Elac Debut

These Elacs are very talented speakers for the money

Elac’s Debut 2.0 B5.2 speakers are brilliant performers for the money – so much so that they have nabbed multiple What Hi-Fi? Award trophies in a row, once again retaining the budget-speaker crown in 2023.

Elac changed almost everything about the newer Debut speakers. The cabinet has a similar volume to before but its proportions are around 2cm different in all directions. They are now taller (34cm), narrower (18cm) and deeper (23cm) in a bid to look smarter and be less visually obtrusive. To our eyes, these changes have worked, helping to make the Debut B5.2s look more modern.

The 13cm mid/bass unit is thoroughly revised too, using a new blend of aramid fibres for the cone, combined with a different shape to improve stiffness and damping. That the dust cap is now convex rather than concave will strike most people as a minor detail, but it has benefits at the top end of the driver’s operating range – the crossover is at 2.2kHz – and helps integration with the tweeter.