The best speaker you ever heard?

Pioneer SP-PK52FS is also one of the best speaker also affordable.

How much your RM2 cost to you?

So Kitchen what other speakers have you had before you went to the RM2?

My VMPS RM2 speakers. I did a lot of research online and these had a lot of raving lunatics going gaga over them in the forums years ago. I bought them sound unheard. Took an expensive chance, and I won. I still love them. They take me into this musical zone. Too bad VMPS has closed with Brian Cheney's passing. He really knew how to engineer speakers.

Stopped dead in my tracks by a pair of Vienna acoustic Klimt. The Kiss.

ADS L1530 modified. The largest precise sound stage with gut wrenching low end impact. I am there! Hard to find.

In my point of view the Energy Take Classic 5.1 is the best budget and outstanding sound system speaker that i have reviewed.

My Vapor Audio Breeze speakers are stunning. The Raal tweeter offers glorious highs. Midrange is liquid. wide and deep soundstage. Tonality of instuments is off the charts. Bass is fast and tight. At $1300 for standard Breeze, I would say that this is easily one of the best bang for the buck in all of audio. My Breeze were custom, done in redwood burl, amorphous core Raal upgrade and Dueland resistors upgrade. I also have matching stands with the crossover in the base of the stands.

Analysis Audio and Krell LATs,One of these years I have to attend RMAF so I can hear more of a variety of speakers.But these are the best that I have heard.

Wilson's Sasha, Sophia, Vandersteen's 7s are all excellent. YGs Carmels, though are best sound I've heard for under 50k. (with Spectral 260 amp)

my dc10 instrument 8PS power accuracy and engaging..Next is my big TAD's they just need more power but are amazing too!

Magneplanars due the stage they provide

Magico S5. I must admit I'm a huge Magico fan currently owning the V2's. This past weekend I had an extended listening session with the S5's, and have to say after 30 years in this hobby I haven't heard anything this good. In summary they have the expected magico transparcy but with more output at the low end. They seemed to do everything well. Stay tuned these are game changers(my biased opinion).

Merlin VSM master!

Tidal Piano Diacera which is nice because a pair of them is in my listening room!

The Vivid Audio Giya G2. Heard them at a local reviewer’s house when he had them for a review last year.

Vandersteen Model 7, driven by Aesthetix phono/preamp/monoblock amps. Recent demonstration.

That's easy: YGA Carmel's. With proper electronics and good source equipment these speakers eclipse anything I have heard since 1967. Now , if I can get Yaev to build me a "SE" version of the Carmel's-that would be cool!!!

Thiel CS 3.7s.

When this question comes up, my mind always goes back to that day in 1986, when I heard a pair of klipschorns at Flip's Stereo in St. Louis, MO playing Paul Simon's "Graceland" CD...now THAT was an awesome experience! A lot of it had to do with the room, I'm sure, but still, that has to rank as the best sound I've ever heard coming out of a pair of home loudspeakers.

Devore orangutan 0/96......fantastic

For me it would have to be the Magnepan MG20. I have always been a big Maggie fan. I love the deep low end but also the wide open sound stage typical of a planer speaker. Since the sound of a speaker is subjective to individual taste that is the one that does it for me. That is the best of the best.

The best speaker, which I have heard at $50k or above, is the Vandersteen 7. The midrange was the best I have heard from a cone speaker. The runner up is the MBL 101e speaker. The tone was less transparent, but a pair has the best image and air.

The best speaker that I have heard below $50k is my own Salk SoundScape 10. To a much lesser degree, this speaker combines the strengths of both of the speakers above.

The best speaker, which I have heard below $5k, is the Philharmonic 2. This speaker has the most natural sound of any speaker that I have heard, but it doesn’t have a totally dead cabinet like the others do. Also, it is not as commanding a speaker as the more expensive ones.

As you can tell I like a natural transparent speaker rather than a warm speaker.

Bob

shill

The very best under $1k is my parameter, as I can't ever afford the very best I've ever heard, which were probably Joseph Audio Pearls.

I've found a pair of speakers to hang on to for life. Daber Audio Monitor 2's. Where shall I begin,,,

The word AMAZING comes to mind. I had been warming them up for a couple of days, just pushing low volume current through them 24/7,getting them a little broken in and getting my new Rega stuff all good and warm (Rega Brio R and Rega Apollo R)

First cut: Adele's "Rolling in the the Deep". Soundstage was first thing i noticed, how the background vox were layered behind her lead Incredible!!!

Then the bass presence: obviously not thunderous but on that particular cut the depth and resonance is there while still being ultra-tight; palpable and fantastic. Hard to believe that kind of bass can come out of a monitor so small!

I've now changed to a small EL34 tube amp and they are even better. Amazing little speaker, and I see myself having them for life.

I believe this speaker is a world beater. They're obviously not for rockers, but they are precise, realistic beyond words, and incredibly articulate. I know of no speaker under $1k that can touch the Monitor 2, and very few under $2k. WOW WOW WOW!!!!"

Number one problem with any answer, it depends on the environment you heard it. My first trip to the Munich hifi show I fell in love with all things Infinity. Their display was a 50 ft wall of Quantum 2 and three, QLS, Reference systems. I went to Wilson and heard Alexandria - love at first hearing! Went to Legacy to hear the Focus and sent it home to test, yes bought. I went to an audiophile home, 450 miles away to hear the Coincident and within 5 minutes that was all I needed. So much depends on where you listen. I have since added two big subs to fill in my room. Room is 38 long, 20 wide, and a ceiling going from 9 to 23 feet high. The sound is totally mesmerizing. Always remember the best test will always be your in the end. Good luck

Has anyone here joined the all access buyer club at Elegant Audio Video to get speakers and other gear at dealers cost yet!... http://www.elegantaudiovideo.com/category/aa-buyers-club.benefits/

Two bullhorns hooked up to a car battery compared to Bose 901's. Sure rocked!

901's turned on its back make great port-a-potties!

I had the privilege of hearing a pre-production pair of full range Heil AMT's at CES in the late 70's. They never made it to production but were as close to audibly invisible as you can imagine. Stunning. Shame ESS was so poorly run. Oscar Heil was a certifiable genius.

Aida, by Sonus Faber. To my ears very ' natural' , with great attention to the music and related emotions.

I like the Audio Physic Virgo II. It is compatible with the Atma Spere M-50 OTL power. The distinctive sound.

I was wondering why it was taking my modified BOSE 901's SOOO long to breaking-in really good and found out it was the glue coated dust caps !

I took my finger and pushed around on the dust caps until most of the dried glue stiffness was gone and then the dried glue came off pretty easy...so anyone trying this tweak, DO NOT put glue on the dust caps!

Now these speakers have a near perfect total balance...a must try tweak for these 901's !..

WOW...if only BOSE made them like this many years ago they would be a H*ll of lot more raves about these 901's !!...

I believe 25 to 30 years to be safe.

Being an owner of these speakers, I am biased of course, they are the best speakers I have ever heard. They just get out of the way of the music.

Not full range but the midrange is almost perfect to my ears. A little subwoofer augmentation puts these up against anything on the market IMHO.

I'd give them a good 18-20 years.

Travbrow , I had some used Quad ESL 988's before the Bose 901's.

These modified 901's are taking a very very long time to break-in really good. As the months go by the total balance is getting more refined and its no telling how much longer its going to take to sound their very best.

Curious how the wood glue tweak improves with time, that stuff dries fairly quick. I guess it stiffens and damps the drivers some, but it seems strange that it would make so much of an improvement. Anyway hopefully more people report on this, it is intersting that such a tweak could transform the sound. What other speakers have owned before the 901's?

Mrmitch, it's a whole new ballgame after you coat the BOSE 901's speaker drivers with wood glue !!....

After three months my modified 901's are still improving and I'm sure there be a lot more raves as more people try this !!.... WOW !!....................

Tiltedhalos the dealer in Philly is David Lewis audio. The store is in the N/E part of the city.

Vapor Audio Cirrus stand mounts, awesome!

Command Performance A/V reps the Joseph Audio line.

Thanks for the responses. Kind of gratifying to hear that others were similarly impressed by the Joseph Audio speakers. Having never been to an audio show before, and not having done much listening with newer equipment, I assumed my ears would probably be off-mark, at least by "audiophile" standards. I'd never heard systems with $100K in equipment until last weekend. And while I can't say I'll ever own one of those types of systems, I can say that I was impressed enough that I'm saving pennies and compiling a fantasy list of components for that ever elusive "someday."

Oldcar, which dealer in Philly has the Joseph Audio line? I'll be at a conference up in Philly later this year, and would drop in for a listen. Or, if anyone knows of a dealer in the D.C. area, I'd try to make it there sometime soon. Thanks.

Oldcar63,
Ditto -- on the Joseph Audio Pulsar monitors.

I am not a hybrid fan generally but i liked the gts alot based on a limited audition. Maggies on steroids is nit an unreasonable description.

I heard ths voltis also. I loved the looks. The sound wasquite nice at lower volumes i heard these at. Not sold on the value but maybewitha more extended audition. I liked the cathedrals as well and these come in quite a bit lower in price and also had klipsch heritage/vintage altec horn aesthetic appeal.

I coud easily see any of these serving an owner well.

Mapman, Oldcar,
Since you were at the CAF too, what did you think of the GT Audio Works GTA 2 and the Volti Vittora speakers?

The latter looks almost exactly like a Klipsch LaScala but at 12k compared to what you can get a used Klipsch for, I would have to have a real face off to recommend them a that price level.

I guess being a Maggie owner I like the GTA since they use planer and ribbon but had never heard of them before. The guy said he makes them himself and at 3k seemed reasonable but for that you could get Maggie 1.7s and a sub so who knows. They did sound pleasant enough to my ears during a short listen? He called them "Maggie's on steroids" but that is a reach IMHO.

I hope the show continues growing.

I also stopped for a listen at joseph audio room. I was impressed with the sound first and the looks second and the looks were very nice. It was by far the best sound under 20k at that show. I am going to listen further at a dealer in Philly. If you can give a try.

I did not hear anything that even remotely look or sound like Maggies at CAF. High efficiency and retro designs did seem to rule FWIW. I heard a more decent mix of "modern" versus more retro sounds though despite physical appearances. So it seems a new trend is retro looks and approaches to deliver that more modern sound. There were a lot of speakers using larger drivers than is often the norm these days there which I thought to be a good thing in general.

Tiltedhalos,
I was at the Capital Audiofest Friday and it was one of the better sounding rooms but in all honesty I would take my Maggie 3.7 over virtually anything I heard that day.
IMO most of the rooms had poor sound, but in all fairness I was there early the 1st day and perhaps they got the sound better in the various rooms later in the event/weekend. For the most part it is hard to get great sound in hotel rooms though.
Still had a great time and hope you enjoyed it too!

I caught them briefly and liked what I heard.

I am a fan of the BC gear.

I caught them briefly and liked what I heard.

I am a fan of the BC gear's ability to help bring things to life in a high end way for fairly reasonable cost.