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Name the best speakers you have EVER heard please

Big Tannoys (Westminsters are just extraordinary, especially nearfield) and ESL57s (one of the best things I ever heard was a Leak Troughline into a Stereo 20 into ESL57s).
 
Best I ever heard were the ELS57 in a shop. But I am pretty certain they would not survive the all types of music requirement.
And a pair of Audiostatic ES100 at a show - but again I am sure they would not do prog or rock music.

So Yammy 1000s would be a better bet for all music (probably - I have not heard a pair 'properly', just in passing).
 
Best speakers I've ever heard:
1. Quad ESL 63s
2. Martin Logan CLSIIz, powered by Threshold monoblocks the size of suitcases. Incredible, holographic, stunning
3. Dynaudio Confidence, don't remember the model (and it was 20 years ago) but they were the six-footers.
4. Klipschorn K-horns. Many years ago - (40?) amazing

However, perhaps my current experience is more relevant the OP's questions on this thread, because I listen to a wide range of music, including hip-hop, reggae, dub, soul, funk, electronica, plus classical, rock, jazz, etc.

My experience is that ESL63s are FINE with the above forms of music. Reggae? Hip-hop? Electronica? Dub? NO PROBLEM and they do JUST FINE. However, consider what size of room you are listening in and your preferred volume level. I've never hurt my ESLs playing music, but I've tripped the protection circuit several times, which has resulted in a blown fuse in my Innersound Electrostatic amplifier.

Obviously, the Quads won't do what the JBL 4430s will do, which is to play effortlessly, louder, with deeper bass in a very large room. And while the JBLs excel at all types of music, they really shine with more challenging performances which can take advantage of their ability to play without distortion or boxy colourations under all conditions, when some conventional box speakers would be on the verge of self destruction or becoming very unpleasant to listen to.
 
A mahoosive pair of klipch Horns at the Midland hotel hifi show Manchester in the late eighties heard everything that got played as I spent more or less the whole day in the room.

They never missed a beat just captivating and so musical but totally impractical in 90% of homes.
 
Quad esl 989 for classical and chamber music
Linn active isobariks for rock and pop

Overall active isobariks as the best compromise overall for all types of music - as i can’t have two listening rooms!
 
indus said:
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
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PMC 25 26 going to buy a pair.
 
I used to know John Waddington of The Pop Group, Maximum Joy, and various On-U Sounds / Sherwood collaborations ? The PlayGroup.
Anyhoo, somewhere in the mid nineties I was at his flat in Bristol, very late night.... and he decided to put some tunes on.

The speaker (just the one) was a HUGE Tannoy 15" (or bigger? do they come bigger) speaker unit in a massive box, I think it was one he was gigging with?? god knows, I was very pissed.
Well, when he cranked that up (maybe 2 or 3 in the morning) I thought I was going to die. Apologies for the complete lack of detail, but them was wild times. I am sure the dining table was moving.

Also I have a mate who I only see 2/3 times a year, he has an LP12 with Quad 'this that and the other' - the speakers are homemade standmount active speakers, about 2ft. deep at least - the memorable speaker was a huge Quad sub he had in a corner, I thought it was a coffee table when I first saw it.
Well, I had heard this system a few times, but never 'full chat.'. So >>>
He stuck Ziggy on the turntable, and as "Five Years" got going the kickdrum building in volume I could not believe the feeling of being physically hit in the chest. It was beyond loud, but not distorting in any way. Stunning in every sense.

Once again, my apologies for not knowing the names of anything, but they were my memorable speaker moments outside of a gig. Other than that, I like my PMC FB1s with a Monitor Audio active sub to give it some thump.
 
JBL 4435, which I still own, used in an active configuration (powered by some Bryston amps via a JBL 5234A crossover). It's amazing what you can do with them, and Linn's space optimisation helps.
 
rhgbristol said:
Quad esl 989 for classical and chamber music
Linn active isobariks for rock and pop

Overall active isobariks as the best compromise overall for all types of music - as i can’t have two listening rooms!
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989's need a good Subwoofer( possibly dual-yet to be established) for certain most types of music :)
 
Surprisingly enough it was my own humble Castle Chesters at the end of a Nap 140/ Starfish/ chord mojo combo.
When everything has been dialed in just right, sound doesnt seem to emanate from the speakers.
These old floorstanders just stood there as if they had nothing to do with the wonderful holographic music that was being projected into the room.
Sound takes on an amorphous life of its own.
 
The best I ever heard was Linn Kans on mk2 Linn stands on Mana sound bases with a sheet of glass between stands and mana. The glass did something to make every drop of detail come dancing out of the speaker and it would make you want to turn the volume right up to the max. Unfortunately, using glass triggered the resonant frequency of the stands and so every now and again, a sharp, ear-piercing note would sound which would make you want to turn it way down. I could never get the glass to work without this drawback so in the end that combo, that potentially perfect combo had to go.
 
Because different rooms, different amps, etc. I can only narrow it down to a handful: Naim DBL's (at the end of 500-series amps), DeVore O/93's driven by Line Magnetic, Tannoy Eaton's driven by Naim (again)... I call all these "big guns" though, not practical for my little space (and beyond my mean$ anyway). In my tiny aerie, Harbeth P3ESR's sound like music. Nothing else in my room has had the magic that these little jewels deliver; to that end, a pair of rosewood P3's on order!
 
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windhoek said:
The best I ever heard was Linn Kans on mk2 Linn stands on Mana sound bases with a sheet of glass between stands and mana. The glass did something to make every drop of detail come dancing out of the speaker and it would make you want to turn the volume right up to the max. Unfortunately, using glass triggered the resonant frequency of the stands and so every now and again, a sharp, ear-piercing note would sound which would make you want to turn it way down. I could never get the glass to work without this drawback so in the end that combo, that potentially perfect combo had to go.
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Kralk BC30's are very Kan-like, are they not?
 
bhazen said:
Because different rooms, different amps, etc. I can only narrow it down to a handful: Naim DBL's (at the end of 500-series amps), DeVore O/93's driven by Line Magnetic, Tannoy Eaton's driven by Naim (again)... I call all these "big guns" though, not practical for my little space (and beyond my mean$ anyway). In my tiny aerie, Harbeth P3ESR's sound like music. Nothing else in my room has had the magic that these little jewels deliver; to that end, a pair of rosewood P3's on order!
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oh, so your finally moving on the graham and going back to the p3esr? didnt you say you prefered the graham?
 
Ayya Khema said:
oh, so your finally moving on the graham and going back to the p3esr? didnt you say you prefered the graham?
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I did, in fact. It's a long and probably humorous story but, I had P3ESR's here for a weekend recently paired with my Nait, and I was stunned by the music they produced. Preference has changed (back)! I suspect that the Nait XS2 is a better, grippier amp than what I had before. I'd amend my statement you quoted, though; where I said "nothing else in my room has had the magic these little jewels deliver" -- actually, to be honest, the Grahams are pretty great. But audiophilia nervosa is my First World condition. :)
 
In memory everything becomes nicer and I never compared them directly to QuadESL's, but I realy liked the Cabasse Albatros's and in my memory they are superior to every other speaker I have had in my livingroom :)
 
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