Best Speakers that you've heard

[jackfish]

Meadowlark Blue Heron 2s

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/superio...kblueheron.htm

[brandonnash]

Best speaker system I've hear was the full 5.1 setup of Wilsons with the x-1's for mains and the killer sub watch dog along with their center and surrounds. Only really saw movies and some DVD-audio on this system. My favorite speakers are the B&W 801's. Listened to some music on those and thought they were fantastic. My home setup will do for now though. Athena 5.1 setup. Soon to add DIY sub that I hope will compete with the Wilson sub.

[jpok1000]

The best I've ever heard would have to be the "DALI IKON 6" The sound you get from them is breath taking, even if they do need room & a good solid amp to go with them. I'm saving for them now

[rcarlton]

rcarlton wrote:

K-horns without question. Of course you need good corners (or willing to make false corners). 60 year old design that still works. Secondly would be LaScala...but I am biased. See my sig.

I wrote this in May of last year. I can now add Klipsch Jubilee to the list. Awesome two-way speaker, very detailed, non-fatiguing, wide soundstage (and I only heard it in mono!). Unfortunately it has a low WAF .

[drdoan]

In my experience, the very best sound I have ever heard from a set of stereo speakers was the Vandersteen 5A's with some very expensive equipment attached to them. Those speakers literally, completely, dissapeared, and what I heard was as close to a live performance as I have ever heard. High on the 2nd place list were the B & W 801D's (with the diamond tweeters).
The best low cost speakers I have heard are the one's I own now-the SVS SBS-01's.
I would love to hear the Klipsch corner horns sometime, tho. Dennis

[FlashJim]

[Ayreonaut]

We weep for you.

[drdoan]

One hasn't lived until they have seen the Bose 901's hanging from the ceiling and swaying back and forth due to the ports in the back acting like jet engines! By the way, I have driven past Bose "Mountain" in Framingham, Mass. - it isn't that big! Dennis

[Josuah]

Listened to:
Monitor Audio Bronze line
Monitor Audio Silver S6, S8, S10
Definitive Tech BP10s?
Hsu VT-12
Castle Avon
Swan 2.1
Onix Reference 1
Onix Reference 3
B&W Bookshelves (705 os 805)
Something-I-don't-know-the-name-of-since-it-was-in-China

I would say my current Onix Reference 3's are the best out of that list.

[Lammy]

I would have to say Eggleston Works - Rosa. I accompanied a friend to his friend's basement opening - these speakers can pound the daylight out of you. These speakers "will " be my next DIY project.

[goatfarm]

The best sounding speakers I've ever heard were a pair of Dunlavy SC-IVs in a room where the owner valued appearance over sound, placing them flush against the longest wall in the room and about 8 feet apart. Bad, bad location. And yet they had a sound that said, "This may be the best you'll ever hear". So far it is.

Greg

[tlqualman]

The speaker I have heard that I thought was the best sounding I have heard so far is the Montana XP, I could not afford those so I ended up with a pair of Montana SPX (little brother to XP) you can tell they are from the same family of speakers, XP just has a little less bass and a little less efficient.

[Prof.]

Having been around for a long time, I've heard a lot of speakers over the years, but the absolute best I ever heard were not commercial speakers..
They were speakers custom built by a Hi-FI dealer who used to sell a range of his speakers from his shop..

These were 8 cubic foot Folded Horns with separate horn mid-range and tweeters, using Wharfedales and ribbon tweeters.
I had never heard such natural clean, powerful sound then or since..But the incredible thing was that you could drive these monsters with a 30W.amp.!!..He used a 100W./channel valve amp..
Ah..the memories!!

[BoomieMCT]

bsheldon wrote:

I have had the pleasure of hearing both the B&W 802's and the awe inspiring 801's. I have heard the 801's and 802's powered by all classe equipment and at another location, I heard the 802's powered by levinson with a rotel player.

My coworker has a set of B&W 801's powered by $50,000 of electronics with names like "Krell" behind them set up in a near ideal room. They are hands down the best sounding acoustic anything I've ever heard. Personally I prefer the 801's to the 802's - that big 15" does stuff with tyco drums and other bassy instruments that is unreal. Super fast and articulate.

[Jim the Noob]

Danny wrote:

What are the best speakers that you have had a chance to listen to?

Like some others here, I don't like to go listening to stuff I can't afford. And since I'm mostly broke these days, I'm wa-ay out of touch on the new stuff. But I think the speaker that impressed me the most, back in the day, was the Ohm F. They were huge, expensive, weird-looking, and ridiculously inefficent, but they had a certain sound that I haven't heard before or since. And good lord, the BASS! We used to sell them at the music store where I work. This is a building which started out as a medium-sized grocery store, and we could feel the intro to Dark Side of the Moon (a favorite demo) shaking the floor all the way back in the shop.

As for reality, I still love my Sony SS-M3s (yes, Sony!). Peerless drivers, 4-pole L-R crossovers, 1" thick time-aligned enclosures, etc. These used to be a well-kept secret, although not so much nowadays with the internet - everybody knows everything now. I recently snagged a third one on eBay for a center, so I'm good to go for the forseeable future.

Great forum, by the way.

Jim the Noob

[mazersteven]

The best speakers I've heard so far would have to be the Wilson Watt/Puppies. I friend of mine from Sound and Vision has them along with some B&W 800's.

[khellandros66]

I know I posted here already but a man can change his mind right?

The Acoustic Zen Adaigo for the money are amzing but the Triad Gold LCRs and Definitve BP7002 for the money are tough. If i had like $5-10k to drop B&W 802Ds or Paradigm S8's

Yeah Thats how it is baby comin back at ya LOL know clue why i said this but it was funny and I am bored at work LOL

~Bobby

[Instal]

I dropped in to our local high end audio shop and low and behold there they were, a pair of B&W Nautalis
(would that be Nautalai?) Well needless to say it was love at first listen. I have never heard anything like it. They had them hooked up to a high end turntable with Supertramp Crime of the Century on it. I just about soiled myself as Supertramp is my favorite band. I asked them to give it a crank as I was the only customer in there and I can tell you I had my first ever eargasm. Every note seemed to have a life of it's own. I shut my eyes and was able to get lost inside every note and stay there until another would replace it. Truly audio Nirvana.

[rcarlton]

Instal wrote:

I dropped in to our local high end audio shop and low and behold there they were, a pair of B&W Nautalis
(would that be Nautalai?) Well needless to say it was love at first listen. I have never heard anything like it. They had them hooked up to a high end turntable with Supertramp Crime of the Century on it. I just about soiled myself as Supertramp is my favorite band. I asked them to give it a crank as I was the only customer in there and I can tell you I had my first ever eargasm. Every note seemed to have a life of it's own. I shut my eyes and was able to get lost inside every note and stay there until another would replace it. Truly audio Nirvana.

My local store has the Nautilus also. Unfortunately someone stuck their finger through the tweeter . They have a new one on order, so have not heard it. They told me it needed 6 Classé CA-2200 amplifiers for a total of 1200 watts to run them .

Gosh, I need less than a watt to run my speakers !