Episode Speakers...any thoughts?

I had them sent to a local dealer and I did a short listening test in their store.

Bad part of the experience was that the sales staff didnt care to try to even "sell" them too me....the demo was horrible and they kept wanting to sell me on their B&Ws instead (damn I hate those guys for that!!)

From what I did hear, I thought they were a decent and neutral speaker. The bright or detail highs where not there instead it was just smooth to my ear.

The room was not really treated and I think they had them further apart so again the demo was a horrible over all experience.


I did some research on in-wall design and I had a thread on it a while back.

I have tested the following in-wall (non-BSC designs)

Episodes
Salk HTS
Ascend HTM200s
Emotiva ERM-1s


The Salks are really good speakers an are perfect for in-wall applications but so are the Emotiva at 1/2 the price.

In the end I kept the Emotiva's only because Im now building my own high quality, high spl in-wall speakers and the Emotivas are being used until then.

Emotivas are not great for High SPLs but for normal listening I think they are pretty good if you have a bass system also because they definitely do not do much below 100Hz.

The Episodes are entry-level, but for and entry-level, they are better than a lot of what's out there imo. To get really good sound you are going to have to go with a closed-back design and spend a bit more money than what the Episodes cost. Certainly, nothing wrong with the speakers, though. A pretty good bargain if you ask me.

Entry level?

Compared to what...aren't they around $600 each so thats $1800 for 3?

I also heard they are the cheaper version of the PSB CH80s.

They are not entry level speakers. They do have affordable speakers and other speakers that go for $800 each.(bookself speakers) They were reviewed by CE Pro around 2 months ago.

I'm new to the forum as well.

I have personal experience with most of the Episode products.

The Episode Speaker brand has been scrutinized by our field techs in our audio lab, as well as by me personally. As a audio consultant in both the professional audio world as well as the residential environments, we take speaker performance quite seriously. If we can't easily and accurately reproduce the listed specifications in our lab, then we simply don't use the product. Period.

I'd say about 65% of equipment we test doesn't live up to it's own literature, and I fully expected that these products would not, either. There is an incredible array of 'me too' speaker companies out there. We have tried many of them, only to return to better quality products from Dali, Angstrom, Snell and a couple others.

Needless to say, I was extremely skeptical when I was first introduced to this line. I just did not think that a product I had not ever heard of in 22 years of audio design would be able to perform well in this arena (value-driven in-walls).

However, much to my surprise, we are extremely happy with the Episode products. They seem to continually update the product line to meet specific performance vs. cost benchmarks, yet maintain a level of quality that is quite good. Now, I'm not going to say that they'll win a shootout with any of the speakers mentioned above, but all things considered (mostly that they are half as much) they'll certainly hold their own for a large majority of people that hear them.

These speakers are articulate in the midrange (especially the top tier units) without creating a noticeable bloom (which, personally, drives me crazy) and they produce very nice low end to about 85hz. If you're using them in a theatre environment, the room correction switches do work as advertised, and we've employed these switches to attenuate for hard wood floors (-3db) and insulation panel walls (+3db).

One more interesting thing about this company (at least to me) is that apparently it was started by (and continues to be owned by?) one guy. I don't really know anything about him, but the corporate structure seems to reflect that there is someone making decisions that actually cares about how the product performs. They offer great warranties, and all we've had to do to get a unit replaced was call them up, explain the situation, and they sent us new ones, even before we sent the old ones back. This is a little thing, but it allowed the client to continue to use their audio system, and that reflected on us.

how do we know you don't work for that company? that is an interesting first post.

I'm no expert, but I think these speakers are the real deal. I came here to see if episode was a well established mfg or not. The story I got from a high end audio guy in town, was that an ex Klipsch guy is designing all of their speakers. I did listen to them toe to toe with some boston acoustics in-walls, and they were substantially better. quite a bit more money though. I just feel like.. did they just get lucky? throw some generic drivers into and abs frame, and they sound good? or is there more to it? I would appreciate some more input on these. I found the website episodespeakers.com

Greetings all,

Few things....Montana1 is not working here....but if he sends me an email, I will send him a pair of the speakers as a "thank you" for the review and kind words.

Bottom line is the Episode speakers rock and if you haven't heard about the promotion we introduced this week, then you haven't seen anything yet.

Here's the deal - Snap AV was started by a frustrated installer. Almost everyone working here has been an installer at some point. The business model is fairly simple and we can't figure out why nobody else is trying to replicate what we are trying to do...but oh well....good for us.

We believe that we should focus on making fantastic products and selling them at lower dealer costs than our competition and keeping the MSRP's the same as similar competing products on the market. We aggressively protect our line's integrity and only sell directly to professional dealers that know how to design and install outstanding systems.

Specifically regarding our speakers - they are quickly becoming a complete line including 100, 300, 500, 700 and soon to introduce 900 series products. Each series from the 300 and up are timbre matched and provide multiple configurations to allow for flexible system designs and installations to match customer's application needs.

We build our products with significantly better components, all are "ground up" designs and we own the tooling, some IP on unique technologies and our development team is unmatched in the industry. The speaker design team consists of 7 engineers with a combined experience of designing speakers for over 135 years. The team is headed up by Rune Karsbaek who served as lead engineer/designer for companies like Jamo. Between these folks we have designed speakers for Jamo, Elan, SpeakerCraft, Proficient, Boston Acoustics, Leon, Russound, Totem, PSB, Velodyne and many more. SHort story here is these guys know wht the hell they are doing in this space.

I have the joy of heading this group up as the manager and can't believe the level of energy and drive to "do the right thing" for the custom installation industry. These guys are on fire and have many more surprises coming out in the coming months.

I mentioned the promotion that is in place, but we also offer a $100 money back comparison challenge that you can read about on our web site.

If you have more questions, check out the site or contact either Rune or me direct via email.

Enjoy!

Steve Hayes
VP Product Development
Snap AV

Full line ranging from entry level up to the mid-range. I sold PSB for years as a custom installer in New England.....these are NOT PSB...all due respect to Paul B. - our focus has been performance and not maximizing manufacturer profit margin, and you can tell the difference the minute you open up one of the boxes.

Just try a pair of our 500 SAT speakers and you will be blown away.....

Enjoy!

Just let me interject that I've known Steve Hayes for twenty years, and he's a friend. He has credibility in this industry as a dealer, installer, consultant, and even president of CEDIA. So, basically, Steve's the real dealio...

Just FYI...

Hey Paul,

20 years goes fast huh? Crap!

Thanks for the "cred" statement. Hope all is well with you and the Triad team.

Rocking on in 2010!!!!!

Long time lurker...I just wanted to add my thoughts on the Episode speaker line. I have my own installation/integration company and I have used their speakers for about 2 years for various installs, at first I used them when I was bidding jobs against other companies that offered the same lines we carried Polk, Velodyne etc- Episode was so new that it had its own challenges since no one heard of them...I was my own guinea pig. I have the worst luck with everything so I needed to try first before I offer it to a client. Once hooked up, they sounded pretty awesome. So I used them a few times for jobs that came from referrals

Once I heard them I was surprised how good they actually sounded so I used them more often, once I heard their entire line I loved them more and more. The build quality, sound and the fact not every other integrator or retailer sells them makes me happy. Now I use them exclusively unless I have a client to has specific needs or brand commitment. I personally have a 5.1 set up in my media room using the A6 LCRs in walls and and Es 500s in my ceiling (Yamaha 6290 )and the same through out my home for my distributed audio system (Proficient Audio M6). I may change out a few to the 700 series and once the in-ceiling dipole comes out I will definitely be using those In the last 2 years I only had one defective unit and it was a break in the copper coil most likely from shipping. Bottom line they rock if they are in my house!

The only thing(s) that I wish with myself being a Canadian company was that I were not excluded from the promotions, contests, sale prices and dealer access!


To the original poster, you wont regret these speakers, they sound great. They are not magic, so if your room is barren or in need of some treatment nothing will sound great.

P.S. to Steve @ Snap AV Make some back boxes for your in walls and keep up the good work, and show some love to Canadians.

S

You are an installer and you used in ceiling speakers for your own media room? Also you can't just stick a back box on an in-wall speaker. The speaker has to be designed from the ground up to be an enclosed speaker. Any company that offers a back box for an open baffle design speaker is just trying to take your money.

Yes I used in ceiling speakers. Its a mixed media room in a house built in 1970, the rear wall in particular wall is not retro friendly. Lower wall is concrete then about 3 feet up it juts outwards close to 6 inches and their isn't enough depth to stick anything in the walls, its not even at all and on the adjacent wall they added a second sheet of drywall so that the recepticals appear to be flush lol. On the other side its wide open for the kids area so it wasn't practical without doing more work than I intended. Things like that aren't a priority, working on a new deck and next is a bathroom remodel. I'm hoping to convert my garage into my man cave next year since we have never parked a car in there...ever heh.

Re; back boxes. Good point. The reason I mentioned it was because they have a new in ceiling LCR coming out that appears to be completely enclosed (from the pics I saw)

It was just surprising to read of an installer that chose in-ceiling speakers, but now I understand why.

Even open baffle designs have an optimum rear cubic inch volume that provides maximum performance. We are currently working on a back box that is designed to reduce sound transfer to the next room (not maximize performance)...and we will soon have posted a grid of information regarding cubic inch voids to target in-wall and in-ceiling to maximize the performance of each speaker.

As always, thanks for the continued feedback and suggestions.

Cheers,

Steve-
Thanks for posting on here so we can learn more about your products. I am working with a custom installer in my area that recently started using your products, and I am curious to learn a little more from you...

- I don't see anything about a promotion on your site... or is that something I need to learn about from my installer?

- Is the A5 Series surround different than the 500 series? Or would they match? (I like the idea of the bipole/dipole in-wall A5-SURRIW-4) or is the in-ceiling ES-500-ICSURR-6 the more appropriate match?

- Would the A5 Series surround match with the 700 series? Or would there be a better choice for surround to go with the ES-700-IWLCR-5?

- Any plans for an LCR speaker as part of the 500 series?

- Can you give any info on the 900 series, or other items coming out soon?


Thanks.

Its good to read the positive comments about the Episode speakers. My installer will be using a pair of Episode A6-Series 4 in. -Dual Driver In-Wall Speakers (A6-CLRIW-4) for our rear wall surround speakers. He is planning to place them at ear level height in the wall directly behind our seating area.

Install is this Saturday so I will post later regarding their sound in our room. We are having our Panasonic TCP65V10 mounted on a Sanus XF228 full articulating mount, with Artisan Masterpiece speakers and custom grills on the TV for the Left-Center-Right. The Episodes in the rear wall and a Boston Acoustics wireless subwoofer. Adding a Onkyo TXSR707 and MX810 master remote into the mix.

We have had the TV 4 weeks now and getting anxious to finally get the sound system installed!

First...you are working with a very smart custom installer!

Regarding promotions...we only offer promotions directly to our dealers to try to get them to be more excited about our products. Nothing too big or exciting, but enough to catch their attention in the world of other manufacturer's yelling at them. We don't offer promotions to end users and leave those relationships alone as we believe it is appropriate for the installer and client to establish and maintain their own working relationships without us sticking our fingers in the mix. Hope you understand.

The A5 speakers are our older models and we are transitioning away as we introduce the new ES line. I would suggest using the 500 series over a mix-n-match system as the ES line is all timbre matched by series.

As with the 500 question above...I would use all 700 series speakers. We are working on surrounds for all of our series (300-900) and will have all of those products on the market by the end of the year.

I am assuming you are asking about an in-wall 500 LCR...yes, that is almost complete and will be on the market in the coming months.

The 900 uses the same high performance unpressed paper and carbon enlaced bass driver but switches to ribbon tweeters. We will have both 2 and 3 way speaker options with the 3-way containing a honeycomb midrange. These units sound absolutely fantastic but take up some real estate. We are working on both in-wall and box (tower) options.

Hope this helps.

As a Klipsch dealer, and an Episode dealer, I can say the Episode HT 650's w/525 surrounds sounds every bit as good (if not better, and I do understand it's subjective) as the Klipsch THX Ultra2 system, which is more than double the price. I currently have the HT 650 x3 for LCR, and the 525's as surrounds, with the 12" Episode sub in our main showcase theater, powered by a Sony STR DA5400ES. This is where I had the Ultra's as well. I personally like the clarity of the ribbon tweets over the horn for clarity and dialog intelligibility, and they are a little more musical than the Klipsch. These now occupy my own home theater; I am authorized as PSB, Era, Mirage, Klipsch, and a few others so for the homestead my options are many. But I love movies, and the Episode is perfect for me. I am looking forward to the ES 700 book shelfs; while I don't expect them to be in the same league as our PSB Synchrony's, I won't be paying three times the price.

As an update, I have decided to go with the brand new Episode 700 series in-wall LCR speaker (ES-700-IWLCR-5) for the Theater Room we are building. I am actually going to do 7 of the LCRs, and then add an Episode Sub (C5-SUB12) (and an SVS PC12-Plus sub that I already own) to the system to make it 7.2.

Looking forward to it!!! I will post back again once everything is up and rockin'.

(By the way, I will be using these with a Yamaha 765, Sony 370 Blu-ray, and will be getting an Optoma HD8200 projector.)

I am a Dealer as well and I have (3) 650's in front , the Kevlar coned in-walls and in-ceilings for surround, (2) 10" subs and a 123" Dragonfly screen in my demo room.

For the money, the sound is spectacular and I have sold several similar set-ups. Many people do not recognize the name, but once they hear them, they are sold.

I have installed the sound-perf screen as well about a month ago for a customer with a Mits HC7000 and it looks great.

My only complaint is that the older outdoor speakers did not product much bass - that may be better now.

Chad

Steve, one of the local shops did a demo for me on your ES700 series speakers and I was quite impressed even though I only got to listen to the bookshelf. He couldn't find a center speaker for the ES700 series. Is one of these coming out later or am I suppost to lay the bookshelf in the series on it's side. He didn't have the tower in stock for my to listen too but I think I might go with the towers up front, bookshelf models in the back, and then my question for you about what to use as a center. Thank you for your input.

It looks like there is a matching center on the way:

http://www.snapav.com/snapav/images/...e-overview.pdf

I am, like many who have posted on here, a custom home theater installer. I discovered Snap AV about a year and a half ago and I haven't looked back since. I've always prided myself on my reputation and the products from SnapAV have only helped to strengthen it.

I won't sell products I don't believe in, nor do I sell products I don't or won't personally own and place in my home. I have played with and highly recommend Episode speakers, great product, high quality, excellent sound which cannot be had for the same price points from other brands I've tried or even sell myself. To exceed the Episode speakers you have to spend a great deal more money, and really, is it worth it?

I'm so happy with Snap AV I recommend them to a former employee of mine who started his own business and he now gladly recommends and sells Snap AV products to his clients and has thanked me repeatedly for turning him onto Snap AV.

It goes beyond merely their speakers though. I have a fixed Dragonfly screen I tried on a whim and I was very surprised and happy to have it on display. It competes with a lot of the higher priced screens I was doing in the past. The only things I'd like Steve to look at is doing a larger boarder frame, I'd like to see 3.75" to 5" as an option even just as a custom order option and an ATS electric screen.

Just 4 days ago I installed my first Dragonfly motorized screen, a 100" High Contrast model and I have to say, WOW! I was expecting a decent screen, but I was blown away, no hot spotting, even color, great gain and contrast for a room where I couldn't completely control the light. The client was ecstatic when I finished the install, which incidentally included the new 500 series LCR's, the sound is detailed and natural, dialog is easy to understand and separation is defined. Once again Snap AV delivered on all counts.

The screen I installed retailed for $1,299.00, the last motorized screen I installed cost me $1,341.00 and didn't perform anywhere near as well as the Dragonfly model! The motor was quick and quiet in both directions, easy to install and setup with an excellent amount of leader fabric at the top. The other screen I'd installed, I had to specify a leader length longer than 8", the motor was loud, there was an option for a Somfy motor at an additional $650.00, and the screen wasn't perfectly flat. Sad to say that I won't be ordering anymore screens from the other company.

I have now tried and continue to highly recommend Snap AV's products, their speakers, subwoofers, screens, mounts and line conditioners. I'm anxious to try out their new theater seating if I can get a client to bite as well as some of the other products which I haven't had a need for yet.

The last couple of years have been very lean in my industry and I am happy to have Snap AV products to offer to my clients and to have on display in my own setups. I recently relocated back to Colorado Springs, CO. and I'm excited to introduce these products to my new clients here as well as upgrade my older clients in Montrose, CO.

Keep up the great work Steve and from one custom AV guy, and I probably speak for a lot of us, Thank You for creating Snap AV!

And to anyone considering or being offered by their dealers Episode, Binary, Dragonfly or other Snap AV products, I say go for it! You won't be disappointed!

... to the previous posters.

I am a life long enthusiast, but new to the installer business. My friend who has been installing theaters for a long time introduced me to snapav and on the first large theater we installed he used episode only speakers.

I raised my eyebrows at his choice and he assured me they were going to sound nice, though he himself had not had a ton of experience with Episode. We were both shocked at the final product. The sound is amazing, and I have not heard better at the price point. We had ordered a very nice atlantic inwall sub, but the distributer messed up the order and at the last second we decided to go with the new inwall sub that snapav had just released. We are so glad we switched. At less of a price the episode sub was much better. We loved the sound and more importantly the customer loved it too.

Right now I am demo'ing a pair of the new ES-700-twr-6-blk loud speakers from SnapAV and I am completely blown away. I grew up listening to jazz on my father's horn loaded Altec's and more recently I have been listening to linaeum tweetered speakers and mirage speakers (of which I love both for different reasons). These kill others I have listened to in the same price point.

The fit and finish of these speakers are remarkable. The sound is full and present. My oscar peterson station on Pandora (I know its lossy streaming, but it still sounds amazing) has never sounded better.

SnapAV has the monumental task of making their mark in an already crowded boutique market when it comes to the Episode speakers. Though if they keep up the quality and price point they are pushing now they will have no problem. They treat there dealers and end customers like gold.

For anyone who has a chance to checkout Episode speakers, dont hesitate, you will not regret it!

I'm in the process of installing a 7.1 system using the ES500 LCR-4 and a 10" C5 Sub. The craftmanship of the speaker itself is amazing, and I'm very much looking forward to putting some sound through 'em.

BUT...

The stock bracket that comes with them is disappointing. For the two fronts and center channel speakers, I'm using the standard flush mount bracket and there is a LOT of "play" after you slide the "male" speaker connector into the "female" slide. The speaker is loose in the bracket so it hangs at an angle to the wall, not plumb with it.

For the other speakers I'm using the swivel ball mounts so it'll be easier to adjust for the "sag".

Does anyone have any suggestions or know of a better option for mounting these bad boys?

thanks!

Wes

Did you install the large, rubber bumpers on the lower, rear corners of the speakers?

They didn't come with any large bumpers, only very small silicone bumps for use if the speaker sits on a shelf or entertainment center.