I had the original EPI 100’s in the 80,s, loved them, moved on, upgraded. They were in the closer for years and I ended up giving them away. Many years later, I still thought about their sound in the back of my mind - so, after some googling, I found Huw of Human Speakers and bought a pair of his 81 and absolutely love them. About a year later, I got the bug to upgrade again and bought a pair of Kef LS50’s. Three weeks later, I sent them back and returned to the 81’s. You can’t go wrong with these!

No weaknesses as far as I’m concerned.

I run these with an old Scott 370b tuner and 222d integrated amp, so consider the system as a whole. I enjoy listening to FM classical music nearfield at quiet to moderate volume, at roughly six to eight feet from the speakers. The speakers are 2 1/2 feet off the wall on 24 inch stands. It is tough to turn it off. The image depth is satisfying. Tone is good. Detail is good. Bass is tight, not boomy. The sound is not bright, zero fatigue. They have the sound I had in mind when I started shopping for speakers. I was lucky to get it right the first time, without an audition. Strings sound great, choral music is otherworldly. Huw did a nice job, with relatively quick delivery.The amp and tuner were done by Pat Hickman of Classic Tube Audio, quality work. I put this system together in early spring of 2016, and it is still sounding great 4 1/2 years later with no issues, none. Used Godar FM-1A antenna, Belden 1313a 10 gauge speaker cable, DH labs silver interconnects, Zero Surge surge protector.

Again, consider the system as a whole. The amp is maybe 20 watts/ channel, the speakers are 89 dB efficient, so cranking it is not on the agenda. I rated them 4/5 because I haven’t heard everything. 5/5 should sound like the Voice of God.

Just bought these Model 81s to replace my EPI 100s (2015)

Huw Powell does a nice job hand crafting these.

Definitely improved over original very crisp, nice tight deep base.

G

Great price for a hand-made speaker from a true craftsman. Sweet sounding tweeter and great mid-range. Very accurate. The sound is just superb.

Just that I waited 5 months to get these from when I placed my order.

I bought these speakers to replace my 25 year old EPI 100T/Es. Their model 81s looked to be closest to my old 100s with their 2-way 8" woofer 1" tweeter configuration. These speakers not only replaced my fine old 100s they blew them away. The tweeters sound as sweet as any I've ever heard and they are superbly accurate. No need to push up the bass or treble controls to get these to sound great. There is plenty of bass response for someone who no longer needs to get the walls shaking and sending the neighbors running for cover. I can't tell you they handle heavy metal but they are great for the jazz and acoustic music my wife and I listen to thise days. I would consider these to be more of a bookshelf speaker rather then floorstanding. They have slightly smaller cabinets then my EPI 100s. These are made to order by a craftsman (Huw Powell)in a small shop who once worked for the legendary Genesis Physics Corp. who made some truly great speakers in the late 70s to early 80s. Mine are in oak finish and I requested Dark grill covers (their standard cover is silvery/white) and Huw handled the special request well. They are great looking,in a classic speaker kind of way.

Similar Products Used:

Genesis IIs, EPI 100T/E

Bargain price. Beautiful high end: 26khz plus or minus 3db Great low end: 40hz plus or minus 3db Very musical and easy to listen to. Very accurate and can fill a larger room easily; I'm using them in an 22'x20' room with 15' ceilings.

The 81's accuracy makes for stunning reproduction; but poorly produced cd's are painful to listen to because every flaw is revealed.

This is the best small bookshelf speaker you can get for the price, and you can easily spend four or five times as much only to have a speaker that is nearly as good. The 81 is a descendant of the EPI 100 and is an evolutionary step forward with smaller dimensions; smoother, sweeter high end; and much more refined, articulated low end. Anyone who appreciates a musical and accurate speaker will love these.

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JBL L-166 EPI 100 Boston Accoustic

Separation Low frequency

Not the most attractive speakers.

This is a review of the 81-10, which Hue is unfortunatley no longer producing. I recently had the opportunity to audition a number of speaker systems in the $1500+ range and I can honestly say that it was with great satisfaction that I returned to my home system which has been cobbled together over the last couple of years from used equipment researched through this site. These speakers do almost everything well without resorting to any exaggerated charateristics. I listen to a large amount of percussion, which ranges from the highs of cymbals to the boom of Japanese kodo drums. The highs are clean and brilliant and the bass is extended without being at all boomy. This helps against listener fatigue which is all too common with so many speakers out there that try too hard. Imaging is crisp with a wide soundstage and very acceptable depth. It took me 8 months to get these speakers (Hue, the owner of Human and the maker of these speakers is a great fellow who hand crafts each pair. Be patient it is worth it) but once I got them I knew it was worth the wait. Take a chance. You''ll be glad you did. My system consists of the following: Pioneer PD-65 CD Player a/d/s Ed Meitner idat-m D/A converter Meitner interconnects JH Labs digital cable Home brew speaker cables Acurus DIA 100 integrated amp

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Angstrom Epos

Nice warm uncoloured natural sound. I listen to classical music mostly. Perfect balanced sound with no obvious problems. Have listened to music material in reel to reel, cassette, CD and LP (remember those?) format.

Tends to be a bit strident on loud trumpet and french horn pieces. Can be reduced by cutting down the tweeter output by -3 dB (has three settings, 0, -3 and -6 dB)

EPI 120C -- now have had them for exactly 22 years. Still going strong paired with a Yamaha CA-510 (same vintage). Heavy big boxes that have travelled 3000 km in a truck when I moved to current location.

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Fisher speakers

Everything but...

imaging

Ok first off i dont have the 81's I have the 81-10's but Audio Review hasnt put up that product yet so I'll post here. These speakers do almost everything extremely well, there is not much in the way of competition out there in that price range, or double the price for that matter. Bass was good enough to put a 10" Velodyne in the closet, midrange was excellent, you would never guess that it was a two way system. Highs, well i cant even really describe it, if you've never heard an old EPI/Genesis speaker then I pity you. (read the review on the EPI 100, it is explained in great detail there, and better than i can do) The imaging was the only weakness i ever found, but it is still on par or better than anything else in its price range. (One possible exception, the Silent Speaker, by Direct Acoustics) These are just excellent speakers and I dont want to waste to much more of your time so I'll leave you with one thought: In the year and a half that used these as main speakers for both music and HT, I was never once, not once, envious of another speaker. Not in a showroom, not anywhere...(until i heard some EPI 20+'s) You cant go wrong with these.

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Nothing for 500 to 1500 bucks

Best sound
you can get
for money

none

Epi the best loadspeakers you can get for money.
My speakers are over 25 years old but they are sounding as new speakers.
Spesifications:3"Tweeter
1"Super doome
10"power bass(500 Watt)
To 12"bass on every side of the speakers(down)
Im wery pleased with the speakers.d

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