More than once have I installed
Montana EPS-2 in various systems, both for music and video. These speakers are worth their price. Solid heavy casing, good filter, firm assembly. Users at forums say that bass is too weak – typical for Montana. This is not true, at least for EPS-2. They do not have an exaggerated bass – it is just smooth. I measured these speakers – the bass is OK within their compass, both by sound and by measurements.
Of course, low-frequency speakers of similar size with deeper bass exist, but their sensitivity is notably lower. These very speakers can be called universal – compatible either with class A low-power tube amplifiers of 40-60 W, or with transistor amplifiers of any power level. The result would be pleasing in both cases.
The weak point of these speakers, in my opinion, is their tweeters. Perhaps they are adequate for their price range, but my ears have been pampered by good loudspeakers – and I dislike these.
Inexpensive tweeters with a silk dome tend to lisp; the resolution is low. Treble usually fails the measurements, amplitude-frequency characteristic is generally more curved. To a greater or lesser degree, this behavior was observed in our case.
That is why I replaced the tweeters in Montana EPS-2 by higher-quality ones several times.
For the first time, I installed
SEAS Excel E0040-06 tweeters, and for the second time -
ScanSpeak Revelator R2904/7000. In both cases sound quality improved dramatically.
With SEAS Excel E0040-06 the sound remains similar to the original in timbre, but becomes more clear and clean. Filter is almost unaffected.
There was much more tinkering with ScanSpeak R2904/7000. First of all, the diameter is smaller than that of SEAS Excel, so it requires centering in the seat within the speaker casing. Second, a lot has to be done about the filter. The sound differs substantially from the original. Treble (subjectively) becomes more expressed without going beyond the bounds of reason, but the resolution increases considerably.
Interior wiring was in both cases replaced by higher quality one.
It’s hard for me to say for sure which variant I find more satisfying. Both sound good, and much better than the original. Besides, the original tweeters may wear out in no time. I repaired them once after such breakdown. Who knows what the reason was – maybe just a defect.
Author:
Timur Sheykhov
