How is GoldenEar not on this list like 5 times already? I have never heard something so well-reviewed that sounded so bland and with such poor imaging. We were a dealer for them temporarily, but couldn't sell them with a good conscience.
The other one is the Raidho D-1. We transported a set for a client from one house to another about 5 years ago and they sounded so bad I thought we may have damaged the tweeters. Seriously. We brought them back to the office and played them on 3 different systems for multiple employees and everyone agreed they just sounded bad. The B&W 805D absolutely crushed them above 80Hz. We even sneaked the 805D into the client's house while he was away and played them on the Zanden gear he had and the B&W was still way better. We told him we were concerned about the Raidhos which is why we brought them to our office to be checked out, but we couldn't find anything physically or electrically wrong with either one.
We never tried to sell the client on the B&W because we didn't want it to look like we were poo-pooing his gear. We just reconnected his D-1s and he said they sounded as they should. We were all shocked.
The other one is the Raidho D-1. We transported a set for a client from one house to another about 5 years ago and they sounded so bad I thought we may have damaged the tweeters. Seriously. We brought them back to the office and played them on 3 different systems for multiple employees and everyone agreed they just sounded bad. The B&W 805D absolutely crushed them above 80Hz. We even sneaked the 805D into the client's house while he was away and played them on the Zanden gear he had and the B&W was still way better. We told him we were concerned about the Raidhos which is why we brought them to our office to be checked out, but we couldn't find anything physically or electrically wrong with either one.
We never tried to sell the client on the B&W because we didn't want it to look like we were poo-pooing his gear. We just reconnected his D-1s and he said they sounded as they should. We were all shocked.