Epos Elan 10 Bookshelf speakers

The Elan 10 enclosure looks extremely clean with its 18 mm braced panels and an audiophile baffle upon which there are no visible fixing screws, grille- fixing holes or material. The driver array contains two units: soft dome tweeter a 25 mm along with a polypropylene-coned, 156mm, mid-bass driver.

Sound quality

The baby Epos really beams playing with I Heard It Through The Grapevine from Bill Frisell. It describes his guitar tone in most its brilliant Kodachrome colors and pungently varies its dynamics. It additionally gives a clearly credible account. While the low fundamentals can't be physically generated by it, the bass line is tuneful, consistent and persuasive. The drum kit is represented plausibly when the loudspeakers can't manage the full weight of a floor-tom strike or the heft of the kick-drum. What is present, though, gets the message across efficiently. Much of the Elan's power to convey fluently appears to be a result of its speed and its exact description of leading edges.

The Elan renders the guitars attractively on Caitlin Rose's Shanghai Cigs, totally capturing the single pickup, country twang of the dominant Fender Telecaster. The loudspeaker additionally performs admirably conveying power and Rose's vocal dexterity. Also, it seems very comfortably balanced on this quite mid- notable mixture, and resists sounding noticeably mid-forward - as some speakers can - with its robust rendering of the near frequency extremes affording the track a pleasingly strong character.

The Elan has an inviting sound -one that encourages the listener to pay attention that is scrupulously careful to the music. It draws you in - and within an academic sense: I appreciate what's been played and then replay it to hear exactly how the music continues to be performed and phrased.

The Epos' art that is communicative is capably demonstrated by it with rents on the Amy Winehouse Lioness: Hidden Treasures group that is special. The Elan, also, gives her musicians made to a fine account of the number of texture and vibrant tonal colour.

To ensure myself that the Epos is not only suited to jazz and rock music, I began listening with Kyrie and play Mercedes Sosa's Misa Criolla. It is hard for a speaker of this size to create the dramatic scale this music demands, but the Epos do nicely, particularly with its portrayal of the weight. I then play the Jose Carreras' variant of this work, which I favor to the others I own, and this also supports that while the speaker makes a brave attempt at generating a credible soundstage, it can not match the finest free-standing layouts for front to back depth and picture height/specificity. Nor can it be the choir being in a definitely defined acoustic space along with as particularly convincing in developing a sense of Carreras.

The image appears obscure and somewhat condensed.

A 24-bit record comes across better when it comes to theatrical production, but the depth view is not a strong point of the Epos presentation. Musically it is more convincing than it's in expressing hi-fi characteristics of the performance. For this reason I consider the Elan better satisfied to rock and jazz music than it is to the classical collections I audition.

Likewise the loudspeaker is at least as insightful in regards to the guitar and piano, being effortlessly comprehensive and dynamic while managing to convey the music's flow and power fluently. The Elan does not exhibit the greatest weight or material in the lower end of the frequency spectrum, but it dexterously prevents seeming lightweight or 'thin'. Finally, it is a completely satisfying and possible performer, particularly if your tastes lean towards contemporary music.

Epos Elan 10 Bookshelf speakers photo