ELAC Vela FS 408 floorstanding speakers

Below it are positioned a couple of 180mm examples of ELAC’s distinctive ‘crystal membrane’ drivers. These are sandwich drivers, with a paper cone bonded to the back of each stamped aluminium cone – the look, it has to be admitted, is vaguely reminiscent of a crystal, and the intention of the stiff, lightweight construction is to improve power-handling and reduce overall coloration. ELAC, with no apparent sense of overkill, calls this AS-XR technology, which stands – or, rather, doesn’t quite stand – for Aluminium Sandwich Membrane with Extended Frequency Range.

ELAC is quite vocal about the AS-XR drivers’ long stroke potency and ‘excellent’ large-signal behaviour – so both drivers sit in aluminium cages and are supported by large roll surrounds. If ever a pair of drivers looked like they wanted to represent ‘authority’ and ‘power’, these two do.

Sensitivity is a reasonable 88.5dB, though a nominal impedance of 4 ohms suggests the Vela FS 408 may need to be shown the whip just a little for optimum results. Crossover occurs at 450Hz and 2550Hz, and the incoming signal is delivered to chunkily purposeful bi-wire speaker binding posts just above the bottom plate at the rear of the cabinet.

Using a handy Naim Uniti Star as both amplification and streaming source, and with additional source options offered by both a Clearaudio Concept turntable via Leema Elements phono stage and a Cyrus CDt, the Vela FS 408 joined the system via QED XT25 biwire speaker cable. And from there, with a delay of just a few short hours to allow for borderline-obsessive fiddling with room position – eventually the FS 408 end up roughly 35cm from a rear wall and toed in just slightly towards the listening position – it’s game on.

The most immediately impressive aspect of the way the ELACs go about their business is their beautifully even, unified tonality. That most unlikely of early examples of sampling, The Jungle Line from Joni Mitchell’s The Hissing of Summer Lawns [Asylum], sounds as if it’s derived from a single piece of material, despite being a fairly coarse collision between The Royal Drummers of Burundi, Joni’s inimitable vocal and some grainy Moog keyboard.

The JET5 tweeter, certainly, delivers on its reputation from the off. There’s genuine substance and body to treble sounds, yet they’re airy and spacious at the same time. Momentum is never an issue, and the combination of clarity, space and polite attack makes the top of the frequency range smoothly convincing. At this sort of money there are more determined and forceful speakers around where treble is concerned, certainly – Bowers & Wilkins’ driver-heavy 702 Signature floorstanders come to mind – but without exception they’re made to sound slightly ham-fisted by the clean, agile top end of the Vela FS 408.

There’s a similarly high-gloss, good-taste aspect to the way the ELACs treat the midrange. Detail levels are impressively high, and consequently there’s a sense of immediacy to the vocal – the purity of Joni’s tone comes across vividly, despite the fact that she sounds like she’s mic’d from mere nanometres away. There’s a hint of warmth in the 408 midrange, just enough to offer a touch of muscularity but not so much that timing is affected – the ELACs sound like they’re up on the balls of their feet almost as much as they look it.