My 2 cents worth: Best speakers I've ever heard are the Martin Logan Statements. As many of you would know these cost $70,000/pair! I've heard several other ML speakers but cannot compliment any one of them - something always seemed incorrect w.r.t the bass integration w/ the mid & hi freq. Of course, this is my opinion (& probably be lynched by a mob of ML enthusiasts!!)
Anyway, the Statements were being demo'd by Gayle Matin Sanders himself. They were connected to a Krell FPB 600 amp - one amp per channel! He used a Krell pre & a Krell SACD player. All cables were MIT.
What made the speakers the best I heard? They just brought the music into my lap! Each recording I heard made me feel that I was listening to a live performance. Fantastic imaging, 3D soundstage, wide sweet-spot, clarity of vocals, fantastic speed - not a note lingered beyond its welcome point, seemless integration of all frequencies - all 3 drivers (panel + mid-bass + bass) worked harmoniously. Heard a church choir recording (recorded in San Fransisco) wherein the church organ had some really low bass freq (20Hz & maybe lower) & bass unit of the Statements reproduced that very well. Whatever was not bolted to the wall, rattled (just like an earthquake!) when those organ notes came thru. I was in the demo 10-15 minutes so I could only gauge a few key parameters stated above. These were Gayle's recordings & could very well be slighted to make the speakers sound good. I was encouraged to bring my own recordings but the line for that was soooo long that I gave up!
Personally, what made a diff. in these speakers (vs. other ML) was that the hi & mid units were totally seperated from the bass unit. The Statements have 1 electrostatic panel which is over 6 ft tall (with base) that responds down to 200Hz. There is another column alongside (which has 6-10) mid-bass cones that respond between 80Hz & 200Hz. Then, there is that bass tower, 5 feet tall, that has 8 12" woofers per channel that responds from 80Hz down to 18Hz!!! This was just a killer system sound-wise & looks-wise.
Anyway, the Statements were being demo'd by Gayle Matin Sanders himself. They were connected to a Krell FPB 600 amp - one amp per channel! He used a Krell pre & a Krell SACD player. All cables were MIT.
What made the speakers the best I heard? They just brought the music into my lap! Each recording I heard made me feel that I was listening to a live performance. Fantastic imaging, 3D soundstage, wide sweet-spot, clarity of vocals, fantastic speed - not a note lingered beyond its welcome point, seemless integration of all frequencies - all 3 drivers (panel + mid-bass + bass) worked harmoniously. Heard a church choir recording (recorded in San Fransisco) wherein the church organ had some really low bass freq (20Hz & maybe lower) & bass unit of the Statements reproduced that very well. Whatever was not bolted to the wall, rattled (just like an earthquake!) when those organ notes came thru. I was in the demo 10-15 minutes so I could only gauge a few key parameters stated above. These were Gayle's recordings & could very well be slighted to make the speakers sound good. I was encouraged to bring my own recordings but the line for that was soooo long that I gave up!
Personally, what made a diff. in these speakers (vs. other ML) was that the hi & mid units were totally seperated from the bass unit. The Statements have 1 electrostatic panel which is over 6 ft tall (with base) that responds down to 200Hz. There is another column alongside (which has 6-10) mid-bass cones that respond between 80Hz & 200Hz. Then, there is that bass tower, 5 feet tall, that has 8 12" woofers per channel that responds from 80Hz down to 18Hz!!! This was just a killer system sound-wise & looks-wise.