these speakers would hold up well in a medium sized or slightly larger room (with a sub of course) at reasonable volumes.
Performance - Movies
Serenity
Boy did I have a miserable experience in the theater during Serenity . I went with a friend that brought a bunch of his friends. I ended up sitting next to a couple with a few kids. I was happy when the kids ran down to sit at the front of the theater, sad when they came back because the Reavers scared them, and aggravated when the husband proceeded to answer every one of his children's and wife's questions during the movie. Add to that the uncomfortable seats and mediocre sound and you don't have to guess why that was the last movie I'll ever see in a theater.
With all the bass that is in movies these days, it is hard to really remember to ignore the sub and just focus on the sound of the rest of the speakers. For the most part, I was impressed with the performance of the speakers. I found almost nothing really wrong with the playback of this movie other than some of the dialogue. There were a number of times during this and other movies that I though the center channel really lagged behind the rest of the speakers. More than once I stopped the movie to check the level on the center to see if there was a problem. Voices just seemed a little farther back or softer than the rest of the movie.
Unleashed: Unrated
Unleashed with Let Li is far from a great movie. It is good, and I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't classify it as great. For a sub review it is horrible in that it has very little LFE. Personally, I picked this movie because of all the dialogue and piano. The elara speaker system did a very good job on this flick of presenting both in a convincing manor.
There were a few moments where the center seemed a bit low but other than that, the piano was lifelike, the music (while a bit harsh) was delivered as it was meant to be (harsh), and the voices were convincing.
Batman Begins
Two movies have become a staple of reviewers everywhere - Batman Begins and War of the Worlds. I picked Batman Begins for this review (mostly because I used WotW for the last write up). As I had my wife up watching with me (a rare treat I assure you) I could turn the volume up a bit more than usual. Surround effects were delivered and movement in the space was very convincing and immersive. While I like this movie less and less the more I watch it, it is still one of the better superhero movies to be released. My biggest problem with the movie was some of the choices for close-ups. They had Christian Bale perched on chairs and railings like a bat in a number of scenes (much more than in any other Batman movie) then zoomed in on his face so you couldn't see it. The more I see that movie, the more that irritates me. I'm looking forward to its sequel where I hope some of that will be remedied.
Radiient Elara Performance - Music and Conclusion
Dishwalla Live: Greetings from the Flow State (DualDisc)
Dishwalla's Live DualDisc was a recent review of mine that I was occasionally popping in to revisit to answer questions Gene and Clint had. It is a fairly good album that fans will enjoy and people with a passing knowledge of the band won't hate. I used this album to test the speaker's ability to handle music and clapping under less than ideal recording conditions. Imaging was decent in the sweet spot and nothing sounded overly harsh to me. The guitar did sound a little bloated at times but other than that I found the experience to emulate my original listening session with my Axioms.
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing (DTS)
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing (DTS) is really a reference album for surround implementation. The more you listen to this album, the more surround elements you can discover. The depth of the album consistently astounds me. I use this album mostly to test movement between speakers, soundstaging, and to determine speaker placement. I found in more than one song that as long as I sat in the right spot, surround elements (movement across the front of the room for the most part) sounded great. If I moved my head a little or if one of the speakers wasn't pointed right at me, suddenly, the sound would seem to fall out of the movement just to appear in another speaker later. For example, in Track 4 - "Halo", there are a number of elements that start in surround left and move around the front of the room and end up in surround right. If one of the mains wasn't positioned right, it would "skip" that speaker, seeming to get lost in the soundstage, only to regain its focus as it moved to the next. Some of the ballads on this album have some amazing sound quality - especially of the acoustic guitar. The elara speakers (all of them - not just the mains) did a fantastic job of creating a lifelike sound. I love it when you can hear the pick on the guitar strings and almost discern the type of pick used.
Blue Man Group - The Complex (DTS)
The Blue Man Group - The Complex (DTS) is a great album for a number of reasons - not all of which I'll mention here. I am extremely familiar with this album as it is a favorite with my two and a half year old (along with Elmo, Bob the Builder , and Thomas the Train ). The Complex is one of the only albums I own that truly has low bass. I use it mostly to set crossover points and to test the extension of the speakers. I even ran these speakers in full range without the sub to see how they would react. In all fairness, they did pretty good. I wouldn't recommend it, but for most of the music that is out there, you wouldn't be missing a lot more than the kick drum. Now for Movies - you'd definitely not want to do that.
Conclusions and Overall Perceptions
What do you say about speakers at this price range? They sound pretty darn good to my ears and I think that many would be pleased as punch to own them. The aesthetics are way above average though a bit higher quality veneer would have been appreciated. I can definitely see these working in a bachelor pad where you'd like to impress your friends without breaking the bank and you don't have to share the sweet spot with anyone.
The Score Card
The scoring below is based on each piece of
equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The
numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the
individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating
roughly equal to:
Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating
Audioholics.com note:
The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing
of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio.
If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers
in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit.
Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance,
and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.
Audioholics Rating Scale
— Excellent
- — Very Good
- — Good
- — Fair
- — Poor
| Metric | Rating |
| Build Quality | |
| Appearance | |
| Treble Extension | |
| Treble Smoothness | |
| Midrange Accuracy | |
| Bass Extension | |
| Bass Accuracy | |
| Imaging | |
| Soundstage | |
| Performance |  |
| Value | |
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