I'm starting a system with EPOS ELS mini speakers (4ohm) with a Music Hall Trio integrated amp/preamp receiver (50 wpc). I like the simplicity in the Trio and my listening is mostly Classical and Javanese Gamelan. However the EPOS minis are not knocking me out. I will give them some more time but in the meanwhile, I'm gonna bring the system to some Minneapolis dealers to listen to some Totem Dreamcatchers with the Trio, and I'd like to hear the Magnaplanar wall mounted speakers as well. Any suggestions out there? I don't need deafening loudness, but a live, full sound that will do justice to Mahler 8 and deep gong sounds. I didn't know I was an audiophile until I tried building a system, and well, there's worse things to be addicted to. -Neal
I started out the replies over in speakers, many more to come I'm sure. You do need to know that the speakers you are looking at and that I've recommended are not full range. None will do full justice and wring all of the goodies from the Mahler 8...not happening. There are some efficient floorstanders by Paradigm and other that will get you more bass but at considerable cost to sound quality. Have you considered a sub...
I recommended the Rega RS1 on the speaker thread but I actually think that the RS3 would be perfect. Nice tight bass and an open sound. The are a very small footprint floorstanding speaker.
How do you know its the Epos that's not doing it for you? I definitely wouldn't charecterize anything made by Music Hall as exciting. The Epos speakers I've heard have always been very involving.
I still do own a pair of Epos. The ELS 3 is a very involving speaker but it never sounds bigger than it really is. So for someone looking for orchestral crescendo's to sound full and rich the ELS 3's just don't come close. For Small combo jazz and chamber music they are very good and even for pop if you don't need bass below 60hz.
Stu, you hit the nail on the head as far as I can see...the Music Hall Trio is just a flat (not in a good sense, meaning uncolored) sounding piece of gear and no speaker will bring to it to life IMO. However if you just bought it and are determined to keep it the Rega speakers will present the Trio with an easy enough load and a little bigger and less strained sound...just my opinion. We have another fella facing a similar situation with the NAD Viso (I think that's what it's called).
All good comments. I've concluded that there's a big improvement using the EPOS ELS minis with a more solid receiver than Music Hall Trio (50wpc). At a local store here in Minneapolis, I listened to them with good NAD components and the EPOS's sounded great. The CD player on the Trio sounds excellent, but the radio quality sounds small. Drat, cause I listen to a lot of radio.
So, perhaps there's a good HD radio plus integrated amp out there that I can tie in with a good CD player to round out my ideal 2 channel system. Denon has the DRA697, any others that people know of? I really liked the NAD stuff at my dealer's store. -Neal