The best I've heard (and I bought them) are the Avalon Eidolons (when carefully matched to appropriate electronics). But, I have not had an opportunity to hear the Sound Labs, Kharma Exquisite or Rockports, among others. Still, I love what the Eidolons can do.
The best speaker you ever heard?
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?
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?
2,090 responses Add your response
I've heard many great speakers including numerous ones I've purchased. However, what I personally find affects the overall sound of a high end system the most is the quality of the recording. Yes, you can use the same media and easily perceive differences between brands of speakers. However a great mastered recording can make even a meager system sound quite good and a great system sound incredible. |
I wish everyone here lived in my home town and I could visit each one of you, listen to your set-ups, then decide. I haven't heard most of the speakers mentioned. I am pretty new. So for now, the best is what I have...Spectron MKII amp driving Von Schweikert 4.5 gen III's. Anyone living near Fairfax, VA is welcome to stop by and give them a listen. Patrick |
SoundLab M-1, then Wilson Max, then Pipedreams (largest ones, forget the model), then VMPS RM-40, then Legacy Whisper driven by Coda class A amps, then Merlin with BAM driven by tubes, then Wilson Watt Puppy 6.0, then ML Prodigy driven by Krell mono blocks, then Bose 901 (jokes). In that order. Anyone else have a list? |
Hard to get and not for the sub-40 hz bass lovers, but the mids and highs are heavenly. Best imaging, vocals, fit and finish (great WAF!) and under $1000, including Alpha Core inductors, Mills resistors and AudioCaps! I have never heard a speaker with a smoother top and middle. http://home.attbi.com/~ellisaudio/kits.htm |
The best speakers I have ever heard are the speakers that are currently in my system at home Tylers acoustics Lynbrook monitors. They retail for $4,700 new. I have listened to loads of very expensive speakers ($5,000 to $30,000+) at various shows and showrooms but none have sounded better than the setup I have at home. Now I am not saying that the Lynbrooks are the best speakers around but in my system it has sounded better than any speaker I have heard. I am lucky in that for now it's a keeper. |
They might not be the best speaker out there,but for the Money and for people who do not have large listening area's these speaker's are about as good as it get's before going into the $4000+ bracket! NEAR's use Inverted Dome Tweeter's similar to the ones used by Wilson\Watts Series.The only drawback I had found when auditioning them a time ago was an uncontrolled Bass which I shall be getting the most advanced version to date.A new Crossover and possibly newer driver's. They are not a hard load to drive either ,but being Made of Metal Driver's they might not take well to Tubes. I have a pair of NEAR M15's Modified with a Woofer\Mid that plain blows B&W CDM 1NT's away in shame.The Bass Articulation of these driver's are the best I had ever heard and that goes for 3-way speaker's.Deep ,Taut ,accurate bass with a perfect blending of Mids and Sweet Highs. ML-Amp ARC-Pre-Amp Proceed Hope you all find the Audio Nirvana that I have! |
There are three differnet paths for speakers, inner detail dynamics and blend. Quads driven by JF's OTL amps win the inner detail contest. Mr.Wilson's speakers get the dynamics right. Uncle Jim at Magnaplaner wins the blender award. It seems the current mega $$$ line source arrays can combine the best of all worlds in the perfect room. For the rest of us, Talon's speaker line is our best shot at a view of reality. Aloha. |
The best speakers I ever heard used to be Magnapans, their top of the line while in Salt Lake City. They remained my remembered most impressive system until I heard the Genesis 1.1 in LA. Driven by spectral amps feeding of an Oracle CD (I didn't remember the preamp), these things were truly amazing. Coming in at third now is my current system with the Infinity IRS V. I should be able to up that to #2 with some better front end equipment than my Adcom amps and parasound pre-pro, but this high up, the room starts to really make itself a large factor. |
Martin Logan Statement II. With this speaker, front end and amplifications are as important as the speaker itself. The sub woofer are passive, which is a bouns. You can really tell whether you have a good or bad front end with these four towers in front of you. Surprisingly, this tower works really well in a 13.8' x 19.5' x 8.5'hight room. It really works! |
Heard most of the mid end speakers including Dynaudios, Totems, Sonus Fabers, Kefs, B&Ws, Spendors, Harbeths, JM Reynauds. So far the best one i have heard and have decided to keep is the Spendor S3/5. Its a small speaker but it does everything right except for bass. Imaging, layering, soundstaging, tonal accuracy, musicality, etc. etc. Its fantastic. So for me, this is the best speaker I have ever owned. |
Wisdom Audio back when they only made one speaker. It was driven by a pair (or maybe a trio, I can't remember) of Classe Omega amps fed by Levinson 39 (via an active crossover). Wow. That was as close to audio nirvana as I've come. Way too expensive for me, but hey, they come out and deliver and set up in your home for that $35,000. What a deal. |
You inadvertently raise an interesting point. The original Wisdoms had a much simplier crossover ("brain") which did significantly less processing of the signal than the current unit. The reason for the change was to allow the speaker to sound good in almost any room. In gaining flexibility, it no longer ever sounds great in any room; too many IC's, too much processing. |
The Imagine Electrostats. Like Martin Logan Statements only much more advanced (the transducer foil is made at the Fraunhofer institute in Munich/Germany, by the same guys who make the diamond tweeters for the Avalon Eidolon) and the best news is that the system is only a 3rd of the price of the ML Statement. It is about the price of a Soundlab U1, but look at the Imagine system. Here you definitely have no issues with bass performance, with 4 sub woofers on each side. http://www.monitor-db.de |
Sigh well ................We cant have it all Ive learned THAT much................No wrong choices only pleasing ones .........K-Horns with Leak tube amplification for romp and stomp......ie Jazz Rock and Roll (Gustav Mahler) :) Quad esl 63 with John Bedini Class A solid state for Chamber music slow Miles Davis etc. Obviously these are my current choices secondary to my means......... ..........Acoustat 2+2's with 500 watts of Threshold amplification remains in my memory. The room, Ladies and Gentlemen appears to be the final arbiter. |
My 2 cents worth: Best speakers I've ever heard are the Martin Logan Statements. As many of you would know these cost $70,000/pair! I've heard several other ML speakers but cannot compliment any one of them - something always seemed incorrect w.r.t the bass integration w/ the mid & hi freq. Of course, this is my opinion (& probably be lynched by a mob of ML enthusiasts!!) Anyway, the Statements were being demo'd by Gayle Matin Sanders himself. They were connected to a Krell FPB 600 amp - one amp per channel! He used a Krell pre & a Krell SACD player. All cables were MIT. What made the speakers the best I heard? They just brought the music into my lap! Each recording I heard made me feel that I was listening to a live performance. Fantastic imaging, 3D soundstage, wide sweet-spot, clarity of vocals, fantastic speed - not a note lingered beyond its welcome point, seemless integration of all frequencies - all 3 drivers (panel + mid-bass + bass) worked harmoniously. Heard a church choir recording (recorded in San Fransisco) wherein the church organ had some really low bass freq (20Hz & maybe lower) & bass unit of the Statements reproduced that very well. Whatever was not bolted to the wall, rattled (just like an earthquake!) when those organ notes came thru. I was in the demo 10-15 minutes so I could only gauge a few key parameters stated above. These were Gayle's recordings & could very well be slighted to make the speakers sound good. I was encouraged to bring my own recordings but the line for that was soooo long that I gave up! Personally, what made a diff. in these speakers (vs. other ML) was that the hi & mid units were totally seperated from the bass unit. The Statements have 1 electrostatic panel which is over 6 ft tall (with base) that responds down to 200Hz. There is another column alongside (which has 6-10) mid-bass cones that respond between 80Hz & 200Hz. Then, there is that bass tower, 5 feet tall, that has 8 12" woofers per channel that responds from 80Hz down to 18Hz!!! This was just a killer system sound-wise & looks-wise. |
Kurt Vonnegut was the best Speaker I ever heard. He was on stage and I had a little trouble hearing him. A bit out of balance but I think that was caused by the fact that I was sitting to the left of him. Still, I was amazed at the clarity even through difficult subject matter. There were highs and lows in his speech but I was never fatigued of listening to him, matter of fact, had he spoken all night, it would have been a joy to sit and listen to each and every word. Sooner or later the end had to come. His resolution was short and sweet and I got it all for $20. I would definitely recommend this speaker for any number of social applications, intimate or theater settings. |
I don't own this pair....JBL 4343s'S studio monitors. A seller of some used audio was letting me audition a used amp when I heard the JBLs. I haven't heard anything like them before or since. They were big and they were ugly, but they had the best highs and lows and mids I've heard together in one package. They were relegated to the basement due to thier appearance (Wife Factor) |
Genesis 201's are it. These big speakers literally disappear as sources. They throw the widest stage I ever heard images totally outside the edges of speakers. The wall behind the speakers and side walls disappear with these speakers like no others I have heard before. The speakers are very quick on transients and never sound stressed even when playing extremely demanding pieces with very complex arrangements all the different parts remaining distinctly separate from each other. The bass is absolutely unbelievable when the recording asks for it to be. The air in my 20x23 room actually shuddered along with the entire structure of the room like their was an earthquake happening. Very defined and quick also. I thought I owned excellent subwoofers before but these are in a different league. |
Von Schweikert: www.vonschweikert.com If choosing tubes, go for the DB100'S. VR5 HSE are also out of this world. Albert Von Schweikert has a dedication to produce the most relaistic soundstage you will ever hear. If this question can be interpreted to read, 'What is the most revealing and realistic speaker', then it's VSR all the way. However, depending on what people listen to and how 'coloured' they like their sound, this will always be a subject open to further interpretation. |
