What are the best speakers you have ever owned and why?

My first pair of stereo speakers were a pair of Jensen DUal Cone 12" mounted in large ceramic drain pipes with 3/4 plywood caps on each end of the drain pipes. Those were followed by a pair AR4x's in college, then by a pair of Larger Advents (the original version), those eventually gave way to a pair AR3a's inherited from my father. Then a pair of VMPS Tower II Special Edition's bought from Brian Cheney, god rest his soul. Those last ones are tied for the best I have ever heard at any price. These were an honest full range speaker that made a sub an option rather than a requirement. I eventually got subs too also from VMPS and loved their larger subwoofer. Others I like and own include JBL large bookshelfs, a pair of Legacy audio Signatures (the original from long ago) ADC 303AX resto-modded  and of course the latest are the Ohm Walsh 2000s.

About a  year and a half ago I suddenly decided that it was time to try something new, and I took the chance on a pair of Odyssey Audio Kismet speakers that I saw on USAM which were located in Southern California (road trip from AZ). I have no regrets. The things that I loved about the Klipsch Epics were great, but  I see now how much they were glossing over in terms of the detail and timing that makes the music come alive in a more real way. It is a really big and important difference. Microdynamics are better, even if the largest dynamic swings are somewhat smaller than they were with the horns, but that small trade-off was well worth it. The bass reach is very surprising, and I can say that for me, they're the best speakers that I have owned up to this point.

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My favorite, and current, speakers are JA Pulsar 2’s, Audio Note E’s and Rogers LS3/5a’s.  

My current Tannoy Turnberry GR speakers are the best I've ever owned. They would not have worked well in many of the places I've lived over the years though. Getting the right match for your particular room really is a huge part of the process.

I have stupidly owned big speakers from Egglestonworks and Focal when the room just didn't support them. They were amazign speakers but I really should have moved down to their smaller models. Would have saved money and sounded better. 

Likewise I've also tried to fill a moderately large room with small monitor speakers. That didn't go so well either. Even really nice speakers (in my case some Wilson Benesch) that should have sounded stunning in a normal room, did not do the job in that space. So again it matters how many square feet you are trying to fill with sound. 

I have listened to many, many speaker systems over the years- in show rooms, at audio shows, and in the homes of other audio enthusiasts. I can honestly say that my old McIntosh XRT 20’s hold up very well. I know that Mac speakers receive a good deal of ridicule, but I do believe they got this one right, oh so many years ago. Driven by either a MC2205, MC 240 or MC275 MK VI, they do everything well- at least for me and most folks who visit my living room. For what it’s worth, I have a pair of Sonus faber Cremona M’s with a Cremona sub driven by a Simaudio Moon 740i in another room, and while the sound is very good, it doesn’t match the magic of those old Macs.