Review: reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 Compact Nearfield Monitor

Amazona.de (Germany)
September 2022
by Markus Galla​

Lots of sound in a compact format

Table of Contents
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 • reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 in detail
 • What connections does the Epic 4 offer?
 • Passive membrane instead of bass reflex port
 • Nearfield monitor analog tone controls
 • Setting up the studio monitors
 • How do the reProducer Labs Epic 4 sound?

Active studio monitors determine what is happening in every home studio today. The days of passive studio monitors seem to be over. It is often not only bi-amping class D power amplifiers that shape the sound before it is finally converted by the loudspeakers, but also DSPs in particular, which determine the final sound through digital signal processing. But there are some manufacturers who refuse to follow this trend. Although they also integrate Class D power amplifiers into the studio monitors in order to ensure the best possible tuning, one looks in vain for DSPs. One of these manufacturers comes from Germany and goes by the name of reProducer Audio Labs. We tested the reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 near-field monitors for you.

reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 in Detail
Manufacturer Information

The reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 is a classic two-way system with bi-amping. The 4" woofer and the 1" mid/high driver are each powered by 50 watt RMS Class D power amplifiers. The drivers come from our own production. The very low-noise Class D power amplifiers are said to deliver a dynamic range of over 115 dB. The maximum sound pressure is specified by reProducer Audio Labs as 106 dB SPL (C-weighted). The drivers are separated at 3 kHz with 24 dB/octave. The frequency response is specified by the manufacturer as 80 Hz - 30 kHz ± 3 dB and 65 Hz - 40 kHz ± 10 dB, which is more than realistic given the construction and driver assembly. It is therefore not claimed here what is impossible in practice. Honesty is known to last the longest.

Measurement result of the manufacturer in the measuring room

Own Measurement

Our own measurement in the study confirms the manufacturer's information. Big differences cannot be determined. Everything that is a bit jagged in your own measurement is due to the room acoustics, which of course plays a role in measurements that are not made in the measuring room.

Measurement result in my study

What connections does the Epic 4 offer?

On the front we find an operation LED, which also signals clipping. The back is equipped with the connections next to the two controls for the tone control. You can choose between a balanced XLR input and an unbalanced RCA input (cinch). A standby switch and the operating switch can also be found on the back. In addition, of course, the connection for the power cable. So that the reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 can also be mounted on the wall, there are two mounts on the back for the optional mounting set.

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The rear houses all connections and the EQ

"It is interesting that the reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 are good with any kind of music."

Passive membrane instead of bass reflex port

A passive membrane is attached to the underside. Passive membranes represent an alternative to the bass reflex port that is otherwise often used. A bass reflex port is a sound outlet opening with an internal sound guide, the dimensions of which are precisely matched to a resonance frequency. This can influence the bass reproduction. With smaller monitors, the housing volume is often not sufficient to get the resonance frequency low enough. In this case, a passive membrane can be useful. Since a loudspeaker always vibrates in two directions, the passive membrane is stimulated to vibrate by the air movements within the monitor. No electromagnetic driver and power amplifier are involved here, only the vibrations generated by the woofer within the studio monitor. Passive membranes can be attached to the side walls and bottom of the housing. Here we find them on the bottom. Another advantage of the passive membrane is the avoidance of flow noise.

The reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 are delivered in a well-padded cloth bag

Upon opening the bag, the Epic 4 are presented upside down

It is perhaps worth mentioning that the monitors weigh 2.95 kg. The trapezoidal case is interesting. Unusual housings for studio monitors are known from Monkey Banana, KRK and also Genelec. The trapezoidal shape or similar geometric structures are relatively common, but sometimes only found on the front edges. These are also often rounded off. As a reason, manufacturers cite resonances that can arise with a rectangular housing shape with sharp edges and pointed corners. The reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4, on the other hand, have a real trapezoidal housing. "Spikes", i.e. pointed feet, are also attached to the underside, which ensure that the listening angle is tilted slightly backwards.

On the underside we find the passive membrane of the Epic 4. The “spikes” have to be screwed in here before setting it up

The Epic 4 have an interesting case with a trapezoidal shape

Nearfield monitor analog tone controls

The tone control works purely analogue and therefore the two filters for the position-dependent adjustment of the sound are also analogue. The treble control works broadband above 2.5 kHz in 1 dB steps with a maximum gain of ± 5 dB. The bass control starts below 250 Hz and can also be adjusted in 1 dB steps and with a maximum gain of ±5 dB. So here no surgically narrow adjustments are possible, as they can often be realized with a DSP-supported EQ. However, this is not necessary at all, because distortions due to the position of the loudspeakers in the room also tend to be broadband, e.g. the bass increase due to the position near a wall or corner of the room. If the frequency response of the monitor is otherwise reasonably linear, deviations from this are corrected,

Setting up the studio monitors

The reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 are delivered in a beautiful and sturdy fabric bag, which can also be used very well for transport if you want to use the monitors for live recording projects, for example. First the feet have to be screwed in.
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On the reProducer Audio Labs website we can find numerous illustrations and instructions for the correct installation of the Epic 4 studio monitors. You should take a good look at these in order to achieve the most unadulterated reproduction possible at the listening position.

Not like this: Notes on the manufacturer's website for setting up the Epic 4

The loudspeakers should be placed a little higher on the studio table, like they used to be on the meter bridge of a studio mixing console. For alignment, take the midpoint between the woofer and tweeter. The optimal listening distance for the reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 studio monitors is between 80 cm and 140 cm. This is the typical listening distance for near-field monitors. If you exceed this, you should use the treble control to compensate for the now falling highs. It might be better to choose a midfield monitor.

The optimal listening distance is between 0.8 and 1.4 m

For a good stereo effect, the monitors should be set up in the form of an equilateral triangle between the three points monitor left, monitor right and listener. The distance between the two monitors should therefore correspond to the listening distance to the two monitors. This is also known from other monitors and should no longer be too much of a secret. It goes without saying that the sound field should be free of obstacles.

Setup for correct stereo reproduction

Although it may seem strange to some users that the speaker front is tilted upwards, this is the correct position. ReProducer Audio Labs recommend not aligning the front at a 90° angle to the listening axis, and placing it directly on the tabletop without an elevation is also not recommended.
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How do the reProducer Labs Epic 4 sound?

I have to say that there is a huge discrepancy between size and performance. After taking the reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 out of its bag, screwing in the feet and setting up the speakers, I felt reminded of small multimedia speakers. My big and heavy Event 20/20 on the other hand looks like Goliath towering over little David. But after the first title that I played about it, a completely different picture than expected emerged.

Setup next to the computer screen at the DAW workstation

The Epic 4 are loud, very loud. The studio table vibrates and the Epic 4 produce a euphonious sound without missing any details. The stereo image is absolutely stable and you can even move a little without it collapsing right away. Although the Epic 4 don't deliver any deep bass, they produce a good portion of bass, which gives a very good impression of how the track to be mixed will sound on a large monitor or even on smaller speakers such as Bluetooth speakers. The bass sounds precise enough to write down, you can hear many subtleties that are often lost in larger systems and especially in multi-channel monitors with a subwoofer.

Test Listening

I listened to a very large cross-section of different musical genres and decades with the following titles/albums:

Bruce Springsteen – Album Darkness On The Edge Of Town, Title: Badlands, Something In The Night
Bruce Springsteen – Album Live 75-85, Title: Candy's Room, Born to Run, Born In The USA
Bruce Springsteen, title: Tunnel of Love (Live)
Phil Collins – Album Singles Title: Something Happened On The Way To Heaven, Another Day In Paradise
Dire Straits – Album Brothers In Arms, Title: Brothers In Arms, Money For Nothing
Dire Straits – Album On The Night Live, Title: Calling Elvis
Iron Maiden – Album Senjutsu, Title: Writing On The Wall, Senjutsu
Michael Jackson – Album Bad, Title: Bad, Dirty Diana, Smooth Criminal, Another Part Of Me
Erasure – Sometimes
Billie Eilish – No Time To Die, Bad Guy
Foo Fighters – My Hero
Queen – Another One Bites The Dust, The Show Must Go On, One Vision, Breakthru, Killer Queen, Don't Stop Me Now
Tim Bendzko – Who will save the world for me?
Motley Crue – Girls, Girls, Girls
Status Quo – Caroline, Rockin' All Over The World, Down Down, Whatever You Want
The Beatles – I Want To Hold Your Hand, Help!, Penny Lane, Hey Jude
John Denver – Leaving On A Jetplane, Annie's Song
ABBA – One Of Us, Fernando

It is interesting that the reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 are good with any kind of music. I made sure to listen equally to music with a wide dynamic range that was as uncompressed as possible and tracks with high volume and little dynamics. The titles from the 1960s to 1980s are very dynamic. The reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 can handle it very well. I was particularly enthusiastic about “Annie's Song” by John Denver. The acoustic guitars on the one hand and the dynamically playing orchestra on the other hand in connection with the beautiful stereo image make the title still an experience even after so many years. The same goes for ABBA's "One Of Us". The orchestra in connection with the very mid-sounding snare drum and the growling and deep bass determine the sound. The choir voices spread across the entire stereo width and even the faintest guitar tones of the single-note guitar can be heard. "Fernando" is another track I like to use to check speaker dynamics. ABBA's high-quality productions simply sound good on the Epic 4. Especially when you listen to them very quietly. Nevertheless, no detail is lost and the bass is retained.

​A real challenge for today's listeners are the Beatles' pseudo-stereo recordings. I was curious to see how the Epic 4 would deal with this challenge, because loudspeakers with a pronounced and wide stereo image often have a hard time with these recordings with hard panning of the instruments. But it also sounds pleasant here and after a short time you get used to the fact that the drums come from the left speaker and the bass or guitar from the right speaker, while the voice sits in the middle.

Now it's off to the rocky realms: I started in the 1970s to the mid-1980s with titles by Bruce Springsteen, Status Quo and Queen. I listened to studio versions and live recordings. Dire Straits could not be missing either. The dynamics of the recordings, which were still higher at the time, also have a positive effect here. From the softest tones to the loudest, everything is reproduced perfectly and the level of detail is particularly high in the live recordings. The rocking "Girls, Girls, Girls" by the glam rockers Mötley Crüe, which is played on the rock radio stations almost every day, is just as crisp as the synth pop of Erasure or the overproduced pop music of Michael Jackson or Phil Collins. Especially hits like "Smooth Criminal" or "Bad" benefit from the very good transient reproduction of the Epic 4.
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And what about loud titles from today's era? Iron Maiden's album Senjutsu sounds decent and the instruments are cleanly separated. Steve Harris' bass sounds very clear. The Foo Fighters with "My Hero" also sound pretty powerful. The acid test comes with Billie Eilish and Bad Guy. The far too loud and deep synth bass has already presented some test candidates with an unsolvable task. Not so with the reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4, on which the title sounds really good. The humming and tugging that the title often produces with other speakers simply does not exist and it sounds round. The voice, on the other hand, sits very far forward with an "In The Face" sound.

Tracks mixed with the reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 also sound good on other monitors, especially when mixed at low listening levels. This is where the reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 really show their strengths, because they still sound very balanced and good even at low volume.

Conclusion

The reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 are a good recommendation for the home studio and for listening to music in the living room. They are also recommended for multi-channel applications such as 7.1 or 5.1. The sound is much bigger than the small speakers would suggest. The stereo image is nice and wide and very dynamic titles in particular are played back well. But even the heavily compressed sound of today's era does not pose any problems for the Epic 4. The level of detail is very high without the reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 sounding too analytical. Unlike other very analytical-sounding monitors, they are therefore also well suited for listening to music in your free time. Still, they don't sugarcoat anything. I can also imagine them very well in the professional recording studio environment when it comes to longer monitoring via near-field monitors, while the mix is ​​then occasionally checked on the large midfield monitors. The fatigue factor is low with the reProducer Audio Labs Epic 4 because they sound very balanced even at low volume, which means that you can listen to them for longer without getting tired. The price is the real hit, because the pair of Epic 4 is 1,199 euros street price including the nice transport bag. The Epic 4 faces competition in this price range from the Focal Shape 50 and Shape 65, the Neumann KH120A, Adam A7V, and Genelec 8030 CP. because the pair of Epic 4 is 1,199 euros street price including the nice transport bag.

Pros:

  • Well-padded transport bag included
  • Processing
  • Sound at both high and low volumes
  • Good reproduction of the transients
  • Sound great
  • Nice stereo image
  • Analog construction
  • Cheap pair price

Price

$1,199 Euros (pair price)

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