Epos ES14N Loudspeakers
Epos were founded in 1983 and since then they made some superb speakers at varying price points, the original ES14 was one of their most iconic designs. Over the years the Epos brand name changed hands a few time and in 2020 Creek Audio sold the brand to Karl Heinz Fink.
Fink Audio Consulting have essentially gone back to the drawing board with the ES14N to reinvent it for todays market.
As with the original ES14 the new Epos ES14N Loudspeakers are a large 2 way standmount, dedicated stands are available for them which stand at approximately 520mm with the spikes fitted so the speaker isn’t too top heavy, total height is just over 1 metre.
The ES14N are a completely new design of speakers, other than the name and obvious design nod to the original they have very little in common and any similarities are superficial at best – this is a new loudspeaker.
The cabinet is tilted backwards to time align the tweeter and the mid-bass driver which aids coherence. The cabinet of the ES14N has the same internal volume as the original, which is a direct result of the driver configuration and the defined bandwidth of the speaker.
The mid/bass driver is a 7 inch unit and the tweeter is a 28mm aluminium/ceramic compound design. The tweeter sits in its own cavity within the cabinet and is protected by large metal perforated grill (the speaker was voiced with this in place). The large metal plate of the tweeter is only touching the cabinet on 4 points around the screws (an idea taken from Roy George of Naim Audio used here with his blessing) to reduce the transfer of energy between tweeter and cabinet baffle.
It is a rear ported reflex design, if you look at image of the port tube you will see small openings on the tube to aid airflow and reduce unwanted resonance.
The cabinet itself is fairly substantial weighing in at 16kg, constructed using double layer mdf, additional bracing has been adding to keep cabinet radiation as low as possible.
The front panel is solid and is glued and screw into place on the cabinet, if you look carefully at the front baffle you will see it has a 45 degree chamfered edge – this is for sonic purposes and isn’t cosmetic – it aids with diffraction and off axis response.
As per advice from Epos the ES14N definitely sound best their grill removed.
These ES14N are a fantastic loudspeaker, they have superb dynamics and drive, excellent bass depth, drive and the timing and coherence is exceptional.
They genuinely offer superb value for money and will happily sit amongst more elite company than the price point would suggest.
