CES 2016 Press Center
ELAC B4 & F6 Speakers, DA101EQ Debut Series Integrated Amplifier, And DS-101 Discovery Music Server

  During CES 2016 ELAC announced their new ELAC B4 and F6 loudspeakers, Debut Series integrated amplifier, and Discovery Music Server system. These new ELAC bookshelve B4 and floorstanding F6 speakers ($179 and $379 per pair respectively) offer both a new level of affordability and performance to the Debut line. Breaking new ground, the ELAC Debut series delivers superior performance thanks to custom made key components, with no key off-the-shelf parts. Unlike many more expensive speakers that mix parts-bin drivers, bare-bones crossovers and generic cabinets—every ELAC speaker is built from a clean sheet design. The Debut F6 loudspeaker combines the advanced drivers of the B6 bookshelf in a floorstanding three-way, bass reflex design that takes Debut performance to the limit. With sound that rivals speakers costing much more, the F6 shows that quality components and superior engineering are a winning combination every time. The Debut B4 harnesses the performance of Debut's larger two-way, bass reflex bookshelf speakers and delivers it up in a compact enclosure that will have you guessing how Andrew Jones gets so much accurate, life-like sound from such a tiny box. "As with the other Debut models my goal is to offer surprising value to capture the attention of a new audience of listeners dedicated to high quality music," said Andrew Jones, Vice President of Engineering.

ELAC's new DA101EQ Debut Series integrated amplifier ($599) uses brand new BASH Tracking Amplifier technology that delivers 100 Watts per channel into either 4 or 8 Ohm speakers. This new amplifier uses a modulated switched mode power supply allied to a conventional class AB amplifier. Switching at more than 400,000 times per second, the supply tracks the incoming audio signal to ensure that the Class AB amplifier gets only the voltage necessary to cope with todays' dynamic movie and music content, this maximizing the efficiency and potential of the amplifier. Capable of interfacing with a wide variety of audio sources, the DA101EQ incorporates seven discrete audio inputs, including analog, digital, asynchronous USB, and Bluetooth, as well as a dedicated subwoofer output. "One of the main goals with this product was to solve these two issues without requiring expensive equipment or a degree in Physics,: said Andrew Jones, Vice President of Engineering. Utilizing the DSP technology already made available in our Debut series S10EQ and S12EQ subwoofers, we utilize the microphone already built into your cell phone (in conjunction with our free app (Android and IOS) to measure the nearfield and listening position performance of your subwoofer and equalize the room performance to match the nearfield, therefore correcting for the room. In addition, by making an additional measurement of your main speakers, the DSP can now automatically optimize the blending of your subwoofer to your main speakers, eliminating the biggest problem facing the user. The result is a perfect blend of subwoofer to main speakers and an audio system that is tailored to your specific environment. Along with a traditional day-to-day remote control our free smartphone application also allows for several convenience features such as input renaming, volume, transport controls for compatible asynchronous USB sources, and even a device health monitoring screen showing key information about the amplifier and your AC power quality. For private listening, a front mounted 1/4" stereo headphone jack is provided.

ELAC's announcement of the DS-101 Discovery Music Server ($999) celebrates the company's 90th anniversary! "With the announcement of the Discovery Music Server ELAC has solved one of the biggest hurdles in computer audio, the computer," said Chris Walker, vice President of product development. "Our new Discovery Music Server offers all the power of the most innovative music playback software available, Roon, plus more without the need for a laptop or desktop computer." ELAC's Discovery Music server is designed to be the heart of a serious music system offering playback of local and streaming music, rich multi-dimensional metadata and multi-room audio (support for up to eight rooms), all with an interface that anyone can master in a few minutes. Keeping in line with quality music, Tidal's lossless music streaming service has been tightly integrated into the Discovery Servers software. Content from your local collection and content from Tidal are presented in the same beautiful easy to use interface. Additional music services are planned for 2016. Adding the Discovery Music Server to an existing system is simple. Connect the Discovery Server to the internet and one of the outputs to your existing system. Navigating your local and online music collection is performed with the Discovery Roon App available for Android, IOS, Windows, and OSX. Adding your personal music collection is a snap as you may connect either a hard drive to the rear mounted USB port or point the Discovery to your NAS (Networked Attached Storage) device and the Discovery will take care of the rest, organizing and gathering feature rich meta-data for your entire music collection. Expanding your Discovery system to other rooms is easy. Whether you want the full functionality of an integrated amplifier or a simple wireless speaker in the kids room the Discovery eco-system is ready to grow when you are.

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