The best speaker you ever heard?


In my opinion, the speaker is by far the most important part of the audio system. After all, it is the only part you hear. OK, the other stuff really matters a lot, but without a great speaker... No go.

I am a bit 'speaker-obsessed' I guess, and now I am wondering: What are the best speakers you have ever heard, and what made them the best?
njonker

Showing 4 responses by pjl2122

for sure the best speaker out there at under $10,000
and will beat any20k loudspeaker is the New Reference 3A Grand Veena loudspeaker,Harry Pearson
of T.A.S not only gave it a golden ear award ,but also an editors choice .Reference uses their patented custom made in house midrange and -No crossover ever in the midrange
and a $1000 Murata supertweeter, you will see a lot of companys following suit.At under $8,500 an absolute gem!
the Best loudspeaker in the World for sure I would pick the MBL-111 Incredible in every respect if you have $50k to spend a no brainer -But requires a superb 300wpc + amplifier to make it live up to it's praise.
in the their respective price ranges Reference 3A and here is why -
Please also remember when reading opinions online a lot of guys use a so so amplifier and this speakers are so reveiling to the source, garbage in garbage out, as well as setup
straight on that is the proper setup for this is a time and phase accurate loudspeaker,most people don't realize that the midwoofer is totally made by hand in house and the Tweeter is totally custom made and has tighter specifications than any of the ring radiators
out there as well as using solid Copper in the Faraday ring used in the motors structure in the tweeter,all very expensive that is why most companys donot do it.please also remember if a speaker is a 1st order design the tweeter has to work harder and have far better band width.This tweeters resonance point is at 590hz where most other Tweeters are well over 1000. Being time aligned the Tweeter and Woofer are arriving at the Ear at the same time and that is why it is much more precise and natural and the most critcal driver in any loudspeaker is the Midrange driver and in all Reference 3A loudspeakers the Amplifier power is fed directly into the Mid driver, also for example a B&W 802 for instance it's phase many vary over 30- 40degrees, with the Reference 3A loudspeakers under 10 degrees maximum for all drivers also all drivers are Matched paired only after 100 hours of breakin, at under .5 % for the Tweeter and under 1% for the Midwoofer. The drivers themselves are all underhung meaning much lower distortion than the average by as much as 5x .By Having a wider Magnetic gap and a shorter underhung voice coil, under extreme driver excursion the coil does not stray into the magnetic field ,also using Neodymium magnets which are 10x smaller and powerfull than the standard Iron core type.
Read the writeup on on the Decapp-I since the review 3 years ago showing a peak here or there in a graph can be deceiving, for the reviewer gave the loudspeaker a rave and a Best Buy.Not being satisfied with very good they redesigned the midwoofer and it is now even better ! Internally all silver carbon Van Dan Hull wiring is used as well as a solid Aluminum backing plate also Cardas binding posts and jumpers
and only 1 custom oil Capacitor to the Tweeter used as a high pass filter with no other power robbing distortion elements in the signal path , also the dynamic range spl is around 107db for the Decappo or Veena which is super loud without cone breakup driven with quality electronics.The cabinet is solidly braced with various thicknesses and the rear bass port is of a folded type for proper loading and no Bass overhang .
1.5" of Wool Felt is also used for internal cabinet vibration absorbtion, the Middriver is Carbon fiber and runs directly from the amplifier output that is why it sounds so electrostatic fast and clear. In business for 48 years and well known through Europe, they are making a Big comback in North America from their Swiss beginnings with many Patented technologies being used by other companys, to the cutting edge methods
such as liquid coatings that damp and absorb vibration to The Very expensive Murata Super tweeter used in the Grand Veena this is why Reference loudspeakers sound so natural, taking the time to do it properly
using the highest parts quality and methods, that is why Reference 3A loudspeakers and a best buy in every respective catagory.
For under $10,000 the Reference 3a grand veena or any of the Reference 3a loudspeakers have a excellent midrange
for they use a very simple Xover and it shows in it's purity. The NSR Sonic D-3 is on par and a better balanced loudspeaker all around,please remember as good as the accolades at the show were they were just prototypes .The current production models are some 15-20% more refined ,and if you get the Reference Xover with either the Mundorf,or Duelund capacitors it gets even better.
Give them a long listen with any type of music then make a comment or decision.