What vintage speaker might you use today

Frieds, especially, the final iterations prior to Bud retiring in the late 1990s compete exceptionally well with the loudspeakers of today.

Personally, I use the Quad ESL57. I have/had a lot of other speakers, but apart from the bottom octave, nothing sounds as much like music to me.

Douglas_Schroeder (BP), "Vintage gear is good for nostalgia trips and the audiophile on a lower budget (in fact, very good for them), but not great for building superior audio systems."

As I have often found arrogance the companion of ignorance, I could not disagree any more strongly with someone who doesn't believe the Quad ESL57 could hold position in the finest sounding audio systems.

Douglas_Schroeder, "Trelja, considering Quads, you couldn't get me to own a Quad. They� WERE a good speaker - that was LONG ago. The older models have severely compromised performance in terms of bass extension and power handling. And it sounds like it's coming from an orchestra pit, the speaker is so lowered. We're supposed to accept that in 2015? I will not. I don't give a speaker a pass simply because it has lovely mids. Nostalgia has carried them way too far. I have heard the older quads both he 57's and 63's and I wouldn't dream of owning them, not for great listening. The Kingsound King III tramples them. It has "all of that" in regards to the superb midrange, and much more, that is, an actual lower bass response, as well as a sound field that is above knee level. As far as new Quads, I wouldn't touch one."

While not a spendthrift, I recognize we generally need to spend more to get more.  Without merit or reason, over the past several years, I've been blessed to the point of gaining the ability to buy pretty much any high-end audio product I would want, loudspeaker or otherwise.

I can assure everyone neither economic constraints nor nostalgia drove me to the Quad ESL57.  I own, have owned, and have listened to a great many highly regarded loudspeakers, but use the Quads because they're simply the best sounding loudspeakers I have encountered.

Do I presume that my tastes will translate to another person or everyone else?  Of course not.  Do the Quads have limits and weaknesses?  Absolutely.  Doesn't every loudspeaker / high-end audio component?  As everyone has always known, the bottom octave lies beyond their capability, as do blow you back low frequencies.  The Quads are also limited in the absolute sense of how loud they can play, though the walk in the park effortlessness 95 dB at my listening chair should suffice for many. 

My priorities lie in the sonic realm, everything else takes a back seat to that.  Whether they came out of 2015 or 1915 matters to me not.  Nothing puts me closer to what feels like reality, as no other loudspeaker I have listened to approaches their truth of tone and overall rightness.  I won't say that I will never purchase another pair of loudspeakers, but the Quad ESL57 have more or less ended my desire for anything else.