[upload=jpg]Upload/200532819162277837.jpg[/upload]Epoch-making Epos
Model: Epos ELS3 loudspeaker
Price: RM1,399
Distributed by SAPPHIRE AUDIO SYSTEMS (Tel: 03-9221 8017), 65 Jalan Pasar, Pudu, 55100 Kuala Lumpur / Review sample courtesy of ACOUSTIC ARTS SDN BHD (Tel: 03-2143 3676), Lot G41-42, Ground Floor, Plaza Ampang, Jalan Tun Razak, 50400 Kuala Lumpur.
By LAM SENG FATT
THERE was a time when Epos speakers were said to sound best when matched with Naim amplifiers. That, of course, was when Epos was still owned by Robin Marshall, who founded the company in 1983.
To cut a long story short, Michael Creek, manufacturer of Creek amps, bought the brand in 1999 and naturally, the new range of Epos speakers have new soul mates in the form of Creek amplifiers. Michael Creek had worked with Marshall before and, as such, knew the strengths and weaknesses of Epos designs. Thus when Creek took over the company, he was in a better position than most, knowing where to plug weaknesses and improve on strengths, and soon after released the M12 and M15 speakers that very quickly won over both reviewers and customers alike. And, by the looks of it, the new ELS3 should continue the winning trend quite nicely.
The epochal story
When I received the ELS3, I was rather surprised by its size. It has been some time since I handled speakers that small, the last being a KEF Coda 7 ?or was it the Mordaunt-Short MS10?
A NEW LEGEND: The Epos ELS3 speakers sets new standards for budget bookshelf speakers.
The ELS3 is petite, measuring 270 x 174 x 195mm (h/w/d), but it is pure dynamite. Though its nominal impedance is four ohms, with a sensitivity of only 87dB, it is surprisingly easy to drive.
In all honesty, it looks rather staid and old-fashioned. The front baffle is a 25mm-thick, solid-sounding affair. Mounted on it are a 130mm polymer cone woofer and a 25mm aluminium dome tweeter with high temperature voice coil and neodymium shielded magnet. In traditional Epos style, the crossover is minimalist and the bass driver crossover has only three components, while the tweeter uses four components. This simple circuit, I think, is the secret behind the Epos sound.
At the back is a pair of stout posts for single wiring and a reflex port to boost bass output. The manufacturer recommends placing the speakers from eight to 20 inches from the rear wall, but good results were obtained in my living room when they were approximately 15 inches from it.
A sexy epoch
The ELS3 speakers were placed on 20-inch metal stands, and I hooked it up to the resident system consisting of a Marantz CD 63KI CD player on an Orbit Magic Platform and an Audiolab 8000A amplifier, connected with Kimber PowerKord power cables, Alphacore Silver Micropurl interconnects and Goertz MI2 Veracity speaker cables.
The Epos sound is best described in an analogical manner. It is like a woman with both attractive points and blemishes, but she knows how to hide her weaknesses and highlight and accentuate her assets so that she appears more beautiful than she actually is. The result is the admirer becomes quickly mesmerised and swept off his feet and ends up in her warm embrace.
In this case, the speaker's greatest asset is its midrange, which is silky smooth and in terms of placement, thrust well in front, so that it will be the first thing you notice.
The result is a sound that is crisp and clear, yet almost Single-Ended Triode-like that it makes any singer sound outstanding ?and I mean any singer. First it was Norah Jones (since both my eldest and second sons are now in love with her), then it was Diana Krall followed by Suzanne Vega, Joni Mitchell, Eva Cassidy and Sheryl Crow.
SIMPLE AND FUNCTIONAL: The rear panel of the Epos ELS3 speakers.
It appears that the ELS3 has the qualities of a SET amp ?that of enhancing female vocals. I decided to check out if the ELS3 could work its magic on male vocals and played Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits. Now if any speaker (or hi-fi component) can make Dylan sound good, it has to be really something. And if that speaker can make Tom Waits sound good, it has to be out of this world.
Well, the ELS3 is one such speaker. Coupled with a magical midrange and a smooth, sweet treble, it has a kind of transparency that is beguiling. It has exquisite detail that reproduces even the acoustics and echoes of the studio or place where the recording was made.
I was even more surprised by the size of the sound stage created by the tiny speakers. In effect, the sound stage was cavernous. It was like someone had dug up a cave in the space between the speakers and turned it into a musicians' pit. Couple that with stable imaging and quite simply, you end up with a winner.
I recall listening to the Epos ES11 and it certainly didn't sound like that. The ES11 sounded sweet and smooth with pinpoint imaging, but was somewhat bland in its dynamics. The ELS3 is sweet and smooth too, but it is dynamic and has an agility and transparency that is seductive.
The speakers' weakness ?the bass ?has been so well masked that you will not notice it initially. It is only when you compare it with a larger speaker ?in my case, the resident Mission 782s ?that you'll notice some richness in the low bass missing. That, however, is acceptable given its size and the fact that bass response goes down to only 65Hz. You must remember you are dealing with tiny bookshelf speakers. But the upper bass is lively and agile and even rock songs sound convincing when you crank up the volume. This liveliness and agility masks the lack of deep bass and you would have been already been seduced by the beguiling midrange and smooth top end to even bother anyway.
I played CD after CD and the effect was still the same; I was mesmerised each time music flowed from the speakers. Just by pressing 損lay?the space between the speakers was magically transformed into a large stage, with a virtual singer in the middle, somewhere in front of the speakers, singing to me.
Then, like all hi-fi kakis are wont to do, my fingers started itching and I wondered how the ELS3s would sound if I could somehow augment the bass. I used a spare pair of AudioQuest speaker cables to connect the amp (and kept my fingers crossed that the amp would not blow due to the difficult load) to the bass drivers of the resident Mission 782s, which are crossed over at 195Hz and rated to produce bass down to 48Hz. Now, I very well know this is not the way to do things, but there was an itch that just had to be scratched, if you know what I mean. This off-the-cuff test would give some idea how the tiny speakers would sound with a subwoofer.
The extra bass changed the tonal balance somewhat. This was because the bass was boosted from 195Hz downwards; I would have preferred crossing over at 65Hz or 70Hz and used a sub-woofer that goes down to 20Hz. Nevertheless, the extra bass gave the music more body and richness and the transparency of the midrange and treble was not affected. If you have a subwoofer, it would be a great idea to match it with the ELS3 speakers to give music a more robust and richer body.
On top of all this, the winning point is sealed by the price. The ELS3 is priced so low that it has to be ?without hesitation ?listed as a best buy. No hi-fi enthusiast who is starting out should buy any other speaker at this price level without auditioning the Epos.
An epochal decision
Buy them.
For: Superb sound; seductive midrange, sweet treble and huge soundstage; great value for money.
Against: Lack of low bass.
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