Vapor Audio Cirrus stand mounts, awesome!
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
Curious how the wood glue tweak improves with time, that stuff dries fairly quick. I guess it stiffens and damps the drivers some, but it seems strange that it would make so much of an improvement. Anyway hopefully more people report on this, it is intersting that such a tweak could transform the sound. What other speakers have owned before the 901's? |
I was wondering why it was taking my modified BOSE 901's SOOO long to breaking-in really good and found out it was the glue coated dust caps ! I took my finger and pushed around on the dust caps until most of the dried glue stiffness was gone and then the dried glue came off pretty easy...so anyone trying this tweak, DO NOT put glue on the dust caps! Now these speakers have a near perfect total balance...a must try tweak for these 901's !.. WOW...if only BOSE made them like this many years ago they would be a H*ll of lot more raves about these 901's !!... |
Has anyone here joined the all access buyer club at Elegant Audio Video to get speakers and other gear at dealers cost yet!... http://www.elegantaudiovideo.com/category/aa-buyers-club.benefits/ |
Number one problem with any answer, it depends on the environment you heard it. My first trip to the Munich hifi show I fell in love with all things Infinity. Their display was a 50 ft wall of Quantum 2 and three, QLS, Reference systems. I went to Wilson and heard Alexandria - love at first hearing! Went to Legacy to hear the Focus and sent it home to test, yes bought. I went to an audiophile home, 450 miles away to hear the Coincident and within 5 minutes that was all I needed. So much depends on where you listen. I have since added two big subs to fill in my room. Room is 38 long, 20 wide, and a ceiling going from 9 to 23 feet high. The sound is totally mesmerizing. Always remember the best test will always be your in the end. Good luck |
The very best under $1k is my parameter, as I can't ever afford the very best I've ever heard, which were probably Joseph Audio Pearls. I've found a pair of speakers to hang on to for life. Daber Audio Monitor 2's. Where shall I begin,,, The word AMAZING comes to mind. I had been warming them up for a couple of days, just pushing low volume current through them 24/7,getting them a little broken in and getting my new Rega stuff all good and warm (Rega Brio R and Rega Apollo R) First cut: Adele's "Rolling in the the Deep". Soundstage was first thing i noticed, how the background vox were layered behind her lead Incredible!!! Then the bass presence: obviously not thunderous but on that particular cut the depth and resonance is there while still being ultra-tight; palpable and fantastic. Hard to believe that kind of bass can come out of a monitor so small! I've now changed to a small EL34 tube amp and they are even better. Amazing little speaker, and I see myself having them for life. I believe this speaker is a world beater. They're obviously not for rockers, but they are precise, realistic beyond words, and incredibly articulate. I know of no speaker under $1k that can touch the Monitor 2, and very few under $2k. WOW WOW WOW!!!!" |
The best speaker, which I have heard at $50k or above, is the Vandersteen 7. The midrange was the best I have heard from a cone speaker. The runner up is the MBL 101e speaker. The tone was less transparent, but a pair has the best image and air. The best speaker that I have heard below $50k is my own Salk SoundScape 10. To a much lesser degree, this speaker combines the strengths of both of the speakers above. The best speaker, which I have heard below $5k, is the Philharmonic 2. This speaker has the most natural sound of any speaker that I have heard, but it doesn’t have a totally dead cabinet like the others do. Also, it is not as commanding a speaker as the more expensive ones. As you can tell I like a natural transparent speaker rather than a warm speaker. Bob |
For me it would have to be the Magnepan MG20. I have always been a big Maggie fan. I love the deep low end but also the wide open sound stage typical of a planer speaker. Since the sound of a speaker is subjective to individual taste that is the one that does it for me. That is the best of the best. |
When this question comes up, my mind always goes back to that day in 1986, when I heard a pair of klipschorns at Flip's Stereo in St. Louis, MO playing Paul Simon's "Graceland" CD...now THAT was an awesome experience! A lot of it had to do with the room, I'm sure, but still, that has to rank as the best sound I've ever heard coming out of a pair of home loudspeakers. |
Magico S5. I must admit I'm a huge Magico fan currently owning the V2's. This past weekend I had an extended listening session with the S5's, and have to say after 30 years in this hobby I haven't heard anything this good. In summary they have the expected magico transparcy but with more output at the low end. They seemed to do everything well. Stay tuned these are game changers(my biased opinion). |
My Vapor Audio Breeze speakers are stunning. The Raal tweeter offers glorious highs. Midrange is liquid. wide and deep soundstage. Tonality of instuments is off the charts. Bass is fast and tight. At $1300 for standard Breeze, I would say that this is easily one of the best bang for the buck in all of audio. My Breeze were custom, done in redwood burl, amorphous core Raal upgrade and Dueland resistors upgrade. I also have matching stands with the crossover in the base of the stands. |
My VMPS RM2 speakers. I did a lot of research online and these had a lot of raving lunatics going gaga over them in the forums years ago. I bought them sound unheard. Took an expensive chance, and I won. I still love them. They take me into this musical zone. Too bad VMPS has closed with Brian Cheney's passing. He really knew how to engineer speakers. |
Taking into account the equipment used,listening room, the actual hearing range or quality of the listener including the actual ear structures; sound from a speaker is wholly subjective as to its meaning, it simply boils down to "what you like, you like". I've owned or own; JBL 34 Signatures, Jensen, KLH-Model Nines, KLH 17, Advents (large) Acoustic Research AR3a, SoundLab A-3, Martin-Logan CLS-llz, Magnapans 3.6 apologies to those I don't recall:-) |
Hi everyone..!..i have a pair of talon khorus II and never happy with sound i did the upgrade and Went for the new xover,i taught maybe it´s cables synergie problem so God knoWs how many cables i had to replace (pcords and iconnect.and one night i looked closely at the tweeter,i took it off and replaced it,i had to try many /before finding the one answring the need(scanspeak-dynaudio-morel),the Sound was différent but not much better till the moment i came accross an Audax titanium tweeter retailing 50€ each (100€)for pair.This tweeter contribut very much to the midrange it cleans up the Sound,space between notes deep sound stage very transparent in way you thank you have replaced the not Only the speakers but the whole system.(tweeter référence Tw025a8).i hope That CAN be helpfull to anyone concerned or has pair of talon.with the New upgrade xover wich is y case.thx |
I don't have much respect for Talon, who I believe was bought out by Rives. I heard a couple of their speakers, and despite their claims of unique exotic venting etc., I found them dynamically dead, and average at best. In addition to that, I really disliked the way they doubled the price of their speakers as soon as they became flavor-of-the-month. Any speaker that needs as much tweeking as you describe has a problem. As I remember, there were always plenty of used ones for sale as well. I also recall them having a problem with peeling veneers. |
