What speaker do you passionately want to demo?


Beyond the slight curiosity of what speaker you'd "like" to demo (example: every Klipsch horn speaker), what speaker(s) would you "passionately" love to demo?  A brief explanation of "why" you like these speakers would be beneficial.

I'll start:

MBL 101 X-treme - almost a decade and reviewers still say it's amongst the best they'd ever heard.  Probably should be matched to the MBL Electronics

Living Voice Vox Olympian Horn - it's wood (maybe sounds more warm/organic), it's a horn, and it consistently gets good reviews at the Munich High End audio shows.

Muraudio SP1 - Electrostatic + cone hybrid speaker that received many rave reviews.  It's not an easy task successfully marrying the fast electrostatic to the slower cone to sound seamless.  This speaker was on my short list to purchase.

Voxativ AC-XP field coil driver - both Voxative and Pure Audio Project speaker offer the Voxativ AC-XP field coil driver as an optional upgrade, but it's an additional ~$7k (yow).  The reviews leads me to believe that this field core driver is sonically "significantly" superior above other choices.  

Mike Lavigne's Evolution Acoustics MM7 in his dedicated sound room.  The sonics of demoing speakers at storefronts or audio shows can be problematic depending on the audio chain and the room setup.  MikeL has a matured optimized setup that is sonically recognized as excellent by other serious audiophiles.  
kennyc

Showing 6 responses by mijostyn

Kennyc, I'm very lucky. I have the only speakers I ever want to own. You could say I'm married to them. The Muraudio gets decent reviews but IMHO it is a bad design. The panels are curved which is a terrible thing to do to an ESL as you create a non linear situation. Diaphragm goes back it loosens, forward it tightens. This is the reason they have to cross at 750 Hz. Right in the middle of the vocal range. 120 degrees is to much dispersion. To minimize room interaction you do not want any more than 45 degrees. For the same money you can get Sound Labs 545's. No curved panels and the array covers 45 degrees. No crossover. Much more diaphragm area and linear panels can take much larger excursions without distortion. Add subwoofers ( the Muraudio needs them also) and you will be in heaven. The only thing better will be larger Sound Labs. 
Read Roger Sanders's white papers.  http://sanderssoundsystems.com/technical-white-papers
He is the original designer of Martin Logan's curved ESL panel. 
Ipretiring, the last thing you want in a room is a perfectly omni directional loudspeaker. What you will get is omni directional room interaction. They are an interesting design. I know several people who would not give them a second look. 
birdfan, An interesting, potentially great design (AlysVox) with one major failing and a potential worry. The major failing is that they are 79 inches tall and will revert to point source radiation at around 200 Hz. They needed to be 8 or nine feet tall depending on ceiling height to maintain Line Source characteristics all the way down. The worry is aluminum foil laminated to kapton or mylar is unfortunately fragile. The advantage over an ESL like a Sound Labs is that ribbons (or planar magnetics) are purely resistive and easy to drive. The ESL however is much more durable. There is no current flow so there is no heat and unlike aluminum it will not deform and crack. Magnepan uses this style of construction for it's tweeters only for a good reason.  
@bdp24 , The model 10 is a fine loudspeaker for one person in one location. They beam like crazy. Roger Sanders does not think this is a problem. His thinking being that when you are not in that singular position you are just using the system for background music and high frequency performance does not matter. Having lived for over a decade with very selfish ESLs not quite as bad as the Sanders, I always found the beaming to be an annoyance. With the 45 degree dispersion angle of the Sound Labs you get balanced frequency response throughout the room without unnecessary room interaction. IMHO the Sound Labs 545, about the same price as the Model 10 is a much better loudspeaker overall. Both require a subwoofer for ultimate low frequency performance and the lowest distortion. 
@bdp24 , I really like the G25HP. I have made dipole subwoofers and I respectfully disagree. Regardless of servo control, open baffle subwoofers are highly problematic when it comes to frequencies below 40 Hz in actual rooms. If you take an enclosed driver and put it right in a wall floor intersection or in a corner the initial impulse and the first reflection become one and the same, reducing room interaction and you can get the required bass boost at 20 Hz of about 6 dB without difficulty and with minimal power.  The issue now becomes time and phase aligning the subs with the main speakers. This is virtually impossible to do in the analog realm but very easy in the digital realm along with the actual crossover. Don't forget the high pass filter on the main speakers!!!
I can not stress this enough. Taking the bass out of the main speakers will improve their performance and give you even more headroom along with better integration. Thinking that you need dipole subs to match dipole main speakers is a mistake. Sub bass is a different animal altogether when you factor in the room. The specifics at these wave lengths requires a different approach. The balanced force design of the Rythmik G25HP is the way to go and the price is amazing for two 15" drivers and a plate amp. If you have access to a shop making a similar sub with the GR Kits would be an easy low cost approach to making a killer sub system. If you need help designing and building an enclosure feel free to ask for help. The one positive aspect of open baffle speakers is their construction is super simple. I would rather the challenge of building an enclosed sub.