Anyone else own EPI/Epicure "back in the day?"

I remember them well from my time at Tech Hifi circa 1978-1980. There were many EPIs there among the others. Eventually I got to demo and sell to customers. The EPIS Advents and OHMs were the lines I liked, not so much JBL, Infinity and others. THe EPIs were very clean and balanced for the day top to bottom as were the others I liked. Build quality was just OK though, especially compared to what's out there today.

I recall them compared to the OHM Ls that I still have. I think all those old speakers would sound very good indeed still these days if in good working order and run of any of the fine amplification options available today compared to back then. But I think there are newer models today at reasonable price points that are much better overall especially in terms of build quality and durability.

I had EPI 150s around 1973-76 or so. Like Rebbi, I wish I still had them to see how they stack up because they were pretty darn good as I recall. Whatever I "upgraded" to was probably a downgrade.

Of the speaker lines I recall liking from back then, I would categorize the EPIs as having very good performance characterized by the most polite top end and perhaps generally being most easy on the ears overall. And I mean that in only a good way. The others I liked at comparable price points tended to have a bigger and somewhat more aggressive sound.

I use a pair of EPI 202s in a secondary system. They are powered by a Sansui Au999 integrated for a vintage vibe. I also have a pair of EPI 350s used in a garage system. Both sound very good, but in a vintage way. Not particularly transparent and smoothed over treble. As an experiment I once substituted the 350s for my pair of Spendor 9/1s in the system with Roksan amplification. The EPIs were place in corners approximately 18 feet apart. The stereo presentation was diffused, not as tonally even, but the bass was great and on some recordings vocals were more in the room than the Spendors.

One thing that's nice about EPIs is that Human and Tribute Audio but provide extensive parts and service for them.

I had the Dynaco A25s, tthen swapped them for the EPI 100s, and finally settled on the JBL 100s back in university dorm days.

I would rank the EPIs definitely a far distant way back of the JBLs and generally a "pick 'em" against the Dynacos , depending on which receiver you had driving them at the time.

Both of the latter were cheaply made and mass-marketed as part of the "new separates" wave geared toward the 70's college crowd that provided an alternative to the Brit flat BBC midrange sound for college dorm rock anthems of the 70s. For their time, they provided a cheap segway into music for students.

By today's speaker performance standards ....IMO they are not even close to the superior performance of today's quality designed and quality built stand-mounts. (Drivers, crossovers, caps and overall design)

IMO today EPIs represent mid-fi at best -- a nostalgia best suited today for a modest "B" or "C" system .... They are not hi-fi strata speakers.