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?
Did you actually get to hear these, and if so can you comment some more. I am really strongly leaning towards them. I talked with a recent purchaser (Bill Powell) who commented briefly about the speakers, but he is probably in listening heaven and not posting comments.
In 1996 or there abouts I had the opportunity to listen to the Jadis Eurythmie II speakers at the Stereophile show at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Even under the poor conditions of the show, I was astounded with their effortless and dynamic presentation. I knew in the proper room, with proper set up, they would be remarkable in all other areas, such as coherence and imaging. I would love to own a pair.
Mrdecibel, I agree with you about the Jadis. I can find no evidence that they are still made nor find any used ones. I am curious how many were ever made.
This has become a constant quest for me. I am a speaker junkie, currently I own 16 pair. I have been very pleased with an odd pairing of a set of ADS L780/2s and a set of .7EP Digital Phase flipped upside down and setting on top of the ADS with a Auralex Iso pad between the two. This was it for me till I visited AudioVolo and asked Steve to hook up a pair of Mark & Daniel Rubies. WOW! I left the store with the Rubies and a set of M&D stands. I just ordered a set of Mark & Daniel Maximus Monitors, they will play a bit louder. I like to feel the music as well as hear it. So I listen at times around 90 - 102db. My listening position is about 11' from the speakers. But right now the Mark & Daniel line of speakers rock my boat. I co-own a recording studio (birdlandstudios.com) and our playback monitors are Focal Chorus 806Vs (QSC 1500) with a MTX P12 sub (QSC 900) and a set of Urei 813Bs (QSC 1500) with a Rayad sub (QSC 900). This system will blow your hair back, it sounds like your are there!
Tbg, I believe Jadis of France is still in business, but I do not know the current US importer, if there is one. As far as obtaining a pair, the last price I remember was around $45000. Not that anyone would ever part with them. Not that I could ever afford them. But, I remember them well!
...and that would be Carl Marchisoto's Alon line of speakers namely the Lotus SE series with their Alnico magnet drivers but the Alon 1's, when placed in the appropriate sized room, can blow away pretty much any competition given care is used with the ancillary equipment.
The most perfectly satisfying speaker that I have ever listened to is ther Harbeth Monitor 40. Despite the many far more expensive systems that I have auditioned in the past, these were the first that were above criticism- they just play music.
I was impressed by the Harbeth Monitor 30 when I first heard it. But I wouldn't put it in the top tier of best speakers, as by definition to be able to realistically reproduce for example an orchestral piece, you need something bigger.
The best speaker system I ever heard I own: Evolution Acoustics MM3 but especially paired with Dartzeel's its a match made in heaven...
Hands down, it was a nifty little 3-way designed by Andrew Hefly (formerly of GAS). He designed the Granson of Ampzilla, and the Godzilla, among others. I've heard them all and nothing ever came close.
I've always been drawn to the 89/11 radiation pattern, and their massive power handling. The only thing they ever lacked was extreme top end, which I have solved with the EMIT mod. I own the series 2; far and away the best of the series. Fellow hi-enders who have heard my rig are invariably stunned at how good my 901's sound. The little 3-way system was sadly lost during one of several moves years ago. Thanks for asking!!!!
there is no best speaker. if there were such a thing, it would be a cone design that sounds like an electrostat, full range ribbon, or other planar magnetic speaker.
I remember the gradient 1.3. that was a wonderful speaker.
Soundwave metronomes . I cant believe the sound from these weird looking little things. I have never heard the soundwave soliloquys but I heard they were incredible too.
I heard the MBL 101e at THE show in LA and thought them one of the best for sure, although they benefited from crazy expensive electronics. Two other speakers at the show that stood out were ESP Concert Grand and Rockport Mira.
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.
In my dedicated (so to speak) room, listening to classical and jazz music, by FAR, the Silverline Boleros.
The difference these speakers have made is profound. Now I know why some people become evangelistic about some audio stuff and say how the thingies allow them to relax and let the music flow. All of that and I don't feel I'm giving up anything important to audiophilia.
Detail/resolution in spades yet no brightness, just liquidity. Great balance. Its been interesting hearing a lot of old electronics, etc, which no longer have their potential inhibited by speakers. I've found a few very plesant surprises amoungst them. Time to sell all of my other speaker sets, save a back up set. :-)
Just got a pair of Von Schweickert VR-7SE's and after barely 80 hours of break-in, they are already something very special with my VAC tubes. Way too early for a full review - I am starting to realize why people rave about these speakers worldwide. Very impressive so far.......
in all areas of life, there is no best of anything.
there are too many variables, and some of them will be imprecisely measured, so that judgement is unreliable.
many speakers have been mentioned in this discussion. it is therefore not possible to say what is best. the criteria used to judge vary with the person who is doing the judging. it is a fruitless exercise. it is sufficient to like something and consider it a favorite without concern for its quality. as long as you like it, in this case the sound of a speaker, nothing else matters.
the notion of "best" is a philosophical argument which has no conclusion.
Mrtennis, I would generally agree with you regarding the notion of "the best" being somewhat vague when criteria cannot be quantified. Back in '72 I had the pleasure of witnessing Buddy Rich and his band in concert. Being a drummer myself I realized this man played drums on a different plane than anyone else. Every time he performed an incredible riff he would top it with something even more unimaginable 5 minutes later! Most drummers would consider him to be the best of all time. But again, what would the criteria for that be? Ear of the beholder sums it up fairly well.
if there is no best, because "best" does not exist in audio, then, i suppose the word "favorite" should be substituted. this is not a subtle distinction.
whenever the word best is used as a descriptor, it implies some standard for judging. for every judge, there could be a different standard, so the term best is subjective and is really one's favorite.
i believe there have been many threads in the past dealing with the subject of favorite component.
my point in all this is to suggest that "best" is a misued term that usually does not have much usefulness.
Reading MrT's posts, I believe, is a very satisfying experience. Self satisfying that is! :-)
Most professors love to publish. Even if they have to pay for the publication themselves and print only a few works. Hard habit to break. Then they retire. And this forum is free. Unfortunately you can't equate eagerness to publish with having something of public interest.
Give the guy a break - we all pack it in sooner or later. Maybe you're next!
MrT never fails to delight me. In one sense he always points out the obvious. We would have to be utter fools or simply nutheads not to know, that most of our judgements are subjective, in another sense he is just a tad off the mark, because if we take unamplified, live music as as our benchmark, (pace TEE, I know also this could be argued to be subjective ) then that piece of gear which renders a sound closest to this, lets music come forth as close as possible to REAL music, can - within the range of the speakers we are familiar with - truly be considered "best" among its rivals. I've just listended to Dr. Roger West's latest Ultimate speakers. They are not my "favourites", because being so huge, they visually screw up my listening room, however they came closer to the real thing than anything I've heard so far with all different kinds of music, both digital and analog. Not absolute best of course, because I haven't listened to all speaker systems on earth, but certainly the best of all stators ever and closer to real music than anything I've heard before.
Sound Lab A1's are for the money my all time favorites. With the right type of amplification of course tube they provide a very natural tonal balance, amazing bass, there very detailed, delicate, dynamic they do it all. Highly recommended. Kevin
Tbg, no I don't. Friends of mine have, so I'm very familiar with their sound and I like them. What I have however, and most probably you've got the idea from there, is a a pair of aCapella plasma tweeters sitting on top of my Quads.
Ohjoy, I couldn't agree more and in spades of course. I always thought that the Ultimates must be good. Albert Porter of these pages had them for a long time a few years back, but I never thought that there were THAT good....
Detlof, I am assuming that your friends have the Excaliburs with the 15" woofers. Listening to my Triolon Excaliburs and comparing them against the Campaniles that I previously owned, I assume that a horn loaded bass would be the ideal way to go with these speakers (Spharons?). Do your friens biamp their Excaliburs? If so, what amps do they use?
Thanks in advance for any help that you can give me.
Fcrowder, actually they use a pair of sub bass boxes of German origin, the name of which eludes me. They are servo controlled and cleverly adapt to the sound field in the room. Don't ask me how, but if you switch them off, the entire soundstage in all frequencies becomes slightly diffuse. The last time I was at their house, they used the Wavacs, I cannot say if it was the 50 or the 1O0 watters and they did not biamp. Before that he had a a pair of modded Tim de Paravicini amps, but which exactly I can't say.
The more world class speakers to which I am exposed, the more certain I become that there is no one best speaker or for that matter even a best that I have heard. Let me explain, there are certainly speakers that represent the best in a particular frequency range or with respect to a particular attribute. For instance, from 5000 hz to the limits of hearing, nothing for me approaches the Acapella ion tweeter; for the dead midrange, the original Quads float my particular boat; for bass below 100 hz, the 21" Cabasse Saturns are phenomenal; for dynamics, some of the better horns are unbeatable. Although I could go on, I think that you see the picture. The problem is that no commercial speaker that I have heard does it all. That means that what you perceive as best will ultimately be determined by your priorities and the tradeoffs that you are willing to accept. I think that Detlof has already said all this, probably with more eloquence, but it bears saying again.
If anyone has heard these speakers they would most certainly agree. I think the 6moons write-up speaks for itself. It is the only system that you really don't hear the speakers.
I never heard the two Rockport speakers above the Altairs (my absolute favorite), but if they are better - they must be wonderful.
1. Rockport Technologies Altair (great all round)
2a. Avantegarde Duo Primo (breathless - emotional)
2b. Hansen Prince v2 (again - just how much better the Hansen's above this one)
5a. Tie: Leonard Norwitz's Audio Note System (in his place - just music) 5b. Tie: Wilson W/P 8's (IMHO in my environment and system for now - music with more dynamics when required)
...and at $99 a pair a rightout bargain, and that's really the best you've ever heard Jkl2000? If you get serious about this high-end hobby you're in for the ride of your life!
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