Loudspeakers

From its dimensions, it’s clear that the AS-61 is a standmount design, unlike the larger AF-61 floorstander. As the stand can have a significant impact on sound quality, ELAC offers its own partnering LS30 set for £520. A single-pillar design with steel top and bottom plates, its hollow aluminium column can be filled with whatever damping material you prefer (marble flour being superior to traditional sand). Finally, all ELAC’s Adante models are available in walnut, gloss white or gloss black finishes.

Depth And Drama
You’d need a fairly substantial set of bookshelves to house the Adante AS-61, so our tests in Editor PM’s listening room were conducted with the aid of the ELAC LS 30 stands. Given room to breathe, these compact speakers can really deliver the goods – namely a typically decisive and well-balanced sound.

The whispered vocal on ‘This Woman’s Work’ by Kate Bush [The Sensual World; EMI CDP 7950782] sounded warm and natural, and then gradually gained in power as it built towards a hard-hitting note of despair. The piano playing here has a precise, dramatic tone that drives the song towards the plaintive chorus, ‘all the things I should’ve said...’, and then the knock-out punch lands, when the Adante AS-61s gracefully caught the sudden swoop of Bush’s voice, plunging right down to meet the sudden strike of the double-bass – deep, rich and dramatic. They proved very effective at revealing the intent behind the music, and the mournful sense of struggle that drives the song, presenting a depth and drama seldom found with such modestly-proportioned speakers.

That ability was no less evident with ‘The Soldier’s Poem’ by Muse [Black Holes And Revelations; Warner Bros/Helium 25646 3509-5]. One of Matthew Bellamy’s occasional experiments with intricate vocal harmonies, the song proved to be in good hands with the AS-61s as they balanced the intertwining layers of vocals perfectly. The lower voices had a rich warmth that contrasted with the higher, more urgent tones that join in as the song progresses.

The AS-61s even managed to unravel some details that can get lost with less precise speakers, including Bellamy’s gentle solo vocal whispering just below the three-part harmonies. It is, as Freddie Mercury once sang, ‘fastidious and precise’, yet the sound itself is never cold or mechanical, and the AS-61s delivered the song with the warmth and intimacy of a live performance. It was a relaxed, open sound too, and one perfectly able to fill a big room, despite the compact design.

Continuing with Muse, ‘The 2nd Law’ [The 2nd Law; Warner Bros/Helium 825646568789] sees the band entering full symphonic rock mode, but the AS-61s coped well with the contrasting styles contained in this near 9m epic. The opening swirl of strings was sharp and urgent, drawing the listener in as portentous, multi-layered harmonies entered the fray, adding to the sense of scale and drama. The AS-61s were not fazed, either, as the piece took its turn into rock, where the deep, electronic keyboards landed with real weight and power, the sound remaining well balanced and never overwhelming the lighter, faster percussion that skims across the surface and leads the song into its second ‘movement’.

The mood here is more thoughtful, with the AS-61s once again producing that clear, precise piano sound, with the simple, repeated keyboard phrase underpinned by pulsing bass. The piece ends with nothing less than the heat-death of the universe where the AS-61s held on to the last lingering note, and wrung out every dying detail as it dwindled away over the final long fade-out.

Life In The City
In contrast, Freddy Kempf’s recording of Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue, with the Bergen PO/Andrew Litton [BIS SACD 1940], is full of life and vigour. The AS-61s delivered the famous opening clarinet glissando with a sweet, rich tone and a relaxed rhythm that unwound like a lazy yawn, capturing the start of the new day in bustling New York City. They revealed all the intricate detail in Kempf’s piano runs, and then picked up the pace as the strident brass woke everything up, accompanied by a crystal-clear clash of cymbals.

The speakers perfectly navigated the rapid changes of pace, contrasting the horns’ brash energy with Kempf’s more delicate keyboard work. And again, the AS-61s captured the ideas behind the music, delivering the final crescendo with a swirl of driving piano and one final blare of horns that illustrated all the chaotic energy of city rush-hour. It was an imposing and impressive performance given the AS-61’s compact design, not to mention ELAC’s competitive pricing.

Hi-Fi News Verdict
Don’t be fooled by appearances because the AS-61 is a genuinely sophisticated standmount. Neither should you squeeze these boxes into a cramped ‘bookshelf’ set-up, so budgeting a little extra for those partnering stands is essential. These really allow the smallest Adante to stand on its own two feet, so to speak, delivering a precise and dramatic sound that genuinely belies the system’s compact dimensions.