Floorstanding loudspeakers — Epos ES-28N

The ES-28N tops the current Epos range, an English loudspeaker brand now run from Essen in Germany after its acquisition by Fink, and it joined the ES-7N and ES-14N as the third model of the new series. Karl-Heinz Fink designed it. The speaker was first presented at High End 2024 with deliveries planned for the fourth quarter of that year, at an expected EUR 8,000 per pair, while the UK price was set at GBP 7,500.

Key specs that matter

Epos chose a true three-way layout rather than the two-way or 2.5-way approach common at this size. Two 7-inch bass units with 36 mm voice coils use hybrid ferrite and neodymium magnets and injection-moulded straight cones with mica filling, finished with inverted dust caps. A 130 mm midrange with a 30 mm voice coil, double ferrite magnet and mica-filled polypropylene cone sits above them, and the 28 mm tweeter has an aluminium and ceramic compound dome without ferrofluid. Both of the larger drivers hang on low-hysteresis rubber surrounds. The crossover splits the band at 330 Hz and 2,700 Hz using second- and fourth-order Linkwitz-Riley slopes. Epos quotes in-room extension from below 30 Hz up to 25 kHz and average distortion under 0.2 percent at 86 dB between 100 Hz and 10 kHz. The cabinet stands 1050 mm tall, 250 mm wide and 360 mm deep and weighs 35 kg.

Engineering and use context

The bass drivers were optimised specifically for three-way duty and are related to those of the ES-14N, while the midrange comes from the ES-7N and the tweeter is shared with the smaller models, each with minor changes. Cabinet walls are sandwich panels in which a high-damping glue joins two MDF boards, stiffened by one-dimensional braces. The 50 mm front panel uses a double layer of this construction and is slightly tilted to time-align the drivers. The midrange works in its own separate enclosure, and the crossover sits in a separate compartment to keep cabinet vibration away from its parts. Bass loading is reflex through a port designed for low noise. Connection is through custom low-metal-mass 4 mm banana terminals, and four adjustable metal feet with radiused tips support the cabinet. Finishes are walnut, white semi-matte, black semi-matte and jade green.

Pairing

The load averages above 6 ohm but falls to a minimum of 3.9 ohm at 16 kHz, and sensitivity is 86 dB for 2.83 V at 1 m. Fink names valve amplifiers from Canor as a good match for the design.

Alternatives

The Epos Epic 5 is a floorstanding 2.5-way reflex model from an earlier line, rated at 4 ohm and 92 dB with a height of 91.5 cm.