Do you have a speaker that’s not a big name maker but punches above its weight? Why?

I find myself agreeing with @mahgister on this one.

In previous posts over the years, I have spoken about the need to place my speakers on top of 6 foot high bookcases, to keep them away from my cats who have scratched up speakers.  No need to shame pets, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I have had speakers from Omega, Ascend Acoustics, Zu Audio, Acoustic Research, Epos (among others), in play over the years and usually enjoyed, but never loved the sound of the system.  Speakers placed normal way, on their sides, inside the bookcases, on top of the bookcases ... all just sounded ok, which was fine as long as I was working.  Once I retired, the ok was not enough and it started to bother me more.

I was watching my buddy’s large screen TV and was noticing and enjoying his Atmos speakers (bare bones HT system) in a small, cramped Manhattan apartment.  Well, it got me thinking along the lines of the basic Bose 901 principles.  

I replaced my front firing speakers with a pair of Klipsch 502 dipole surround speakers.  The idea of ambient (?), multi directional sound waves makes some type of sense and is very enjoyable.  No idea/ not noticing standing or cancelling sound waves.  Just being enveloped by the music.

I am six weeks into this ’new’ set-up.  Will see how it goes.  

Associated equipment:  Heaven 11 Billie integrated Mk2; PS Audio Direct stream DAC, PS Audio SACD/ CD Transport, Technics 1210 Turntable.

Rich 

My FM6’s are walnut gloss. Run them with Gato Amp 150 Integrated and Aesthetix Romulus Extreme CD Player. Cerious Matrix cables throughout. Great sound and look beautiful. 

PS Audio Aspen speakers and PS Audio electronics. 
All good value and reliable. 

@jl35 mines are also walnut gloss. I use the infigo method 6 amp , Infigo method 4 dac. Infigo streamer and infigo cables. 

sure well it is obscure now as it is extinct and there are NO parts avail and it is vintage 
i have to source, buy them fr all over USA ,pay shipping 
at one time days ago consumers reports ( some pretty sharp engineers and scientists and we assume music lovers! ) USED to test and review speakers! they decided the ALLISON acoustics AL130 was the best speaker you could buy ! 
at the time they were $1,200 -1,500 which is $11k  in 2025 $ so defo "high end " speakers 
The woofers mounted push pull in a sealed cabinet had 20% less harmonic distortion and the CONVEX cone tweeters and mids were revolutionary , unique and proprietary yielding a wide dispersion sweet spot . 
yet nowdays i can buy survivors of the AL series for low prices! 
i paid $200 for a great pair of AL130 ! ( the Top of the line Allison! ) !!
 

Always seeking to aquire Allison Acoustics & AL series speakers !

I have many already !

2, Mini monitors

2, AL105

2, AL110 ,

2, LC110

6, AL115

4, AL130

3, NR 654 RARE! ( like a AL110 but shorter and deeper! )

2, center channel

2 rare! dual 8" push- pull sealed cabinet subwoofers !

A model 8

I need tweeters and mids ! some were damaged in shipping !

as you may know those are unobtainium ! damn near impossible to make the proprietary Allison CONVEX cones and cannot be repaired ! mores the pity !
they were revolutionary and glorious sounded ( and STILL sound ) awesome !

Getting enough for a all Vintage allison 11.2 HT sytem ! Roy would have loved it !

will pay $50 to anyone who gives a lead to some AL125 i buy !

and want a pair of CD-9 for DIY project  to lay down horizontaly , reconfigure the tweeter and mids to vertical ( speaker lobing will not be an issue ) might be fun to add some allison 8" and 6" woofers too!

make some 5 way speakers! ( well they say your center channel, SHOULD be the best of all! ) we will send this C channel mess to Danny @ GR reseach to sort out a crossover network!