It would be really nice if I could more often occupy myself with test objects as intensively as with the Epoque Aeon Fine. Already the previous model without the Aeon addition to the name had left a lasting impression on me - even if our relationship saw some clouds on the horizon. This endurance test also entailed some consequences: In the meantime I set out to buy the loudspeaker.

Thus, I am the second Hifi Statement author in a little while to follow up to Carsten Bussler who has to admit right at the beginning of his report that one isn't impartial towards one's current test components. However, almost eight years ago I had already proclaimed in the introduction of the article about the Goebel Epoque Fine that it appeared to be one of the two or three best loudspeakers I had ever hosted in my listening room. Even back then, this happened to be more a kind of effusiveness than an appropriate professional distance. But this review is not meant be an objective description: If our texts weren't allowed to manifest the pleasure we take in utilizing the respective equipment, we could apply for a job with the German consumer and test organisation Stiftung Warentest right away. And in the foreseeable future, that's not quite what my colleagues and I have in mind!

As much as I was impressed by the Epoque Fine whilst occupying myself with it because of its extremely homogeneous performance, the idea of having it in my system for a longer time never crossed my mind. After all, it didn't jar with it very well. As my aforementioned enthusiastic assessment, which I very much like to reiterate, points out, it fell far short of any kind of acoustic aspects. There were simply electrical divergences: With its minimum impedance of 1.6 Ohms at 160 Hertz, which were set as crossover frequency between woofers and bending wave transducer, the Epoque Fine stressed the Brinkmann mono amplifiers to such an extent that one of them emitted smoke signals into the listening room. The power-houses, which company director Oliver Goebel then heaved into my workroom to enable me to finish the test, were priced with similar tags as the loudspeakers, but didn't necessarily sound better than the Brinkmann monos when reaching the brink of their collapse. With the LumenWhite DiamondLight I already owned a loudspeaker that was extremely expensive compared to the rest of the chain, but when a speaker appears to be so capricious that it won't work without power amplifiers that require a similar investment, this simply isn't an option for me. In addition, it is markedly difficult to find an extremely stable power pack that plays as musically as a fine small power amp. So, after having completed the test, I didn't give the Epoque Fine any kind of further consideration.

That, however, may in no case mean that I lost the contact to Oliver Goebel, as the one or other report from his showroom evidences. His company is located in Alling, which is only twelve kilometers away from my own town Groebenzell. At least as often as I made my way to Alling - and not all of my visits are documented in hifistatement - also Oliver Goebel happened to visit me in my listening room. Mostly we didn’t busy ourselves with his own products, but rather shared interest in i.e. a particular switch, an interesting clock or an exceptional NAS server. Whenever I needed a special cable for their integration into my system, I could always give a try to a new development from Goebel High End. Thanks to the lively exchange of both ideas and components I already heard at an early stage about the new version of the Epoque Fine, now marked by the addition of the word Aeon.