Before I describe the first sonic impressions in my listening room, let me tell you what intrigued me about the Epoque Reference in Göbels own listening room: It was especially the homogeneity of sound reproduction. It really makes a difference whether one listens to a very good multi-driver concept or a design where only one driver emits all sound over 160 hertz. Moreover, the soundstage precision, spatial impression and the amount of detail was similar, but without direct comparison difficult to decide which is better.  I would say they are at an even higher level than my LumenWhite DiamondLight. Unfortunately, the prices of the two Epoque models also reach a higher level: The Reference pair is 175,000 Euros in the price list and the Fine pair, a mere 115,000 Euros.

We have to move out of my study not only the DiamondLight, but also the similarly high priced speaker cables - the Audioquest Wildwood for single-wiring. Not that they would be sonically incompatible with the Fine. The delivered version of the Fine had an optional bi-wiring terminal. With a speaker of this caliber, who would want to be bothered using wire or cable bridges? To avoid this, Oliver Göbel brought along a bi-wire cable from his Lacorde series, which of course also perfectly harmonizes with the Fine. After moving them a little back and forth the "small" Epoques ended up not far from the point where my Lumens usually stand. Certainly, the Fine is a lot more sensitive to changes in the distance from the back and side walls. This is probably due to the rear firing woofers. The final positioning for now is a good compromise in terms of bass and deep bass: In the lowest register, the Fine has a touch less pressure than the Lumen, but it plays in the bass to upper bass region with a little more depth and warmth. And I freely admit that their slightly more opulent and colorful performance offers more listening pleasure than the Lumen. In this area, the Lumen may be a little too cautious.

The DiamondLight certainly does have a very slight advantage in when it comes to the depth of an imaginary soundstage: It seems to extend a bit further back behind the speaker than the Epoque Fine. To squeeze a little more out of this discipline with his creations, Oliver Göbel advises replacing the cables between the phono preamplifier, preamplifer and the power amplifier with the Lacorde out of his production. He is right: The Fine acknowledged the change to the company's own cables with a slightly larger soundstage and a bit brighter sound keeping totally in balance with the vividly colorful upper bass. I think it's only fair to accommodate the Fine a little by creating an environment in which it can demonstrate all of its advantages. After all, I have constantly optimized my stereo system over the years so the Lumens can now operate in a nearly ideal environment. Indeed, the Epoque Fine demands more accommodating than I was willing to grant it. It insists that it be driven by the trusted mono amplifiers that Oliver Göbel used in their development: The equally powerful as expensive, Analog Domain Audio The Athene with an impressive 4000 watts into 4 ohms. How the Fine got me to heave the imposing, more than 70 kg amplifiers up to my listening room located on the third floor? With a minimum impedance of well below 2 ohms, Jonas Hellborg’s deep bass playing on “Elegant Punk” sent one of my two very loyal Brinkmann monos off to the happy hunting grounds. Granted, we listened really, really loud. But this is not the fine art, my dear Fine! However, anyone who is willing to invest in one of these two Epoque models should also have no problem buying a power amp capable of stable operation in less than two ohms.