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best speakers ever heard

I contrast to some of the earlier posters, I would say definitely none of the speakers I own/have owned which, although good for the money, are not at the level i have heard at my dealers such as:

Kudos Titan 88s
ATC 100/150 active
PMC Fenestra
the latest big Dynaudio whose model number escapes me

Ray
 
For my own part I'm in the ESL camp. I love my current speakers, but there was just something about the ESL57 that transcended any speaker I'd owned before or since. It wasn't the bassiest, loudest or best all-rounder, but it had a certain magic you just do not get from box speakers. Caveat: I never heard the infamous John Watson Briks, but I'd be very surprised if they could out-resolve, out-pace, out ESL as it were, a pair of ESLs. No matter how big an oil rig sat thereon....
 
sq225917 said:
Best show sound ref 3a grand veena driven by full msb dac and monoblocks at Heathrow many moons ago by Paul benge.

Best home setup mrdogs 989s with dual subs on nuerochrome mono locks and smsl400 dac

Both Paul's... mmmm
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@misterdog ’s setup is rather special. A real exemplar of how an holistic no holds barred approach to room, speakers and sub integration is ultimately the only way to do things right.

In a room where other considerations are taken into account then my recent experience is that Raidho are quite something. The D1s are possibly the best speakers I’ve ever heard. The X1s I now have are 95% of the D1s and even easier to place where the “other” considerations begin to become the “primary“ ones! They really are small and can sit a few inches from the front wall. Of course they don’t do deep bass, but from upper bass through to treble they are glorious.

I might see if I can do a little bit of experimentation with my BK subwoofer, but my only option there is to drive it from the pre-outs of my Bryston, which is an approach which may not have the sophistication to make things seamless.
 
Yank said:
Quad ESLs have that "open window" thing, but are limited for dynamics and bandwidth
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Sorry but that is incorrect, though to hear the full potential of Quad ESL's you need to remove the safety grill and dust covers. Also mount the panels in rigid steel frames. So not really possible for some.
 
misterdog said:
Sorry but that is incorrect, though to hear the full potential of Quad ESL's you need to remove the safety grill and dust covers. Also mount the panels in rigid steel frames. So not really possible for some.
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Sorry but this is incorrect, although removal of the grills and covers might well reveal the full potential of the ESL it is still more limited in its ability to resolve dynamics than most speakers (and all speakers are in some way limited)
 
misterdog said:
Sorry but that is incorrect, though to hear the full potential of Quad ESL's you need to remove the safety grill and dust covers. Also mount the panels in rigid steel frames. So not really possible for some.
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How much of your "at home" sound do you think you were getting at the Sheffield get-together (I can't bring myself to use the word "bakeoxx").
 
This is the system I heard at a friend's in KL. They are the big-brother of my speakers..
The bass columns (6 x 12" actives per side) are behind the speakers.

They're a bit spendy and need room, but are in a different league to anything else I've heard.

iu


MBL 101 Extreme's - better promo pic below

iu
 
Yomanze said:
This is the problem I've had with STAX & ESLs. The hear-through window, the nuance, is astounding.

Put some 90s jungle music or really heavy metal on, and things aren't as convincing. If I weren't a fan of electronica, hip hop and metal then I'd still be using STAX.
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Couldn't agree more. I've heard so many speakers which sound great with, for example, a single vocalist and one instrument. Then when I put on some old school dnb or jungle there is a non existent bass response.
I've heard £20k+ speakers that I couldn't live with because of my addiction to electronica. They seem voiced specifically for a very certain kind of music.
 
These speakers are not voiced for a special kind of music IMO.

You can't have everything because of the laws of physics.

You are listening to unnatural music therefor you can‘t hear colourations in it because there is no reference in it.

There are speakers that are very uncoloured (to my ears) like some Harbeth for example.

They can't produce hard hitting bass and dynamic and slam like a big Heritage Klipsch.

The Klipsch are way more couloured*.

You can't have everything, every design has strenght and flaws.

*I'm waiting for Tony to jump in and tell that the Klipsch are less couloured and better because the don't produce that much distortion because the have a higher efficiency and can play louder.:D
 
S-Man said:
How much of your "at home" sound do you think you were getting at the Sheffield get-together (I can't bring myself to use the word "bakeoxx").
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Well we ended up using a £ 30 skip find CD player as a source due to 'issues'.

I now have one of the best measured DAC's that ASR has tested which is superb.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/smsl-m400-balanced-usb-mqa-dac-review.13732/#:~:text=DAC Audio Measurements&text=Distortion is less than -135,way, way past transparency here.&text=The very low noise though,levels higher than -40 dB.

Though the increased space around the speakers due to the larger room provided some benefits.
If we manage to do the "bakeoxx" again this year they should be at their best.
They might even look half decent as I am working on the aesthetics ..
 
thebigfredc said:
I would say definitely none of the speakers I own/have owned which, although good for the money, are not at the level i have heard at my dealers..
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I'm the opposite. I've never heard a system at a dealers that sounded as good as what I have at home. Even if the kit was similar but more expensive. To an extent I think you get used to your own system and ignore the flaws but set up and room matching have a lot to do with it.

Standouts for me were John Watsons system and a DNM/Redecho system I heard at a show. Some others have been impressive in some ways but badly flawed, like the Krell/Wilson system I heard at a show which sounded 'big' but had no emotional or rhythmical involvement at all.
 
I tend to not spend too much on speakers as any reasonably priced reasonable quality monitor that suits the room just becomes transparent to my ears.
Source material, front end and amplification are what my ears focus on.
 
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