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Name the best speakers you have EVER heard please

Best small speaker for me (under £2k) are the Graham Audio Chartwell LS3/5. Brilliant, improved bass over my previous favourites, Spendor D1
 
First speakers to knock my socks off were the snell type a and well driven linn isobariks. Rather like my current speakers Nightingale concentus. Favourite dem Mirage m1's driven by vtl monos and direct driven Quad 57''s in ear room. Speakers would like to spend time with most.presently unheard, the Italian Leonardo ribbon speakers.
 
I don't think there's an absolute here.

First find a speaker that you can accomodate in, and which works well in, your room. Then find an amp to drive it. Much as I like massive Tannoys and some other larger designs, I simply cannot accomodate them in my room.
 
I've only ever heard one pair of speakers that meet the OP's music genre requirements and they were a pair of Amstrad LS-45's. So by the rules of this thread, they MUST by default be the best speakers EVER. Odd that because to me they sounded like someone was attacking Alans Sugars left testicle with a soldering iron.
 
I’ve rather lost track of this thread but I presume someone has already pointed out that it is impossible to listen to speakers in isolation, remote from the rest of the accompanying system.
 
Those giant Infinity line array towers from 30-40 years ago. I was in a fairly large room, and you really would have thought an orchestra was in the room. Good sound, and realness-the air was charged with the sound. My clothes moved in response to very low bass notes.
 
John Phillips said:
The other effect that can be seen in some small 'speakers played at typical levels, usually not there in their bigger brothers, is moderate level compression. There's an example here (chart4 up to 500Hz) for a 5.25-inch woofer. All being equal, a smaller drive unit has to operate with larger excursion and so reaches its linearity limits earlier.

Other may hear it differently, but to my ears this effect makes a small 'speaker seem louder than a bigger 'speaker played at the same volume. I hypothesise that this may encourage an impression that larger 'speakers don't sound good at lower volume levels.

What someone likes is what someone likes and there's no gainsaying that. But to me, reproducing dynamic range well is essential for a 'speaker to be good. Bigger drivers typically do this better than smaller. I wish we could see more evidence of this effect in reviews that provide technical data.
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I forgot to mention dynamic compression, which translates into distortion at comparatively lower level than with big speakers.

And there's also the fact that a 3-way speaker produces less IMD than a 2-way.
 
tuga said:
How big is your room and how far from the back wall are they?
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My room is on the small end of recommended at a nominal 12x14 feet but with an open doorway to the side and large open stairwell behind the listening seat. I played for a few weeks positioning them then used a setup spreadsheet and the results were very close. About 2 feet from the back wall.

The room is very rarely loaded, even with a Pass Labs x250 driving Obelisks hard.
 
The best for me are ATC100 which I have owned since 1997, but first heard in 1984, they do most music well, but not sure about the rap. Built with units from Wilmslow Audio with passive crossovers for £2500, upgraded to actives a couple of years later (active amps bought slightly used from a guy who upgraded to bespoke Naim active amps - at £12,000, true, but unbelievable) They do need a good sized room, and don't seem too sensitive to placement. I guess now with me for life, barring a catastrophic failure!
A close second are a pair of Tannoy 12" monitor golds in 70ltr infinite baffle cabs, built about 1965/66 the drivers and crossovers cost £60, cases now look a bit tatty, but still going strong. Vinyl into Naim 62/90. Great with jazz, and at the time, streets ahead of anything else I could afford.
 
2 ways: Merlin TSM/VSMs (still available in some form despite Bob Palkovich's sad demise in 2015)
Silly money: Wilson Watt/puppies I heard in mid-90s sometime
... and of course ... ESL 57s
 
Western Electric 12a & 13a & their later Mirrorphonic system. Not perfect but very impressive.


 
Another vote for ESL57s, although I've never been to a high-end show, being too easily tempted.

(I don't listen to all the music specified, but 'Birds of Fire' and John Mayall's 'Jazz Blues Fusion' cover most of those bases, I think.)
 
I'm surprised the ESL57s have received as many mentions as "best ever heard." I had a OneThing refurbished pair on home trial to see what the fuss was about. While they were pleasant enough to listen to I kept wanting to turn the volume up to get some substance to the sound which of course is not possible without damaging the speakers.
The fabled mid-range was very good it's true but not that much ahead of the EposES14s I had at the time and which on balance I preferred.
 
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