What's the best pair of speakers you've ever heard?

[DeonC]

Hi guys

I have not had a lot of exposure to high-end speakers lately, so I can't comment on newer models and speakers. However one pair of speakers that I heard many years ago at a hi-fi show still comes immediately to mind when good sound quality is mentioned. They are the Sonus faber Guarneri homage. They are not the ultimate speakers, and I can't recall the front-end used, but what I remember to this day is that when I sat in front of them, they just made music. I could sit for hours just enjoying the music while they were in front of me. Still a pair of speakers I'd like to own one day. Not the ultimate, but they just allow you to forget about the hi-fi chain of reproduction, and just sit back and enjoy the music. Great speakers.

Enjoy,
Deon

[RockLeeEV]

Originally Posted by Keriwena

Coloration is normal, but I can't stand distortion.

coloration is distortion...

[a.wayne]

Originally Posted by tvrgeek

"Best" for what? All speakers have good and bad features and are suitable for different uses. Best sub is easy: Mine. Never heard better. No picture as they are bug ugly black boxes.

When I was first into stereo's as a kid, it was the Kef 104 that blew me away. I had only heard AR and JBL kinds of speakers until then. Best I had heard at that time. The only speaker that ever could actually have fooled me into believing what I heard was live were B&W 801's is a very special setup. "Best" could mean a speaker one could actually think about saving up for. Vanderstein 2ce would come to mind really quick. I heard a set of Watt/Puppies once. Not impressed. Theil, Snell, Martin Logan, Totem, etc. Lots of decent stuff out there. Again no pictures. Do your own searching if you want a pretty gallery. I build my own speakers, but have not been able to "best the best" yet. Getting there.

It's an easy question TVR, best means best ..

There is no such thing as speakers best for this or for that, such a situation only exist when the speakers are heavily compromised, colored or both . A SOTA type speaker will work on any program material ..

Well unless we talking PA systems ...
T

[Keriwena]

Originally Posted by RockLeeEV

coloration is distortion...

Are you confused as to what I meant?

No, I don't think you are.


Half of us (well, maybe not half of "us", here) have a different frequency response in our ears (cf. Fletcher, Munsen, et al.), so referring to frequency response variations as "distortion" is a bit testosteronic, in my view.

[a.wayne]

How is the amplitude of such a test determined ....... ?

[jpak]

Two best speakers I've listened to:

-Sound Lab Majestic 945
-Quad ESL63 (rebuilt)

[devilsindetails]

Liked these alot...seemed to have everything covered

[Pano]

Yeah. that stack looks like fun!

[gainphile]

From what I've heard, these stood out from the rest:

Linkwitz Orion




Unity Horn (and later on the synergy variant)




I have not heard any commercial speakers which could match those two, even in HiFi shows.

[RockLeeEV]

Originally Posted by Keriwena

Half of us (well, maybe not half of "us", here) have a different frequency response in our ears

..So?

That just means we hear live sounds differently. But the reproduced version of said live sound should sound like how we would hear that live sound.

I suppose if you're the type of person that mostly listens to synth/etc then you wouldn't care about accurate reproduction. Synthetic music only really tests how loud your system can go.

so referring to frequency response variations as "distortion" is a bit testosteronic, in my view.

It's very much a form of linear distortion, no different from power compression, ringing in the time domain, or uneven sound power response. You know... all the relevant forms of distortion WRT loudspeaker perception.