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Audio qualities of EPI 150

Cybermynd

Cybermynd

Active Member
I just snagged a pair of EPI 150s in what appear to be PERFECT condition. Grilles and wood are immaculate. The only wear is on the bottom where they rested on various surfaces.

Drivers appear to be perfect and are certainly functional. Foam surrounds on the woofer with a bluish paper cone? It all seems too good to be true for $60.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cybermynd

Anyway - a couple questions. These units were obviously meant to sit on the floor but that flies against conventional tweeter placement theories in my mind. I put them on concrete blocks for testing and they sound a lot better that way. Is that the usual practice for these? Would spikes help if they went back down to floor level? I've had EPI Microtower IIs and Electrovoice speakers in the past but I can't remember how they treated specific types of music.

In comparison to my Wharfedale 8.3 biwired floorstanders the EPIs have a very laid back midrange. Voices suffer quite a bit and seem somewhat muffled by comparison. Instruments seem to come off better and listening to Stravinsky's Firebird (CD) was certainly a lot more pleasant than Vital Idol (LP). Is that typical of the 'New England' sound?

Unless these have been refurbished (the condition of the woofer surround (foam) would almost indicate that!) would the replacement of the old crossover caps tend to free up the midrange? I like them so far but can't get past the wooliness of my vocal albums.

Any comments are much appreciated! This is a great resource for audio lovers.
 
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Beautiful speakers. A simple cap change should take the blanket off of the sound. Still, EPIs are a relaxing listen.
 
The M150s like to be a foot or more above the floor... a set of 12 to 15 inch tall stands go a long way, toward balancing them out.

Also, the new cap is a VERY recommended change. I used a 10uf Dayton poly cap, in mine... I'd recommend using a .01uf Dayton film-and-foil cap across the cap, as a supplemental improvement.

Also, on the M150- I find that most of the time, I used mine with the tweeter L-pad set all-the-way-up, ie, wide-open position... so, on mine, I bypassed (connected pins 2 and 3 together- do NOT remove the L-pad, simply turn the control all the way up and jumper pin 2 (output to tweeter) to pin 3 (input from capacitor), together. This can "brighten up" the mids and highs just a tad.

Also, if your M150s have rubber surrounds, it's HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to change them to foam surrounds. That will also improve the "liveliness" of the midrange, a bit. The rubber is overly stiff (which will "congest" the bass response, making them "boomy" and lacking true low bass), and has too much damping (which will reduce midrange transient response)... foam is a MUCH BETTER material, for these surrounds, IME over working with MANY pairs of these and similar EPI/Genesis speakers...

Once you have the replacement caps (and surrounds, if needed), I think you'll find the M150 to be VERY WELL balanced...

Regards,
Gordon.
 
For advanced tinkerers, there's another mod that I did to my M150s- converting them, into quasi-M200s... ie, VENTED cabinet alignment.

To do this, I would make a "riser base"- a box, the width and depth of the speaker, with an open top, about a foot tall or so- that would mount permanently to the bottom of the cabinet. After making the riser-base-box, the hairy part- cutting out the bottom of the M150 cabinet, before attaching and sealing the riser base/box to the cabinet. I made an opening, about 7" deep x10" wide, into the bottom of the cabinet, to allow the air inside the cabinet to "combine" with the airspace inside the new riser base. Once this is done, you'll wind up with a cabinet of just under 2 cubic feet. Add a 2" diameter PVC vent, about 8 inches long or so, and you'll suddenly have bass response that goes down to about 25 HZ. Yeah, SERIOUS low bass, and better midbass balance too, IMHO...

Regards,
Gordon.
 
Great stuff! Thanks guys. I appreciate the guidance. The ported box idea sounds interesting! Perhaps too radical for me at the moment and I have a Mirage OM200 sub I can flip on if I get the itch.

I'll get online and see if I can find a good source for the caps. Not sure if the local electronics store would have them but I'll give them a buzz to see before I order.

Thanks again!
:music:
 
Sorry - just a final question - if anyone is still listening...

Would the Mundorf SUP8-10.0 10.00µF - Supreme 800V be a good bet? These are available on audiyo.com for about $65.
 
It's probably a great cap, but way overkill for these speakers. I doubt the EPIs (and I'm a fan) are refined enough that I'd be able to hear a difference between the Mundorfs and, say, the Dayton polys or Solens. No need to overspend.

Also, your blue woofers were Epicure (sort of the Mercury to EPI's Ford). No functional difference, but THEY'RE BLUE!!!

If you haven't made your way over to the website for Human Speakers, it's a great clearinghouse for information on all things EPI/Epicure/Genesis/Burhoe Acoustics. The owner, Huw Powell, still makes the basic woofers and tweeters from these speakers and will sell you replacements, rebuilds, or brand new speaker kits. I've never me Winslow Burhoe, the guy that designed them originally,but he's definitely got the "iconoclastic genius" thing going for him. You've got a very pretty pair of speakers there. I hope you enjoy them.
 
I have had several sets of EPI speakers and have enjoyed all of them. As stated above, a simple recap should restore the shimmer you are missing.

My early EPI 100W, one of the original Burhoe module speakers, sound much better on 18" stands, which places the tweeters close to ear level.

I have used Dayton 1% caps in several crossover replacements and they sound just fine to my ears. PE's shipping is high, so make sure to order other supplies you might need, such as solder, Deoxit, etc., to offset shipping costs.

Also, be sure to follow the link to PE at the bottom of the page when ordering. AK gets a small slice when you do.

Good luck and keep us posted!

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&PartNumber=027-244
 
Perfect! Thanks again everyone. I'll put in my order right away. I think I may order some binding posts as well...
Interesting about the Epicure vs EPI thing. It had me wondering!
 
Doh! Thanks pmsummer. Just put in my order with Solen in Quebec this morning. Prices pretty good and I thought I'd have some fun building the crossover board myself. I'm going to make it a little thicker, ad good binding posts and thanks to your suggestion - better wiring!

Took out the drivers last night and it looks like a piece of cake. The one thing that disturbed me was the quality of the white foam sealing rings between the cabinet and the drivers. These seem pretty flimsy. I was wondering if it would be worth building some rubber gaskets or something to replace them? I'm pretty sure you can purchase such material in sheets that could be cut in a ring as a replacement.

Any thoughts about adding some resonance damping material to the interior surfaces? The cabinet seems to be solid slabs of walnut or something (except the front and back) and is fairly intert. It's also completely FULL of insulation material. Is that normal? I mean stuffed full, not packed exactly but certainly no free air space. Would adding a 1/8" of damping material all around the inside change the dimensions sufficiently to affect the sound? Plus the stuff I looked at is actually foil on the outside so that would be more reflective than the wood.

Questions questions. Thanks again everyone.
 
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