Testing Epson’s new projector reminded me how hard it is to make a good coffee table model

In the last few years, we have seen an influx of technology brands releasing their own take on the coffee table projector – a category that requires a decent amount of balance and compromise to get the best overall experience.

Brands such as Xgimi and Hisense have both taken on the category, with the Horizon 20 series and the M2 Pro being the newest on the market, respectively.

And now Japanese brand Epson has dropped its own latest entry, the £1150 (around $1560 / AU$2845) Epson EF-72, a premium 4K model that the company says will provide “flexible and immersive entertainment that’s ideal for any space.”

We are currently putting the RGB LED projector through its paces in our test room (we'd have finished our review by now were it not for the heady combination of IFA and London Tube strikes), and the testing has got me thinking about what qualities a good coffee projector needs to tick all the boxes.

Stylish yet flexible

It sounds obvious, but you want this category of projector to blend in seamlessly to your living room (or even bedroom).

The Epson EF-72 certainly fulfils this requirement, as it has a fairly compact and neat box-like design on a stand, complete with a wooden top.

There’s also a stylish LED ambient light that can be illuminated in a variety of different colours – or turned off entirely if you want a more immersive experience.

But you also want a coffee table projector to be flexible for all sorts of different environments. After all, many people will expect to be able to move it to different rooms and perhaps even outside.

Epson’s model has an adjustable stand that can tilt and swivel so you can watch it on a traditional screen, wall or even the ceiling, if that’s what you’re into.

There’s no internal battery, though, so it needs a constant connection to the mains, which is a drawback for those looking for a fully portable model that can be taken on the go.

Still, it's a fairly light and swish model that is easy to navigate.

Bright not extreme picture performance

If you do happen to be watching outside or in a room with the lights on, you obviously want to be able to see all the action on screen.

That’s where a bright picture is essential for peak performance, but does the Epson hit the mark with its claimed peak of 1000 lumens of brightness? In short, not really. During testing in a lit room, we immediately lose a lot of detail and vibrancy in the image.

This is to be expected from a projector that is meant to only be viewed in a pitch black room, but we want more from a coffee table model built for various scenarios.

Still, many projectors in this category overdo the vividness of the image to compensate for brighter viewing conditions, which is a whole other problem.

It’s certainly a tough balance to strike, but some models manage it better than others.

Immersive sound in different environments

Then, of course, there’s the audio quality. The ideal coffee table projector offers an immersive sound experience with clear vocals and a good handle on all frequencies.

Now that’s quite a tall order for a model that needs to be small and light enough to be moved between rooms, as that means there's not a lot of room for a good quality speaker system.

The Epson EF-72’s Bose sound system provides a warm and tonally balanced presentation, and vocals have a decent amount of weight to them, but there's not a lot of excitement or spaciousness to the delivery, and that creates a bit of a disconnect with the excitingly huge picture you get from a projector.

Ultimately, it feels as though Epson has played things a bit safe here, but there's certainly an argument that says that's better than trying too hard and producing a shrill, bothersome sonic performance. Again, it's all about balance.

There's really no such thing as a perfect projector (or perfect anything, really) – it's all about picking the right balance of compromises to get the most satisfying overall combination of performance, features and design.

So, while the Epson EF-72 certainly isn't perfect, that doesn't mean it's not going to get a good star rating. But you'll have to wait for our full review to find out what that rating is.

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