Price Paid:  $499.00 from Dallas Audio Concepts

Summary:
I am re-doing this review because my browser failed during my first attempt.

I recently purchased these for the rear speakers of my HT system, but am using them as the fronts, in stereo mode, until the front LCR arrive. I am very impressed with the clarity and range of the speaker. The speaker cabinet appears to be solid and well built. The break in period appear to be fairly short and you can hear it open up within a few hours. Even after several hours of listening, they sound crisp without being "shrill" and significant lower frequencies become more apparent over time. DO NOT expect them to sound like full range speakers, but do expect them to have a pretty balanced sound over its frequency range. The speakers seem to have a wide sound stage.

They deserve a listen and consideration for HT, small stereo system, or large system with a sub.

Strengths:
Pretty wide frequency range for such a small speaker.

Weaknesses:
none for the size and price

Price Paid:  $599.00 from Audio Concepts

Summary:
I have been using the Epilogues for almost two years now. I originally bought them to be rear speakers in a home theater environment, but have been using them as the fronts, with my cheap old Polks as the rears. The Epilogues are amazingly clear and are very detailed. However, I would say they are best with female vocals, acoustic music, or light jazz, versus driving rock or other music with a lot of base. When turned up loud, the treble is somewhat harsh. They sound very good with movies. My electronics are more home theater oriented, so I guess the treble problems might be alleviated with some good hi end audio only electronics.

During my search for speakers I listened to a number of brands, but with the Ruarks I was able to listen into the speaker, where as with a lot of the others (NHT, B&W, Alon Little Rascal, etc.) the sound seemed just to come out from the speaker rather than drawing me in. The downside I have since found out is that they don't carry much base weight. The base that is there is taut and good, but there just isn't much of it, as I guess is to be expected from a speaker of such small size. If you listen mostly to rock, blues, or reggae, I wouldn't recommend these. If you lean toward light acoustic music, chamber music, or jazz, you might want to give them a listen. My value and overall rating are given for those who would buy them for those music types and not for rock, blues, or reggae listeners.

My equipment:

Sony DVPS7700 DVD player
Sherwood AVP9080R preamp
Outlaw Model 750 5-Channel Amplifier
Monster power HTS 2000
Tara Labs interconnects
Qudos speaker wire

Strengths:
very clear, produce big sound for small speakers, you can listen into the speakers. Sound great even as fronts for home theater.

Weaknesses:
treble can be harsh, lack of base

Similar Products Used:
cheap polk speakers

Price Paid:  $500.00 from Doug Brady, Warrington, Chesire

Summary:
i demo d the epilogues in a much larger room than what i have at home. Although they sounded rather weak in the shop, they sound good at home, even with cheapo cable.
The B&W 601 sounded nice, but to me, they look ugly compared to the epilogues.

I demo d the Tannoy R1 s very briefly. Within a minute, i told the hifi shop worker that the Tannoys were much inferior to the epilogues.

I demo d with pop cd s.

Strengths:
Lovely sound from such a small box.

Weaknesses:
not much bass.
the cable connectors are crappy plastic ones, not metal. (i have the epilogue v, the epilogue r have metal connectors)

Similar Products Used:
Tannoy R1
B&W 601

Summary:
I use the Ruarks with a Rega Planet CD player, Rega Luna amp, Yamaha KX 580 SE cassette deck, various interconnects from Straightwire and Chorus, and Naim NACA5 speaker cable. The latter has helped to highlight the bass, and improved the imaging.

Compared to the Missions, they are not as muddled, but I think the Missions might be more bass-y. There is a sound like rumbling thunder on Madonna's Ray Of Light that was more in evidence on the Missions, but the Ruarks highlighted more elements of the mix, and were less fatiguing.

You need a good front end to appreciate the Ruarks at their best. The Planet is an excellent CD player, which I have upgraded to since owning the Ruarks. Elliot Smith's lovely Say Yes song from his Either/Or album, through my Marantz/Luna/Epilogue combo sounded very pleasant, like someone twiddling on a guitar late at night. With the Planet there was real rhythm. Proof that the Ruarks can cope with serious equipment, and should not be underestimated!

Strengths:
Punchy, detailed, dynamic,very enjoyable and involving, (nearly) like being there

Weaknesses:
Lack of bass, can be a bit shrill, if I moved into a bigger room, they might sound a bit weedy, but these are minor quibbles

Similar Products Used:
Mission (audition) Wharfedale Diamond 7.1 (I own a pair of these)

Summary:
These are attractive and well made, and on purely physical grounds are a cut above the rest. As mini-monitor speakers in the sub £300 price bracket go, I suppose they're quite good sonically too: I use them with a Naim Nait3 on Atacama stands in a small room, and they're generally quite enjoyable. However, when high quality recordings of a great soprano or tenor are put to them, then the problems start: the upper registers can be absolutely chronic. The simple, peppy qualities that will endear these speakers to pop and jazz fans take a back seat as a grainy and aggessive treble screeches mercilessly into the ears of the unfortunate classical fan: if you like lieder and opera, or solo violin, then save your money a little longer and buy something else!

All in all, if £270 is all you can afford and you want small speakers then the Epilogues are about as good as they get. They're cute and charming, in their way, and work with affordable amps. That said, listening to them sometimes reminds me why people spend considerably more. For people who appreciate classical music - especially classical vocal - an extra couple of hundred pounds will take you a good deal closer to the truth; those who know the difference may find them a little unsatisfactory in the long term.

Strengths:
Clarity and detail, easy to drive. Cheap.

Weaknesses:
Coarse, forward treble.

Similar Products Used:
Mission 780, Tannoy R1, Epos ES12, VA Haydn