Revamp of a classic: ELAC 305 CE

Few other ELAC speakers have stolen so many hearts as the “305”. It has received numerous accolades since it was launched on the market in 1995 as the “Elegant 305 / Little Wonder”, and it is no surprise that this favourite child has benefited from ELAC's latest technologies.

“CE” stands for “Crystal Edition”, the new crystal-membrane technology that has caused a sensation worldwide.

In the design of the fabric dome tweeter HT 19 KST used in the ELAC 305 CE, special emphasis was put on detailed treble imaging. The membrane diameter of 19 mm enables a particularly homogenous and three-dimensional sound resolution.

The fabric material has a special structure with excellent acoustic qualities. The fine mesh allows the pole shank to shimmer through the fabric, thus lending the dome a slight sheen. The upper side of the membrane is coated by hand. Due to a coarser mesh, the metal grille increases the mechanical stability. Furthermore, a phaser has been integrated in the grille. The ferrofluid-cooled high-power voice coil allows the loudspeaker to handle peaks as well as continuous load without damage or influences on the sound.

Computer-aided engineering from ELAC's research field 'room acoustics' has helped to optimise the homogenous dispersion characteristic and even frequency response of the HT 19 KST.

A special feature are the ELAC proprietary bass ports. As if from the wind tunnel, the double flare port has been designed so as to minimise ventilation noises and to reduce friction losses.

Although the movements in a driver may appear negligible, the drivers are in fact exposed to substantial mechanical strain. To guarantee resonance-free performance and the best possible mechanical conditions, all ELAC driver baskets and mounting plates consist of a special high-tech polyamide, which is reinforced with fibre thus proving extremely torsion-resistant.

The lifestyle monitors of the ELAC Classics allowed us to implement even several aspects relevant to sound at a time.

Their outstanding feature are the aluminium cabinets. They consist of 7.5 mm (ELAC 330 CE) and 6.5 mm (ELAC 310 CE) extruded aluminium, reinforced with a central crosspiece. As a complement to the metallic construction, both models feature metal grilles. In this, the particular stiffness of the material provides the almost 100 percent resonance-free characteristic of the cabinets.

Moreover, these cabinets best of all supported the concept of a compact build. These models, and particularly the ELAC 330 CE, feature a baffle reduced to the minimum, thus coming very close to the ideal of a point source. The resulting three-dimensional and airy sound image unfolds especially well on stands.

Almost 95 % of these models are recyclable, and every component can be disassembled without damage and replaced or reused.

With the ELAC 310 CE, we created the smallest state-of-the-art hi-fi monitors worldwide. The often awarded design of the ELAC 330 CE has never been imitated.

These ELAC Classics are samples for perfect synthesis of technology and design: each model forms a distinguished unit of stunning aesthetics and advanced technical function.