danger boy
09-05-2007, 02:35 AM
My trip to Epiphany audio with Brent (BottomFeeder) by AL (Danger Boy)
(Pssst, it’s late and this may not read well, I’ll fix in the morning if need be)
A local high-end speaker company here in town began about 3 yrs ago. They mostly sell their high end line array speakers to wealthy Asian consumers, and others.
This review won’t really be a review at all… for the simple fact I’m not in the least bit qualified to give an accurate one of this level of speaker. What I can do is pass along my own findings after listening to four different Epiphany Audio line array speakers.
That I can handle.
Brent (BottomFeeder) was kind enough to join me in our nearly two-hour demo at their offices.
First off thanks to the guys at Epiphany Audio for their time, expertise and knowledge… Ken, Johnny and Abraham. Superb group of guys.
The speakers are impressive looking. Very commanding, tall, and almost breath taking in their beauty. Stately is a word that is befitting of their sheer size. This is my first experience seeing, let alone hearing a line array set of speakers.
Brent and I first listened to their smaller speakers. Which is a misnomer, as really none of Epiphany audio’s speakers could be considered small. No, these are “towers” in the truest sense of the word. No matter if they are the smaller 6-6 or the huge 20-21’s, you are faced with a beautiful tall speaker.
The speakers are very efficient. I don’t know all the techy numbers… so you’ll have to take my word for it. The 6-6 were hooked up to a Music Hall a25.2 integrated amp and it’s mate the CD 25.2 player. The amp is rated 50wpc according to the MH web site.
We first listened to one of my favorite songs by Queen Latifah off here Dana Owens CD, her rendition of California Dreamin’. I like this song because it’s well recorded, and I find that I can better tell small nuances in female vocals with a smooth tone than I can with nearly any other kind of music. The sound in these line array towers is quite impressive. Their height raises the height of the music as well, no matter if you are sitting or standing.
One thing I noticed with all of the Epiphany Audio speakers is that sibilance is GONE. I mean they have done away with any sibilance completely. That was one thing I was not used to hear missing from music I listen to. Even well recorded music on a good system with traditional speakers there may be some small amount of sibilance. With these towers there was none I could detect. They took extra steps and paid close attention to eliminate all sibilance. Nice.
We moved along to the larger towers in rosewood, but their 4ohm load appeared to be too much for the integrated amp. Next up were the mid sized speakers the Prophet 8’s. All of Epiphany Audio speakers use small 4” drivers and ribbon tweeters. The small drivers put out a lot of sound for their size. I was told that this many small drivers have more surface space then a larger driver. Making it able to react faster than a larger one. Makes sense and sounds vaguely familiar. J
The Prophet 8’s as I understand it do not have any woofers in them. They rely only on the many small 4” drivers to provide the mid’s and bass. Tweeters as mentioned are ribbon ones… and each cabinet has several of those as well. Bass was tricky in this speaker. It was light to both Brent and me. I guess everyone has a different level of where they consider the bass and lows to be pleasing. As I grow up, hee hee hee, I’m finding I like less and less bass. Not to the point of it being void of all bass of course, but certainly not bloated or over exaggerated. These 8’s would please me if I had to live with them. LOL Plus Epiphany also makes subs. I’ll save that for part two. J
Seamless. This is a word that often isn’t used correctly IMHO when describing how a speaker sounds. I haven’t heard a speaker that was so seamless between the highs, mid’s and lows that the music sounded so alive, breathy but not too much. Certainly it felt like the singer was in the room with us on some music. Not seamless in how the left and right speaker mate to each other, but how it’s seamless from the top to the bottom and everything in between. Height seamless if you will. This may be due to the fact that some of these speakers are 5. 6,. 7 feet tall or more.
Like I said before, this isn’t meant to be a review.. just a couple of West Coast Polkies getting together to hear something new and different. What a fun day.
Brent if you want to add anything, by all means do. Your concerns were a little more demanding than mine.
Part 2 tomorrow... i promise it'll be much shorter. ;)
check out the pictures. one is me and the other guy is Brent (BottomFeeder)
(Pssst, it’s late and this may not read well, I’ll fix in the morning if need be)
A local high-end speaker company here in town began about 3 yrs ago. They mostly sell their high end line array speakers to wealthy Asian consumers, and others.
This review won’t really be a review at all… for the simple fact I’m not in the least bit qualified to give an accurate one of this level of speaker. What I can do is pass along my own findings after listening to four different Epiphany Audio line array speakers.
That I can handle.
Brent (BottomFeeder) was kind enough to join me in our nearly two-hour demo at their offices.
First off thanks to the guys at Epiphany Audio for their time, expertise and knowledge… Ken, Johnny and Abraham. Superb group of guys.
The speakers are impressive looking. Very commanding, tall, and almost breath taking in their beauty. Stately is a word that is befitting of their sheer size. This is my first experience seeing, let alone hearing a line array set of speakers.
Brent and I first listened to their smaller speakers. Which is a misnomer, as really none of Epiphany audio’s speakers could be considered small. No, these are “towers” in the truest sense of the word. No matter if they are the smaller 6-6 or the huge 20-21’s, you are faced with a beautiful tall speaker.
The speakers are very efficient. I don’t know all the techy numbers… so you’ll have to take my word for it. The 6-6 were hooked up to a Music Hall a25.2 integrated amp and it’s mate the CD 25.2 player. The amp is rated 50wpc according to the MH web site.
We first listened to one of my favorite songs by Queen Latifah off here Dana Owens CD, her rendition of California Dreamin’. I like this song because it’s well recorded, and I find that I can better tell small nuances in female vocals with a smooth tone than I can with nearly any other kind of music. The sound in these line array towers is quite impressive. Their height raises the height of the music as well, no matter if you are sitting or standing.
One thing I noticed with all of the Epiphany Audio speakers is that sibilance is GONE. I mean they have done away with any sibilance completely. That was one thing I was not used to hear missing from music I listen to. Even well recorded music on a good system with traditional speakers there may be some small amount of sibilance. With these towers there was none I could detect. They took extra steps and paid close attention to eliminate all sibilance. Nice.
We moved along to the larger towers in rosewood, but their 4ohm load appeared to be too much for the integrated amp. Next up were the mid sized speakers the Prophet 8’s. All of Epiphany Audio speakers use small 4” drivers and ribbon tweeters. The small drivers put out a lot of sound for their size. I was told that this many small drivers have more surface space then a larger driver. Making it able to react faster than a larger one. Makes sense and sounds vaguely familiar. J
The Prophet 8’s as I understand it do not have any woofers in them. They rely only on the many small 4” drivers to provide the mid’s and bass. Tweeters as mentioned are ribbon ones… and each cabinet has several of those as well. Bass was tricky in this speaker. It was light to both Brent and me. I guess everyone has a different level of where they consider the bass and lows to be pleasing. As I grow up, hee hee hee, I’m finding I like less and less bass. Not to the point of it being void of all bass of course, but certainly not bloated or over exaggerated. These 8’s would please me if I had to live with them. LOL Plus Epiphany also makes subs. I’ll save that for part two. J
Seamless. This is a word that often isn’t used correctly IMHO when describing how a speaker sounds. I haven’t heard a speaker that was so seamless between the highs, mid’s and lows that the music sounded so alive, breathy but not too much. Certainly it felt like the singer was in the room with us on some music. Not seamless in how the left and right speaker mate to each other, but how it’s seamless from the top to the bottom and everything in between. Height seamless if you will. This may be due to the fact that some of these speakers are 5. 6,. 7 feet tall or more.
Like I said before, this isn’t meant to be a review.. just a couple of West Coast Polkies getting together to hear something new and different. What a fun day.
Brent if you want to add anything, by all means do. Your concerns were a little more demanding than mine.
Part 2 tomorrow... i promise it'll be much shorter. ;)
check out the pictures. one is me and the other guy is Brent (BottomFeeder)