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

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.

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!

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.   

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).

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

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.

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?

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.... ;)

Amen!

@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. 

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! 

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‼️

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

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

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! 

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

@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..

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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! 

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!

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

The Totem Arro the way they respond to changes in the chain is like getting new speakers all over again. Their soundstaging and tone are first rate for any speaker at any price or size...

I find it interesting that the majority of these posts are past tense. 

Recently my local audio dealer who is into vintage audio suggested I add a high efficiency speaker to my stable. I have a pair of Martin logan Summits and a pair of Green Mountain Audio C-3 HX .
He suggested looking at Klipsch heritage.  I picked up a pair of Chorus II from craigslist... 101 dB efficient....Boy are these fun... Are they perfect..no.  I noticed Danny Richie over at GR Reasearch recently did a significant mod to a pair of Klipsch Forte 3. You can see all the details over at audiocircle..  I am giving serious consideration to seeing how far I can reasonably take them with performance mods (crossover, cabinet bracing, etc).. These are party speakers that can rock out

2 Jensen Imperial Horns, 1 Jensen Imperial Sub. 1970, Made them from plans, a local cabinet maker had. He had 4 stacks of 1" marine plywood.
He cut the boards and sold them as kits or he'd put them together for a pretty stiff price.

Took most of my earning for a year, to buy the raw drivers, 3 Mac 30 Kits and traded an old HD 45 flathead that ran really good (when it ran), for a C11. It took a 1951 chevy 1/2 ton, two trips to move that system. LOL

A guy sold me a Thoren TD121 he brought back from oversees for 80.00 and a tune up on his Buick Skylark.  

Man oh Man I was a 16 year old kid with a really cool stereo. Loved that system. 2 car garage EMPTY to fit those in. 35 or so speaker builds later, still love to whip up a pair of what ever I can dream up. Have speakers changed that much since then. LOL They took 7 sheets of 1" plywood, to build 3 speakers cabinets, you tell me.

Regard

Paragon Acoustic Regent

Read about them when they first came out but no dealers in my area. Years later and very early in my days here I came across a pair in Connecticut several years after Paragon closed shop. Drove 10 hours round trip to pick them up. Of the more than 50 pairs of speakers I’ve had through here the Regents are the ones I miss the most. I logged more listening hours in succession with the Regents than any others. They made incredible music at all times and never fatigued me in the least no matter what front end I put together. Fun, musical, expressive, engaging....so many boxes checked who could ask for more. (This dummy)
Most stupid sale I feel I ever made. They are so rare and incredibly musical that to this day I can’t believe I let them go. Guess the merry-go-round made me think that there was so much more to experience.....

there’s a pic of them in my Evolution in progress system.  

I wonder if these speakers were more about being at the right place at the right time.  I also wonder if they’d still fulfill today, or if everyones expectations have continued to go up and up.  If they would still be “the most fun” why have something else?  It’s like saying “those $100 cerwin vegas were amazing; I wish these $7000 personas brought me as much joy”

for me the JBL 4333A... everything sounds very pleasant with great bass and smooth... I just keep looking what to play next!

b&w c210. I call them little Bees and they're still playing in the lab room where I hobby. 
I picked them up at good will $10/pair.

Most fun? Pioneer HPM-100's, back in the day. Everything was fun then.

mine were my Polk Rtia5 floorstanders. They really rocked. Capable of incredible volume and really visceral listening experience. I have replaced them with a new pair of maggie LRS speakers. The new maggies are the most detailed, transparent, and airy speakers I ever heard but they don't compete with the Polks for dynamic power and punch and I sometimes really miss that. Especially when I'm drinking.

Thiel SMGa speakers driven by Braun/Atelier ADS A2.  
These were my first "Audiophile" grade speakers.
And you might say they were my first love.
Purchased together with the ADS A2 in 1984.
Traded in in 1996 for a pair of Thiel CS .5 speakers after my son was born and my wife and I were afraid that it would be much too easy for our baby toddler to knock over those baby Maggies.  Hence the baby Magnepans were traded in for a pair of baby Thiels.
Still have a special fondness for Maggies, as well as for Thiels.

Great thread.

I think maybe we have so many "past" speakers is we just had more fun when we were young, I know I did.

I would say Silverline Sonatas. I had them for several years and they were very dynamic and easy to listen to.

If they would still be “the most fun” why have something else?  

Good question, and I have thought about this many times.  There is an argument to be made that the most fun speaker is the one you should keep.  I think for many responses including my own, it's a question of weighing fun factor (big bass, slam, warmth, etc) vs refinement.  Also there have been many responses of speakers with big woofers, maybe there are folks who no longer have room for large speakers.

I owned a pair of Klipsch Heresy's way back in 1981. Ran them through a Luxman Integrated Amp with a Nakamichi B2 cassette deck and a Denon turn table. First real system while in the Navy. They were GREAT party speakers. Every year in May we had a big beach party, rented a generator and had music. Sold them to a friend in 2005. I still hear them at his house every now and then. I have definitely upgraded, but everytime I see and hear them they bring back GREAT memories. 

Large Advents. I truly grew up with them! Still have a pair tucked way in original boxes.

Definitely Klipsch Heresy IIi......

Probably my first pair of speakers, B&W 603

@Buildier3 wrote "Most fun? Pioneer HPM-100’s, back in the day. Everything was fun then."

Man you took the words right out of my mouth. I used to own those baby’s in high school, and though a bit boomy, man I loved them with my technics receiver and turntable. I even rigged up that tiny MXR 10 band eq on long cables that sat next to me so I could remix songs.

Kinda makes me smile that all these years later, I’m running a Pioneer related speaker - if you could call my TAD CR1’s that.

Back to the HPM-100’s, Eventually I decided to bypass the tone controls and cheap binding posts and hard wire to the crossover. They sounded so much better. I feel almost no one has really heard what the speakers were capable of. I gave them to a friend and many years later heard them in his apartment hooked up to a cheap receiver. He easily had the best sounding system of any of my friends, and probably still runs them till this day.

JBL 99s with 14 inch woofer great to rock out  with great rock speaker a classic.

Many,  many years ago I was recovering from knee surgery over the summer.

At the time I owned a portable Toshiba "boombox"  portable,   an am/fm,  cassette player recorder thing.  I don't recall the exact model,  but I had an old pair of Advent two-way loudspeakers gathering dust in my basement so...

One afternoon I removed the back from the Toshiba,  plucked the wires from the 6" speaker and hard wired one of the Advents directly.  I closed the back as best I could using glue and some duct tape.  Voila!  A hifi portable.

It was an enormous pain in the butt to lug that stuff around, but my friend and I closed a good many days on the beach listening to classical music as the sun set.

And we met a LOTTA chicks doing so.

My first were the most fun: Utah speakers that I mail-ordered from the Allied Radio catalog in 1969. I remember my excitement when I picked them up at the Railway Express Agency terminal, and was very pleased with the sound when I hooked them up. They were stolen, along with my Marantz Model 25 receiver and other gear. I think they were Model WD-90, as they looked just like a pair of that model now on the big auction site.

My realistic sta235b receiver 55 stomping wpc and a pair of bose 901 vI. That was my last system before being turned on to hifi. I loved playing air guitar to that system.

ADS l810 speakers and the Braun 810 speaker's were fun fun fun as I had no T-Bird. The Phase linear amp may have something to do with it. Ignorance was bliss.

Not so much the speaker but the time. Girls, parties, music. Home-made 40" high plywood reflex cabs with 12" McKenzie full range drivers driven by a 70watt KT88 amp. LOUD.