2019 Product of the Year Awards: Stand-Mount Loudspeakers

Elac Navis ARB51 $1999 Elac’s active, three-way, compact is not only handsome; it also defies expectations at every turn. Under fourteen inches tall, it projects a rich, full-bodied midrange that proves ideal for solo piano and vocals. Fans of choral music will revel in the clarity of massed voices, as the Navis singles out the subtle modulations of individual singers in all their warmth and glory. The Elac has a weighty, dynamic, bottom-up sound that suggests a speaker that not only doesn’t need coddling but actually dares you to crank it up—way up. Pivotal is the balance of extension and …