Loudspeakers

Those readers with long hi-fi memories may recall the original ES-14 standmount from the pen of Robin Marshall, who founded Epos Loudspeakers forty years ago in 1983. Although the ES-14 sustained the Epos brand for a few years, it was not Marshall's first design – this was the larger ES-20 that, from contemporary accounts, failed to achieve the traction of its smaller, ported successor. The ES-14 featured an MDF cabinet, internally braced with a metal rod, and two custom-made drivers designed to operate over sufficiently wide bandwidths that a truly minimalist crossover – a single HP capacitor – could be employed. No attempt was made to 'time align' the drivers' acoustic centres, unlike the new ES14N with its sloping baffle, but both the 165mm mineral-loaded polypropylene bass/mid unit and 25mm aluminium dome tweeter were both advanced designs for the time.

In 1988 Epos was sold to Mordaunt-Short, then part of the TGI PLC group, with Marshall retained as designer. In the following years, before the Epos brand was sold to Michael Creek, of Creek Audio Ltd, Marshall's team created a number of related loudspeakers, including the even smaller (10 litre) ES-11 [HFN May '91] and larger floorstanding ES-22 [HFN Dec '95]. Nevertheless it is the ES-14 that's most fondly remembered by audiophiles 'of an age' and entirely fitting as the inspiration for the reimagined version reviewed on these pages. PM