OrphicTrench
New Member
Hello everyone,
This is my first post on the forums after lurking for some time, so please be kind. I thought I might start my journey here by sharing some insight I haven't found elsewhere. Hope it's useful to someone.
Here's some background information:
My system is based around an old Rega Brio (original clamshell) and some Rega Kyte bookshelf speakers from the same year (early 90s would be my guess). All other components are high quality, but by no means does my system compare to a 5000$ system by today's standards, or so I believe.
I recently came to the conclusion that the bass drivers being so small (4''), I really needed to pump up the volume to get a satisfying response across the sound spectrum. I therefore decided to look for an "upgrade", or at least something that would fulfill my bass needs. That's when I started looking into the Elac Debut B6 everyone's so hyped about. I listen to a lot of electronic, bass-heavy music, but also classic rock and whatnot. I also needed something that would fill the room a little more, as I sometimes tend to do other things while I'm listening, and I'm not just sitting in the sweet spot the whole time.
What follows are my thoughts after comparing the Rega Kytes and the new Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2.
If I start from the most obvious realization, the Elacs definitely meet my expectations bass-wise. They even go low enough to get into sub-territory, and that's very pleasing to hear. They move more energy and fill the room way better than the Kytes. I also get the feeling that I can be in another room and still get the feeling that it sounds good. This didn't happen with the Kytes at lower volumes.
The second biggest difference is that the bass response remains constant across all volume levels with the Elacs. This is a big plus, as aforementioned, I needed to push the Kytes to higher volumes for them to depict the bass correctly.
Stereo imaging is great with the Elacs, and I do feel that they tend to be a little less tedious about where I'm sitting in order to make the music sound spacious. This only happened with the Kytes at higher volumes, but they did in fact surprise me sometimes when I suddenly got the feeling that the music was coming from behind, from below, from the ceiling, etc. Always grateful for this merging experiences, and I had my fair share with the Kytes.
Now, the Elacs do fall a little short in the high-end. I feel the Kytes were more graceful here, more detailed and yet less agressive. The only time I heard such beautiful extremely detailed highs was by listening to music through the SMSL M8 DAC and its dedicated SMSL SAP-12 headphone amp (and some AKG K702 headphones). This may be too much detail for some people, but I grew into appreciating it quite a lot. This is the first thing I noticed when switching the speakers, the highs seem a little more separate from the rest with the Elacs, and a little more harsh. I felt they were too unrefined and in-your-face in the 6-9kHz range. In this regard, the Kytes sound more like "expensive audiophile stuff ", and the Elacs feel "cheaper". This is by no means a determining factor in choosing one pair over the other, but it's the only thing that made me hesitate about my "upgrade". But then of course, I blasted some electronic music and the Elacs blew away my old Kytes.
The whole comparing experience and the fact that the Elacs feel a little harsher on the high end make me want to keep the Kytes until I find a better use for them, maybe as a second pair of studio monitors. In the meantime, I'm very happy with the Elacs and I'm looking forward to listening to all kinds of records with them.
Best,
Joey
This is my first post on the forums after lurking for some time, so please be kind. I thought I might start my journey here by sharing some insight I haven't found elsewhere. Hope it's useful to someone.
Here's some background information:
My system is based around an old Rega Brio (original clamshell) and some Rega Kyte bookshelf speakers from the same year (early 90s would be my guess). All other components are high quality, but by no means does my system compare to a 5000$ system by today's standards, or so I believe.
I recently came to the conclusion that the bass drivers being so small (4''), I really needed to pump up the volume to get a satisfying response across the sound spectrum. I therefore decided to look for an "upgrade", or at least something that would fulfill my bass needs. That's when I started looking into the Elac Debut B6 everyone's so hyped about. I listen to a lot of electronic, bass-heavy music, but also classic rock and whatnot. I also needed something that would fill the room a little more, as I sometimes tend to do other things while I'm listening, and I'm not just sitting in the sweet spot the whole time.
What follows are my thoughts after comparing the Rega Kytes and the new Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2.
If I start from the most obvious realization, the Elacs definitely meet my expectations bass-wise. They even go low enough to get into sub-territory, and that's very pleasing to hear. They move more energy and fill the room way better than the Kytes. I also get the feeling that I can be in another room and still get the feeling that it sounds good. This didn't happen with the Kytes at lower volumes.
The second biggest difference is that the bass response remains constant across all volume levels with the Elacs. This is a big plus, as aforementioned, I needed to push the Kytes to higher volumes for them to depict the bass correctly.
Stereo imaging is great with the Elacs, and I do feel that they tend to be a little less tedious about where I'm sitting in order to make the music sound spacious. This only happened with the Kytes at higher volumes, but they did in fact surprise me sometimes when I suddenly got the feeling that the music was coming from behind, from below, from the ceiling, etc. Always grateful for this merging experiences, and I had my fair share with the Kytes.
Now, the Elacs do fall a little short in the high-end. I feel the Kytes were more graceful here, more detailed and yet less agressive. The only time I heard such beautiful extremely detailed highs was by listening to music through the SMSL M8 DAC and its dedicated SMSL SAP-12 headphone amp (and some AKG K702 headphones). This may be too much detail for some people, but I grew into appreciating it quite a lot. This is the first thing I noticed when switching the speakers, the highs seem a little more separate from the rest with the Elacs, and a little more harsh. I felt they were too unrefined and in-your-face in the 6-9kHz range. In this regard, the Kytes sound more like "expensive audiophile stuff ", and the Elacs feel "cheaper". This is by no means a determining factor in choosing one pair over the other, but it's the only thing that made me hesitate about my "upgrade". But then of course, I blasted some electronic music and the Elacs blew away my old Kytes.
The whole comparing experience and the fact that the Elacs feel a little harsher on the high end make me want to keep the Kytes until I find a better use for them, maybe as a second pair of studio monitors. In the meantime, I'm very happy with the Elacs and I'm looking forward to listening to all kinds of records with them.
Best,
Joey
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