Epos Epic 5 vs Wharfedale Denton

[tounra]

Hi,

I was wondering what speakers would be better suited to me? I am aware the Wharfedales are bookshelve speakers, whereas the Epos are floorstanders.

I am looking for a pair of allrounders, which have a rather fullbbodied sounds and gentle highs (treble and high mids). These pair would replace a pair of Acoutstic Energy Aegis EVO III speakers, which are pretty excellent, but the highs can get edgy.

My system contains the following:

Marantz PM7200 amp

Marantz CD6000 OSE KI and CD5000

iMac > Musical Fidelity V-DAC MKII

Interconnects: Wireworld Oasis V for both CD players and V-DAC

Thanks in advance.

 

[tounra]

Anyone? Please...

 

[CnoEvil]

People can be reticent when it comes to telling someone else what they will prefer......can you listen for yourself, preferably at home?

The Epos are great and will give more scale and impact; but I haven't heard the Dentons. I wouldn't expect you to find either of these speakers edgy.

 

[BigH]

Why only those 2? There are plenty more and better IMO speakers around £500. AE have a new speaker around £420 which gets rave reviews. Also Epos have a good bookshelf speaker around that price.

I heard some Dentons years ago and they were great for midrange vocal type of music, in fact the best I heard but put on some bass guitar and they could not handle it.

For slightly more than the Epos Epic 5s you can get the Kef LS50s they should be fine for the highs, do need good amp to drive them though.

 

[tounra]

Thanks guys,

I appreciate the replies.

At the moment I am not able to audition any speaker, but I am trying to make a shortlist, and both Epos and Wharfedale are mostly described as smooth and non fatiguing speakers, I am not sure though which are better in partnering my Marantz amp, so it is always useful to have some input, recommendations.

The reviews I have read about the latest AE's often mention a metal dome tweeter that can be provoked, so I am hesitant about these, my AE's have a soft dome tweeter and still manage to sound pretty edgy at times, which I obvioulsy don't like.

 

[plastic penguin]

Having been a huge supporter of the original Denton speakers of the 70s - and the new ones reflect those early traits - they should be ideal for bright or lively amps/CDPs.

Note to self: Must audition Wharfedale Dentons.

 

[BigH]

Well from what I have read the Marantz 7000 is sweet sounding.

What sort of music do you play?

What sort of room do you have, size, floors( wood, carpet etc) What speaker cables?

Do you mean the Acoustic Energy 301, did not read that about them, they have soft dome tweeters with al. core.

The Kef LS50s have metal tweeters but I never found them harsh even with Audiolab cd and amps which can be a bit clean sounding.

 

[tounra]

What music? All sorts; classical, indie, 80's alternative (Pixies, Sonic Youth), rock, pop...so essentially I want allrounders, but voiced to the 'relaxed side' of the audio spectrum, with this I mean speakers that will not harden up very easily nor have a tendency to be over-detailed / bright.

My listening room is about 5 by 5 metres.

Speaker cables?, monitor audio (don't know which type) copper cables.

I do not mean a particular AE speaker, the speakers that came after the Aegis EVO III all have/had a metal dome tweeter, well at least the ones in the same price category as the EVO III were.

 

[BigH]

Another option which I have just remember is you can fit resistors to cut down the treble to tame it, they cost under a £1 so maybe worth a punt, you fit it between the terminals, you can biwire your speakers?

Here is the thread about them:

www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/my-thoughts-on-the-arcam-a19-epos-epic-2-combination?page=2#new

 

[poldo]

marantz - tannoy is a great combo too, or maybe look at some Kef r100?

If you buy new speakers I would try some more brands with your amp to find a match.

 

[Goat]

Tounra - I was expecting a very smooth treble with Epos Epics. Admittedly I had the 2's and not the 5's, but I actually found the treble pretty edgy and overly emphasised personally. The 5's might be better, but definitely demo first. It's odd because all the reviews state smooth treble but I found it to be quite the opposite. Currently have some Kef R100's and the treble is much much smoother with seamless midrange and treble cohesion. Definitely give them a demo if you can.

 

[tounra]

Thanks guys, this really helped me a lot.

I have to think about these resistors, seems like a great solution , but I am not that handy...

And yes auditioning is a must, my AEs were also descriped as smooth, but they can be brutal at times.

 

[BigH]

Try the resistors first then you may not need to replace your speakers, I would go for about 1.5 Ohms. There is a link on the other post for them.

 

[BigH]

Thanks guys, this really helped me a lot.

I have to think about these resistors, seems like a great solution , but I am not that handy...

And yes auditioning is a must, my AEs were also descriped as smooth, but they can be brutal at times.

Yes but they were probably tested with very enpensive source and amp in a very expensively treated auditioning room.

I get a bit of harshness on my system but it is mainly down to the recording, decent recordings, even 50 year old sound find but some modern ones are not so good.

 

[tounra]

True, poor recordings are definitely the culprit n most cases.