The best speaker you ever heard?

To put my answer in context, understand that I have been out of this game for the better part of 20 years, for reasons too complicated for this post. My "new" 2 1/2 (?) systems, accumulated over about 20 months, are soon to get the juice, however!

BEST: I think Mark Levinson's demo of master tapes on his HQD System at CES in Chicago about 33 or 34 years ago. That would be huge Hartley [sub]woofer units (15"-ers? Or was it 18"?)... stacked Quad "57" ESLs...and Decca (Kelly) ribbon [super]tweeters. Of course, the source may have had something to do with it... But, whew (!): "It's hi-fi, Jim... but not as we know it."

MOST MIND-ALTERING, JAW-DROPPING, FANTASMAGORICAL, and JUST PLAIN SCARY: Professor Hill's Plasmatronics ($10K a pair, and it seemed kind of outrageous!) at one of those same CES's. An ion plasma "tweeter" aboard, in case you don't know; and enough ozone to bleach the walls, I expect. Don't give me your quibbles about "integration"... The Roger Wagner Chorale, doing "Dry Bones", complete with Spike Jones-alike sound effects, could stop your heart... or scare the bejeezuz out of a corpse, and START ITS ticker! To this day, when some reviewer describes a ribbon tweeter as "lightning fast", I laugh.

Was probably a friend's KLH 9's driven by a Futterman OTL amp.
At one time, I owned the same equipment but they never sounded as "real" as my friend's set up. Very obviously room dimensions, speaker placement, absorbtion factors, etc. have much to do with what you hear and my experience certainly proved that to be the case.

I totally agree!!! speakers are the most important part of any audio system. I used Gradient Avanti and felt that they are one of the best speakers available in the market today.

The Harbeth monitor 30's are probably the most transparent and most balanced reference speaker that I've heard. You can't match their price-tag (considering the tuning & craftsmanship) with anything else available.

I have owned many systems and heard alot of speakers (quad,maggies,wilsons).

I have happily settled with Harbeth.

I agree with HiFisoundguy. I have a pair of the 901 series 6 and they do wonders for me. I play them for people and then I play my Dynaudios. It helps people understand. Also, the top is large enough to mix martinis on. Try that on a harbeth. Ain't happening.

I also tried them in the shower. If you are using a regular shower radio, stepping up to the 901s can make a big impact. Acoustics in there are perfect for them. Again, the ample surface area on top makes a great place for your shampoo.