Epos LS3 or Wharfedale Diamond 9.1?

If my choices were only between the EPOS ELS3 and the Wharfedale Diamond 9.1, I would choose the Diamond 9.1 with no hesitation.

I owned the EPOS ELS3 and found them to sound somewhat boxy and congested in the upper bass. I also felt that the EPOS could not be driven all that loud before breaking up. I used them with solid state components ... a vintage Marantz 2240 receiver; an Audiosource power amp; a Music Hall CD 25 cd player; and a JVC 602 DVD player. I had the Diamond 8.1's in the same set-up and the differences were fairly noticeable. The sound was very clear and open and the Diamonds worked well in a variety of placements. The 9.1's offer improved sound, especially in the bass department ... a real step above both the Diamond 8.1 and the EPOS ELS3.

If you are open to other options, I would audition the NHT SB2's. These are the small monitors that I ultimately went with and have kept. I prefer how these speakers sound with both solid state and tube components ... very musical sounding.

Regards, Rich

I own several bookshelves as well (Focus audio FS688, TSW mini monitors, Castle Trents, Aperion 502b, PSB Alpha mini and Axiom Mzeroti) and briefly auditioned the Epos ELS3.

The Epos were driven by a budget NAD amp and CDP. I Thought they sounded very good and had some very good balance points. As Armstrod mentioned they are not bright or boring. Musical and involving. They also at their price point and for their size had excellent balance between bass, treble and midrange. Nothing really called attention to itself

I didn't buy the Epos because I was auditioning floorstanders and just auditioned the Epos out of curiosity. If in the market I Wouldn't hesitate buying the Epos.

BW Maxx

I have a pair of the 9.1's here that I am auditioning. So far they are dreadful but they have not finished breaking in yet. Even straight out of the box the NHT SB2 blows them away as Rar1 said. In that price range you can go with the SB2, Kef Q1, or even some of teh Celestions and get a bigger bang for the buck. If you can afford the NHT SB3 you would probably not want to upgrade for a while.

Good luck!

the diamond

in regards to Bignerd's comments, I own the diamond 9.6's and can say from experiance that the difference between 10 and 100+ hours of solid break in is night and day.