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Name the best speakers you have EVER heard please

Jonn said:
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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You must listen at much louder volumes than I do or you were not aware they’re not as delicate as you thought. Wanting to turn up a loudspeaker to me is a good thing, a sign you’re enjoying them. What dB level were you trying to achieve? Don’t all One Thing modded Quads have clamping boards, makes them indestructible.
 
Jonn said:
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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That is strange, ES14s are reasonable speakers IMO, but suffer from an early metal dome tweeter and rather obvious port-loading to my ears. I’d not put them in anything like the same ball-park as ESLs.
 
The reason for wanting to turn up the volume on the ESL57s was to get some decent body and weight which of course they aren't designed for. The clamps just shut down the amp before any damage can be done AFAIK. The nature of the design limits the range of music that can be fully appreciated IMO so I returned them.

I had the EPOS14s for more than twenty years and never thought the metal dome tweeters compromised the sound. Positioned about 30cm from the back wall on dedicated stands together with drinking straws to fill in the rear port gave decent bass within the limits of the cabinet size.
 
Jonn said:
The reason for wanting to turn up the volume on the ESL57s was to get some decent body and weight which of course they aren't designed for. The clamps just shut down the amp before any damage can be done AFAIK. The nature of the design limits the range of music that can be fully appreciated IMO so I returned them.

I had the EPOS14s for more than twenty years and never thought the metal dome tweeters compromised the sound. Positioned about 30cm from the back wall on dedicated stands together with drinking straws to fill in the rear port gave decent bass within the limits of the cabinet size.
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So how many times did you shut down your amp trying to up the volume on the Quads?

Listening to Billy Cobham’s “Spectrum” and it sounds sublime peaking at 83db. Of course, source first is of utmost importance with any loudspeaker.
 
It wasn't a case of seeing how loud they would go but to try to get body and substance to the sound. I discovered that you don't get this by turning the volume up, just more of the same. So didn't push them to the absolute limit as there was no point, particularly as I had them on loan so didn't want to risk damaging them.

My original point was being surprised that many regard the ESL57s as the best speaker they have heard. But of course it depends on what you've heard in comparison so not an absolute measure. I wish they were the best speaker I'd ever heard given you can buy a refurbished pair for less than £1000.
 
Jonn said:
It wasn't a case of seeing how loud they would go but to try to get body and substance to the sound. I discovered that you don't get this by turning the volume up, just more of the same. So didn't push them to the absolute limit as there was no point, particularly as I had them on loan so didn't want to risk damaging them.
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I suspect your issue was one of rear-wall cancellation. Dipoles, open baffles etc play by very different rules to box speakers. A well setup pair of Quads have real body and heft to the sound. They don’t dig as deep as 15” Tannoys, Altecs or whatever, but they can generate very respectable and lightening fast bass. They have a wonderfully realistic presentation. Try them with proper acoustic instrument reference, e.g. a well recorded paino, jazz quartet etc rather than what you think rock music sounds like (which is inevitably conditioned from years of box colouration etc).
 
The ELS57s do sound fine on solo piano, jazz etc but that's only a small part of what I listen to. LIve Rock music by definition is played through speaker cabs so the colouration is there to begin with and that's what I "think" it sounds like.
I assume most of your listening is done through your ELS57s then?
 
Avalon Ascendants

on the end of as lp12/aro etc and a Karan KA 180 intergrated amp

V nice but unfortunately not at my house!

M
 
I wonder how many people are opting for 'big dynamics' more than quality? I know that there are countless expensive speakers that can do huge dynamic swings but don't quite work on the delicate stuff, and imprint all sorts of colourations onto vocals and so forth. That's where ESLs shine - they are incredibly transparent, even if they don't quite do headbanging levels. And neither they should. For domestic, near-field listening they're the best I've heard in terms of their delicacy, the appropriate sizing of different instruments in the mix, etc. Not necessarily the easiest to accommodate and live with, but they do have something quite special about them...
 
JTC said:
I wonder how many people are opting for 'big dynamics' more than quality?
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What is big dynamics? There is correct dynamics at standard listening levels where low frequency transients are preserved by using adequately sized drivers. And there is incorrect/compressed dynamics at standard listening levels due to the use of inadequately sized drivers (e.g. typical 2 ways) and, due to the nonlinearity of the ear not the speakers, incorrect dynamics and tonal balance when listening quietly.
 
YNWOAN said:
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.
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I was thinking the very same!
So with that said I was blown away with an all lumley system.
 
h.g. said:
What is big dynamics? There is correct dynamics at standard listening levels where low frequency transients are preserved by using adequately sized drivers. And there is incorrect/compressed dynamics at standard listening levels due to the use of inadequately sized drivers (e.g. typical 2 ways) and, due to the nonlinearity of the ear not the speakers, incorrect dynamics and tonal balance when listening quietly.
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What is correct dynamics and what is a standard listening level?
 
Correct dynamics is what is on the recording.

Standard listening level is around the level in a cinema, the level that would be used by the majority of professionals working with sound, a bit below the level for listening to sound 8 hours a day without hearing damage,... It is defined in dBs for the film industry but the music industry has never shown much of an interest in real sound quality and doesn't define it. However, because of the nonlinearity of the ear, the more serious engineers in the music industry have no option but to create their own standard level in order to keep the perceived sound consistent. These levels vary but are in the ballpark of that used by the film industry.
 
Nothing I have heard does it all.
Small Harbeths (I forget the model) for imaging / soundstage
Modded Apogee Duettas for slam and speed and dynamics
hOrns Universum for transparency and detail and subtlety.

None of them do everything, imo.
So personally I have settled on the compromise embodied by a pair of MBL 116f - they do everything very well, if not quite the best at anything.
 
John said:
Hard to pick between the two, but just glad to have found a space for both of them.


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exact same for me
 
I'd have to say Shahinian Hawks at my friends, not sure about all sorts of genres of music but all the stuff he played sounded like no other system I've yet to hear that sounds that real.

My Sbls don't sound too shabby to me though, does that count or is it biased and classed as cheating?
 
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