it's really a consumer's world the way these exceptional companies compete for our buck with their very refined products. which is why I'm goin with the Carina's for their lovely look (& smaller form) more than anything else 😍
I have both, and in my humble opinion, the R3 has much more dynamic handling with script upper mid, impressive presentation and detail. However, i got fatigued when listening to it for more than an hour. The Carina, on the other hand, is just overall wonderful, the upper is just right, the mid is just profound enough, not analytical at all, not feeling like i got shouted at by the singer. The tonality balance is spot on which somehow helps deepen the soundstage which makes music become more immersive. The bass, OMG, this thing thumps and shakes the windows! I have a better time with my Carina over the R3 for sure. Ill say Carina delivers music with soul when the r3 will excite the F out of you lol.
elacs are definitely more "punchy". the kefs a bit more open and airy...but perhaps a long session will give the elacs the edge, being more "relaxed" overall. both are lovely speakers
ELAC has much punchier, faster bass, smooth treble and wider soundstage, maybe a little V-shaped but it isn't annoying at all. Everything sounds more realistic on the ELAC speakers. ELAC easily beats KEF in this comparison.
Both are good sounding speakers but for a long listening sessions I would choose Elac. I really like that JET AMT tweeter sound. Maybe I'm grazy or maybe Elac's are unbalanced sounding, but some songs I'm hearing voices I haven't heard from any other speakers here.
I would say you got all the technical details in this comparison absolutely right E Project, and yes this a comparison many of us were interested in hearing. Thank you very much! In my opinion the Carinas are a fairly close match for the R3's, but not as initialy exciting and engaging. At first the more open and revealing upper midrange of the R3's makes the Elacs sound less detailed and exciting, wich they are in some ways. By comparison the BS 243.4 (Oye) are a bit restricted in the midrange, and I feel not fully transparent and natural there.The KEF by comparison is somewhat accentuated in the presence region, and gives a hightened amount of detail there, so the A/B comparison leaves a clear impression the Carina is missing something, wich it may be. Both have audiophile levels of resolution, clarity, air, and soundstage width and depth, and neither is completely tonaly neutral or transparent. The KEF costs more, but wich is better comes down to a matter of personal taste, but to me neither completely disappears behind the music, or is probably the most accurate and musical in their class. They're both plenty fun to listen to though. Thanks again, E.
@@davidcarr2216 I don't know for sure bro, I can only say I think in the general there are speakers that are more nuetral and lifelike sounding in their general price category, at least to me. The ATC SCM 7, The Wharfedale Linton anniversary, even the Dynaudio Emit twenty are probably less colored in general. Even the Polk R200, Elac UB52 and Wharfedale 12.2's are roughly as balanced as these, and probably muesure about as well overall.
@@davidcarr2216 To me the Metas aren't completely nuetral either, but they dont have either a sharp rise or dip in their response like these two pairs have . I might choose the Carinas over the Metas or the R3's though, if someone was giving them to me, because I can deal with speakers that lack a bit if midrange presence, like the Carinas or R200's, better than one that adds extra, but If I was buying I'd probably buy something else. Personal taste.
Oh, there are no harshes ..Ive heard these speakers, if you need a balanced , airy type' speaker, than choose the R3s.. Elac is on the "darkest" side, and its ok, if you prefer the kind of a "laid back" performance.
@@bartonbalint2053 Nem negatívum, csak összehasonlítás az adott erősítő és a YT-on keresztül, fejhallgatóval hallható teszt alapján. az R3 egy rendkívül részletező, feltáró hangfal. figyelemmel kell párosítani az erősítőhöz, megmutatja a lánc gyengeségeit. De egyéni ízlés is, ahogy írod. Az ELAC-ot nem nevezném sötét hangzásúnak, inkább kiegyensúlyozottnak és kicsit lágyabb hangzásúnak. Az R3 dinamikusabb, ha OLYAN elektronikák mögött van, úgy tűnhet, hogy az arcodba szól.
Interesting to see people arguing which is better. Maybe blind testing again with different amps? Into this price range, bookshelves don’t get many upgrades, they just have more sophisticated design features that couldn’t be found in lower price products. l’ll spend $2000 rather on floorstandings even they are just at lower tier. R3 and Carina are both good speakers but people can get cheaper speakers with sufficient capabilities.
Elac did OK, however, I found imaging not their strong point. Top-end sounds refined, not harsh, quite good. Mids are slightly colored, perhaps focussing on a more easy/relaxed sound? Bass was deep and punchy at times. When more complex tracks are played, they feel somewhat limited. I feel the R3 are more get-up-and-go speakers, dynamic, plenty insights, sharp outlined instruments and vocals and (for KEF) a slightly rolled off top-end. 👍 However, there's a comment from someone here that reads like: "who told you the R3's are any good?" Anyway, imo, a clear win for the R3's. Thanks E Project, topnotch again 🙌
Open up some more tabs so you can quicklty toggle back and forth between the Carinas and the R200, the UB52, the Q350, and the Diamond 12.2 playing the same songs, and then tell me that those all don't sound better than the Carinas, because, that's what I did before I came to my conclusion. If you don't agree with me after that, then you're clearly hearing something from them that I'm not.
@@DougMen1 I get your point. Although I prefered the R3's above the Elac in this comparison, I still favor the R200's and 12.2's, etc, by far. I've listened to the R3 for real, and felt the bass was somehow disconnected. In other words, they don't project as coherent as the Elac. Setup of the R3 takes some consideration, amping too. What R3's do best is image, dynamics, also sounds 'pop-up' out of nowhere, prob. because of its concentric drivers. Elac can't do that as well, however, bass and mids seems sometimes better integrated, but it's more a cosy and easy listening. Not sure if this amp fits, as they are quite powerhungry, but I can see some potential here, but not my taste. It's suggestes to pair them with a good class D amp. Therefore I do think the Elacs are quite OK, however, not for their asking price. 😄
@@DougMen1 Indeed. Btw, I listened again to Fields. There's indeed something off with the guitar on the Carina's, but I found the R3's also a tiny bit bloomy (less sharp) somehow. I won't rule out the recording, like close mic setup, room modes, but it sounds like crap. You have a point.
I've been listening to a lot of other RU-vid videos featuring the Carina 243.4, and they sound really good, and much more like I would expect an expensive Andrew Jones design to sound. They're very close to the more expensive Solano BS283. I think it may be a case similar to the only other speaker we/ve heard here with an AMT tweeter (the EVO 4.2), which also didn't sound as good as it has in other videos, which leads me to think that speakers with an AMT tweeter don't give a true representation of their sound with a nearfeld mic technique, and need to be mic'd from further away to get a sense of their true character.
@@williammiebach1798 Unless this was another open box special, or they really hate the Arcam amp, lol. The highs sound so rolled off compared to the R3, it almost sounds like the tweeters are blown, or there's two set of terminals for bi-wiring, and the jumpers aren't connected, or aren't screwed down tight enough, so we aren't really hearing the tweeters
KEF is open and airy in the mid and high sections, while the Carina is maybe better in the lows. I prefer the KEF neutral sound, over the Elac darker style. Also, the Elac is a good speaker too.
Dude I woke up,this morning and went to the bathroom and was freaking humming that bedroom song. Omg it's so irritating that song. I won't ever listen to that song again on here lol
Is this a fair comparison ? In the UK, the KEF's cost quite a bit more (even though i think the Elacs are a better overall sound). The KEF's seem to want to be floorstanders
RU-vid is randomly erasing some comments now for some reason. I posted a comment here a few minutes ago, saying I went back and listened to all the songs again, and still came to the same conclusions, that the Carina sounded dull, lacking punch and dynamics, were rolled off on top, and had honky midrange. I found the only songs that sounded somewhat acceptable were Bedroom, Punkd, Star Light, and, to a lesser extent, Seasons. I don't count Crash and Burn and Magic Show, because those songs are unlistenable on ANY speaker. And, those few songs that are more tolerable, are really only so if these were $200 speakers, not $1500 ones. Andrew Robinson's wife Kristi also recently said some of her comments are randomly disappearing on RU-vid
Very good! If you Can ae500 vs carina, please. I had compare carina with amphion 1. The song of carina was better. I register my voice and the voice of my children and played with arcam sa20 . Amphion was just more articulate but didn 't have a realistic song for people who listen and me.
Wow! E Project, you are amazing! Everyone was just asking for this duo two days ago, and here you have it already! The Carina sounds just ok, but it's not any better, or even as good, as the Polk R200. On the jazz piece, it sounds small and weak and the horns sound unnatural, too honky and lacking brassiness, there's something not quite right with its tonal balance. It also sounds weak and lacking dynamics and highs on the classical piece, and is somewhat veiled and lacking detail and nuance on the vocals in Time Treveling too. And, the guitar on Fields also sounds weak, lacking dynamics, and lacks high frequency extension and air, and sounds too honky and unnatural here too. Very disappointing overall. I much prefer the R3, the Polk R200, the KEF Q350, the UB52, LS50 Meta, and the Wharfedale Diamond 12.2 to the Carina. Even the Q 3030i, the Polk R100, the KEF Q150, and the MA Bronze 50 sound better. Elac dropped the ball on this one big time. No wonder it's on sale marked down to $999 from $1499. Even at that price it sucks.
@@williammiebach1798 I hear what I hear, and, since the R3, LS50 Meta, R200, Q350, UB52, Diamond 12.2, and even the R100, Q150, 3030i, and Bronze 50 sound better to me, then, IMO, sucks is actually being kind
@@DougMen1 What I did notice is that what I hear in his demo is exactly what I heard in the same exact amount, in a different demo of them, recorded from further away with them spaced apart on stands, with lots of room ambience. To me that means that this demo set up he's got now (when he doesn't screw it up) is very revealing and good. The problem with these Elacs is the JET, or any type of ribbon tweeter can not produce enough midrange to sound natural in a two way speaker. It never has in any two way design with them I've heard.
@@DougMen1 Interestingly, I perceive them as having an extremely similar midrange suck out to the MA Bronzes, (maybe a bit less than the 100's) except with less harsh and more pleasing upper treble and bass.
I liked the R3 paired with Rotel gear. I liked the Martin Logan Air motion 35i with the Arcam better. Add a svs sub and way better than the R3 and still cheaper That or Golden ears
Las KEF tienen menos fatiga auditiva que las elac que tienden a sonar más del rango medio a agudo, las KEF las escucho más equilibradas en el rango medio,completo me gustan más personalmente
I owned the r3’s and now own the carina’s. I wanted to like the r3’s more but honestly I didn’t like the form factor… looked too big on my stands and they were a little flat compared to LS50 which I also had concurrently with r3’s. The carina’s look more at home on my stands with my TV and they sound very nice. Both speakers are well made and sound very good.
Now it's a serious comparison and not the one in the central box. I prefer the ELAC audio and subscription. I had heard the towers of this line before and their bass was incredible. Better than the bass of the Evoke 30 and MA Gold 200 5G that cost much more than the $2.000 of Carina towers. Apparently the books also have incredible bass. Even more for its diminutive size. They beat KEF R3 much bigger than them. Now try to compare these Carina VS Polk R200 and Wharfedale Evo 4.2. I didn't even hear the Evo 4.1 with Arcam. In the video of the Evo 4.2 with the Audiolab 6000A VS Cambridge CXA81 they sounded excellent. For me it's one of the best videos on the channel. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-G6hosfQEpPM.html
Carina rocks, KEF is being boring, oh, excuse me, being KEF. Would be better if there was bass (before you will type that its LFa sre OK go check measurements)
In 2019, here in Hungary, the price of each was €1,200. The price of the R3 (not Meta) is currently €1,600, but rather more. The Carinas are on sale. Unfortunately, Carina 243.4 is definitely a regression compared to its predecessor...
![[Sound Battle] ELAC Carina BS243.4 vs KEF R3 Bookshelf Speakers w/Arcam SA10 Integrated Amp](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
