The best speaker you ever heard?

Harbeth Super HL-5 were WAY up at the top of the list, too.

VON SCHWEIKERT VR-9 SE'S- you can (almost) squeeze a symphony orchestra into your living room with these puppies; my beloved eggleston andras, one of the most musical and balanced speakers from 20 to 20 i had ever heard, could never really convince me i was hearing large-scale ensembles- they lacked that last chunk of scale and authority.
plus, as good as they were at resolving detail WITHOUT sounding analytical, the VSA's are in another league altogether- the midrange, a lone 7 inch driver, is so transparent it reminds me of maggies and quads. btw, can you hear the tiny sound string musicians make as they position their bows a second before the music starts? in 40+ years in the hobby this is the 1st time and one more thing- the vr-9's come with adjustments for the three tweeters as well as the built-in activer subwooofer (they go flat to 16Hz if you like bass). the sound can be taylored to your room acoustics and your personal tastes. once upon a time i thought the wilson WAMM's were, given their size and complexity, the best speakers i'd ever witnessed- they reproduced live concert sound as well as classical orchestra music with equal authority. but they have more than met their match, and for almost 1/4th the cost. only the vr-9's
can reproduce a solo guitar with uncanny delicacy while the WAMM's might blow out of proportion.

As folks at ML saying "happy listenning", to me the best speaker is the one that matching to the rest of your systems. There is no "the best speakers" in this imperfect world gorvened by the imperfect laws of physics. I have owned from JVC,Fisher,Klispch,Definite Tech.,Mirage,Martin Logan, Sonus,B&W..in the past 20 years. They all have weakness and strength...Due to my recent downfall, I now own a Krell 400xi with Sony es Sacd,and a pairs of rt14 POLK..yes a low-end cheapy Polk..laugh all you want but with some old pjb-RCA (Kimber) and 8TC-speakers (Kimber)that I have left from the old systems(sold them all thru this web), Diana Krall and Shirley Horn still sound quite beautifully. TRust your own ear when spending your money. Happy listenning..

"laugh all you want..."
-Andrewdoan

Nobody but an idiot would laugh at the enlightened and successful efforts of a seasoned audiophile such as yourself. I pity anyone who would laugh at a fellow hobbyist who has put together a satisfying system and then been kind enough to share the story of his or her success with this community. In fact, putting together such a system on a budget is even MORE impressive, at least to me, than mindlessly throwing money at a showpiece. IMO.

Hmm, the battle goes on.....