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Name the best speakers you have EVER heard please

indus

pfm Member
Just curious but one caveat. They've got to be have heard them with all kinds of music including pop, rap, electronic as well as the usual audiophile stuff. In other words not just the kind of stuff I usually hear being played at hifi shows and in high end shops.

Cheers
 
The original (circa 1990's) KEF Reference 4.
I had some but had to give them up while living in a much reduced size house.
My current KEF's are good, but not as good as those originals.
 
I can’t think of anything I’d take over giant vintage Tannoys or Quad ESLs. I’d not judge anything on brickwalked pop or rap, though I can happily listen to things like Kendrick Lamar etc on my Lockwoods even if the bass is a little over-cooked at times (as modern pop mastered for small speakers tends to be when replayed on proper full-range monitors). I’ve heard a fair bit of more modern ‘high-end’ audio and found very little that appeals, it has completely lost me along the way somehow. I just don’t like the bright, dry and hyper-detailed sound that seems fashionable these days. If I was forced to buy new I’m pretty sure my choice would be between the new Tannoy Arden and whatever current Quad ESL worked best in my room. I like some of the modern BBC type boxes too.
 
My domestically-challenged 4 x ESL 57s are a strong contender. A pal's Tannoy Special Products (2 x 15" HPD per channel, each speaker weighs 220kg, yes, you read that right, just under a quarter of a tonne, each) are no easier to live with but maybe better at high volumes. I once heard some big Infinity transmission lines in shop in France, a more effortless bass performance I've never heard, it was amazing.
 
Hard to pick between the two, but just glad to have found a space for both of them.


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They've got to be have heard them with all kinds of music including pop, rap, electronic as well as the usual audiophile stuff.

I think I have only ever played rap through one set of speakers, so my answer has to be ESL63s since no others meet the requirements in the OP.
 
I'll ignore the OP's requirements as I use speakers for music, not rap.

For me the best I've ever heard would probably be Quad ELS57's and Linkwitz LX521.
 
Interesting, quite a few votes for ESL speakers. I've never really heard any ESL but I've read they are pretty light on bass? Wouldn't that make them pretty useless for rap, electronic dance music, reggae, dub etc?

Cheers
 
Interesting, quite a few votes for ESL speakers. I've never really heard any ESL but I've read they are pretty light on bass? Wouldn't that make them pretty useless for rap, electronic dance music etc?

Not really. Bass is all about shifting air IMO, this is far more important than extension and I’m sure why small driver speakers never sound like proper bass no matter how deep the frequency response plot digs. Quads have a lot of surface area and are really very good on electronica - they shift air and are faster than any box speaker let alone any with a port. Their downsides are very poor efficiency (they’ll never have the dynamic ease of Tannoys, Altec, Klipsch etc) and limited volume ability, which is of no huge issue to most of us. Great speakers.
 
Yup, hearing some ELS57's in a shop in Manchester back in about 1979 was never forgotten. Likewise a pair of Audiostatics at a show at Heathrow in the 80s.

In both was the curious sensation of the music of just being 'there' almost 'hanging' or coming from nowhere, but still being able to pinpoint anything you wanted to concentrate on. The opposite of a pair ES14s driven by a big Naim and music thrown at you with force. Grinning salesman and me and my mate making a hasty exit.
 
I'll ignore the OP's requirements as I use speakers for music, not rap.

For me the best I've ever heard would probably be Quad ELS57's and Linkwitz LX521.

Get a grip, some of the most creative music of the last couple of decades is within the hip-hop genre. There is good and bad music in all genres but music is absolutely what it is.
 


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