My new sub - Epos M

[admin_exported]

Today I've had the pleasure of welcoming to my hi-fi a new Epos M sub. Having posted this on the hot deals forum, I thought I'd take my own advice and buy one. I've previously been using the lower-down-the-range ELS sub, which fortunately I sold off on this very day too, having not taken too much of a loss on it.

The ELS was a very good piece of kit for what I paid for it, but the M is in a different league entirely, both in terms of build and sound. Fit and finish are very good, bar a bit of roughness down one edge, presumably where the veneer is joined together (my M5s display the same thing). In dark cherry, it's so much of a looker that even my other half has been cooing over it.

As regards the sound, it presents a much more controlled and tuneful low end than the ELS (which was by no means bad), ideal for 2.1 music systems. It also integrates superbly with the M5s, as you would expect I suppose.

Overall, first impressions of this are very positive indeed. It looks, feels and sounds like a quality piece of equipment. Not bad considering it cost £250, down from the original £650.

A minor point, but the packaging left something to be desired. The mounting bolts for the plinth were rattling around lose inside the box, and the power cord had been shoved down the gap between the side of sub and the box, which wouldn't have done the veneer any good had something impacted the side of the box in transit. All good with mine, fortunately.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds fantastic! In large rooms, a sub is a must to compliment any speakers. In a small room, they can be useful to obtain deep bass with small speakers, but sometimes the timing lacks with the smaller, cheaper models. The MJ accoustics models are always splendid, mind.

But for the real deal (and forget the silly "fans in the loft" design), nothing beats this:

 

[Anonymous]

Hi tractorboy- Just got delivery of Epos m sub as the deal on superfi looked too good to miss. However whilst trying to do what i thought would be a simple connection from my solo 2.1 i've had little success in getting the base that i was expecting.

I Have set the solo to indicate "sub present" and cross over to 100 hz (default) and connected the sub out to the epos via the rca lead provided to one of the Low level inputs on the sub as indicated, but not much success. In fact i've had to turn sub off as seem to be getting intermitant "thumps"

Any ideas

steve

 

[Olli1324]

I have an ELS, and was recently wondering about the M sub, which, as you say, is heavily discounted at superfi.

What kind of price do used (good condition) ELS subs go for? I reckon it could be worth ÿselling up and getting the M if I can avoid too big a loss on the ELS (bought for 200 GBP, from superfi).ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Steve - sorry, I'm not familiar with the Solo, and I run my sub through the high level inputs, so I can't be of any assistance there... anyone else got any ideas?

Olli - I sold ELS in mint condition for £115 collected for a quick sale (I had a buyer within less than 24 hours). I saw one go on Ebay recently for £130 though; it was listed as "brand new and boxed" though the picture of the sub sitting on someone's living room floor suggested otherwise...

Like you I got my ELS for £200, so felt the £85 hit I took was justified given the huge saving on the M. Go for it, you won't be disappointed.

 

[matengawhat]

tractorboy - so how good is it with music - is it fast enough to rock?

 

[matengawhat]

steve1603:
Hi tractorboy- Just got delivery of Epos m sub as the deal on superfi looked too good to miss. However whilst trying to do what i thought would be a simple connection from my solo 2.1 i've had little success in getting the base that i was expecting.

I Have set the solo to indicate "sub present" and cross over to 100 hz (default) and connected the sub out to the epos via the rca lead provided to one of the Low level inputs on the sub as indicated, but not much success. In fact i've had to turn sub off as seem to be getting intermitant "thumps"

Any ideas

steve

Steve1603 - i think you need to connect both the pre outs from the arcam to the m for both left and right channels - think you only use one if you have a proper subout on your amp like you would with a home cinema one

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, but there is only one "sub out" on the artcam solo.

 

[matengawhat]

sorry was thinking of the solo mini - then as long as you have it connected to the low level input it should work fine - i have the solo 5.1 with muso/logo setup and it works fine - u could try connecting the pre out on the solo 2.1 to both left and right low level and see if that solves the problem

there is a second sub menu on the solo - where you can choose sub off, bass redirection or bass duplication - whats that set to?

 

[Anonymous]

Settings to "sub present", "small speakers", which then elliminates the options of of bass redirect or duplicate and "100hz crossover" (default), . I'm using Quad 11L as the front speakers

 

[matengawhat]

i assume the dark cherry option is a lot darker than the red cherry option that epos now seem to sell?

 

[matengawhat]

steve1603:Settings to "sub present", "small speakers", which then elliminates the options of of bass redirect or duplicate and "100hz crossover" (default), . I'm using Quad 11L as the front speakers

i'm really not sure then as should be kicking - have you tried connecting to the pre outs on the amp instead of the sub out - did that make any difference?

 

[Anonymous]

Not tried that as I'm assuming that pre-outs would be across full frequency range and would not suit Low level on sub. May be I just have a duff sub!

 

[matengawhat]

i could be wrong on this but hope i'm not as that how i am planning on connecting my sub to my stereo amp when it arrives - daisey chained off my power amp.

For example if you look at the instructions on the solo mini it doesn't have a sub out connection so suggest connecting it to the pre outs so must be ok i'm thinking?

surely its just a speaker that can only play low frequency just like your stanmounts they get the full frequency range but phsically can't go that low so doesn't play it - the sub will filter out what it can't play and thats why they have a left and right in - if you have a lfe out you connect one cable if not you connect both - if anyone can correct me on this please do so quickly as don't want a sub i can't physically use?

 

[Anonymous]

Well, as you know matengawhat, I'm now running my sub from the pre-out (left) of my integrated amp. Works fine and def no smoke yet.

 

[matengawhat]

i thought i was right but didn't want him to go blow his new sub up - so thought better to check - so are you a lot happoer now then - mines on order so should be with me mid week - really annoyed as sold all my spare interconnect last month on ebay so now have to get another!!!!

 

[Tony_R]

matengawhat: .....surely its just a speaker that can only play low frequency just like your stanmounts they get the full frequency range but phsically can't go that low so doesn't play it - the sub will filter out what it can't play and thats why they have a left and right in - if you have a lfe out you connect one cable if not you connect both - if anyone can correct me on this please do so quickly as don't want a sub i can't physically use?

Your assumption is correct. If the sub has a built in amp with adjustable LF settings, it will indeed simply filter out the high frequencies. That's what it's designed to do.

And connectiong it to the pre-out sockets on your amp will do no harm at all.

The pre-out sockets give and adjustable output (according to volume control setting of course) of up to 1V RMS - which is exactly what the low level (in other words RCA jacks) on the sub woofer are intended to accept.

IF the sub has two inputs - there should be no harm in connecting it to both left and right outputs, as the sub will simply 'sum' the combined channels into a mono signal - and this will load both L+R channels of your preamp equally. (at least that usually the case - most bass below - I think - around 40 hz is mixed to mono - at least that used to be the case..).

Tony.

 

[matengawhat]

cheers tony - so would you recommend buying a pair of rca interconnects for left and right or just getting a subwoofer cable and connecting to one of them or can i connect just one of them to the LFE in?

 

[Anonymous]

s

Still makes me think that I've got a duff sub as my solo has only one sub out to connect to either left or right L or R low input - so where can you go wrong !? As said I'll let you know how superfi do on customer service.

 

[matengawhat]

how did you get on?

 

[Anonymous]

I'll let you know - just got an out of office reply - Hopefully I'll get a reply tomorrow

 

[matengawhat]

steve1603:I'll let you know - just got an out of office reply - Hopefully I'll get a reply tomorrow

Steve i found this on the epos website re the m sub and a solo 2.1 - "Thanks for buying the M Sub. It doesn't have an LFE input, so it is not possible to bypass the filter circuitry. I would think the only way to control it is either to use a full range output and not the LFE or adjust it such that you are not overloading the input of the sub woofer"

http://www.eposandcreek.com/showthread.php?t=494 - link for site

this though in my opinion does clash with the instructions because i am sure it says if you have an lfe just connect to either the left or right low level input

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Mat -

That is quite interesting. The instructions in the manual are quite specfic

" In the case of a multi-channel system connect a shielded cable from sub-sonic output of your receiver to the RCA sockets on the back of the M Sub marked low level"

I've already emailed Epos with details of my problem but am awaiting a reply.

Will post their reply when/if i get one.

 

[matengawhat]

I dropped epos an email about best connections on moday evening at ablout 6 and got a response that night within about 30mins was gob smacked - great customer service - set it up this morning and first impressions its sounding fine - very easy to lose - intergrates very well i'm very impressed will let you know how it is once used a little more - run it in and tried with a lot of different music

 

[matengawhat]

steve1603:
Thanks Mat -

That is quite interesting. The instructions in the manual are quite specfic

" In the case of a multi-channel system connect a shielded cable from sub-sonic output of your receiver to the RCA sockets on the back of the M Sub marked low level"

I've already emailed Epos with details of my problem but am awaiting a reply.

Will post their reply when/if i get one.

the only thing i find with that statement is its says LFE to RCA SOCKETS - but during my time of playing with hi fi/HC kit i have never seem a LFE cable going to two sockets.

one other thought i had was that the LFE out on your amp might only be operated when watching movies the processor adds the low frequency information together, was thinking when listening to music in stereo it doesn't go through same circuitary so not outputted by the LFE socket - just a thought.

Might be worth an email to ARCAM as well