Well, Mojo just left after a couple hours of comparing the Hsu STF3 and the EP400 at my house. The 2 subs were calibrated to the same levelswith pink noise and manually switched on and off when we felt we had a good idea of what we were hearing.
The 400, we determined, blends very nicely with music, it doesn't say "hey listen to me and not the music." It gave you a nice impression/feeling of the lower frequencies that the M80s don't push out. It was tight and nicely controlled. It seemed to handle the bass from strings very nicely as it would allow them to resonate a little longer than the Hsu did.
The STF3 on the other hand really moves the air and that is not such a good thing, at least with the music we listened to. The Hsu was a little too overpowering for my tastes and I found myself listening to the sub and then the M80s and comparing the 2 sounds, not much blending at all. It didn't relay the softening of the bass tones very well either. Th STF3 seemed to be a little too abrupt after you heard the pluck or thump and then that was it. The EP400 would allow the sound to linger a little, more life like.
On the HT side there was not much comparison, the little EP400 couldn't push the air to shake the foundations and as such, I felt I was not immersed in the action of the pods coming out of the ground in the WOTW. We switched over to the Hsu and the walls were shaking, the concrete floor was shaking
, very immersive; the air movement is so much more violent, but in a good way. The Hsu was so much more impressive for HT that I wouldn't consider the EP400 for anything other than music, but....
I did run the EP400 with my old sub and my old sub helped the air movement enough to make a case for the EP400 combined with a good cheap sub, could be used for HT and as a bonus of dual subs, the LFE is everywhere.
