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

[Linn Naim]

1) IBLs

2) Linn Kan mk1 on mk 2 stands.

Chris N

 

[louballoo]

Read all about it:

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=113740&highlight=zombie

 

[jonnoshore]

4-pack IBL's

Were these 4 speakers... or active IBL's with 135's.

If active... I do like active IBL's something quite special.

Have had SBL's too active, replaced by RMS Revelation 2's now the tweeters are sorted out.

 

[BlueEyes]

ATC SCM 20 SL's

You prefer them to the 50s you had?

I nominate the ATC 50 and 100 actives as speakers the like of which I have never heard the like of in any other speaker.

Still not sure I could manage the accuracy but maybe the front end needs to manage that?

 

[Obi1]

1. Martin Logan Summit
2. Audiovector Si6 Arrete
3. NHT 3.3

 

[redeye]

Another vote for Royd Minstrel. Costs nothing and on the end of a good source /amp possibly the most fun you can have with trousers on. I LOVE them!

 

[DevillEars]

Best cost-no-object speakers I've ever heard?

Soundlab Majestic 945PX Electrostats
(driven by 2 x Pass Labs X.600s fed by Krell KPS-25i)

These just drew me into the music like no other speakers I'd ever heard and provided the most enjoyable 4 hours of listening I'd ever experienced - so much so that I had to be dragged away...

Speakers that probably influenced other designs more than any others?

Kef Concertos from the late 1960s

Introduced some really classic and archtypically British drive units lifted by other designers: B139 oval bass driver (used in Isobarik), T27 tweeter (LS3/5a, Isobarik, etc), B110 mid-range driver (LS3/5a, Isobarik). I couldn't quite afford the Concertos back then so settled for a pair of Cadenzas and kept them for >20 years...

Finally, a second for Tannoy dual concentrics of any flavour...

 

[shrink]

Tannoy Westminsters

Focal Utopia Be

Klipsch Palladium P39F

 

[naimplayer]

Shahinian Arcs for me.

Fact8's.

I loved my Linn Sara's all those years ago as well.

 

[GJP]

Despite some of their limitations Neat Motive 2's. As you can tell I have not been into hi-fi for very long nor experimented too much with speakers

 

[RobotRock]

I can only comment on speakers I have heard.

1. Rega RS1

2. Living Voice Auditorium

3. Klipsch Hersey

 

[Gaius]

Am I on this thread?

I nominate Linn Kan MKIs on MKII stands.

Not THE best but do deserve a place on the Louballo top 25 list.

I am currently using Elac BS244s which are quite stunning little things, so runner up for them.

 

[merlin]

TAD 2401
Quad ESL57
TAD Ref 1

All voted for from a genuine technical innovation POV as well as from a sonic one

 

[naimnut]

This is a fun exercise. Lots of great speakers posted here. However, it might have been more appropriate to impose some constraints on this discussion by specifying a specific amplifier or amplifiers, or costs for the amplification, or cost of the speaker.

Specifically, with respect to the recurring (and probably well-deserved) nominations of the Apogees - they really impose some very significant performance capabilities on the amplifiers (which are rather costly). I mention this because it isn't necessarily unfair to nominate them, but rather that it suggests that this discussion is about much more than speakers and that we are talking about cost-no-object amplifier/speaker systems. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it might be a different discussion.

It also might have been useful to impose certain requirements on the nominations, such as, 1) best speaker ever heard or 2) best speaker ever owned, or 3) best speaker ever known over an extended period of time. Listening room constraints might also have been useful.

 

[TheDecameron]

Spendor SP1

 

[windhoek]

I nominate Linn Kan MKIs on MKII stands.

Not THE best but do deserve a place on the Louballo top 25 list.

This.

 

[yuckyamson]

JM Labs Grand Utopia
Tannoy 15" Monitor Gold
LS3/5a
DBL's
Hansen Coltrane

 

[wylton]

Of the loudspeakers that I have used at home:

1) Mk1 Kans
2) Naim SBLs
2) Isobariks.

 

[YNWOAN]

allison 1 and 3 , yamaha ns 1000, spendor bc1, esl 63, atc 50 active, meridian dsp 8 k,

This is the closest I have seen to my own thoughts,

I would add ESL 57's (not 63's) and Briks.

 

[JemHayward]

I was trying to resist... but

Videoton D100 (not minimax!)
Isobariks
Quad ESL57
Meridian M1
Martin Logan Summit

Also, the floorstanding Neat speakers I heard at a show once, and the RMS speakers demo'd by LesW at Chesterfield many years ago...