HK Audio Elements Acoustics One

January 2011 Guitarist 117
£1,566
GUITAR AMPS
Minimal controls onboard, as Elements is designed to be used with a mixer
HK Audio Elements
Acoustics One
 £1,566 (E110SA £870,
2 x E435 mid/high cabinet £309
each, EP1 Pole Mount £78)
 Germany
 Full-range modular PA system
 600 watts
 Modular, cableless
design using ‘E-Connect’ system,
mid/high filter on the E110SA, input
sensitivity switch (+4/-10dB), input
overload limiter with LED
 XLR/TRS in x 1,
XLR through, Speakon speaker out
for passive E110
 E110A 19/41.9;
E435 2.35/5.2; EP1 0.8/1.8
 E110 sub
(passive, £575), EA600 power amp
(£479), EF45 base (£145). Various
carry bags £24.99-£59.99
 E110A – 36 (w) x 48
(h) x 46 cm (d); E435 – 11 (w) x
46.5 (h) x 12cm (d); EP1 – 95 (h) x
3.5 cm (d)



Test results





The Bottom Line
We like: Modular design;
looks ace; loud as pigs
We dislike: Must have a
separate mixer; E-Connect is
exclusive to HK; not cheap
Guitarist says: A superb-
quality PA system that can
grow with your needs
limiter, denoted by the green
signal LED turning red. Brief
forays into the red are okay, but
if it stays there for an extended
period, you’ll need to turn down
your source signal to avoid
compression or distortion.
Verdict
A lot of us musos are still tied to
the big, heavy box solutions to
PA. For small gigs however –
bars, hotels, what have you –
and assuming you’re not
Motörhead, something like this
makes infinitely more sense.
You get exceptionally clear and
clean sound reinforcement that
in this format will suit a duo or
small ensemble with aplomb.
As you grow, so can your
Elements system, adding amps
and cabs right up to a serious
3,600-watt full rock band rig. It
certainly isn’t cheap, but it’s
easy to carry, child’s play to set
up and it sounds the business.
level balanced signals from
mixers, and the latter for
unbalanced 6.4mm jacks as a
general rule of thumb. After
that it’s very simple: Elements is
completely at the mercy of your
sources. We fed it with a Peavey
16FX desk for a two vocal/two
guitar/backing tracks duo mix,
and an LR Baggs Venue DI for
pure acoustic guitar fun.
The throw from the eight-
speaker (four 3.5-inch drivers
in each unit) line array is very
impressive; it’s a superbly
balanced sound that might not,
on first listen, sound massively
loud, but the sheer quality of
that sound belies its
considerable sonic
reinforcement ability. The
spread from the top drivers is
impressive, if not ultimately as
3D-like as Bose’s L1 model II
(which isn’t necessarily a bad
thing, it should be said). It copes
with small-bar duties with ease,
and is underpinned with more
than enough full, solid bass for
the aforementioned duo
performance. There really isn’t
much more to say – it’s loud, it’s
clean and it reproduces
whatever you feed it with… as
long as it’s not stereo, of course
– we’re mono all the way with
just one amp.
If you do hit the front end of
the Elements power amp with
too much signal, it has a built-in
GIT337.rev_hk 117 12/3/10 5:21:30 PM