Are these Speakers the BEST on Planet Earth ?...

I think in the short term there is a huge subjective component in our appreciation for audio gear. In my experience, the speakers which give lasting satisfaction are those which offer lowest distortion, flattest, most extended response, within ones means. My frustration with this site is that most people seem to discount the degree to which the designers experience and research matter. This is far more apparent in DACs, where some hobbyist can sell his creation at prices approaching those of the masters.

It’s funny, in the old days I would frequent high-end audio salons and stores where stereos were sold, and listen to speakers--sometimes SOTA ones--and I’d remember the ones that impressed me. So at any given time I’d have a mental list of what I considered the "best" speakers to be. But in all cases they would be speakers I had experienced for myself, with my own ears, in, like, you know, reality.

No more. Nowadays there aren’t any stores near me that sell and demo speakers, and I no longer frequent audio dealers, and I no longer hear speakers firsthand...so I really have no idea of what might be "the best" speaker, in my opinion.

I miss those days. I’d love to have an opinion about what the best might be. But nowadays all I have is a much less useful and interesting list in my head...namely, a list of speakers I’ve read about and that sound like they might be worth checking out. But in all those cases I’ve never actually checked them out, because I can’t.

I bought my current speakers having never heard them first.

So we seek absolute perfection in reproducing decidedly imperfect sources like acoustic instruments, vintage guitars and amps and even the human voice? ;-) As for 8 inch speakers not being able to reproduce base, I know that these did not go down below 20 Hz, but if you ever looked at the speaker complement in the rather large cabinet that comes with what was considered the ultimate bass guitar amplifier for years, the Ampeg SVT?

@jmforge- The lowest Bass Guitar note is E2 (82.4 Hz).       There were/are a variety of speaker cabinets, designed to accompany the SVT amp.      Some for practice and some for moving real air, at one (individual) instrument’s primary frequencies.      Is this the one, to which you’re referring? https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SVT810E--ampeg-svt-810e-8x10-inch-800-watt-extension-cabinet

Uh @rodman99999 I play bass, started on string bass in 6th grade... low E is more like 41Hz. But most bass guitar cabs are set up to play 82Hz as the bass has a strong 2nd harmonic.


Even though I might use a class D to power them, I prefer a speaker to which I can connect my own amp. Maybe this is because I make amps and prefer what I perceive as greater neutrality in them. So I don't think this is the best speaker by any means, although it appears to have a lot of competent engineering going into it.