What is the most FUN pair of speakers you've ever had and why?

@ asat:  I hear you, buddy.  Totally understand. 

Tekton Pendragons - the most fun I’ve ever had in a speaker, they just get cleaner and overwhelmingly powerful the louder you play them. Every time I really push them it just makes me giggle, I can’t believe they can produce concert level sound and stay absolutely clean and retain such intricate definition. Definitely make ya smile!

They were Speakerlab K's for me too!  Sometime in the early 1990's one of my coworkers took a job in Alaska and did not want to transport his pair all that way and asked if I was willing to give them a home.  I do not have them anymore, but only because the octagonal configuration of my current residence is simply not corner horn friendly.  I very much miss that 'massive' sound though! 

Man, this was long time ago, but here goes. I had just gotten ripped off by the local music store owner for a pair of John Zeer speakers. I lost $380 of really hard to earn dollars back in 1975. That got me starting to look at the other end of the spectrum. If JZ was crap, then what was the best (according to a high school junior)? From what I could gather in my cowtown in Wyoming, it was the K horns. Great, how much? Too much for me. Then I discovered Speaker lab in Seattle. They had a kit in which you could copy the Khorn design called the Speaker lab K. Ok, so I built the pair in my senior year in woodshop. Everybody was shaking their heads. Why was the driver inside the cabinet like that? 
 When finished, I was to never hear bass like that ever again. The midrange and tweeter horns were ok, mind you but the bass was pant leg rattling. What more fun could any high school kid have than to own a pair of these?

For me it was the Polk Audio LSi 15

Not the most refined, and far from the most expensive I owned ( those would be a couple of Verity Audio speakers I owned in the past}.

The LSi 15 sounded...RAW, alive and very dynamic. No exceptional bass, or high frequencies, although those ring radiator tweeters were pretty good.

Can still be had for audiophile peanut$, I remember reading a review that mentioned they compared to 5k speakers, and they did. I had a big McCormack 225 amp and Cary tube preamp at the time. But the Polks sounded great even with the diminutive Arcam A85 integrated. That last inexpensive combination could still be an extraordinary bargain today.

A lot of fun with no bragging rights, but amazing performers still.

Apogee Duetta Sig driven by Krell KSA150 from 1989 to 1999.

It gave fast and exiting sound although it wend to 35Hz or so.

I replaced it with Avalon Ascent II to get sub bass.

But I should have kept it until it got out of order although Avalon is not that bad either.

2 weeks ago, I got Raal Sr1a headphone with ribbon driver which remind me of Apogee Duetta Sig with fast and open sound.

Now Raal Sr1a will be my end game headphone.

Sejodiren,

I think they sold for about $2,000 new. I will be buying a pair of rebuilt Quads 57's in the near future.  That's another speaker that has a midrange to die for.

40 years ago, Frazier Sevens and a Marantz receiver and Dual TT. We would clear out the garage, move the rig and have a spontaneous block party. Those were the days when someone called the police, all you had to do was share your beer with them.

@bobheinatz ....I picked mine up  July ’18. $375...one owner, all original, mirror imaged, mint condition but refoamed. I’m still blown away when I play something very familiar I haven’t heard in quite a few years. You just hear new things! Look for a pair....I bet they’d compete with todays $5k range of speakers. Not sure what they retailed for new..

Dahlquists certainly gets alot of mention.  I loved the DQ 10 but couldn't afford it when they came out!

A pair of the original Carver Amazing loudspeakers. These were FUN speakers!! They sound incredibly good, AND so many high end audio companies said Bob Carver could never pull it off! 

NHT Super Zeros and sub. Had a ton of fun with that setup years ago.

No mention of high end lowfi? Loved my Polk Monitor 7s and 10s

I was fortunate to buy a fully intact JBL Metregon @ a house sale for $100. They sounded great and was surely a GREAT conversation piece‼️

Totem Model 1.
I have since sold them and bought a pair of inexpensive Totem Dreamcatchers for a HT setup and that worked well for a while.
The Dreamcatchers are now back in an audio setup, paired with a Devialet 200 and two Rhythmic F8 subs, they are not just fun, that setup is ridiculously groovy! 

@artikdeth,
Excuse me off topic but wondering if you have replaced any crossover components in your D9s? I got a pair of DX9 in perfect shape a month or so ago and they are lots of fun. It does not sound like anything goofy going on but wonder what some fresh maybe slightly higher end caps might do. Pulled out the crossover board just to look at it. Didnt measure anything but looks damn near brand new. 

Amen!

It's being a 'good read' to see what started 'us' in this predilection of 'audio-ism', this activity we have in common...

Music, for the sheer sake of enjoyment.  It didn't matter that it wasn't flawless; it was there/then/now, and it moved us. *S*

We need to keep this in mind for now....whether 1K$ or 1M$, living room or theatre, bedroom or man cave....it's the Same Thing.

Play on, Y'all...

"dududu,dahdahdah, all I want to say to you...." and it ought to be enough.... ;)

Should you buy it?

Yes. The Klipsch Forte III are easily among the most fun-to-listen-to speakers we have ever tested, and they offer the kind of classic styling and tone that you can pass down for generations. You may pay a pretty penny up front, but the existential question lingers brightly with these speakers in particular: Can you really put a price on musical happiness?

Bought a pair of Pioneer CS63DX speakers in 1970. My 1st pair of decent speakers. Had lots of fun with them.  Always wondered how they would sound with my more recent systems.

50 years ago I purchased my first decent speakers, Sansui SP-100s.  Lots of classic rock went thru them as it was released.

So many great memories, I had the first decent stereo of my peers.  Lost in a divorce, still remembered.  Not the "best" but great fun

kenjit again (another forum he started 12-29) states he has superior hearing and cables are all the same. Wrong again.

Speakers which I shouldn’t have sold are Acoustat 2&2s over 30 years ago. I owned them back when I had inferior equipment, cabling, room acoustics and no tweaks. I bet they would give my Legacy Focus a run for the money in many ways using my high end system. Looking to replace the Focus speakers when I can afford to match my system & room (for Von Schweikerts).

Speakers have provided much of my fun in 60 years of audio.  The RTR-6 ESL's were unique; several of us modified them with cork facing to emphasize their dipole character.  They produced the best high end I've ever heard.  They mated well with RTR 180's and 280's (both rather average), but when Bud Fried came out with the H kit, their overall character was more appealing.  Could never mate the 6's with that outstanding Fried transmission line woofer, or any other system, for that matter, but always missed that high end clarity.  Also built Fried's last C-3L's and his matching subwoofers (SM-3's), a system that can still "disappear."  Just now finishing Linkwitz's LX-521's, a project that takes some dedication.  Amen to those who mentioned Bob Fulton, a real gentleman and interestingly oblique thinker, as exemplified by his J's.  Still have a number of his fine recordings of amateur groups.   

When I was a young pup, my first "floor standing" speakers were a pair of used Wharfedale W70's with big, 12"+ woofers.  I remember that when the cannons went off at the end of the 1812 Overture, walls shaked and people ran for cover!

MartinLogan CLS's, which I still have.  Ok, so you have to learn how to NOT move your head from side to side, even a little, but once you get that down, what a blast.

It seems whatever speakers I have are the most fun, modifying speakers is my idea of fun. Dahlquist DQ10, mirror image and internal wiring mods. Various models of Alon's, cabinet and driver mods. Merlin VSM-MM, just about every part within BAM and Duelund VSF caps in speaker. Present Klipschorns, every single thing modified with exception of bass portion of cabinet.
I generally keep speakers for many years, by doing mods over relatively long periods of time I create better synergy with partnering equipment. Tuning my system by ear, and for relatively little expense is both great fun and devoid of the audiophile nervosa equipment churning brings me.
And I still have both the Dahlquists and Merlins, can't bring myself to sell them. Dahlquists have been in storage for thirty years, perhaps someday I'll reinstate them. Hearing DQ10's,  Maggies and Dynaco speakers in various high end systems back in the 1970's brought me first awareness of high fidelity.

The most fun speakers I owned were a pair of G. R. Research OB7's. I did many experiments with them to test the orthodoxies extolled in audio magazines and books on how to create the ultimate stereo system. I tried bi-amplification with the tweeters on their own 245 SET amps and the midrange (2 5" cones open baffle) and the low frequency (4 5" cones sealed box). Then I read about the Wavac 833-A stereo and I made a pair of 833-A SET monoblocks which I connected to the low frequency speakers. Separating the tweeters from the midrange by powering them with separate 245 SET amplifiers sounded better than running both the tweeters and the midrange on the same amplifier. Active crossovers made of resistor and capacitor networks inserted between the mu-follower 6SN7 drivers sounded good and they are supposed to sound better than passive speaker crossovers. But the passive crossovers sounded better. Finally, I tried running the speakers on only 833-A's to all three speaker elements and this sounded better than anything I had tried before. I learned that not everything which is supposed to be the best way to run amplifiers and speakers applies universally to every system and I should not be surprised because speakers costing over $50,000 use passive crossovers.
Eventually I upgraded to Magnepan 0.7's the biggest Magnepans I can fit in my small house of 500 square feet floor space including the bedroom, the shower room, and an open kitchen because I was put off by the complications of cone speakers, their need to have elaborate notch filters in addition to high and low pass filters for crossovers, and boxes which require so much bracing, lined with sound deadener layers inside. I auditioned the Magnepans and they sounded more like live performances in the opera house where I go than any $50,000 speakers I had heard. But you can't drive them with thw 300B, let alone the 245 SET because they are insensitive. That is the price for circumventing the excessive variations and complications caused by back EMF of cone speakers influenced by the surrounds and even the cone material and the cabinets, all with resonances and wild variations in output with respect to frequency. When I got them home they sounded even better with the 833-A's driving them.
GR Research has impressive speaker kits which rival 4 figure factory made speakers and they are well suited for low power SET amplifiers if you don't want to use tubes which take 100 Watts just to heat the cathodes.

Infinity Servo-static 1A's, I'm sorry that I ever sold them. Biggest mistake of my life!  

I have a pair of Vanatoo Transparent One Encore active speakers that are small, packed with the latest technology, sound great, and are loads of fun.

The Epicure 100 bookshelf system pair were a "fun" backup system. I owned them for 35 years. Their sonority contrasted any other systems owned. Moderate efficiency and 90% linearity yielded "stellar" low volume listening. The "fun" go to listening "rivaled" friends systems from the college dorm era. 

A music store instrument trade in yielded acquisition of new pair JBL 4412A Professional Series speaker systems. Part of the fun was the 4412A's in effect cost only $400.00. Later, a recording studio desired the 4412A pair. The good value status transpired to the Studio sale.

First generation Reel to Reel Designs Legacy Classics were "fun" being a listening experience reward. The floor standing subwoofer was culminated with perfection components, design engineering, and components. 

The used pair of 1977 Klipsch Cornwall I systems were utilized for program material playback. Also, these were utilized with "live" performance of electronic keyboard performances. Efficiency and moderate performance linearity were the reasons for "fun" value.

RCA Photophone horn system ran a pair for 10 years sold them but bought another since I missed them so. 

I enjoy my Pique restored Quad 57s and 63s. Also loved my DQ 10s for a number of decades.

While I’m in love while in in love w my Energy RC-70s’ currently, they sound amazing.

 My most fun pair (which I still own)

CERWIN VEGA D9s’—- Great sound and thump.

 Honorable mention - CERWIN VEGA AT-15s’- a more crunchier midrange than the D9s’, but less bass.
 For a few years I had both pairs stacked w D9s’ on bottom and AT-15s’ upside down on top. That was some of the best music I’ve ever heard,, I eventually ended up melting the binding posts on the back of my Onkyo m-504 amp.
 Have since learned about the work OHM LOAD,...and why it’s IMPORTANT when choosing an amplifier for driving an amp at a basically 0 ohm load.

:))

Back in the mid-70s I had a set of double Advents, stacked vertically, on custom stands, tweeters together. Powered by an HK Citation 16 and Soundcraftsman preamp with octave EQ, Thorens TD-160 and an Ortofon MC cart. It combined the Advents neutrality and bass, doubled up for the wall of sound bigness and the dynamics of a whole bunch of power, with the kinda peaky Ortofon making up for the Advents soft upper treble.  That system rocked. With 4X10" woofers it could play the subterranean synth bassline on Stevie Wonder's "I Believe (When I Fall In Love)" from Talking Book like few others. The Eagles "Hotel California", Linda Ronstadt, they all sounded fabulous, as did Keith Jarrett's "Koln Concerts" Al di Meola "Mediterranean Sundance". 

The most fun speakers were my first ones.  I bought a DIY speaker building book.  Designed my own ported cabinets, around 12" three way Jensen speakers.  Did this fifty years ago when I was sixteen years old.  Then I bought an Eico amplifier kit.  Spent a couple weeks building it.  Bought a Garrard turntable, and we had music!  Mid 60's rock and roll, at its finest!  Were these the best?  Heavens no.  But they were good sound and loud.  What more could a kid want?  They went to college with me, blasting Ina Gada Davida, for the whole dorm to hear.  Sold them and the amp when I got married and moved up to Sansui separates.  Those were the days.

Keg 104AB’s.  My first foray into the then perceived “high end”. Followed closely by the Quad 63’s with an Entec Subwoofer

I'll second Omen Dirty Weekends.  Easily the most fun speakers I owned.  Big tone, great dynamics. Even though I still own other Zu models there are days I wish I hadn't sold mine.

Surprise to see no mention of Zu Audio Omen DW. I think they are quiet fun speaker with great looks and very reasonable price.

I too had a pair of Altec 19s..ran with S.A.E 2400L 200 watt or so amp...man did I rock back then.

Infinity 1.5, with 12” dual Watkins woofers & emit tweeters.  Bought them used in 1980, and they still rock.  Ran them back then with a Hafler DH-500, paired with an Adcom GTP-500 II and a Technics SL-1200 (Stanton 681EEE).  I used to take them to parties and it would shake a room, I even set them up in gyms, and people would be amazed at the sound.  In today’s standards, they’re not that accurate, but when you turn them up with a stable amp, they can still amaze you.

Another vote for the ESS AMT monitors... actually still have them (picked up used for $450 in the early 90's) and are in use daily.   

B&W DM 602s

Driven by an Acurus A80, B&K Pro 5, and Cambridge Audio CD6. Interconnects were Nordost Black Knight, SC was Kimber. 

Right out of college, this system was dynamic, authoritative, and played at extremely loud volume with clarity and great fun.

Terrific speakers for a party. 

It was the fall of 1971 I was a junior in HS and I used every dollar I made bussing tables at a restaurant down the shore over the summer to buy a system package from a chain outfit called Tech Hifi in Bryn Mawr Pa.  The package consisted of a Dual 1219 turntable, a Harman Kardon 610 receiver and a pair of Large Advents.  The whole thing retailed for around $600.  I hooked it up in my bedroom and listened to Tumbleweed Connection.   Pure bliss.   It was the moment that I became an audiophile.  I never looked back.  While my current rig blows that little system away I still have a great deal of fondness for it.  I attribute that to the Advents.

The Advent was my entry into the hifi world as well, although I cannot recall what they sounded like other than that they were good.

My parents still have a pair of the advents . Lot of good times had with those. 

My first really fun set of speakers were a pair of Henry Kloss’s large Advents. They were clean, clear, great bass, terrific for everything from rock to classical. They demonstrated the value of acoustic suspension designs and were absurdly inexpensive. 

Did not own them, but I spent some time in a studio, a friend of mine co-owned, and in their large sound room, was a pair of Augspurger Design studio monitors that were, well, fun ! I would, exchange my Lascalas for a pair of those. I remember they sounded great, listening at near field. I do enjoy my Lascalas with my custom made subs.