New Speakers - Riddle Thread

Award Winning Stereo Systems
psychotropic said:
hey mpw. rejection is a value-neutral word when it comes to choices that you make while purchasing something. If I choose to buy surf excel i reject Tide as an option. That doesn't mean that people who own Tide ought to feel upset. It's a perfectly good detergent.

Similarly, I like the Paradigm Atom. But I far preferred the Usher S520, and therefore i rejected them (along with several other speakers that I listened to) in favour of the Ushers. Like you said, it's a matter of personal preference, and completely subjective....but the fact remains that any choice involves rejection :) and that's not an insult or an affront!

And no, not athena, not green mountain, not totem.

One more clue. This company is known just as well, if not better for its amplifiers.
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===============================================

psycho,

apologies in advance if you or the members feel i am deviating from this very interesting thread. My 2 bits on using the word "reject" as compared to the word "prefer " is that "reject" carries a negative connotation which may influence potential buyers. Prefer is a subtler word which coveys what you want to say without being brash or abrasive.

( What you say may be logical but Spock was logical but not human.. "prefer" is more human .. i think )

mpw will have no further thing to say on this matter as i do not with to deviate the purpose of this thread which is turning out to be a thriller !!

Sorry once again.. my best wishes to psycho and the members of this forum

regards,
mpw
 
And, all clues lead to...

_images_speakers_model4.jpg
>> Odyssey Audio - Epiphony Mini Monitors

:)
 
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rajapraveen80 said:
I thought Odyssey Audio is USA based.
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IIRC, the designer of the Epiphony is Canadian, and the driver used is TangBand, made in Taiwan (or is it China?). This is supposed to be a really nice speaker too, although I haven't had the privilege of hearing it yet.

My guess would be the older model Epiphony as the newer one is more expensive.
 
I was with Psychotropic when he decided to demo the speakers for the sake of the small group of ppl with him. My first thought about his speakers : these have a similar sound signature to the Usher S-520s I picked up from him. Superb Mids, great highs, and ahem ... anemic bass. Maybe i'm just too misfed with thumpy muddy bass :lol: from my Altec Lansing ATP3 that you can feel, and not just hear .

On a side note, I realized for the 1st time what people mean when they say that great setups can reveal shortcomings of the source.

At Psychotropic's expense, I'll have a laugh here :D After listening to a few good tracks, he put on a CD of Poison (I think "Greatest Hits") which he said was his favourite, and all I could think was :
"Have the mids gotten eaten up ??? It was like a veil was put over the mids. The sounds were not as detailed as before. How could someone call this crappy sounding thingie a favourite :rolleyes: ?"

Now that I've had my laugh, I have to wonder how many of my own CDs are going to fall from grace once I have the S-520s running :o (Currently on the lookout for a decent amp to pair with the S-520s)
 
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Man, the Epiphony must be truely awesome - look at the 'vice like grip' that it has on the OP, leading to his loooong silence.

:)
 
Yeah........ you are absolutely right, Vinod ...

Psycho is now keeping his trap shut ....:). Looks like he picked this stuff up from Frazer Town outlet. GOOD choice, though..... congrats.

Why did you not aim for the Lorelei .... an upgrade should LOOK like one ... bigger the better .... the extra moolah could have been distributed over the months .....

But ....:clapping:
 
avidyarthy said:
Looks like he picked this stuff up from Frazer Town outlet. GOOD choice, though..... congrats.

Why did you not aim for the Lorelei .... an upgrade should LOOK like one ... bigger the better .... the extra moolah could have been distributed over the months
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Hi Avidyarthy,

What is this Frazer Town outlet and what is Lorelei. And you say you can spread your payments. Sounds interesting.

Rgds


Rajesh
 
captrajesh said:
Hi Avidyarthy,

What is this Frazer Town outlet and what is Lorelei. And you say you can spread your payments. Sounds interesting.

Rgds


Rajesh
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Odysseyaudio India outlet.

Vinod and me are convinced Psycho has picked up the Epiphony (BS) from there. Lorelei is the FS model ..... high range.

Spread payments ..... hehe ... meant EMIs.
 
psycho,

i read reviews about the epiphony . They are all excellent indeed. Am keen to know how they sound with the Topping since you sold your NAD.

best regards,
mpw
 
Folks:

Since you're all confused even though I solved the riddle, here goes some analysis:

psychotropic said:
1. In the days when it was available (here's another clue) it was in the region of 600 USD.
2. The speakers have 5/5 on audioreview.com
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AudioReview

psychotropic said:
I may be the only person in India to own these speakers (and likely to remain so) through authorised distribution channels.
Click to expand...

ARN Systems would have confirmed to Psycho that he is the exclusive user.

psychotropic said:
One more clue. This company is known just as well, if not better for its amplifiers.
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Well, yes, apart from speakers, Odyssey are into amps too.

psychotropic said:
But interestingly the one professional review that is available on the internet, for these speakers, compares it to a Dynaudio Audience 42.
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TNT-Audio

:)
 
he he yes vinod. you've got it right. Nice work!! It's the odyssey audio epiphony. Odyssey (and Klaus Bunge) are based in Canada. This speaker uses a woofer from Tangband which is based in Taiwan, and a tweeter from Seas which is Norwegian. The successor to this speaker the Odyssey Audio Epiphony II uses a tweeter from Usher, that's the Usher connection. Odyssey Audio are licensed distributors and re-creators of Symphonic Line products, which is the german connection. etc., etc.,


And to the poster who asked me why not the Lorelei, simply because I don't have the space or the budget.

It was interesting how I chanced upon the Epiphony. I was at ARN listening to something else, when Sridhar asked me if I had heard these speakers. They didn't look particularly impressive, and looked about the same size as the Usher S520. But when I heard them they really blew me away. Not only does it have substantially more LFE than the Usher S520, even the mids and highs are full and musical. Lush, is a word that comes to mind, but I am afraid to use it because it sounds like it's adding something to the sound, but that's not what it's doing, it's just adding life to the performances. And the soundstage and imaging were something else.

I did a swap-out comparison with the S520 and the Epiphony was much much more to my taste. The music had a texture and life to it...you listened to familiar songs and it made you smile....The Usher is a superb pair of speakers for the money, but they come from different philosophies...the Usher is more immediate and in your face, the Odysseys are laidback and lush and involving. I felt it took you a couple of steps closer to the holy grail of feeling like you're listening to the performer in your room...when listening to the Ella and Louis SACD. Of course the Epiphonys come from a higher price bracket and even in that price bracket is reputed to slay much more expensive speakers, so this doesn't reflect poorly on the Usher S520 at all. They remain fantastic speakers in their own right.

And also, while this listening was going on I had no clue what speakers these were. But I knew I wanted them. Unlike every other component purchase where I've read and researched it to within an inch of its life, this was completely un-researched love at first hearing.
 
and gryphon, i do believe you misheard. Poison is not my favourite musically or recording wise. I carried it for the specific purpose of checking out how the Odysseys sounded with a harsh and poor 80s recording. (and it did quite well IMO)
 
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