Need amp suggestion for PBN Montana EPS2.

I have the Montana XPs and I need to try a different front-end. I find the sound quite hard at times. Some of that is certainly the room, some of it is the recordings but I have had the speakers in three different rooms and it just gets fatiguing after awhile. So, I need to try and address the room as much as practical, but, honestly, I don't want my nice room(s) marred by the look of much of the current crop of room treatments out there.

Maybe room correction will help. Speaker placement. Maybe it's a synergy issue but first things first.

Vlassiss,

Glad you found amps that work for you. I'm more impressed by my EPS2s as my system evolves. They are remarkably neutral and resolving speakers that let all upstream components shine.

Finsup,

Maybe you should experiment with speaker cables. I just shotgun bi-wired my PBNs with single crystal copper, 8 ga on the bottom, 12 ga on top. It really evened out the tonal balance, adding warmth and presence and eliminating some slight hardness. Before, I was using lighter gauge silver clad copper. The woofers needed more current relative to the tweeters/mids and the silver was giving a slight edge. I don't know the XPs and YMMV but it's worth experimenting. I find the EPS2 to be very neutral and revealing, which can mean hardness in some cases, if hardness is upstream.

>I find the EPS2 to be very neutral and revealing,<

I found them to be decent speakers, but somewhat boxy. Didn't really want to let go of the notes. Music sounded like it was coming from the cabinets instead of just being present in the room.

YMM(and does)V

Shakey

@Wrm57 thanks a lot. let me ask you what speaker cables you use.

@Shakeydeal from my experience with Eps2, i think that the amp is not enough.

I don't really hear that boxiness, I have to say, if you mean cabinet resonance, although I've heard speakers that disappear better. The EPS2s can beam a bit if placement isn't right on. I know from reading your numerous posts these lines that you find GMAs to be much more open and invisible. Time-aligned and phase-coherent speakers can be spookily invisible. I've never heard GMAs but I gather they're like that. But I had Vandersteen 3A Sigs before the EPS2s but I found them to be no less boxy or more invisible. Rather, I've found the EPS2s to be better in every way and not by a little. Plus, they throw a huge sweet spot whereas the Vandies was like a yacht portal. Agonizingly small changes in placement and careful room treatment have helped me to minimize their directionality. But perhaps your hearing is simply more sensitive to cabinet resonances than mine.