There is no substitute for the pure musical involvement and enjoyment
to be experienced when listening to the new Epos Encore 50. This unique
Epos Flagship loudspeaker has been 3 years in the making but, there is
no doubt the time taken to develop this exceptional loudspeaker has been
well worth the wait.
Each and every part of the Epos Encore 50 has been developed by Epos
engineers to a standard not previously achieved by the company. From the
original design concept through to the cabinet construction, speaker
drive units, crossover and final voicing, the Encore 50 stands superior
in every way.
Cabinet:
It is tall and imposing yet exhibits elegance synonymous with Epos.
Standing 1.2 metres high, it is deeper rather than wide and is supplied
with a strong stylish painted MDF plinth to support its 50 kg weight and
spread its footprint for improved stability and mechanical decoupling.
Fully adjustable turned aluminium and steel spiked feet can raise or
lower the speaker to adjust or tilt the level. The cabinet itself is
made from a composite of birch-plywood and MDF which has been
extensively strengthened internally using plywood bracing within the
mid-range and bass enclosures.
To
ensure the lowest colouration, the cabinet and bracing have been
optimised, following accelerometer measurements and listening tests.
Hand selected and book-matched real wood veneer has been chosen give the
most luxurious finish on an Epos speaker so far.
Separate Bass, Mid-range and Crossover sections of the cabinet are
hermetically sealed and allow the Crossover to be located in a
convenient section at the bottom of the cabinet, accessed via the large,
ventilated terminal panel on the bottom rear with a letter box opening
in the plinth. All drive units are separately wired to the crossover
section, using custom Epos solid core wire.
The bass enclosure has a volume of 43 litres. Two 220mm woofers are
bass-reflex loaded by one large diameter 90mm port, positioned mid-way
between the woofers and flared at both ends to minimise port turbulence
and harmonic distortion. The height and spacing of the woofers has been
chosen to minimise the ‘floor-bounce’ cancellation, optimise bass output
and ensure a smooth bass-mid range transition in room. The mid-range
unit is in its own, braced, 8 litre sealed-box enclosure.
Plinth:
A custom made MDF plinth helps to extend the footprint of the speaker
and decouple mechanical vibrations from the cabinet. This makes the
speaker more stable in a domestic environment and improves low frequency
performance. 
It also allows access to the crossover adjustment patch-board.
Adjustable metal feet allow the height and angle of the speaker to be
adjusted. This enables a custom skateboard to fit underneath so the
speaker can be transported on wheels to a different position and then
carefully lowered into place. This is supplied with the speakers.
Drive Units:
The 2 x 220 mm woofers and 158 mm mid-range cones are made from a
Kevlar/carbon fibre/pulp mixture to combine high rigidity, with good
inherent damping and feature concave dust caps coupled tightly to the
cone. Frequency responses of both woofer and mid-range are inherently
very smooth. They each incorporate a copper shorting ring in the
magnetic circuit to reduce and linearise inductance and therefore,
reduce harmonic and inter-modulation distortions at high sound pressure
levels. The two woofer cones couple acoustically at low frequencies and
are port loaded for extremely high power handling.
The tweeter is a specially developed version of the Epos Mi tweeter,
with anodised aluminium dome, Kapton voice coil former, braided lead-out
wires and Ferro-Fluid damping. The centre pole is damped under the dome
and vented into a contoured, felt-filled, rear chamber to damp the
fundamental resonance frequency.
Crossover:
The
crossover design of the Epos Encore 50 is revolutionary. It allows the
user unparalleled flexibility to compensate for individual room
acoustics, without compromising sound quality in any way. The tonal
balance of the speaker may be easily changed by the user to increase or
decrease the tweeter and midrange output in 1.5dB steps, via an aperture
in the bottom of the speaker and plinth. The crossovers use high-grade
customised ‘Epos’ polypropylene capacitors and non-polarised
electrolytic capacitors, which are bypassed with polypropylene
capacitors on the mid-range and tweeter. It also uses air-core
inductors, a tapped autotransformer for adjusting the mid-range output
and laminated steel-core inductors. Metal-oxide resistors are paralleled
where necessary to achieve high power rating and a custom heatsink is
used to reduce the temperature.
The high sensitivity mid-range is attenuated by a tapped auto
transformer, which doubles as the high-pass crossover inductor. The
tweeter network also has variable attenuation via metal-oxide resistors.
The maximum sensitivity treble position by-passes all attenuation.
Passive components are mounted on a high quality, glass fibre PCB,
mechanically isolated from the cabinet.
The crossover PCB’s are designed to be completely, or partially,
by-passed, to enable the user to configure the speaker in passive or
active mode. Epos, will offer a custom DAC with programmable digital
crossover to suit any make of amplification system. In short, it has
unparalleled flexibility.
The ongoing development for a future user upgrade to the Epos Encore
50 will represent yet another great leap forward in Epos speaker design
and will have music lovers giving it a ‘standing ovation’ whilst
applauding this exceptional speaker.
Technical Specification
| Design |
3 way, floor standing, reflex port loaded, with user adjustable crossover. |
| Power Handling |
500 W max. Speech and Music. |
| Frequency Range |
28 Hz – 30 kHz. -6dB |
| Impedance |
4 Ohm nominal |
| Sensitivity |
89db @ 2.83V/1m |
| Amplifier Compatibility |
25- 600 Watts |
| Finish |
Black Ash or Cherry Real wood veneer |
| Woofers |
2 x 220mm diameter on an aluminium chassis, 38.5mm voice coil with
+/- 8mm excursion Light weight, Kevlar/carbon fibre/pulp cone piston
material, with inverted dust cap. |
| Mid Range |
B1 x 158mm with 25mm voice coil and +/- 3.5mm excursion light
weight, Kevlar/Carbon fibre/pulp cone piston material, with inverted
dust cap. |
| Tweeter |
1 x 25mm metal dome, Ferro-fluid cooled and custom Epos suspension. Ferrite magnet system |
| Crossover |
250 Hz and 3.5 kHz. High-grade, glass fibre PCB’s with 2 ounce
copper tracks. Gold plated 4mm plugs and sockets for user configuration.
Separate PCB for Bass filter to isolate it inductively from Mid-range
and tweeter filters. |
Optional Passive or
Active configuration |
Active operation requires a separate custom crossover. Check with Epos user manual for full details. |
| Size |
Speaker W x D x H 265 x 385 x 1230 mm
Includes plinth and spikes
Plinth – maximum footprint W x D 410 x 540 mm |
| Packaged |
One per carton |
| Weight |
Net per single speaker 45 kg
Gross per single speaker 56 kg
Net skateboard 4 kg
Gross skateboard 5 kg |
