Last year, Bryan Taylor of The Gramophone, the Canadian importer of Epos Loudspeakers, asked if I could review the Epos ES-14N Loudspeakers. While I was not enamoured with the lower baffle shape and “individual” teal colour, the USD 4500 loudspeakers impressed me with their refinement, tonal and dynamic prowess. They are quite expensive, but in real terms, they are a high-end bargain.

The smaller Epos ES-7N caught my eye because of the look and aural memory of my time with its bigger brother. Could we get that Epos sound in a smaller, sexier package?

The pricing for the Epos ES-7N is USD 2195 (CAD 2895).

Thank you to Bryan for delivering the broken-in speakers to my house in Victoria. Having gear broken in and ready for a review is a blessing.

My Use

My reference system (MBL, Pure Fidelity, IKEDA, Analog Relax, Phasemation, and Ansuz Acoustics) was in use. It was a great combination of top-quality gear to accompany the Epos speakers (all reference gear reviewed in Audiophilia).

The setup was simple. I used Custom Design UK stands and angled them ten degrees, with the tweeter at ear height, a few feet from the side and rear walls. Karl-Heinz Fink designed the speakers, and he’s added an interesting touch: a switch on the rear to change the crossover to suit different speaker placements (more on this later). Note: The speaker’s layout for both stereo channels is asymmetric. As such, I placed the tweeter inside for optimal results.

Easy to position, good-looking, well-made speakers with excellent sound for just over 2K. What’s not to like?

Features and Specifications

The well-designed website gives you detailed chapter and verse about Fink’s clever design. The speaker uses advanced techniques to produce its sound out of a small box and the two drivers. There are many monitors today by good designers using clever techniques. So, how does Fink achieve his excellent sound?

The ES-7N is a two-way, reflex-loaded bookshelf speaker. Fink understands the challenges presented by a small speaker’s placement in different customer settings. “Smaller speakers are especially giving the designer some severe headaches. This has something to do with the size of the front baffle and the small baffle’s influence on a speaker’s response curve. A design for free space should be different from one that plays close to a wall or inside a bookshelf.”

Crossover switch on the rear of the unit.

To work in a semi-free space (some distance from a wall) and on a wall, the ES-7N’s crossover filter can be changed with a switch on the rear of the speaker. With the switch down (“On Wall”), “The bottom-end roll-off is flat to deal with the room/wall gain at low frequencies and to avoid booming bass. The speaker’s sensitivity is around 86dB for Position up and 89dB for Position down of the switch”. In my small room, the differences were minimal—both giving a fine account of the speaker’s qualities. If the speaker is tucked up in a dorm bookshelf somewhere, I would imagine the effect of the lower switch position would be more beneficial. No matter, the purchaser will have the option to try both and experiment.

As for bass functionality and performance, the port tube, Fink says: “…is somewhat tricky, as it sits on the side of the cabinet—not the best place if you want to minimize the tube output of the standing wave modes inside the cabinet. So, finally, the solution is a bent port that ends up in the middle between the two side panels. It features selective damped ventilation holes in the middle and so controls the output in the critical mid-band.”

Fink and his team have given their three models great thought and engineering prowess to produce well-made, well-designed speakers for a good price. The middle model 14N surprised me with its outstanding performance, especially for its price. Did the baby model achieve similar results?

Impedance: 4 Ohm, minimum 3 Ohm at 15kHz

Sensitivity: 86dB/89dB

Woofer: 130mm PP cone woofer

Tweeter: 28mm ceramic-coated Aluminum dome

Crossover Frequency: 2.000 Hz

Dimensions: 290 x 200 x 270 mm (HWD)

Weight: 7,6 kg

Finish: Orange semi-matte, Walnut, White semi-matte, Black semi-matte

Sound

The cabinet is well constructed and was inert in the knock test. The lack of smearing and clarity of sound from each genre played was a testament to its excellent construction. Once again, Epos has gone the extra mile in designing a cabinet braced to ensure a quiet cabinet. They use 2x8mm MDF panels with an additional block on the top to “optimize the stereo image.” The separated 1st and 2nd violins of Beethoven’s Eroica (Klemperer/Philharmonia/EMI/vinyl) proved the speakers’ excellent separation within the soundstage while throwing nice Kingsway Hall depth.

The small stand-mount speaker impresses with its power handling and ability to convey a lifelike image. Of course, your mind is playing audio tricks, but that’s fine. The monitor is doing its job admirably, and this listener sat and enjoyed music of all sorts reproduced skilfully. So, The Dark Side of the Moon was immersive with its ultimate crescendo sound effects (“Breathe”) and Alan Parsons' analogue realization of multiple clocks in “Time.” My original 5S Harvest pressing is beloved around here, and the ES-7Ns threw a wide and deep soundstage with excellent imaging.

I have audiophile bad dreams of pushing monitor speakers too far with the bass response using the (in) famous bass drum thwacks in the Dorati/Mercury/Classic Records version of The Firebird by Stravinsky and blowing the woofer to smithereens. Thus, softly, softly, ‘till near or full satisfaction is given. The Epos gave a good account with lots of the transient emphasis of the bass drum strokes and their decay into the Watford Town Hall acoustic. No Wilsonian explosions, but it produces a very good effect from such a small box. On the other end of the spectrum, my notes read, “Grabbed me emotionally on Alex Murray’s exquisite fluting in the many Firebird solos. Capturing subtle variations in vibrato is no small feat”.

No matter the genre, voices or instruments, the dynamic nature of the ES-7Ns never disappointed with the benefit of excellent imaging. So Jennifer Warnes’ voice on Famous Blue Raincoat hung magically in midair in the soundstage of Bernie Grundman’s outstanding IMPEX 1STEP reissue.

Conclusion

Veteran designer Karl-Heinz Fink has a second winner in his Epos lineup. I look forward to reviewing the floor-standing ES-28N after they debut (projected price USD 8000/pr). If you have a budget of USD 4500, give the larger “Audiophilia star-rated” 14Ns a listen. But for USD 2195, Epos has produced a very good-looking, well-made crackerjack of a small speaker. If you’re all in on a 2G speaker that’ll work well in various spaces, audition the Epos ES-7N. Highly recommended.

Further information: Epos Loudspeakers