What is a good all around high quality speaker to purchase?


I'm looking for a high performance all around musical speaker. My previous speakers are:

Bose 501 - I was young and they served a purpose

Infinity SM150 - terrible from the start

Boston Acoustics T1000 - actually a nice all around speaker

Polk SDA-SRS1tl - loved the full sound, not accurate at all

Thiel 2.3 - Very dry sounding

B&W N802 - perhaps my favorite, but needed to be played loud

Thiel 3.7 - I think Jim's cancer affected his hearing

B&W 802D - 1st gen, still have.....please stop my ears from bleeding

 

What do you suggest?

 

 

onehorsepony

Showing 1 response by bassdude

I have many speakers and set ups... and... those that stand out as being the best for the money are the following:

1.  Linkwitz Orions or LX521s - the most life-like speakers I’ve heard!

2.  Harbeth 30.1s / 30.2s or 40.2s - with the right set up they sound very much like Quad ESL-57’s - the best there is!

3.  Maggie LRS+ - with the right set up - as life-like as you’ll ever hear at a bargain price! They are truly remarkable!

4.  Anything Legacy - expecially the XD versions - as good as you will ever hear - very few speakers can match their sound - most don’t! 

Now - you’ll notice that 3 of these are dipole / open-baffle designs - which makes a huge difference!  Nothing quite matches dipole / open-baffle designs - the most life-like speakers you will ever experience! Their sound-stage and imaging are unmatched!

While the Harbeths are not - they still produce a sound that is very similar to dipole speakers (a la the ESL-57s) and have a very rich, yet transparent, high resolution sound.  

All of these are unmatched for "all things acoustic" (jazz, classical, country, bluegrass, blues, etc...) - if - you’re into anything else you might as well buy anything, because you won’t need the subtleties of dipole / open-baffle speakers.

Also - if you have an over-damped room (carpets, drapes, etc, etc.) you might as well buy anything, because you won’t need the subtleties of dipole / open baffle speakers. 

And as usual - you must mate any of these with well matched set ups - or- you'll never achieve their true sound qualities! But... if you do... you will be amazed!

A great way to evaluate these is by their YouTube Demos - just listen to as many of their demos as you can find.  It will become very apparent to you how much better these sound than all others - IF - you are seeking "all things acoustic" sound.  Nothing compares! Don’t believe the BS that you can’t hear their sound qualities via tiny speakers via YouTube - you can very much so!

Again... IF.., you listen to "all things acoustic" you will love any of these speakers!