advertisement


Nominations for a PFM list of 25 top speakers of all time.

I unreservedly nominate the mighty Naim DBLs.

One of the great giants of HIFI and breathtaking to hear if properly driven (actively of course!)
 
Well....prioritising an ability to plausibly recreate an acoustic event and space...
Quad Esl 57s
Tannoy Autographs or Grfs
Urei 811As (and the other even bigger models)
Yamaha Ns1000s, (particularly the tri amped ones at Scalford this year)

I've been playing with the smaller Urei 809s with Decca ribbons for the last couple of months. I know it wouldn't be fair to list these as they are a homebrew combination...Nevertheless on merit they absolutely deserve inclusion - depth and focus are outstanding, as are the low distortion dynamics. The bigger Ureis enjoyed the reputation in the pro world of being one of the few studio monitoring systems able to realistically reproduce a drum kit.
 
Except the AR 3 is actually a not so small 3 way.

The AR 1, from which it was derived, was a 2-way:

ar_1_c.jpg
 
Speakers that did something special when I heard them (chronological order):

Quad ESL-57
B&W 801D
Cadence Amaya with Audion valve amps
ATC 100 active
Linkwitz Orion (active as usual but with valves!)
ATC 50 active
Focal SM9
 
I was really surprised by how unimpressed I was by Orion's when I first heard them (I wasn't much more impressed the second time either) :(.
 
I fell in love with IMF loudspeakers over forty years ago. Today I have a pair of TLS80s which for domestic use are probably the best speaker they ever made. I've heard nowhere near as many speakers as some on here have though I've heard a few that I wouldn't mind taking home but at the end of the day I'm always happy to come home to my IMFs. I really do think they're an all time classic.
 
Shahinian ARC 2.

A great improvement over, and very different from, earlier versions: tighter, clearer bass , great extension and a very different design internally l understand. Effortless musicality. Arcs were considered to be tonally the same as Super Elves but I was never totally convinced. But these new Arcs are good replacements for Elves - 'loads more' of the same quality.

Hear the new ones!

[ LP12-Ekos2-klyde- lingo2 –cdx/xps-72-250]
 
At the risk of sounding like excited schoolboy, I've just taken delivery of the Wilson Watt/Puppy series 8 and frankly whilst I'm fully aware of they're ticket price new then have no right to sound that good on the end of my office system e.g HDX / Teddydac / MB100s.

The wife will never let them in the house, they nearly killed me getting them upstairs but I had a rather lovely day working from home. Way easier to drive than the Hawks too.. the MB100s aren't up to that was amazed they sung with them.

Sophia's currently awaiting a new home... possibly a holiday cottage.

Still love the Hawks but reckon they might have the edge.. amp and set up depending.. Hawks I suspect way less fussy location wise but they seemed to work fine on first guess which was a surprise given the rocket science on position in the Wilson manual. Now only if I had this thrusters..

Until the Orton thruster mkxxxvii is available ;0)
 


advertisement


Back
Top