advertisement


Epos ES14 (MK1) equal or better out there?

Markus S said:
The comparison between Briks and ES14s is interesting.

Personally, I think both designs sound rather dated today. drive unit technology has moved on considerably.
Click to expand...

There’s no question that drive unit technology has moved along by leaps and bounds since the ES14 saw the light of day. The design and measurement software packages that are readily available at almost beer-budget prices permit analysis and evaluation precision which simply wasn’t possible in the early ‘80s. Couple that with rapid advances in materials technology and the low-cost precision engineering capacity that is available from Korea and China and it ought to be an easy task to build something that leaves the ES14 looking distinctly stone age.

I’ve looked recently at some of the drivers that RM considers to be every-day objects and been astounded by the technology on offer. I’ve not been lucky enough to try any of them, but I’m assured that the linearity and the distortion performance are an order of magnitude better than the best that the ES14 era could offer.

There is, of course, an inexplicable charm in owning and using vintage products, even though their performance can probably be beaten by something bought today for loose change. I myself am very happy when I listen to my old Tannoys or take snaps with my Leica M4 camera.
 
mmaatt said:
That's the nasty Linn crossover IMO - my Briks (with rebuilt x-overs) sound extended and transparent with no roughness with whatever music you shove through them.

mat
Click to expand...

That's a little irritating I wish I'd heard it a few years ago. When I was struggling to make mine work all the advice I got was better arm, bought an Ekos. Better cart, bought an Arkiv B, Better pre, bought a 52. Mana stands, check. Eventually I gave up and went back to ES14s. What a relief! Then back to Briks but Neat's Ultimatum version. (the Vito is Isobaric and it has a half decent tweeter)
 
MVV said:
That's a little irritating I wish I'd heard it a few years ago. When I was struggling to make mine work all the advice I got was better arm, bought an Ekos. Better cart, bought an Arkiv B, Better pre, bought a 52. Mana stands, check. Eventually I gave up and went back to ES14s. What a relief! Then back to Briks but Neat's Ultimatum version. (the Vito is Isobaric and it has a half decent tweeter)
Click to expand...

I do sympathise having gone through a similar path with Kans, Saras, Briks, Nac 32-5 to 252, Xerxes to TMS (with numerous upgrades). The advice I got was it's the turntable, it's the pre-amp, it's the nap 250: no it's the crummy crossovers which added distortion, coloration, smearing, glare; you name it. It is a lot of work as there is so much wiring and components, but I don't regret the time or money.

mat
 
I think the biggest advances have been in crossover design and computer simulation software, before the final tuning by ear. It allowed much more finely tuned and balanced passive crossovers. When the Keltik came out Linn claimed it would be to difficult and require too big a crossover to make them passive.... We now have passive Majik isobariks and 5 way 242s... Try designing them without a good simulation program !!!!
 
flatpopely said:
My house on the 29th :D

Honestly my perception of what's tuneful bass must be wrong. I'd love to listen to your opinion of my ES14 setup.
Click to expand...

You'd be better coming to my house to hear 401s do their thing.

On second thought maybe not - you'd only go home and kick your ES14s off their stands.

I've owned a pair of 14s from brand spanking new and tried every setup option in the book and then some. The bottom line is you can get them to sound OK in the bass but not without significantly reducing depth to the point where they sound lacking in bass. If you heard the depth and quality of bass from either my Ergo IIIs or 401s your jaw would hit the Axminster.

Honestly, with the kind of money some of you guys have invested in your sources and amplification you really need to start thinking outside of the ES14 box. They are a fairly competent two-way with a clean midrange, so long as the volume is kept lowish and the music is not too grungy or complex. A good three-way simply makes them sound second rate in areas that are IMO hugely important in terms of what a really good hi-fi system should be capable of.

Mr Tibbs
 
Mr Tibbs said:
You'd be better coming to my house to hear 401s do their thing.

On second thought maybe not - you'd only go home and kick your ES14s off their stands.

I've owned a pair of 14s from brand spanking new and tried every setup option in the book and then some. The bottom line is you can get them to sound OK in the bass but not without significantly reducing depth to the point where they sound lacking in bass. If you heard the depth and quality of bass from either my Ergo IIIs or 401s your jaw would hit the Axminster.

Honestly, with the kind of money some of you guys have invested in your sources and amplification you really need to start thinking outside of the ES14 box. They are a fairly competent two-way with a clean midrange, so long as the volume is kept lowish and the music is not too grungy or complex. A good three-way simply makes them sound second rate in areas that are IMO hugely important in terms of what a really good hi-fi system should be capable of.

Mr Tibbs
Click to expand...

i'd agree with that pretty much.
 
david ellwood said:
the hyquphon ow1 is certainly the isobariks achilles heel!
Click to expand...
It's Hiquphon, and the OW1 is the best 19mm tweeter in the world - bar none. If the 'Brik has the OW1 (which I very much doubt) and its HF qualities are poor, then it most certainly would be the fault of the crossover network.
 
Because I'm intimately familiar with the OW1, and you think the SL6 and ES14 sound similar.
 
So in summary:
sq has had ES14s and moved to Focals (happily it seems)
Flat and graeme h love their ES14s
Tibbsy has had both and much prefers his 401s
david ellwood has some "interesting" opinions
I prefer my CAOW1s running 3-way versus 401s and (distant memory) ES14s
James likes his own creations

Seems we're all happy!
 
S-Man said:
So in summary:
sq has had ES14s and moved to Focals (happily it seems)
Flat and graeme h love their ES14s
Tibbsy has had both and much prefers his 401s
david ellwood has some "interesting" opinions
I prefer my CAOW1s running 3-way versus 401s and (distant memory) ES14s
James likes his own creations

Seems we're all happy!
Click to expand...

Must be Christmas or something.

Monsieur Ellwood was making some good sense earlier in the tread (all the trashing of ES14s) but now seems to have gone off the rails somewhat with the recent revelations of Hiquphon OW1s being a bit dodgy.

Still, for a Epos 14 thread it's all going quite smoothly so far.......

Mr Tibbs
 
I was lucky enough to oick up a 4k full ranger for £900, not surprisingly I dropped the Es14s. They are however the only speaker I would buy again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top