Epos ES7N bookshelf speakers make their debut at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show

Ever since Epos revived its large ES14N standmount speakers, under the new ownership of respected speaker designer and audio consultant Karl-Heinz Fink, we've been waiting for the brand to drop another model.

At this year's Bristol Hi-Fi Show, we saw our first glimpse of the new Epos ES7N, a small bookshelf speaker that is designed to be placed inside your standard IKEA bookshelf as well as in free space.

While the terms standmounters and bookshelf tend to be used interchangeably, most of these speaker models are designed to sound their best when placed on dedicated stands and positioned away from a wall. But the ES7N (nicknamed the 'baby Epos') have been made so that you can place these petite speakers – measuring 29 x 20 x 27cm (HWD) – inside a bookshelf or close to a wall without compromising the sound.

To deliver on this challenging design concept, Epos has decided to implement a switch on the back of the speaker that lets you select the correct crossover filter and choose between two versions of tonal balance, depending on where you've positioned the speaker. If it's 30-50cm away from a wall, flick it to the top position; if it's in a bookshelf, flick the switch downwards. Epos says this lets the customer "choose the place of your speakers without making compromises in tonal balance."

If you are placing these speakers on a stand, Epos recommends a stand height of 70cm.

The ES7N is an asymmetrical two-way design with a front reflex port. The 28mm ceramic coated aluminium tweeter is the very same one used in the bigger ES14N model, while the 13cm mid/bass driver is made of a new mica-loaded polypropylene material, which was developed for ES14N's 18cm woofer cone.

Available in three semi-matte finishes of orange, white, black and a walnut finish, the Epos ES7N bookshelf speakers are yours for ￡1890. We're rather fond of the excellent ES14N speakers, so we can only hope that the same sonic balance (composure, authority and punch) is heard in the smaller speakers as well.

Intriguingly, Epos's website says that the ES7N is "the second model out of three", with a third model planned for the range. We can't wait to find out what that is in due course, too.

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