ELAC unveils the first speakers with crystal-shaped cones

We've seen a lot of wacky speaker tech, but ELAC's new 240 series is the first we've seen with speaker cones made out of crystal-shaped aluminum. ELAC says the shaped membrane allows the speakers to provide a flat frequency response, yet still be tolerant of positioning -- something we'd have to hear to believe. On the other hand, we do love shiny things. ELAC is covering the whole spectrum of speaker needs with the 240 series, from the €498 ($670) BS 243 bookshelf units to the €1,998 ($2727) BS 249 top-of-the-line floorstanders. We've heard ELAC is showing these off at IFA this week, we'll let you know how they sound if we manage to get our hands (and ears) on them.

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 31st 2007 7:56AM]

A fancy as it looks, I'm pretty sure they simply hired a bunch of little kids to run around and just push all the regular chrome caps in with their fingers.

It never fails.
(little bastards)

[Joe Maki @ Aug 31st 2007 8:26AM]

BS is probably an appropriate series designator for these speakers :)

[popeye @ Aug 31st 2007 10:35AM]

That comment is BS...

They've been around longer than you have and make pretty nice stuff.

http://www.elac.com/en/werist/historyb.html

[Sardonic Bastard @ Aug 31st 2007 2:03PM]

Maaaaaan, I bet they sound AWESOME playing steel drum music.

[tekdroid @ Aug 31st 2007 7:53PM]

B&W is shaking, I'm sure.

[timmy @ Sep 2nd 2007 12:33PM]

I've had B&W speakers and I've got ELACs now, and the ELACs kill the B&Ws in their price range -- B&W has been on a long downhill slide. I admit that these new cones seem gimmicky, but I'm giving ELAC the benefit of the doubt.

[haqman @ Sep 6th 2007 3:29PM]

well,
if for looks, it looks ugly :D
if for quality, cheaper one will do better :P
my opinion of course :)