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?
Paul Hale's Hales Design Group Transcendence 8, powereed by Boulder equipment. Of course I'm a bit biased as we all are in that this is my current system, but honestly I have never heard another speaker this transparent ever. Between it, the Boulder power and preamp, and the Meridian front end, if you put music in, music will come out gloriously. Unfortunately, on the other hand, if you put garbage in, well....
Hard to say since there is no one "ideal" speaker around. Vivid "Giya' comes close. In addition I would list speakers I love for the "close to the real sound" quality they all have (in some cases it had to be together with the electronics used at the moment),starting with the more expensive and going down: MBL 101, Original B&W Nautilus, Wilson Benesch "Chimera", Vandersteen 5A Sign. Some Sound Labs should be added as well. For the "small" speakers it is Sonus Faber "Extrema", Wilson Benesch "Discovery", B&W Silver Sign.
Magnepan MG 3.6R's (09 edition with new crossovers). If you truly know music, there is no other speaker for you. They will unleash your inner audiophile like no other and let the music flow over you like the Holy waters from the audio God's:O )
I have heard several brands high end speakers, but not all. I am not an expert on loudspeakers, but since the question is what are the best speakers I have heard, I have to say they are: McIntosh XR290. They have been in my system for 14 years now and I have never lost the love. Why fix what's not broken?
Banner wrote "I doubt that most people could really hear the difference between a $2,000 cd player and one for $200."
I used to believe that until I purchased a used Cary 306/200. I had a Sony $300.00 cd player and the difference were huge. I didn't have to look hard for the difference they were obvious and not subtle.
Even my son who is not an audiophile said that the cd player made the biggest improvement in sound that he has heard in my system.
I have owned B&W 802, 803 and 805 all N's. I have also owned 801 matrix. I also had the htm 1 and the scms as well. I have owned Merlin, Dali, Wilson watt puppy 6's, 7's and sophias as well as a host of others. I currently own Eggleston Andra II's.
How anybody can even think the B&W offerings compare even remotely to the others I have listed, I'll never know.
The B&W speakers have two things going for them.
1. They look great 2. When you wise up, get smart and sell them, they sell quickly!!
There are so many fine speakers in this world today it just blows my mind. If i had to pick the top 25 I seriously doubt B&W would make the list. Dont get me wrong they sound good but there are far better choices to choose from.
Well, I am an old faithful to the old kef 104/2 speakers. I own two pairs for my stereo A+B and front+surround until recently I replace my Kef C55 by a pair Kef iQ3 (2005 EISA Winner) for surround back. My center is Kef 200C and sub is Velodyne F-1200B.
I am also entertain the idea of "upgrading". I listened to many speakers. So far, I have found many good speakers but just haven't found anything "better". This may not be fair to other speakers for I couldn't give them the chance to burn-in.
I am a firm believer that speakers are like women. They are some very beautiful ones, some high maintenance ones and some cute ones. But, if you define "the best" for a woman that you can marry to and spend the rest of your life with, then "the best" for speakers should mean some speakers you can happily live with for quite some time. Hence, my choice is still Kef 104/2 despite their bad customer service.
Besides biasd by one's personal experience, one can only truthfully distinguish which speaker pair is "better" than the other by placing them side-by-side and driving them by its proper amplifier. Pick and choose the right format of source to play is also important. There is absolutely no so-called "the best" one can claim fairly and squarely.
My company (not in the audio business) is doing research on how the ear/brain system perceives music. We designed and built special loudspeakers to deal with some issues in commercially available systems. Audio has been a hobby of mine since 1951, when my Dad brought home an Altec 757a studio monitor, but these speakers are my favorite. (They have no name, but in-house we call them Wh-3’s.)
They have a very strange design. They look like they came from outer space, and they are huge – only a serious audiophile would consider having them in the living room, but people who hear them are usually amazed. Just for fun, I’ve been recording the sound of very high end speakers and playing it back through the Wh-3’s. It’s amazing. Some of the videos are on my channel on YouTube. Just go to YouTube and search for listiac. Of course, the YouTube audio is not very good, but you can catch the flavor…
For a small to medium size room I may have heard some candidates just this past Sunday . . Esoteric M20's driven by a Grant Fidelity integrated and a Koetsu Urushi mounted in a 12" arm on a Nottinghamm Space Deck. Last month in a church abbey, some Daedalus DA1's driven by some Manley monoblocks and a VTL pre with a Linn front end. Both of these speaks are around 7k. Think I could be happy with either of these and the thousands of dollars I would save buying insanely priced whatevers. Think you might be, too.
I`d second JM Lab. Nova Utopia BE is by far the best speaker I have heard yet. But JM-s are very picky about upstream components. Camdenyard, I think you mean Alto BE.
JM Labs/Focal Mezzo Utopia Be's...that was a few years ago. With Simaudio flagship monoblocks. The new EM Utopia is supposed to change high end speakers forever, at least for Focal...until the patent runs out :)
The last two commentators give too much credit to components other than the speakers. Most well designed preamplifiers and amplifiers sound very much the same with essentially no input offered by interconnects. Most sound engineers would tell you that the quality of the recording, the listening environment (ie. the room) and the speakers are the main determinants of sound quality. I doubt that most people could really hear the difference between a $2,000 cd player and one for $200.
Excellent point, after going to something like the CES its clear that you can't separate the speaker from other components unless you are probably the designer, or you are intimately familiar with all components and you are a room acoustic expert... and even then!
Past experience leads me to question whether you can separate the performance of the amplifier driving the speaker from the speaker. Case in point, the substitution of the balanced Audio Note Kegons for a pair of Parasound JC-1's has led me to re-evaluate how good the speakers are.
Orion speakers (made either by a kit or by Wood Artistry in California). These speakers were designed by Dr. Sigfried Linkwitz, a former HP engineer, and are an open baffle design. I have listened to them for quite some time now and have not experienced the level of depth and clarity in any other speaker system. Music is my passion and I have listened to a great deal of live concerts; the Orions come closest to realizing the true concert experience.
My friend just got a pair of SASS "prototype" speakers from a someone who sells on eBay. They are large bookshelf sized. The company reportedly makes speaker for large music halls. Amazing sound. Has anyone heard of this company?
People will rave on for ever about what they think is best and at the end of the day only YOUR ears in YOUR listening environment can decide what is best for YOU. No matter how good the recording, room and system it is still at it's very best only the illusion of the live musical event and that is all it can ever be. The simple fact that Top of the line speakers all sound so different indicates to me that there is a very long way to go technologically and acoustically as far as the ultimate speaker goes. Don't worry, be happy!
Has anyone ever heard the Kaiser Kawero. I heard it Rocky Mountain and it was incredible. Pretty small but over 200 lbs a piece. They filled the room with very realistic music. I saw someone from one of the mags or online sites say it was best sound at show and it sounded that way to me too. Best part is my wife thought it was beautiful. Had a modified RAAL tweeter and special wiring by Echole. I have Echole cables and they are phenomenal. Best I ever heard. That's how I found out about the speakers.
21' x 12.5' with heart redwood paneling purchased in 1975. Had to install about 22 lineal feet of it to enlarge the room and almost passed out at the price in 2008. Has turned out to be a wonderful sound absorber.
I heard them where I bought my Ref 3A deCapo-i speakers. It was a large basement room that was about 17 wide and 28-30 feet long. The speakers were about 8 feet apart, 5-6 feet from the back wall, and I was probably 10-12 feet from the speakers. I haven't got enough space for them where I live, but if I did I'd have to find the money to buy them.
The Grand Veena...Coherence, I knew there was a word I was forgetting. They were magnificent loud, and it was impossible to ignore even at low volumes. You're lucky to own them- I have the deCapo-i from Reference 3A, and I love them, but they are not the Grand Veenas.
You may get bigger sound from some much much more expensive speakers, but not better. The Grande Veenas sent my Spendor SP100s to the audio bullpen. Don't forget to add the overall coherence. I think that is really what sets it apart from other speakers. Speed,Accuracy, Imaging , Coherence and Big sound.
Reference 3A Grand Veena. Why? Accuracy. Imaging. Big sound. Speed. I'm sure there are better speakers, but I'm not sure any of them cost $8000 or less.
The larger Latour Field Coil Speakers from Shindo Labs, driven by Shindo electronics, were the most musical speakers I have ever heard. If not for the WAF consideration, I would already own them! (That reminds me to check my lottery ticket for tonight!)
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