# Epicure speakers



## scottmoberly (Sep 8, 2006)

I am building a house, the builder uses a local home theater company to do all of the custom wiring. The builder has recommended installing Epicure brand in wall/ceiling speakers.

I have searched the internet, and aside from Epicure's website, I can find no recent information regarding these speakers.

It appears as though the brand may be owned by Harman International, but other wise...aside from a reference on the local home theater company's website...nothing.

Does anyone know anything about this company?


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

I have never heard of them. The specs on them look good but you can't buy speakers from specs. Get the person to take you somewhere that they are installed and Listen to them to decide if you want them or not.


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## jclangston (Oct 19, 2010)

Over the past 5 years I have tried several different brands of speakers B&W, Klipsch, Polk, and Infinity. There is a company out there that isn't that well known outside the audio community called Golden Ear. Its a company started by the founder of Polk. In my opinion they are the most well balanced natural sounding "affordable" speaker out there. They are only sold by dealers, do yourself a favor go on the Golden Ear website and see if there is a dealer in your area and go listen to them. They make many models from free standing towers and in wall. All of their speakers have great bass response and use a ribbon tweeter which gives exception detail without the harshness of a horn tweeter like Klipsch uses. Just be cautious of brands installers push, they are in the business of making money if you catch my drift.


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## scottmoberly (Sep 8, 2006)

Actually, the company with which I am working is also a Golden Ear distributor.....they wanted me to go with a 3 channel sound bar vs. the wall mounted speakers...


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

Why settle for a soundbar? A 5.1 or 7.1 setup will give you a theater like experience.


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## scottmoberly (Sep 8, 2006)

Yes, I agree, that's why I opted for the 5.1 set up vs. the sound bar.


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## scottmoberly (Sep 8, 2006)

They have a surround sound set up in their showroom so that I can listen to these speakers....I am sure they have optimal listening conditions...but aside from simply listening to them and deciding if they sound good to me...is there anything else?


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

scottmoberly said:


> They have a surround sound set up in their showroom so that I can listen to these speakers....I am sure they have optimal listening conditions...but aside from simply listening to them and deciding if they sound good to me...is there anything else?


Power Rating......Frequency Response......Sensitivity......Impedance.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

scottmoberly said:


> They have a surround sound set up in their showroom so that I can listen to these speakers....I am sure they have optimal listening conditions...but aside from simply listening to them and deciding if they sound good to me...is there anything else?





MysteryMan said:


> Power Rating......Frequency Response......Sensitivity......Impedance.


Buying speakers is based on what sounds good to you. Yes you need to think about some specs but for the most part the big thing to watch is RMS vs peak for power ratings. Other than that I wouldn't worry about anything as long as it sounds good to you. Also take a movie and some music of different types. Classical is always people's default but classical is also misleading sometimes if you bring a heavy metal or a current edm track as well you will hear how it handles consistent lows over a long period. This can show you how things will be for long action sequences or how responsive things are. Another huge plus is if you can get all of your AV equipment on the same circuit without anything else on it. This basically gives you a common ground for all that equipment and reduces noise/hum that you can hear when you start to turn your volume up.


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

Shades228 said:


> Buying speakers is based on what sounds good to you. Yes you need to think about some specs but for the most part the big thing to watch is RMS vs peak for power ratings. Other than that I wouldn't worry about anything as long as it sounds good to you. Also take a movie and some music of different types. Classical is always people's default but classical is also misleading sometimes if you bring a heavy metal or a current edm track as well you will hear how it handles consistent lows over a long period. This can show you how things will be for long action sequences or how responsive things are. Another huge plus is if you can get all of your AV equipment on the same circuit without anything else on it. This basically gives you a common ground for all that equipment and reduces noise/hum that you can hear when you start to turn your volume up.


Most speakers sound "good". Calibrating and level matching will make them sound "better".


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

Check the discussions over at avsforum.com. You will find a lot of good informatin there. I personally have Paradigm speakers in my family room in a 6:1 configuration and Energy (a Klipsch company) in my master bedroom.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

MysteryMan said:


> Most speakers sound "good". Calibrating and level matching will make them sound "better".


While I understand what you're saying my point is this. For all intent and purposes specs of speakers are going to be roughly the same within the same price bracket (and most of the time lower as well). The main difference will be the quality of materials used in the cabinet and whatever style speakers/coils they go with. Without going into audiophile levels I'd say the room environment will impact the sound more than the specs variances (unless extreme). Everyone hears things differently and most people don't spend the amount of time listening to speakers enough to really here the difference. They go into the showroom and the store has preset things to listen to which have been calibrated. You may hear some variances of highs and lows but generally not enough to validate changing your mind from your assumptions. If you spend a couple of hours listening to different things then you start to really hear where things pickup or dropout. Do the 2 passive speakers provide more low end for music but muddy out during action scenes? Does the dual tweeter sound great with movies but lose their clarity with music. Most speaker companies live on reputation and unless there's something glaringly wrong most people accept the slight imperfections as their hearing and not the speakers anyways because so many people couldn't be wrong.


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## coolman302003 (Jun 2, 2008)

I would consider Emotiva *Pro* speakers as well as others already mentioned (Energy, Golden Ear etc.).


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

Shades228 said:


> While I understand what you're saying my point is this. For all intent and purposes specs of speakers are going to be roughly the same within the same price bracket (and most of the time lower as well). The main difference will be the quality of materials used in the cabinet and whatever style speakers/coils they go with. Without going into audiophile levels I'd say the room environment will impact the sound more than the specs variances (unless extreme). Everyone hears things differently and most people don't spend the amount of time listening to speakers enough to really here the difference. They go into the showroom and the store has preset things to listen to which have been calibrated. You may hear some variances of highs and lows but generally not enough to validate changing your mind from your assumptions. If you spend a couple of hours listening to different things then you start to really hear where things pickup or dropout. Do the 2 passive speakers provide more low end for music but muddy out during action scenes? Does the dual tweeter sound great with movies but lose their clarity with music. Most speaker companies live on reputation and unless there's something glaringly wrong most people accept the slight imperfections as their hearing and not the speakers anyways because so many people couldn't be wrong.


A novice will purchase speakers based on how they sound. A Home Theater enthusiast will pay attention to the specs as well as how the speakers sound.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

And listen a lot in just basic, stereo. In fact, id find a pure direct type mode that bypasses all bass and treble and nay other altering kind of setting. That will make all the speakers really have to work on their own to recreate sound stages, and that can be more helpful at really telling if its a receiver manipulating the speakers or if the speakers are just that good at sound stages.

Also, consider what they are driving the speakers with. You don't want them to use a 2500 receiver if yours is 400, its not going to sound the same simply because there is likely a massive difference in real power there. (I'm not talking about what its rated for watts. Listen to anything with a torridal power supply vs without, and if they are good sized speakers, its night and day.


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## jclangston (Oct 19, 2010)

Scott, did you ever decide on a brand of speaker?


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## scottmoberly (Sep 8, 2006)

so, my plan is to go the the showroom for the AV provider and listen to the speakers....the "easiest" and most cost effective solution is to go with their product--if installed at the time of the build, I pay no sales tax and can roll the cost in to the mortgage....


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