Solved! Klipsch R-15M vs Elac Debut B5

[Coolguy55]

Anyone tried either of these speakers and is willing to give some insight on them? I'm not sure which one to get. I've heard only good things about the Elacs, and that the Klipsch's can be harsh. They will be run in stereo with an Onkyo TX-8020.

 

[americanaudiophile]

The Klipsch will play much louder than the Elacs (especially with the 50 watts x 2 in the Onkyo). Way more efficient so if you like your music loud and or are in a big room that might pull you to them. They don't give any kind of freq. response for the Klipsch so the bass extension may be better on the Elac, By restricting the range of the bass Klipsch gets the higher efficiency spec and can play louder. That's a reasonable trade off to make in a small speaker that might be used with a subwoofer much of the time anyway.
The Elacs will be less directional having a dome tweeter instead of the horn tweeter which has been associated with Klipsch since the Jurassic. The dome will usually give you a bigger sound stage, sound better off axis. and be smoother.
I would also suggest you consider the Paradigm Atoms Monitors
https/www.paradigm.com/products-current/series=monitor/model=atom-monitor/page=overview

 

[Coolguy55]

Those Paradigms look nice, but unfortunately they're out of my budget of ~$250 CAD.

I'm leaning towards the Elacs since the speakers will be situated in a fairly small room (about 130 square feet), and I'm not planning on getting a sub anytime soon either.

May I ask, how would the Elacs perform with the Onkyo receiver in terms of volume?

 

[americanaudiophile]

You should be OK in a small room. Maybe get about 100 db max at 1m distance from speaker. That's fairly loud for most music but not all.

 

[ssddx]

i have a 13x15 and personally use a 5.1 set of klipsch satellites. i've been happy with them (quintet IV + 450w sub). if i had the money at the time i would have went with bookshelves. they are a bit warmer sounding (to me) but i like them very much as well.

they get more than loud enough for me.

i've not heard paradigm or elacs in person to give a comparison.