Review ELAC Debut 2.0 F5.2 vs Klipsch RP8000f

[PTM]

After 20 years, and a lot of speaker auditioning I have finally found a solid soundstage that is affordable, best bang for the buck, and mid tier level. IMHO, I found the Klipsch RP8000f and matching center channel to have a unique “vertical immersion” experience thanks to their forward driven horn tweeters that does a great job of filling the room with a great cinematic Dolby Atmos experience. That being said, I ended up selling my Klipsch RP soundstage to “Upgrade” to the ELAC Debut 2.0 F5.2 towers and C6.2 Center channel as part of my 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos setup. I also invested in the ELAC Debut 2.0 Atmos toppers and ELAC ceiling speakers. When on sale the ELACs are cheaper than the Klipsch Speakers and I have found Andrew Jones has done a great job at making these speakers Accurate, Balanced, and Neutral. The horn tweeters on the Klipsch RP line are its most defining characteristic and I unfortunately did not care for the horn tweeters as they are to inaccurate and harsh for music listening in 2.0 which is where the ELACs really excel! Unlike the Klipsch Reference Premiere speakers the ELAC Debut 2.0 speakers are very easy to calibrate using Audyssey via an AVR with preamp outputs like the Denon AVR-x4500h. A lot of thought went into the design of the ELAC speakers, my favorite feature of the ELAC speakers is how they can be driven optimally by an affordable Emotiva BassX 3 channel amp which outputs about 140 watts and is more than enough! My 90 watt monolith amp even does a great job at driving these speakers. Amp/AVR/ speaker matching. These speakers are an excellent match with the Emotiva amp because the Emotiva amp only requires 1.2 volts rms to drive the amp at 100% power and most mid-tier AVRs with preamp outputs like the Denon AVR-x4500h output exactly 1.2volts rms making it a perfect bundle. I have driven the ELACs with my AVR only and it sounded great without external amplification but I will eventually upgrade to a 13.2 preamp processor so its always good to slowly build up your system overtime, unless you just have a bunch of cash burning a hole in your pocket, not me! Which is why I have to carefully be mindful of my budget and stick with components that go on sale and are the best bang for the buck. If you’re in the market for great sounding speakers I highly recommend the ELAC Debut 2.0 line of speakers as, while not overly immersive as the Klipsch RP8000f’s the dolby atmos toppers and ceiling speakers greatly make a terrific and immersive Dolby Atmos experience for BOTH movies and music. In fact, it was only after I got into listening to long critical music listening sessions that drove me to get the ELACs. The ELAC Debut 2.0 F5.2s can be found as low as $279 each on Amazon, which are much cheaper than the reduced $399 Klipsch RP8000f speakers and sound much cleaner and are a lot more cleaner, especially when driven by an Emotiva amp. I did try the affordable Polk XT70 tower speakers as well but they use passive bass radiators, which are more for looks, as opposed to having true 3 way ELAC Debut 2.0 F5.2s with 3 bass reflex ports. Unfortunately the Polks were to lackluster to say anything good about, I also tried the more expensive Polk Elite soundstage but also found them lackluster when compared to the more affordable ELACs. Please note, as mentioned by journey to establish a 7.2.4 Dolby Amos setup has taken me over 20 years to achieve since I am on a budget and while there are better components out there, I have found I am more than satisfied with the “affordable” ELAC Debut 2.0 line and hope have had the same experience if you own ELAC speakers! Thank you Andrew Jones and ELAC!