ELAC Concentro M 807

REVIEW
Jason Kennedy
Apr 28, 2026

ELAC has not always been an audio company. It started nearly 100 years ago (the centenary is in September this year), pioneering underwater echo-location and growing into a substantial company by the 1930s, working on airborne sound-location systems before the invention of Radar. The first forays into audio reproduction came after the war with turntables, and by the mid-1950s, ELAC was one of the largest German brands in this field. It wasn’t until the 1980s that they started building loudspeakers. Today ELAC has headquarters in the US and in Kiel, Germany, and makes a broad range of speakers, from Bluetooth to the Concentro M 807, the flagship in a relatively small range of six high-end stereo models.

Sheer numbers

You can’t help but notice the sheer number of drivers on the Concentro M 807. There are 11 of them across three surfaces of the gently curved cabinet. Most are grouped on the front baffle, with an array of six small cones surrounding a planar JET tweeter. The 40mm cones cover the high midrange, while the two 115mm cones above and below them handle the lower mids from 650Hz to 2650Hz. The lowest frequencies, up to 150Hz, are covered by a pair of 250mm aluminium sandwich cones on either side of the cabinet, nearer the plinth.

Most of the drivers on this ELAC have aluminium sandwich cones, except the six midrange drivers, which, due to the required low moving mass, feature a pure aluminium cone design. The midrange cones are faceted for extra pleasure, or, more technically, to increase stiffness, and their surfaces resemble the inverse of a faceted jewel; a fact that becomes apparent only in bright light or close inspection. From the listening seat, they don’t look that different from regular drivers. It would be worth angling your LEDs just so if you listen with your eyes open. They sound better without such distractions, however.

Diffuse enhancement

The reason for the circular array of small midrange cones is dispersion or directivity control. Switches on the back of the speakers allow the user to change the dispersion pattern and scale the soundstage, for both room tuning and personal taste. The five settings offered include ‘concentric’, which “forms a larger virtual point source. This mode increases directivity, focusing the soundstage between the speakers while reducing reflected sound for a more intimate, pinpoint experience.” ‘Diffuse enhancement’ “broadens the soundstage, enriches ambient cues, and creates a more immersive and atmospheric experience.” While ‘depth emphasis’ “focuses energy inward, enhancing depth and dimensionality. The result is a soundstage with increased layering and spatial realism.”

As there is a switch on each speaker, these settings can differ between channels and be used to compensate for room boundary variations. If one speaker is closer to a side wall than the other, you could set it to the depth emphasis position to reduce reflections. Concentric mode is the purest variant, as all the drivers operate in unison in a conventional manner. However, the extensive array of crossover networks has been designed to minimise compromise in any of these settings, no doubt.

I did wonder why the Concentro M 807 has so many panels covered in heatsinking on the back, but looking at a cutaway image of the insides reveals that each of these five elements has some form of electrical components behind it. I don’t think I have ever seen a more extensive crossover array – clearly it’s not easy to provide the directivity control offered on this speaker, which explains why it’s not a feature I have seen elsewhere.

Strong core

The cabinet is far from your average rectilinear box. The only flat surfaces are the sides, which taper backwards. The rest is gently curved to enhance stiffness and reduce internal reflections. The baffle thickness is not specified, but it tapers and looks pretty chunky at the central core section. Those looking for the reflex port are best directed to the cutaway, as this element vents underneath the box into the area provided by a steel plinth. This elevates the cabinet and allows the base to be angled, avoiding a parallel surface to the top and increasing stiffness. The base also provides a broad footprint and fixings for large conical feet, which are supplied in a dark chrome finish with matching floor receptors.

Replacing DALI Epikore 9 floorstanders, which are nearly as great in mass and cost in the system, the ELAC Concentro M 807s made it clear from the outset that such factors have little bearing on sonic character. This is a disciplined speaker that is in full control of its faculties, regardless of what you throw at it. There is no mincing of words nor fluffing of lines. You hear what’s in the signal and not a lot more or less. In other words, these ELACs are extremely clean, revealing and capable of delivering whatever the source and amplification manage to send their way. Precision is the word, but not in a take-no-prisoners way, just in a sense of doing very little to color or massage the sound for one effect or another.

No limits

I placed them so the front baffles were a metre from the rear wall, as per the DALIs, and hooked up the Rega Solis power amplifier, equally precise and delivering 150W of Class AB power, via a William Eikos Ultralitz cable. The result was astonishing levels of detail, resolution, image specificity, wide bandwidth and high power handling. I’m not a level freak, but these felt as if there were no end stops. Apparently, there is a bigger version in the pipeline, so presumably people with larger rooms and amplifiers want more, but the Concentro M 807 never showed any sign of strain in my system. And boy, did they deliver power when it was required. Kick drums in particular seemed to kick harder and with more clarity of shape than usual, thumping me in the chest with surprising visceral impact.

Solidity of image is another obvious strength. Many speakers can make the bass sound solid, but the higher up the frequency range you go, the harder this becomes. Fully rounded high frequencies are surprisingly rare. But these ELACs delivered the same sense of three-dimensionality across the board, and this makes for very real live sound if the recording is up to the job.

Pipe down

A current favourite is Bill Frisell’s East/West, from which the track ‘Pipe Down’ is a highlight, but one that doesn’t always work at high levels due to its high intensity. Here, however, it proved to be chock full of thrill power, with a close-your-eyes-and-you’re-there sense of realism. It made it a lot less painful that I wasn’t at the concert 20 years ago.

These ELACs aren’t as relaxed as the DALIs or a Vivid say, but neither are they aggressive or forward. They are perhaps just a bit keener on detail. This makes them fussier than average about recording quality and capable of making the better productions sound spectacular. If the music is laid back, so is the sound. JJ Cale’s 5 is a great example. You get the tight but loose sound of the band, the analogue fluidity of the recording, and that sense of ease that only Cale seemed to manage.

A recent piece of baroque interpretation on ECM, Gianluigi Trovanesi and Stefano Montanari’s Stravaganze consonanti, can easily sound brash and forward thanks to its scratchy period instruments and piercing woodwind, but here it was totally magnificent and made me want to play the whole album. The ELACs play the straightest of bats and reveal so much detail in such a coherent way that the music you love really comes alive with their help.

Precise and coherent

I was initially concerned that the Concentro M 807s were a technical tour de force, that their dispersion adjustments would mess up timing, and that musical enjoyment would be limited to a few audiophile productions. I am glad to say that they are nothing of the sort. Precise and totally coherent, these ELACs make a very good case for the technologies and construction choices made in Kiel.

I suspect that if you wanted them to sound more laid back, all that would be required would be a source and an amplifier of that ilk. They are as transparent as you could ask for and as honest as the day is long. They are also extremely capable for their size and price – high resolution, high power, and features like dispersion control are never inexpensive, and you get an awful lot of all three in this sharply styled ELAC.

Technical specifications

Type: 4-way, 11-driver, floorstanding speaker with reflex loaded enclosure.
Driver complement: One JET 6c planar tweeter; six 40mm A-XR cone high midrange drivers; two 115mm AS-XR cone low midrange drivers; two 250mm AS cone bass drivers.
Crossover frequencies: 150Hz, 650Hz, 2.65kHz
Frequency response: 24Hz – 50kHz
Impedance: 4 Ohms
Sensitivity: 88dB/2.83V/m
Dimensions (HxWxD): 134×46.1×59.5cm
Weight: 62kg/each
Finishes: black high gloss, white high gloss.
Price: £37,000, €44,000, $45,000/pair