advertisement


Name the best speakers you have EVER heard please

Kef KM1s for me. I've never heard music sound so real and their ability to get scale right was amazing.
 
pocketkitchen said:
Fascinating how both Quad and Shahinian are amongst the most mentioned here. Isobariks crop up a fair bit, too. As much as it's nice that some people also share my enjoyment of Shahinian speakers, I find it really disappointing that things haven't moved on. Shahinian speakers are very old in their design (the ones I've owned) and when people mention the Diapason, I would imagine they heard the mk1, not the mk2, similar to me. ESL57s are as old as the hills and probably the first genuine high-end speaker many people ever heard. With the exception of streaming, I don't think hi-fi has improved and when the yoof are blamed for their pre-occupation with phones and headphones, the answer lies a little closer to home, I feel. Manufacturers should genuinely be raising the bar, rather than simply putting their designs in blingy boxes and charging a bloody fortune. If that strays a little off topic, apologies.
Click to expand...

Look to the likes of Neumann, JBL etc for engineering innovation. It's happening, though seemingly of limited interest to the traditional audiophile market. Priced too keenly as well, perhaps...
 
Colin L said:
C4C3B70E-CB98-4D1A-8B9B-0F071CF88E7A_zpsan2ypqsc.jpg
Click to expand...

That set up looks like Arnie could materialise at any moment and opine 'come with me if you want to live ...'
 
A huge pair of Magnepan panel speakers (late '80s model unknown) driven by Acoustic Research amplifiers.
 
Whaleblue said:
Sorry Mark, I meant “How/why?”. Why do you think I’m not hearing them at their best?

Positioning?
Amps?
Source?
Diffraction Rings? :)
Click to expand...

I don’t really know is the honest answer. For a start, I don’t know if you are, or are not, hearing them at their best. You probably don’t have them set up quite as selfishly as I do - the hi-fi has its own dedicated room at my house and I don’t have to consider anybody else. The gear imposes so much that despite being in a room suitable to be a double bedroom there is just enough space to sit on a single sofa in front of the speakers! Secondly, my Yammies have had loads of work done on them. Not least if which is the bass drivers are actively driven from their own DSP equipped power amp. When I changed the bass crossover slope from 2nd order to 3rd order it cleared up haze in the lower mid - for example.

On second thoughts - yeah, diffraction rings are the issue - or rather lack of.
 
Best speakers I've heard outside my own home were KEF Blades driven by Devialet amps.

Best speakers I've heard at home: undecided between Martin Logan Montis and ATC SCM50 ASLTs.

EDIT: n.b. Martin Logans powered by Sanders Magtech power amp -- nothing less will do.
 
joe9407 said:
i heard a similar setup around that time -- it was my first experience with anything HiFi. just amazing. (though the rig i heard was fronted by a Krell CD player, rather than the Goldmund -- perish the thought!)

Tony's comment earlier about "shifting air" was certainly true in this case -- the notes just exploded from the Apogees in a way i haven't heard before or since. if i had a basement all to myself this is what i'd get.
Click to expand...

Me too. The turntable was more show than go, but the Apogees were something special.
 
For bass, the best system ive heard has been jbl 4430 or various tannoy 15 inchers or genelec 1038. however, ive never heard a "perfect" system as to combine powerful bass like with big tannoys or jbl, the midrange of Harbeth or ESL and the dynamic higs of a good CP horn.
Tony L said:
You should buy Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly if nothing else. An amazing album. Everyone should have the original 12” cut of The Message by Grandmaster Flash too, that is a very very good sounding piece of vinyl. Tons more too, but this is maybe not the place to list them. In fact everyone should actually start with Gil Scott Heron’s Pieces Of A Man which is one of the best albums made by anyone ever.
Click to expand...
Gil Scott Pieces of a Man is also imo one of the best album of all time. quite underrated. the band on the album is:
cannot go wrong with Laws flute and sax and Carter's bass. Such a special album

Tony L said:
I can’t think of anything I’d take over giant vintage Tannoys or Quad ESLs.
Click to expand...
try Geithain rl901 ;)
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
It has just occurred to me that LS5/8s might be good in the OP's preferred musical areas.

I apologize, all the speakers I know were were designed years ago. Apart from Genelecs.
 
Couldn't narrow it down to one so here are my top three: Snell K (preferred them over the J) but with decent valve amps only, Quad ESL57, Naim SBL. Would happily live with either although the SBLs are the most room placement friendly as they can go right up against the wall. They are also the most demanding when it comes to amplification.
 
The best loudspeaker I've ever heard, and by best I mean the one that could relatively easily suspend disbelief and convince one was listening to live performance, rather than a stunningly good HiFi, is the Beolab 90.

At more achievable prices levels the Kii 3's.

I've yet to hear price no object exotica - the Steinway Lyngdorf or the MBL Radialstrahlers for example, but compared to the usual suspects of which many have been mentioned, when it comes to the most convincingly natural and believable reproduction of music played with acoustic instruments as heard in the real world, the Beolab 90 is it.

They also sound superb on electronic music, but as I have no reference with this music to a real life acoustic instrument, it is difficult to say much other than that they sound amazing.

Cheers :)
 
Jonboi said:
The best loudspeaker I've ever heard, and by best I mean the one that could relatively easily suspend disbelief and convince one was listening to live performance, rather than a stunningly good HiFi, is the Beolab 90.

At more achievable prices levels the Kii 3's.

I've yet to hear price no object exotica - the Steinway Lyngdorf or the MBL Radialstrahlers for example, but compared to the usual suspects of which many have been mentioned, when it comes to the most convincingly natural and believable reproduction of music played with acoustic instruments as heard in the real world, the Beolab 90 is it.

They also sound superb on electronic music, but as I have no reference with this music to a real life acoustic instrument, it is difficult to say much other than that they sound amazing.

Cheers :)
Click to expand...
I haven’t had a pair here ( yet) but the times I have heard them the 90’s have been hugely impressive, Dutch&Dutch 8C , Kii Three
Keith
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top