About the ELAC Uni-Fi UC5
The center of attention
The center of attention
Great home theater sound begins with crisp, clear dialogue and engaging special effects. That means having a top-notch center channel speaker like ELAC's Uni-Fi UC5 in your system. This tidy, unassuming looking speaker packs a real wallop, giving you the power and performance needed to anchor your home theater system's front soundstage to the action on your TV's screen. And since the UC5 was created by renowned speaker design guru Andrew Jones, you can count on true audiophile-quality performance for a steal.
What's this center channel's secret?
The ELAC concentric driver places its tweeter at the center of its midrange cone for enhanced imaging and clarity.
In part, the UC5 owes its clear, detailed sound to a custom-designed concentric driver. Conventional speakers place the midrange and tweeter in different locations on the front baffle — causing their sound to reach your ears at slightly different times, and smearing subtle details. Instead, the UC5's concentric driver places a 1" soft dome tweeter directly in the center of a 4" aluminum midrange cone. This precise alignment creates a "unified source," ensuring that all frequencies arrive at your ears at the same instant, producing a more coherent and accurate sound.
How about that bass?
The UC5 uses two custom-designed 5-1/4" aluminum cone woofers to supply articulate bass that blends in precisely with the concentric driver. The woofers' large magnets and vented pole pieces increase power handling for bass that's clean, clear, and powerful. Dual rear-firing ports extend bass performance, but keep it tight and tuneful.
Crossovers — the unsung heroes
I don't usually mention a speaker's crossover. That's partly because crossovers are not very glamorous, and to be honest, it's also because many of them aren't really worth mentioning in the first place. But proper crossovers are never an afterthought with a well-designed speaker. In fact, they're one of the most critical elements in any speaker's design and sound, and potentially, one of the most costly.
When Andrew Jones passed around a crossover from one of his Uni-Fi speakers, it was remarkably substantial — chock full of large, high-quality capacitors, precision resistors, and massive copper coils embedded on a heavy PC board with thick copper traces. The fact that ELAC was willing to spend their resources on something that's inside their speakers, where you can't even see it, speaks volumes to the integrity of their designs.
Product highlights:
- true 3-way center channel speaker design
- custom-designed 1" soft dome tweeter concentrically mounted in a 4" aluminum cone midrange
- two custom-designed 5-1/4" aluminum cone woofers
- frequency response: 48-25,000 Hz
- sensitivity: 85 dB
- impedance: 4 ohms
- maximum power input: 140 watts
- sophisticated multi-element crossover with high-grade components to ensure smooth transition between drivers
- bass-reflex (ported) cabinet design
- thick MDF enclosures with internal bracing reduces cabinet vibration that causes unwanted sonic coloration
- 5-way binding post speaker terminals
- magnetically attached cloth grille
- black brushed vinyl finish
- 18-3/4"W x 7-7/8"H x 10-3/4"D
- weight: 23.3 lbs.
- warranty: 3 years
- MFR # UC51-BK
What's in the box:
ELAC Uni-Fi UC5 owner's manual
- Center-channel loudspeaker
- Grille
- Operating Instructions
See the difference between "Open Box" and "Scratch & Dent" Outlet items
Customer reviews for ELAC Uni-Fi UC5
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More details on the ELAC Uni-Fi UC5
Features & specs
Enclosure | Bass Reflex | |
Color | Black | |
Tweeter Type | Soft-Dome | |
Tweeter Size (inches) | 1 | |
Midrange size (inches) | 4 | |
Woofer size (inches) | 5-1/4 | |
Connector Type | Post | |
Power Range | 40-140 | |
Sensitivity | 85 dB | |
Impedance (Ohms) | 4 | |
Frequency Response | 48-25k Hz | |
Height (inches) | 8 | |
Width (inches) | 18-13/16 | |
Depth (inches) | 12 | |
Weight | 23.3 lbs | |
Wall-mountable | --- | |
Bracket Included | No | |
Parts Warranty | 3 Years | |
Labor Warranty | 3 Years |
Product Research
Features
3-Way Speaker Design: The Elac Uni-Fi UC5 center-channel loudspeaker employs a 3-way design with a new in-house developed concentric driver. A 3-way speaker offers many advantages in the design of a full-range system. By assigning dedicated drivers to high, midrange, and bass frequencies, each is optimized for the frequency range for which its design and material composition is best suited. The UC5 center-channel speaker consists of a concentric midrange-tweeter driver for high and midrange frequencies, while two aluminum-cone woofers handle lower-frequency midbass and bass. At the same time, a 3-way speaker allows for a more straightforward crossover and cabinet design.
Custom-Designed Concentric Driver: The Elac Uni-Fi UC5 center-channel loudspeaker employs a concentric driver design, combining the 1" soft-dome tweeter and 4" midrange cone diaphragm within a single voice coil. Because of its ideal time-domain characteristics, a concentric driver design delivers the most coherent and accurate reproduction across the treble and midrange frequency spectrums. Positioning the tweeter concentrically within the midrange voice coil achieves a uniform directivity pattern, for flat frequency response and formidable power handling, along with enhanced imaging for both on- and off-axis listening positions.
Dual Aluminum Woofers: In addition to the concentric midrange-tweeter driver, the Elac Uni-Fi UC5 features two 5.25" aluminum cone woofers. Through the use of aluminum, resonances that affect the linearity of common paper cones can be placed beyond the driver's operating frequency range. An extended size magnet with vented pole piece increases power handling, for accurate reproduction of bass frequencies that are clean, clear and powerful.
Sophisticated Crossover: One secret to the great sound of the Uni-Fi series loudspeaker is the high quality, audio-grade components specified in the manufacture of each custom, 3-way crossover. This careful 3-way crossover design provides a smooth transition between the high, mid, and bass drivers.
Dual Bass Ports: The Elac UC5 center-channel loudspeaker utilizes a bass reflex enclosure with two rear-firing flared ports for greater efficiency and bigger bass response.
Robust MDF Cabinet: The Uni-Fi speaker enclosure is engineered for the long run with thick MDF outer walls and a luxurious textured vinyl finish. The Uni-Fi series cabinet incorporates specially designed internal bracing to add stiffness and strength to the cabinet's outer walls. This bracing greatly reduces cabinet vibration, which causes unwanted coloration to the sound. ELAC believes that the only parts of a speaker that should be moving are the speaker drivers themselves.
Magnetic Grille: When the protective grille is removed, hidden magnets beneath the surface of the cabinet keeps the front-panel free of attachment holes, for a clean appearance.
Binding Posts: The Elac Uni-Fi series center-channel loudspeaker is fitted with a set of heavy-duty, binding-post terminals which will accept bare-wire (up to 10AWG), pin-connectors, and banana plugs (single only).
Placement & Mounting Options: The center-channel speaker should be placed directly above or below the center of your TV screen. It can rest on a flat surface like a table top, shelf, or stand. Try to keep the center-channel as close to the same level as your front speakers for a more even soundstage. If this is not possible, you might try tilting the center speaker up (if too low) or down (if too high) to aim it towards the listening area. The speaker should be positioned approximately 1' to 2' away from boundaries, such as walls or corners.
Elac Uni-Fi Series: The Elac Uni-Fi series family of loudspeakers consists of a floorstanding loudspeaker, a bookshelf loudspeaker, and a center-channel loudspeaker (all sold separately). All of the Uni-Fi series of speakers feature concentric driver technology. The Uni-Fi series can be the basis of an outstanding two-channel system, or used to build an awe-inspiring multi-channel surround-sound system.
Optional Powered Subwoofer: Add an ELAC powered subwoofer (sold separately) to the Uni-Fi series to bring more bass to your movie and music soundtracks.
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Customer Q&A
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A noticeable improvement in the clarity of dialogue and an enhanced sound field. This speaker along with my ELAC UNI FI SB 5 has improved the overall listening experience.
Charles from Tulsa, OK