Clearly, there is no ābestā speaker or, in my opinion, piece of equipment. Ā Iāve always been happy with a piece being āin the discussionā. Ultimately, there are too many variables in a system. But, most importantly, the individualās perception or definition of what āgoodā sound is will ultimately determine which speaker one defines as best.
The kind of glowing reviews the OP is assigning to the Stenheims are the kind of reviews I often hear about my Zellatons. For my ears- and frankly thatās all that matters to me- my Zellatons posses a ālife-likeā quality that is very hard to achieve with other speakers/ systems. Ā To that end, I am thrilled. Ā Are they the ābestā? Probably not... but in our hobby ābestā is actually āfavoriteā. Favorite is an unchallengeable position. My favorite ice cream brand is āxā. How can one argue what I call my favorite?Ā
The kind of glowing reviews the OP is assigning to the Stenheims are the kind of reviews I often hear about my Zellatons. For my ears- and frankly thatās all that matters to me- my Zellatons posses a ālife-likeā quality that is very hard to achieve with other speakers/ systems. Ā To that end, I am thrilled. Ā Are they the ābestā? Probably not... but in our hobby ābestā is actually āfavoriteā. Favorite is an unchallengeable position. My favorite ice cream brand is āxā. How can one argue what I call my favorite?Ā