EPI Model 201
A bookshelf speaker built from two of the same driver modules that made the little Model 100 famous - and the period press noticed the highs first.
Overview
EPI was a new name when the audio press first got its hands on the line, and the Model 201 was the second rung up the ladder. The design was modular. Each enclosure held one or more identical woofer/tweeter modules, and the Model 201 carried two where the entry-level Model 100 carried one. The Model 500 had four, and the "Tower" Model 1000 had four as well, one on each surface. The idea was to find a driver complement that worked, then scale it by repetition rather than redesign a crossover for every cabinet size. High Fidelity (April 1970, p.44) reported that Epicure had made modifications to the Quartet system, Model 201.
The two-module layout is the thing to understand about the 201. The single-module Model 100 was a small bookshelf box. The 201 doubled the driver count in a larger enclosure, which buys efficiency and output without abandoning the voicing that made the first model work. Reviewers testing the 201 in early 1971 came away impressed with the top end in particular. HiFi-Stereo (February 1971, p.46) reported that the 201's highs were excellent, and that with the tweeter level control set to minimum the high frequencies were practically perfect. That is a striking result, given that the manufacturer's own guidance apparently pointed toward the maximum setting.
That tweeter level control is worth a closer look. A speaker that sounds best with its high-frequency attenuation dialed all the way down says something about the balance of the room and the recording. The same review noted tone-burst performance that held up across the band, with oscilloscope traces taken at 80, 1,500, and 8,000 Hz all looking clean. Even allowing for a response wobble the reviewer attributed to the test setup, the overall variation came in around ±5 dB - a figure the magazine itself described as very good indeed for a speaker of this type.
The line saw running changes as it matured. High Fidelity (April 1970, p.44) reported that Epicure had modified the Quartet system, Model 201, adding an impedance switch so the user could choose either 4 ohms - described as most efficient with many solid-state amplifiers - or 16 ohms for tubed circuits. The same update brought a brilliance control and an easily removed grille cloth.
The 201 does not have a deep paper trail, at least on the available evidence. The period coverage is specific about what the reviewers heard, but the documentary record is thinner than the Model 100's. The 10-year guarantee that shipped with the line, including shipping, was an unusually generous commitment for the era.
For a listener today, the appeal is straightforward: a two-module EPI with a tweeter control that lets you tame a bright room, an impedance switch on the revised version that opens up amplifier matching, and a driver architecture shared across the whole family so parts are not a dead end. It rewards a careful setup and a modest amplifier more than it rewards brute force. That is a very different proposition from the spec-sheet arms race of the period, and it is why the 201 still has defenders.
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