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?
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.
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.
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....
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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 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. :-)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!!!
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 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...
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.
...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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
This is my first post on this site so maybe you will forgive me for being long-winded....and European!
My first criteria for speakers is that they MUST involve me in the music. I have heard many fine monitoring systems which do what they are meant to do but which I would not give house room to for home listening. Likewise I have heard beautiful domestic speakers in a studio control room environment which were next to useless. Be Yamamura's big cork horns! These were without doubt the most involving speakers I have ever heard. I was aware that the tonality was perhaps not quite accurate but that said no other speakers have 'involved' me in the music to the extent that these speakers managed. From a purely 'Hi-Fi' angle, Be Yamamura made for an Italian client a pair of one offs which were the best rock speakers I have heard. They comprised bass tubes, a back to back mid-range in a tube suspended in a frame hammock style by wire and a TAD bullet tweeter with hand filed flare. In both cases the speakers were driven by a total Yamamura system: the horns by his 'current' amps, the tubey system by a completely dual mono PP 845 tube system built in 1/4" copper sheet chassis. For my own use I have a pair of old UK made Impulse H2 3 way horns along with a variety of hardware incl. DIY, earlier Yamamura prototype stuff and even an old Perreaux power hitched to an early ASR Collector pre with phono. These horns will do as I have not found anything better and affordable for my purposes. IF allowed I would build in situ open baffles with 15" WE bass, something very papery in the mid - probably modified Lowther - and ribbons at the top, bi-amped with triodes - 845 at the bottom and something very musical in the mid/treble.
Just a note: I too like the MBL's and think they are the best, but the electronics and source behind the speaker are critical!! I just improved my analog source and can't believe I was considering a possible speaker future upgrade? What is wrong with me? I don't know there are alot of things wrong with me. BTW I had to modify my tt cosiderably to get it to sound like this!!
Did anyone ever hear Mister or Madam speaker? Live ? Breathtaking to be able to bring silence to such a house of chaos. British House of Parliament that is...ORDER...OORDER...OOOORDER!!!!!
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