Floorstanding loudspeakers — ELAC Concentro 2.0 M.2

The Concentro M.2 is the updated 2.0 edition of the Concentro M, the more compact of the two statement floorstanders in the ELAC Concentro line. The Concentro project began as a speaker marking 90 years of ELAC history, and the M model carries over the curved cabinet shape and concentric driver of the larger original in a smaller enclosure. It is offered in white or black high gloss, and in Canada a single speaker costs CAD 40,984.

Key specs that matter

This is a bass reflex system with three frequency bands. Four 220 mm woofers with AS cones cover the bass below 180 Hz, and a 70/140 mm AS-XR ring radiator midrange takes over up to 2,700 Hz, where a JET 6 folded ribbon tweeter mounted in the centre of the midrange continues upward. The quoted frequency range to IEC 268-5 runs from 24 Hz to 50,000 Hz. Sensitivity is 88 dB at 2.83 V and 1 m, nominal impedance is 4 ohm and nominal power handling is 300 W. With spikes the speaker stands 1,450 mm tall, and its base makes it 460 mm wide and 535 mm deep. Each unit weighs 90 kg.

Engineering and use context

ELAC groups the concentric midrange and tweeter under the name VX technology. Because the ribbon sits inside the ring radiator, the two upper bands leave the cabinet from one point, and the crossover between them happens on a common axis. AS stands for aluminium sandwich - a layered cone and dome construction that ELAC uses to stiffen the diaphragm, push its resonances away from the working band and raise power handling. The XR variant of that technology is used in the midrange. Two of the woofers are arranged in a push-push/pull-pull configuration, so their mechanical forces act against each other and cancel much of the cabinet movement that would otherwise build up. On the first-generation Concentro M this pair fired sideways, the base was machined from one block of aluminium with four adjustable spikes, and twin bass ports opened at the rear. The M.2 keeps separate terminal pairs for the bass and upper sections, allowing bi-wiring or bi-amping.

Pairing

ELAC suggests amplifiers delivering between 80 W and 600 W per channel. The low nominal load, together with four large woofers working in parallel, favours a transistor amplifier able to deliver high current over a small valve design, although the moderate sensitivity means extreme power is not a requirement. Owners with two stereo or four mono amplifiers can use the split terminals to run the bass drivers on one channel and the coaxial unit on another.

Alternatives

The ELAC Concentro 2.0 S507.2 is a slimmer and much lighter four-way floorstander from the same family, standing 122 cm tall and weighing 37 kg.