for an office system, my sonus faber concertos simply became my friends, not the "best ive ever heard," just simply never got tiresome, and now im trying the dali helicon 300's.... anyone got an opinion on them? so far they seem "more" but not necessarily better... but then for an office system maybe im being really picky.. cheers |
Let's not forget stacked Bose 901s!
Will stack my two sets of stacked Bose 901s (Series IV), with Technics Class A amp, Advent (Apt/Holman Design) preamp, high end CD player, and middle road interconnects against almost any speaker competition. I know it defies convention, common sense, science and the state of the art, but I cannot begin to count how many times I've felt embarrassment for friends when we do a listen-to-listen session, with their Wilsons, Magnepans/Magneplanars, Dalis, Veledines, Krell ref subs, Agogees, Klipches, Vandersteens, Avante Gardes, VPMSs, et al. And it doesn't matter the room, acoustics, source material or volume. I look you in the eye and say get the 901s before they are discontinued...the best buy and physics defying phenomenom out there! |
Eidolan Diamonds at Goodwin Sound in Waltham Mass. Blew me away. |
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Just out of curiosity, I went through the list of “best speakers ever heard” and compiled a count of the votes from February 4, 2001 to January 3, 2005.
There are a zillion disclaimers. Here are a few:
1. The process was casual at best (no doubt errors exist.)
2. The threads were quickly scanned; if a clear winner was evident, it was recorded; if there were two speakers that seemed like a clear tie within a thread, both were counted; when more than 2 speakers were considered the best, the thread was ignored. The practical result of this is that some very good speakers probably didn’t get as many votes as they might have.
3. Threads that didn’t seem to have a “best ever speaker” were ignored (some threads just had comments or stories, etc.)
4. Votes for similar models were combined, so in some cases models were lumped together even though there might be slight variations in versions.
5. Sometimes threads recommended a manufacturer, but not a model, so the manufacturer was recorded, but not the model.
If a model (or manufacturer) got one vote it is listed with no number to the right of the model; if it got more than one vote the number of votes is listed to the right of the model.
On the left are the totals for each manufacturer that got 5 or more votes.
There are 175 line item entries (mostly models, but occasionally just manufacturers).
- Before you flame this thread too hard, please see disclaimer #1 above.
If anyone wants to redo the count, you are welcome to have at it.
- PS, I am not drawing any conclusions from this due to the less than rigorously scientific process involved; I'm just adding (no doubt with errors) and reporting. It's just a rough approximation of almost 4 years of people casting votes on this particular forum.
Acapella Exaliburs
ACI Jaguar
ACI Talismans.
Acoustat electrostatic model 4
Aerial Acoustics 8B
Aerial Acoustics 8t
Alón Exotica Grand Reference System
Alon Wolf Magico
8 Apogee
Apogee Diva 3
Apogee Duetta's 2
Apogee Mini Grands
Apogee Scintillas
AR-2Ax
ATC active 100's
ATC SCM 150ASL
ATC SCM300ASL
ATCs
Audio Note ANE SEC Signature
audio note anj/spx
AV Duos
Avalon Eidelon 3
Avalon Osiris
avalon sentinels
10 Avantgarde Duo's 6
Avantgarde Trios 2
Avantgarde Unos 2
Axiom M80TI's
11 B&W 801 5
B&W N802's 3
B&W Nautilus 2
b&w nautilus 800 3
beolab 5
Beveridge Direct Drive Electrotatic 24" Hartley System
bose
Bose 901
C-3
Cabasse Atlantic's
Cabasse MT
Cain & Cain single horns
Cerwin Vega's with bose 901's stacked on top
churhills by tannoy
Clark systems ref
Classic Audio Reproductions
Crosby modified Quad 63's
db design oris 150
Definitive Tech's BP300TL
Diapasons
7 Dunlavy sc iv II 2
Dunlavy SC IV-A's 2
Dunlavy SC-V's
Dunlavy V
Dunlavy VI
Dynaudio Evidence 3
Dynaudio Evidence Temptations
EFE T-60s.
Eidolan Diamonds
Focal JMlab Grande Utopia Be 2
Fulton Premiers
Genesis 1.1
Genesis 200
Genesis 201's
Genesis!
Gershman Acoustics Opera Sauvage
Goldmund Mimesis
Green Mountain Audio 4
Hill Plasmatronic 2
How about Mirage M1's
Hyperion 938s
Imagine Electrostats.
Infinity Prelude MTS
Infinity Reference Standard Beta
Infinity Servo Statics 1-A's
Infinty Beta
Jadis Euritmie
5 JBL 4343s'S
jbl 4412's
JBL K2s
jbl l100
JBL Paragon
5 JM Focal Utopia Be 2
JM Lab Grande Utopia Beryllium
JM Labs Grande Utopia Beryllium's
Jmlab Grand Utopia
Joseph Audio Pearls
Kharma Exquisite Reference 3
6 Klipsch Heresys
Klipschorns! 5
Lab A-1s
Legacy Whispers 4
Levinson HQD 2
Linkwitz dipoles: Pheonix
Linn Komri
Lumen White Light Monitors
Magico
Magneplanar 2
Magneplanar 20.1 2
6 Martin Logan
Martin Logan statement 5
MBL 101d
mirage m5
Mmerlin VSM-M
Montana KAS
Montana WAS 3
Naim Audio DBL
NEAR M15's
Nearfield Acoustic PipeDreams 3
Newtronics Temperence
NHT 3.3
Ocellia Tilias
Odeon horns
Overkill Audio Ovation
7 Piega C-10 Ltd 2
Piega c-40
Piegas p10 4
Polk srt s
Polks srs
PRAM
ProAc'
Proac D25
psb alpha mini.
psb gold i
15 Quad 4
QUAD 57 ESL 2
Quad 57 stacked
Quad 988 4
Quad 989
Quad ESL 57s stacked
Quad ESL 63
quads triple
Radford 360
Revel Salons 4
Rockport Antares 3
Rosinante Dulcinea
S.A.P. J2001
Scintlla
Seas' Thor
Shahinian Diapason
Silverline Audio Sonata's. 2
10 Sonus Faber Amatis 3
sonus faber conc
Sonus Faber Cremonas
Sonus Faber Exremas 3
Sonus Faber Grand Piano's
sonus faber strads
8 Sound Lab A-1 2
Soundlab
SoundLab M-1
Soundlab U-1 4
Spendor S3/5.
stacked DQ10's
Swans 2.2
Talon Khorus 2
Tannoy Churchill
Technical Audio Device Model-1
The Neat Ultimatum
Thiel 3.6s
Thiel 7
Thiel CS6
Tylers acoustics Lynbrook monitors
Vandersteen 5 4
VERITY SARASTRO
5 VMPS RM 5
7 Von Schweikert 4.5 gen III's
Von Schweikert VR 11
Von Schweikert VR5 HSE. 5
11 Wilson Audio Adrenaline
Wilson Audio Grand SLAM
Wilson Audio Wamm 7 2
Wilson Audio WAMMs 2
Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy 3
Wilson Benesch A.C.T. 2
5 Wisdom Adrenaline 75 D's
Wisdom Audio
Wisdom Audio M-75 3 |
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klipschorns, 60 years later, and its still in production.
accept no substitutes |
>Alpha Line Source< from www.gr-research.com |
accuracy - B&W 800N/S
transparancy - B&W 800N/S
Dynamic capability - JM Labs Grande Utopia be
Bet midrange - B&W 800N/S
Best HF performance - JM Lab Grande Utopia be
Best LF performance - Duntech Sovereign
Soundstage and imaging - Infinity Epsilon or Renaissance
Best overall - B&W 800N/S |
avalon diamond's, no doubt... |
The Pipedreams 21 corian powered by Tenor wi 75 monos+nearfield subwoofers powered by QSC pl 9
with digital:
Meitner CDCS+DAC 6e
Nagra -d recorder
with analogue:
Forsell air reference
Studer a 812 recorder
Jorge Pacheco
jorgepacheco@jorgepacheco.net4b.pt |
Sonus Faber Amati Homage hands done. Nothing else has even come close.
Chris |
Hill Plasmatonics. As soon as I heard them, I felt my temperature rising---and within an hour even the room temperature was rising!! These were the best winter speakers ever produced and probably the best tweeter ever made. I wonder how they would sound today with modern subs and crossovers and electronics etc..... |
Much has happened since my 8/30/03 post for the Maggie 20.1. I was infected by the Maggie bug and have been living in misery since. I have now sworn off my beloved Maggies for more versatile speakers. I must now rebuild all over again (was that redundant). Oh, I didn't own 20.1's as I am a mere social services caseworker. I had the MG12 which replaced an inexpensive yet satisfying dynamic speaker with. Enough of my misery, suffice it to say that I have started to climb back up the old dynamic ladder with Paradigm Monitor 5's. It will be a long climb to my Pro Ac goal but I will make it. Best speakers I have ever heard were the Wilson Maxx 2's driven with the top of the line Halcro mono blocks and pre amp. I heard these unbeliveable speakers at Definitive Audio in Seattle. I highly recommend them, great service and products. They carry everything from Paradigm to Wilson and Magnepan, from Rotel to Halcro, Linn, Clearaudio, and Musical Fidelity. Speakers I most want to hear Avant Garde Trio's. Best speaker under 5k, anything by Pro Ac driven by Naim electronics (Stereotypes in Portland Oregon my favorite audio store). |
Easy. Quad ESL-57 or ESL-63. No other contenders. |
Magnepan MG 20, Quad ESL 988, Acoustat 2, and JustRealMusic Persona |
Acapella Triolon Excaliburs, absolutely no question. For me, they redefined what recorded music is capable of. |
This is not strictly a commercial system - one of our lecturers Sir Malcom Omar Hawksford at the University of Essex ran a couple of experimental systems which I still remember to this day. Heaven, and this was in 1988!
1. Digitally room equalised crossover with Audio Physics (Virgo ??).
2. Celestion 6000 system (600 with dedicated stand/'globe' subwoofer) with a digital crossover fed by a high end Sony CD transport and powered pair of Musical Fidelity A470 monster monoblocks.
For commercially available speakers, a few speakers stand out for me and all very different! Cabasse Atlantis, Quad ESL63, and Magnepan 20. |
Infinity IRS Omega, the last of the fame.
Heavily upgraded (new Auricaps, coils, DH Labs cables etc...),
I own it and I think I may be the only on in the states with a pair, as it was only marketed in EU and Japan. |
best or not it's depended on your mind and your ears? |
Steve01s$, where did you get to hear them? I guess this is an instance where you really do not want to hear them, because once you have you are hooked. I have the LaCampenellas now and find them outstanding. Furthermore, at only 187 pounds each, they are manageable. |
MBL 101-D's is by far the best. These were the best back in the 80's, and still the best today by leaps and bounds. |
The Avantgarde TRIO. By far the most musical, live sound I ever heard in my 43 years. The 100+ dB efficiency speaks for itself. Roll the tubes to your heart's content, hell, roll any amp from 6 watts to whatever. Over 25 years I've heard all the big Wilson, Apogee, Soundlab, the Infinity Reference model towers from many years ago; the Avantgarde is the nicest. A close second for me is the Magnepan 20.1 and 3.6, but certainly far different animals, at least in terms of efficiency, but for the money, nothing comes close to the big Maggies. |
After having listened to Apogee Divas for the past 16 yrs, I heard a system at the 2005 CES in Vegas from McIntosh Labs that blew me away. It was a Proto-Type of their Flagship Speaker, The XRT2k....they sounded really exceptional.
System had 110 perfectly matched mid/tweeter drivers @ side, and a seperate bass column w/ (6) 12" subs @ side. This will be the next step in my audio evolution. The sound was awesome. |
yes, sir. You are right. I have something close to that, and on sale here at audiogon.
http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?spkrfull&1118461954 |
Hi Hifi, thanks for doing all that work. That was very interesting. Can you tell I haven't looked at this thread for a while? ;-) |
they were Bose speakers & the receiver was a Yamaha.
simply awesome. |
Martin Logan Grand Slamm.I heard when they first came out at a Stereophile Show. I think at the time they cost $70,000.00 a pair.They had a pair of these huge woofer towers with 6 12 inch drivers as well.Amazing transparency,speed and slamm. |
ATC active 100's. Can any passive speaker equal active speaker technology? It's been almost 3 years - still the best speaker I've heard. |
Avantgarde DUO's make every other speaker on the market (with the exception of Avantgarde TRIO's) sound slow, inertial and as if they are covered by a feather quilt.
The best sound you can buy without a doubt.
It just shows that the Audio industry took a wrong turn 50 years ago. Inefficient speakers with huge crossovers that eat detail, powered by huge distorted amps that that make hundreds of watts but sound bad. "If the first watt doesn't sound good it doesn't matter how many more watts there are". Stick to Single Ended Triode tube power amps and DUO speakers.
Don't listen to a "speaker" or a "stereo", listen to a holographic three-dimensional re-creation of Miles Davis or Stan Getz standing three feet in front of you with DUO's & tubes. |
Tbg: I heard them at Audio Federation in Boulder, CO. I've actually now spent many hours listening to them with 3 different amps (Edge Signature something, Audio Note UK Kegon, Lamm ML2.1). As much as I'm a Lamm fan (and owner), the Kegons are just magical amps. Before I heard the Triolons, it was my opinion that the law of diminishing returns hit hard not far into the 5 figure range. Now I know, at least in one case, that you really do get what you pay for with top end gear. Of course, the Trolons may just be the exception, I still haven't heard anything else on the extreme high end that is really *that* much better than the good stuff you can get for 15-25k. |
Tbg & Steve01s4,
You fellas are troublemakers. Now I have to hunt down these speakers out of curiosity.
I have a pair of Audionote UK Kageki amps (similar to Kegons, but utilizing 2a3s instead of 300Bs). I have not heard the Kegons, but, I will venture to say that you should also hear the Gaku-On (powerful, 211 based amps with a warm tonal balance), and the quite different sounding Sogon (very fast, extended on top and leaner sounding than the Gaku-On). My Kagekis are closer to the Sogon camp. |
The Magico Mini monitor speaker have such a coherent and musical sound that I would give them my vote. It helps that they are hand made and gorgeous to look at! |
Avontgarde duos& Quad esl57's with new treble panels. equal first. This, when you look at the numbers of duo fans here says a lot about the quads. good supertweeter and subwoofer would propel the quads into first. 2 sets of quads then i'm not just first, i'm in mark lensons private attic listening room. Rock on |
Larryi,
I bet those Kagekis are amazing. I am as close to perfectly happy with my Lamms as I think is possible when it comes to an audio component. That said, if I buy another amp, it will be from Audio Note. I'm awestruck by what the Kegons can do, and am not sure I even want to hear the Gaku-On until I'm in a position to be able to afford them. |
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I second Albert's vote for Soundlab U1. (quite a few years ago- this thread is so old)
I heard them a number of times at a friends house, and he really didn't even have a large enough room to them breath.
I had Crosby Quad ESL-63's at the time, with SS amp from Spectral and older Atmashere MA1's, which was obviously fantastic.
If I ever had a house or a huge apartment (I won't have either since I live in Manhattan) and the budget, I would not hesitage in buying the u1- or even a smaller Soundlab. Too bad they are never at any shows, and there are few dealers around.
My second choice is the MBL 101 (or whatever is their top of the line speaker) I've heard it at many shows, it it seems to have gotten even better in the last couple of years.
I am about to embark on getting some Cerious Technologies speakers, after I evaluate thier ceramic cables. Seems they are really cutting edge, and have gotten excellent reviews (mentions actually) here. |
Hard to pick a favorite but the one that made me almost drop dead the minute I heard it was the Quad esl 57. I consider myself fortunate to still have a pair. |
I loved Mejames' Genesis speakers, with the big VTL AMPS running directly into a top-of-the-line Wadia, when I delivered some speakers to his house. But I didn't get to play classical, just jazz. I have heard most of the speakers on this list, under HIGHLY varying conditions. The speaker with the best ALL-AROUND capability WITH STATE-OF-THE-ART SOFTWARE (an important qualification that has to be made) I have ever heard is the Dynaudio Evidence, so when I saw a pair used and on the cheap, I bought 'em for my place in Nevada, which has a huge room (a necessity for ANY of the big, expensive, state-of-the-art designs listed here) and have never been disappointed, WITH ABOUT 60% OF MY SOFTWARE. I also loved the Dunlavy 4-A's, 5's, and 6's, the Vandersteen 5's, and Triangle Magellans. But, believe it or not, with ALL my software, the $5,000 Triangle Volante 260, in my NORMAL-sized apartment living room in Los Angeles, sounds better MORE OFTEN with a WIDER VARIETY OF MUSIC GENRES AND SOFTWARE QUALITY than anything I have ever heard. |
Magnepan 2.7QR are my choice. Nearly full range, incredibly detailed, very musical and by far the best soundstage I have ever heard. Always a treat. Lose the box and let the music play. -Might have to get a divorce however due to low W.A.F. |
The handmade Swedish fullrange floorstanders
Ino Audio pi60 Signatur. correct sound reproduction at its finest. |
In the 1970's, at home then, the AR-LST, in the recording studio 1980's, the Yamaha-NS1000, at home in the 1990's, the Cello Amati, and in 2005 at home, the Meadowlark Nighthawks. And quite frankly, anybody who spends over $8k in a pair of home speakers, its just plain nuts, as there many many good sounding speakers under that price range that are not surpassed by any esoteric speaker beyong that range. Even Forrest Gump knows better than that! |
audio physic libras - great bass, lovely mid range and good tweeter, especially in the right near field listening venue. |
Gallardo, I like your $8,000 limit. Would you rate 4 or 5 current models you think are as good as money will buy ? |
What about the Wilson Maxx 2? Can the duos get that kind of bottom end clean, sharp punchy bass response??? |
Legacy Whispers are Whonderful! |
KLIPSCHORNS--Read on..I'll tell you why. Before I ended up with a pair, I been nosing around high end audio stores and listening to some high end setups. I have heard GRAND UTOPIAS, AVANTGARDE DUOS AND TRIOS, WILSON GRAND SLAM and DYNA AUDIO--can't remember the model but their about 7ft. tall. The salesman usually tells me what the speaker is all about and more importantly the price. None of these speakers impress me. I don't know, maybe because of the listening room--or just the overall setup. One weekend I got invited to a get together in a friend's house. In the basement they had a pair of 1985 KLIPSCHORN on the corners-- 20 FT. apart being driven by a 300B SET amp. The chair I sat on was about 8 ft from the front wall. For the first time the hair all over my body stood up. I could not believe what I was hearing. The depth and width of the Soundstage, the three dimensional very life like midrange and the immediacy. That's when I found out that these speakers where first made in the late 40's to present with very little changes. Now why would a company make the same speakers for over 50 years if it's not THE BEST SPEAKERS in the planet. |
Yo, Justubes,
I owned K-horns for 20+ years. I absolutley loved everthing about them...BUT, the 4,000 Hz - 8,000 Hz peak drove me crazy. On almost all of my classical recordings, they made the violins sound like wire, and twangy wire at that. Higher-pitched brass instruments would drive you from the room with a whanging headache. Their bass was the deepest, most natural I have EVER heard, and their legendary sensitivity made them driveable to full volume on less than a watt. Hell, I could have driven them to 100db with a battery-powered wristwatch! I kept them for 20 years for their virtues, hoping to be able to eliminate the one damnable flaw by experimenting with different electronics, etc. But no luck. I finally sold them, for TWICE what I paid for them, and the buyer was ecstatic (still is) to get 'em so cheap! Now, THAT's value!!
I never had a room that was large enough to space them 20 feet apart, though. The most I could do was around 15-16. I DID hear K-horns, with a derived center channel (the "Heresy," I believe), in an enormous room...it had to be over 40' wide. If you sat at least 30-40 feet away from them, the peak was ameliorated and they sounded fine. The guy (lives in Hong Kong) used vintage McIntosh tubes...25 watts per side. I suspect you are right, that SET's in a large, LARGE room might do the trick. You'd only need 1/2 to 1 watt to fill the LA coliseum! Even though I had no luck with 'em, it's fun to read about someone else who responded so positively to these "old" classics.
Happy listening!
Gerald Clifton |
GkCC
I'm very sorry that your experience with these amazing speakers is not as superb as mine. I made sure that the rest of my gear matches the fabulous horns of the Khorns. I never had any of your bad experience. As a matter of fact mine was all sonic nirvana. Why did it take you 20 years before you realizing is not for you??? It seems odd that all those years you have not sold it to somebody. It is very easy to unload--people are lining up for the mighty KLIPSCHORNS. |
Justubes,
As I said, I finally sold them for about twice what I paid for them...and you are right, there were plenty of buyers who responded to my ad. I kept them for so long, because I thought there would SOMEHOW be a way to make them work. I moved around quite a bit, but I really think I just needed a permanent house with a HUGE listening room. Some rooms sounded better than others, of course, and I was always reluctant to let them go because of their tremendous, accurate bass and their near-perfect dispersion pattern: they filled any room wall-to-wall, and it's tough to give all that up. But I finally gave up when I had to move cross-country, and realized that I had to have something that reproduced the "silky" characteristic of massed violins in a symphony orchestra (my favorite type of music). Some smaller B&W's actually sounded better, overall, than the Khorns in my smaller apartments, because they captured the upper-mids to highs more smoothly, even though they couldn't approach the Khorn bass quality. Cheers and happy listening.
Gerald |
