The best speaker you ever heard?

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.

Up until the Capital Audio Fest this past weekend, I would have had a different answer, but after sitting down in front of a pair of Joseph Audio Perspective floorstanders, I've got a new "best."

They aren't huge (~3' tall), not overdone, highly aesthetically pleasing (especially with the covers off), and--driven by a whole array of Bel Canto components--produced what I would call the most surprising, enthusiastic, thoroughly enjoyable sound I've ever heard. Much bigger than the speakers, but beautifully imaged and just... uplifting.

I know I'm a neophyte on these forums, and I'll admit I was so struck by the sound I wasn't able to pay attention to some of the nuances I might otherwise attempt to nitpick--they just begged to be enjoyed.

Anyone else hear these and have a similar reaction?

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Gregory

It's obvious to me that the right Reverend Hifisoundguy is on a mission. He is proselytizing for his Hifi god, the Bose 901, and wont be happy until he can convince the audio world to switch audio gods. Seriously dude, let it go, your opinion is a valid as anyone else's, so stop trying to convince the rest of us who also have opinions just as valid. You like what you like, we get it.

Somersetboy -- very enjoyable description. And interesting because the VXP 15Q is design and presumably sold for sound reinforcement applications.

Best Ive heard,Analysis Audio ,I think it was the Omega.Im very surprised they are not seen often here.

Tannoy active VXP 15" dual concentric VXP 15Q is THE best I have heard so far, especially the new active powered VXP8 8" is just so amazing for home use. They blew my socks off. They save you the bother of buying amplifiers. Instead you can invest in a decent balanced tranny/valve preamp. Fatigue free listening combined with ball coddling bass is heaven. Makes you forget that there is a wife you can go to for the same pleasure. I try listening to "hi fi" speakers costing twice as much but so far most of them fall short when you turn the volume dial up. At low volumes some speakers sound annoying and lack coherence. I like Quad electrostatics too for an ethereal sound but lack the guttural "realism" the cone drive units easily give. Thanks Dee

"Magnepan Tympani IVds driven by Mark Levinson. Those and the Klipsch Horns made the biggest impression anyway."

Funny, I first heard both of these at a single visit to a local dealer as a teen. I can remember the sound of Fleetwood Mac's self named album playing on these and what a revelation it was. Though I was a music lover and had a modest $200 Sanyo compact stereo system prior, I think that was the day I could have first been dubbed an "audiophile".

I would still have to pick the old Magnepan Tympani IVds driven by Mark Levinson. Those and the Klipsch Horns made the biggest impression anyway. Must have, I own Maggie 3.7s and Klipsch Corwalls now :-)

My best if list would alo include Vandersteen 5A and the Avalon Isis sounded great too and if memory serves the Infinity Reference had my jaw dropping, but size alone might have done that

MikeH

Bowers and Wilkins 800D's are the single-best sounding speaker I've ever heard. I've heard those silly Focal Utopia things - they're not great. They don't have the imaging / sound stage that the B&Ws do.

If you like listening to music, you'll love Bowers & Wilkins speakers. If you like listening to speakers, try Wilson or Focal - hell, why not just buy some Bose speakers and a big ol' sub. It will all sound fine, but you're not listening to the music, you're listening to the speakers.

When you want to hear the music, as recorded, with nothing else, buy the B&Ws and then buy me a beer. You're welcome.

The sad thing is I sold them and just bought them back.
I have gone thru probably forty speaker systems the last thirty years.
I let a pair of Rosinante Evolution Reference go about eight years ago.
I just bought them back a couple of days ago. The fellow I sold them to had to move. Playing them on my present electronics and cables made me realize i should have never sold them in the first place. Best i have ever heard in my home.

Shahinian Obelisks that were playing Beethoven's Ninth. When the choral movement started I could feel chills running up my spine like Vincent Price's "Tingler."

Hotmailjbc , these 901's can be tweaked to sound much better! Put two coats of Elmer's carpenter's glue on all the paper cones of the speaker drivers. The amazing sound was there all these years, you just needed to "tweak" it out of them!.. WOW !!....

i was at a demonstration at "the mountain" bose factory. in a semi darkened small theatre [100 seats]the audience listened to some 901 series 5's. most people we pretty impressed and assumed the set up had to be tweaked but.....? then 2 people walked in and theatrically removed the "fake 901s" and exposed the fact that we were listening to 2 acoustic waves on pedestals.suggestibility and eye over ear bias? true story....

Actually, your ears are the most important piece of the pie.

Speaker is not the most important piece of the pie - not nearly. Take a decent, competent speaker then it is all about the source. I have seen this in practice WAY too many times.

Avalon monitors
Avalon eidolon vision
Magnepan mg 20
Dynaudio evidence series

A purely subjective answer. I have heard many that can be considered the best. I find a certain ^ 150,000 loudspeaker sterile and clinical in sound. I have heard a $15,000 loudspeaker that brought tears to my eyes...I do not mind saying that it was the Gemme Audio Katana. Sometimes, magic does exist. Now, the loudspeaker that brought me to my knees was the Infinity IRS from the 1970s. I still remember the experience to this day. THAT experience brings to mind the greatest speaker i ever heard. It was the 70s, no one had done anything like it...and if it stays with you for 30 years you know it was special.

Any one had the chance to hear these speakers eggleston-work "The Nine"and campere them to merlin vmr..?..or others..?..i already have an idea on the indra but not "The nine"will appreciate.thx.

Hi Ertugrul,

Interesting! The Arrakis is the one speaker i would truly love to hear! Can you provide any comments about its sound in comparison to other big speakers? I have heard Wilson X1, X2, ML CLX & Descent Sub, SF Stradivari, YG Acoustic Anat Professional, Tidal Sunray with 2 Tower subs...thanks for any comments!

Rockport Altair and even better Rockport ARAKIS the VEYRON under the speakers!

Im a budding Audiophile so my feelings some may take with a grain of salt. I recently upgraded to Definitive Tech XTR60's for front, center and left and some Definitive Tech Mythos Gems for the surround sounds left and right.

Man what a difference. So amazed at these thin speakers that can just produce such clear and precise music as well as HT goodness. The DT's are the best speakers Ive ever heard to date outside of my uncles ridiculous high end system. I still have the cheezy Boston Acoustic sub that will be terminated with extreme prejudice as soon as I get the DT supercube Reference. So far Im a fan of Definitive Tech.

Lacee, I see you owned Stacked Quad 57's. I never owned these, but I remember fondly the first time I heard a pair, they were simply amazing. What did you replace them with and why?

Hi Lacee,

Thanks for posting that...have never had the opportunity to hear the Westminster Royals but read many good things about them. I used to own the SF Strads and know the CLX quite well also. How would compare the Westminster Royals to either? Thanks for any guidance.

BTW, nice system!!!

Having just listened to a pair of Tannoy Westminster Royals I would have to add them to my list of speaker choices that I've enjoyed.

I would place these in the top level with, Sonus Faber Stradivari,SoundLab Ulitmate One,ML CLX,all very fine speakers.

My personal faves from speakers I've owned were, in no particular order,
Rogers Ls3/5A-15 ohm,Stacked Quad 57's,ML CLS,AcoustatMonitor X,Ref 3A Grand Veena.

I've owned lots of other speakers, but these stand out in my mind.

The hard sell here ain't much better.

At least a lot of folks can go down to the local mall and hear the Boses. Kind of annoying to get the hard sell from the lonely sales guys there though.

BOSE does give frequency specs on their 901's to there customers outside the US.

http://www.audio-database.com/BOSE/speaker/901westborough-e.html

Pubul57 , I think these latest 901's are one of the very best bargains I have ever come across and after you do a few easy mods to them, remove all those fiberglass grilles and cover all the plastic parts sticking way out on the back side of these speakers with teflon tape.

The better the source gear and interconnects and speaker cables are, the better these 901's will sound !!

I'm also using some RCA to XLR adapters I got here on audiogon from Ed Houston ehous31900@gmail.com so I could use my CD Balance inputs on my Yamaha a-s2000 integrated amp. I have my bose equalizer between my CD player and my CD Balance inputs. Using these Balance inputs really got my 901's to SING like never before !!...

I did not figure to read so much about Bose in a thread with this title. Might need to listen to them again, last time was, hmmmm, March 19th, 2:30 AM, 1979, or was it 1980?

Reprince , I don't like these 901's without the equalizer, the equalizer lets you hear the full potential of these 901's.. period ! It does NOT degrade the sound !

If you look down this page your see that Jeff did NOT use the equalizer with his reference gear and we all will find out about this in a few days when Jeff writes part three of this review...

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=279685&page=9

He needs to hook up the bose equalizer with his reference interconnects and put it in his reference system and do this review the right way, he's being very unfair by not using the most important part of this 901 system !!

Part 1 and 2 seem like a fair review/assessment.

The thing is years ago 901s at their going price were the cat's meow.

Nowadays, $1400 is nothing on the grand scale of things. IF these fit your bill, perhaps not a bad value there.

Screwing the Jetsons-era stands directly into the speaker in this day and age is pretty cheesy though!

And I'm not so sure that he did not use the equalizer, as he does make reference to it quite a bit, and notes that the EQ might be slightly degrading the sound in the article. Where did you deduce that he wasn't using the EQ?

If we "all can agree" that the Bose 901s do not sound good without the EQ, what does that say about the reviewer's abilities when he praises them as much as he does?

Shakey , I think we can all agree that these 901's do NOT sound any good "without" the bose equalizer !

Jeff is NOT writing a fair review on them...I wonder why he is doing this for ???...

Stop your whinning. The speakers got a good review, better than what most of us would have guessed.

Shakey

Drubin , would you call NOT using the bose equalizer with his reference gear, a "fair review" on 901's ???...

I can see now that Jeff does not want to give these 901's a fair review with the most important part of this review !

I think Jeff sees the potential of these latest 901's BUT he just don't want to find out about it by not using the equalizer with his reference gear......

No, he did use it, just not when he swapped in the Pass and ARC gear.

In the Tone Publications review of these latest 901's Jeff did NOT use bose equalizer AT ALL !! I wonder why Jeff did this for Because without the equalizer these 901's do not sound good at all !! What's going on here ???..

Look down this page and your see that he did NOT use the bose equalizer

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=279685&page=9

I think the last time I heard Bose 901's were at a Pacific Stereo in San Diego.

I dug 'em! Not quite sure if I was still in high school or perhaps, had begun college; however, I do recall how differently the sound was presented compared to my friend's family's AR 10 Pi's :-)

EQ? Oh, yeah...they needed them - lol. But, the sound was enveloping!

You know, it would be fun listening to them again, I think :-)

Vbr,
Sam

Well here's part two of this review from Tone Publications on these latest Bose 901's that a lot of you have been waiting for... http://www.tonepublications.com/review/we-review-the-bose-901/

Jeff says these 901's are "Serious Speakers" and he is seriously considering keeping these latest 901's for his beach house !..

Part three will be coming up next with the 901's with Jeff's reference tube gear and his reference interconnects and speaker cables...this should be a real ear opener !!..

I have never heard AVant gardes, but i have heard Apogoee Stages and was mighty impressed! And that was over 20- years ago and it still is one of the references in sound for me.

Avantgarde Trio is a truely great speaker. Followed by Apogee Duetta sigs and Diva, magnepan mg20 and 3.6r.

I have a fond memory of the Quad 57, and a properly set up ML CLSiiz. Organ music on the TDL studio monitor.

TBG

Yes, I replaced surrounds during the late 20th C.

Are your surrounds still good?

Just found the receipt for my AR 3a speakers: Wiesbaden Audio and Photo Club, Mainz-Kastel, Germany, 23 Aug 1975. $402.00 US Dollars for the pair.

Still sound great. May upgrade some day.