The Epoque Fine Has Landed In My Sound Room

Priaptor

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Elliot and a couple of others schlepped two travel cases to my sound room. I have the first pair in America the USA and look forward to the ride until they leave for Axpona

We just uncreated them and music is playing.

No comments to the sound as way too early and they are not “setup” nor are they broken in except for some QA listening by Oliver before shipping.

Just a few initial comments. The manner in which they are packed and shipped should be a lesson for all manufacturers. Perfect! It may sound trite but I have been on the receiving end of equipment “decently” packed only to be disappointed that something broke or got jarred etc during packing with a dead speaker. Once the travel case is located just remove the bottom, lift it up and open both sides and out she comes.

Second comment is like other Gobel products I have tried the speakers just exude quality. Finish is top notch. Really incredible.

Accessories provided to move the speakers, find the sweet spot and level are all included and looks to be relatively simple; finding the right placement is another story which we will see. I can’t imagine anything being easier than my Nola Concert Grands however the Nolas were no easy task to move.

As I will be reporting on my findings I have an MSB SELECT II direct into a CH Precision M1 with all Gobel cables. All digital system using MSB’s USB module.
 

Elliot G.

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Photo Mar 09, 3 05 10 PM.jpg
 

LL21

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Fantastic! Congrats! Look forward to reading all about it...enjoy!
 

gian60

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Wayting for your report,thanks,
M1 mono with this speaker,the taller model,one of the best sound in Munich for 2 years
 

Priaptor

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Wayting for your report,thanks,
M1 mono with this speaker,the taller model,one of the best sound in Munich for 2 years

That is what I hear from many. At this point I own a stereo M1 (love the fact that it can easily go dual mono), not sure where I am going with speakers, but am very fortunate to be Elliot's "burn in" location until he gets his studio up and running as the American distributor for Gobel. Right now, we are interested in "burning in" and setting up the little guys in my room. I have barely listened so I cannot give my opinion to SQ but they are gorgeous
 

Elliot G.

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Wayting for your report,thanks,
M1 mono with this speaker,the taller model,one of the best sound in Munich for 2 years
I hope to be in Munich this year and see the show and see what Oliver shows.
We will be showing the big one at RMAF this year with CH and we have booked the room.
Hopefully see you in Germany this May!!
 

Priaptor

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Looks fantastic!

Lee

Lee,

Thanks. My room is in transition at the moment as Elliot and I get all setup. Since taking delivery of the CH Precision I am on a hunt for an amp stand to fit the bill. Likewise, I will soon be using a new rack for the MSB Select II, likely the MSB rack itself.

Then we will be able to lay out all the Gobel cables in all their gorgeous glory along with the speakers.

I am lucky with my room. It is large, doesn't need much treatment, at least with the Nola Concert Grands and we will see what if anything has to be modified. Right now the side wall (which I used close to the NOLA) are out of the way and we have Stillpoint Apertures on the rear wall which we will see if we need them or need to be placed elsewhere.

As I posted elsewhere

It’s going to be a very interesting comparison for me to compare these to the Nola Concert Grands to compare a line source of ribbons and cones to the “bending wave” transducer of the Gobels.

The upper harmonic detail of the Gobel is already amazing with less than a day of burn in and not setup where they need to go. As much as I want I really don’t like to do a serious listen “right out of the box” as despite the naysayers regarding break-in if I made any judgment right out of the box my Nolas would have come and gone the first day instead of what turned into one of the best journeys in my audiophile life. Having said that my “initial impressions” of upper harmonics on this is like nothing I have heard. We shall see.

Our plan is to spend most of the day tomorrow with 48 hours on them getting placement close to perfect for my room then leveling the speakers and removing the gliders and planting them with the feet where they belong.
 

Priaptor

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hummmmm. we will all be watching to see how this plays out for you. the Nola's are a tough act to better.

I am usually the target of upgrade speculation. but in this case it's you. enjoy!

Thanks Mike

“At this point” I am just a break-in for the speakers. These are the speakers Elliott will be showing off at Axpona.

We will see how they compare to the Concert Grands and you are right they are a tough act to follow.
 

Elliot G.

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Jul 22, 2010
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Sunday afternoon I went over to Priaptor's home and we set up the Epoque fine loudspeaker. We did the heavy lifting of moving the Nola's out of the way, funny scene as the over the hill gang strapped up with the harness that Howie has purchased ,tried not to go the emergency room or bust the Nola's. We had assistance getting the Gobel's upstairs with some help from my business partner and his Front Row Theater crew. Thank you!
Sunday we positioned the speakers and over the better part of 60-90 minutes found a spot close to perfect and decided to continue the overall set up. The speaker has a precision set of footers that sit under the base, The footer sits on three ceramic ball bearings to isolate the speakers from the floor. They are fairly easy to adjust and then to get he speaker perfectly level and get them both exactly at the same angle and height. They are attached to the speaker from the factory and have a tie wrap inserted in them to keep the foot together until they are ready to be adjusted. This took about 45 minutes to do lying on the carpet with a level and getting a floor side view. We then took a break to get dinner and have a adult beverage before returning back to do some serious listening. We retuned and with Priaptor playing DJ listened to a wide variety of great music and called it quits about 4 hours later. I will leave the sonic observations to the good Priaptor when he wants to comment. I was very pleased with the entire package that I saw in Germany from the custom made flight cases, standard with all the speakers, and the Gobel perfect fit and finish. Oliver and his crew really do a terrific job and make me proud to be an owner and distributor for his products. In my over 40 years in the Audio Industry no one does it better IMHO.
 

Elliot G.

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Jul 22, 2010
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So finally we are happy to unveil our updated Epoque loudspeaker series to you. The first pairs on the planet are at Bending Wave USA and the Aeon Fine pictured in this thread is at this moment in Priaptor's listening room for break in and to prepare for the Axpona 2018 introduction. I am attaching the information to explain the differences and the improvements in the speaker line.
And we were able to keep the same gorgeous outside industrial design!
As our new Epoque loudspeaker line will for sure be THE milestone for loudspeaker technology worldwide, we called it very self-confident Epoque Aeon!

Epoque Aeon Reference
Epoque Aeon Fine
Epoque Aeon Wall
Epoque Aeon Baforce

It is the starting point of a new calculation of time for loudspeakers! We are sure you will instantly fall in love with them. They will represent your music in a way you never experienced before. Emotional, musical, flawless, complete, …, in one word real! Your goosebumps will tell you.
All our researches, technologies and efforts have only one reason, to really bring the music alive! That is and always was the passion of all our work!

And now to the tech talk:

What are the improvements:
• Improved bending wave driver (improved mechanical parts, improved lossless behavior, improved heat dissipation, improved distortion behavior, improved phase behavior)
• improved bass drivers and alignment (improved loss less behavior, improved distortion behavior)
• improved and adjusted crossover (topology and parts quality)
• improved mechanical coppeling (new materials for the foot and new ceramic ball feet)
• improved electrical behavior (impedance behavior, electrical phase behavior)
• improved lacquer finish (Now real piano lacquer finish! And we are talking about real piano lacquer finish of the highest quality! As always completely made in Germany!)


What will these improvements result in:
• even better frequency linearity
• even better frequency dispersion
• even better impulse response over the whole frequency range
• even better and max. realistic soundstage
• even better small signal behavior
• even better bass response (control, speed, integration)
• +4 dB higher max SPL!
• easy to drive for the amps!:

The min. impedance in single wiring of the Epoque Aeon Reference is now 3,4 ohm, and only between a very narrow area!
The min. impedance in single wiring of the Epoque Aeon Fine is now 2,8 ohm, and only between a very narrow area!
The min. impedance in single wiring of the Epoque Aeon Wall is now 3,4 ohm, and only between a very narrow area!
So now, you can drive the Epoque Aeon line with nearly every amplifier!
• last but not least, highest possible sophisticated appearance through the real piano lacquer finish (which is also made in Germany
 

Elliot G.

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Jul 22, 2010
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Last edited:

Elliot G.

Industry Expert
Jul 22, 2010
3,286
2,958
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Fort Lauderdale, Florida
www.bendingwaveusa.com

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