The best speaker you ever heard?

the best loudspeaker I have heard is the one that hasn't been designed yet with a revolutionary discovery. In essence it's a personal taste. Most of us could never own let alone hear some of the most expensive and exotic loudspeakers out there and on this site. I am sure most are the best sounding to those who like their sound. I am happy with ohm's, magnepans, eminent tech, acoustat because those are the manufacturers I own and I was once a bose flagship owner in the 80's and until I found about audiogon and high end, I never looked back. For me, I cannot go without planar/electrostats and CLS (Coherent line source) designs by magnepan, ohm acoustics and any of the electrostat manufacturers like martin logan's, innersound, quads, etc. since my acoustat is defunct in the u.s. and belongs to china now. I purchase or upgrade based on these designs. I like horns since I own klipsch and wharfedales zaldek also

CRAIG CAR SPEAKERS OF THE 70'S! NOTHING BEATS IT NEXT TO BEING DEAF!

proud owner of ohm walsh, magnepan, eminent tech, acoustat!

the best speakers I have heard is a SPEAKER I haven't heard YET? I have lots of speakers and even owned BOSE 901 series 5 STACKED in the mid 80's while stationed in okinawa. They do sound a lot better stacked and USING sound processors such as equalizers, dbx range expanders and carver sonic holography or omnisonic imager at the time. I owned the bose 601 series 2 prior to that. Until I heard other speaker designs and owned other designs is when I realized BOSE isn't for me, and the more I researched and contact merchants regarding bose, the more I realized they were just a mass market speaker company. The DRIVERS used on the bose don't make any sense whatsover and they are cheaply made. No high frequency drivers, no low frequency drivers. I can understand if they implemented a line source panel consisting of ribbons, domes, horns and 5 or 6 inch midranges and possibly several 8 inch or 10 inch and even 12 inch woofers to use direct and reflecting properties, then most of the audio industry might have more respect. All bose 901 is one big midrange box, it has NO DETAIL in the upper or lower octaves. I was never able to create tight bass even with the sound processors and equalizers. I was never able to get any crystalline highs either and a stacked 901 of whatever series using sound processors is the best possible way of making bose sound it's best, but it's still MEDIOCRE in comparison to a well designed dynamic, planar, electrostat, hybrid and linesource. I would only get a bose 901 these days as a MUSEUM PIECE because I collect vintage and new speakers I can afford. After listening to maggies and ohm's and owning an electrostat such as an acoustat and eminent technology and now ESS HEIL, why would I waste my ears on a GIMMICK technology as bose are! Yeah, I was duped in the 70's and 80's thinking bose was all that, but I was just in high school and a young adult not knowing any better and STILL LEARNING. 33 yrs later, I consider myself an audiophile and BOSE is not an audiophile speaker but mass market cheaply made and bad design speaker company. Many great speaker companies folded but it's all about sales and marketing when it comes to survivability of a product and that is where BOSE excels in NOT IN TECHNOLOGY! Using MIT engineers doesn't PROVE good sound engineering, that's like saying just because one goes to HARVARD doesn't necessarily mean they would make good lawyers.

Has anyone heard the new CHEAPO modified sony SB 300 that dakiom modified (known for the feedback stabilizers)? It just came out. Though what they did with the INTERIOR seem to be an achievement. They claim it's the best speaker out there and challenges anyone who can out do it? At $1595, I am not so sure of trying the 30 day return policy for a CRAP sony that was sold at bestbuy a number of years ago which I bought and ended up in my niece's home awhile back ago. I can't justify any audio engineer wasting their time modifying a cheapo and sell it at that price point. I'm sure it sounds fine with all the new patents and unique modification process, but to claim it's the best speaker out there is kind of stretching the imagination and what about the WOW FACTOR? Even someone who is a diehard dakiom fan who has a significant other, takes home a speaker like that and spends that kind of money is going to be frowned upon just by looks alone. I am just curious if anyone heard it or tried it. To me modifying a cheapo like that without modifying speaker drivers or cabinets is like spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a volkswagon bug and think it can outrun and outdo a lambhorgini countach is STRETCHING their claim a bit?
Best speakers I've heard are my ess heil 1D that I modified removing the passive radiator and switching the FRONT driver to the rear and adding to the front a pioneer subwoofer. With the right electronics, it does what magnepans are known for and does the reflective principle that bose attempts to do but with real dynamic bass, not a fake muddy one that bose does. It's kind of a toss up for me, between my eminent technology lft 8a and my ess heil 1d.

I absolutely agree with MRTENNIS being a speaker collector. I've tried piezo electric,domes, waveguides, horns etc. but the ribbons, planars and electrostats which I also own are much cleaner than other types of transducers. I hope people get a change to experience the sound of ESS HEILS being used as your high/mid transducer. It is crystal clear with the right kind of gear more so then any other transducer I have heard. The other if you can find it is the add on JANSZEN Z-130 the last model made and the eminent technology. Some ribbon designs are better than others, the same with electrostats, you just have to find a design that suits your equipment. Some of the discontinued or defunct manufacturers made some great transducers but misfortune is the sad part of audio when companies who contribute no longer exist.

transaudio has a very good point. Bad equipment matching, bad room acoustics can make any good sounding loudspeaker bad irregardless of price. Acoustics in a room is very important, as important as the speaker design itself. All well designed loudspeakers however properly tuned and placed in the optimal acoustical environment with matching gear gives that audio nirvana feeling. There's always something in us that always wants us to push the envelope even though we might be satisfied with what we're hearing.

I used to be a BOSE FANATIC in the 80's but the only reason is because i could never AFFORD the INFINITY RS series which today is the best ever designed loudspeaker systems when infinity used to make high end speaker systems. They were revolutionary. Until I came across planars and electrostats and ribbon driven loudspeakers, I thought back then bose 901's stacked was awesome and always trying to figure out how come the BASS sounded so fake??? it's not even DEEP bass but mid scattered bass and as far as high extension? what high extension. I never really heard a piano sound like a piano and cymbals sound like cymbals. I heard more reverberation which I thought at the time as being TRUE ORCHESTRA when in reality it's like sitting in the back of the THEATER. when I heard magnepans, ohm walsh, ess heils, eminent tech, martin logans etc. That's when I found real good sounding speakers that are lifelike. Like most Bose fanatics, unless you experience REAL well made designs, you will continue in your DELUSION that bose is a great speaker, I certainly did until I got UNBRAINWASHED!

I cannot honestly answer this thread nor do I believe everyone can either due to the fact that unless you have owned every single flagship model of every past and present design, you can only make an educated guess?

The people making comments including myself, no matter how experienced have limited comparisons. There would be other loudspeaker design we would consider if we heard them irregardless of taste. I happen to love the sound of omnipolar designs like ohm's which i own, elac, mbl, german physik, decware, ess, duevel, etc. which i don't own and way out of my ability to obtain. I also love electrostats and planar ribbons and anything that is line source design.
Genesis, vintage infinity, nola, beveridge, mcintosh,pipe dreams come into mind and planars like transmission audio.
my choice of all of the most expensive design which i doubt i'll ever hear like those mentioned is the german physik flagship GAUB at over $200k and at over 1000lbs each.

pound per pound and affordability, i will choose the ohm walsh 300 mk2 or walsh 5. Not a single OHM is priced at over $6000 on their flagship. You'd be lucky to get a DUEVEL for under $10k and the same for a german physik.

In my opinon, some of the best consumer friendly designs are ohmspeakers, magnepans,ess, eminent technology, decware, axiom, orb, mirage, anthony gallos and the discontinued srslabs klayman signatures. There are others, but these come to mind. Companies like von scwheikert,wilson,magico,avant garde,B&W, dali, kharma,soundlab,AHL tolteq, vandersteen, mcintosh, beveridge, martin logan, genesis, nola, pipedreams, mbl, german physiks, transmission audio, MJ loudspeakers and others are beyond the average audio enthusiast ability to obtain.

I am a used and vintage loudspeaker collector that's affordable. I personally own ohmspeakers, acoustats, eminent technology, magnepans, klipsch, srslabs, wharfedales, optimus linaeum, dcm and used to own bose 901's in the 80's! (crappy compared to my walsh, electrostats, planar driver designs)

ohm and magnepans to me is the best affordable loudspeaker that i can own. The rest are beyond my financial ability.
If price is not an issue. German physiks GAUB would be my choice. You'd think it's a power generator more than a loudspeaker, a beveridge looks like a boat, a genesis, pipedreams, nola, mckintosh looks like large heaters, martin logans like radar,magico an aircraft part, wilsons and B&W like robots, and magnepans like room dividers, von schweikerts a large furniture and so many others from the pyramid like CAIN &cain and the rest from stargate!!!