AudioChainsDB
ELAC

Carina BS243.4

speaker

$1,000

Used market: $720*

Manufacturer datasheet

Specifications

7 of 6 values have a recorded source
System Type
Passive Bookshelf
Input Terminals
Binding posts
Min Impedance Dip ohms
4.8
Nominal Impedance ohms
6
Recommended Power watts
Max Continuous: 150 · Min Continuous: 30
Sensitivity dB 2.83V 1m
85

Expert Audio Engineering Commentary

Amplification Warning

The only ELAC in this batch that prints an impedance minimum: «Nominal | Minimum impedance: 6 Ohm / 4.8 Ohm». A 4.8-ohm floor on a 6-ohm nominal is a gentle load by modern standards — shallower than on most of the 8-ohm-nominal rivals here. Combined with 85 dB at 2.83 V (about 83.8 dB/W/m) it is a speaker that wants watts but does not punish the amplifier for delivering them.

What the datasheet actually says

Quoted verbatim from the manufacturer’s own page, with the date we checked it. We state what is printed, not what anyone intended by it.

The maker’s own documents disagree
«Recommended amplifier power: 30 to 150 wpc … Peak power handling: 100W»

The same specification block recommends amplifiers of up to 150 watts per channel and then rates the speaker's own peak power handling at 100 watts. The two rows describe different quantities — one is advice about the amplifier, the other a limit of the loudspeaker — but as printed the recommended amplifier exceeds the stated handling limit by half. Nothing on the page reconciles them, and no averaging interval is given for either.

checked 8/5/2026

* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~72% retained value). · checked on 8/5/2026