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
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
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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
Are you confused as to what I meant?
coloration is distortion...
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.
..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.
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I've got a pair of Vandersteen 2Ce and a pair of Thiel CS1.2. But the best speakers I have ever heard, in terms of accurate reproduction, imaging, and listening pleasure, are my Magnepan MG-12/QR.
The Vandersteens are, surprisingly, almost as good as the Magnepan MG-12/QR, except that the bass is not as accurate and clear. It gets slightly muddy. They do go a lot louder, though.
People's answers to this question don't mean as much as they would if you also knew everything else they've ever listened to.
The Vandersteens are, surprisingly, almost as good as the Magnepan MG-12/QR, except that the bass is not as accurate and clear. It gets slightly muddy. They do go a lot louder, though.
People's answers to this question don't mean as much as they would if you also knew everything else they've ever listened to.
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I think, once you hear a lot of great speakers, and you're honest to yourself, it's impossible to pick one favorite. Do wine connoisseurs ever have just one favorite?
Besides, the interaction resulting from the location of the speakers, the boundaries, and the listener generally contribute more to perceived quality than the speakers themselves. Strange, disagreeable, and usually denied, but no less true.
Besides, the interaction resulting from the location of the speakers, the boundaries, and the listener generally contribute more to perceived quality than the speakers themselves. Strange, disagreeable, and usually denied, but no less true.
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DIY it would have to be the set I am currently building.
Own / Owned (Cremona / Electa Amator II)- hard to pick between them both have great qualities...
Heard but don't own - Gryphon Atlantis
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The best pair of speakers I ever heard were made by a friend of mine that owns a stereo shop in upstate NY. It was an older peerless 8" (I can't remember the model) with foam surround and an inverted dustcap in a sealed box with the large Heil AMT on the top. The crossover was fairly simple, I can't remember much about it though, this was about 12 years ago.
They were magical and huge sounding, it was an absolute wall of sound. I tried to purchase them once, however they were one of the things I just couldn't get him to let go of, whenever I mentioned taking them off his hands his response was always "million dollars, you can have 'em"
If I was a rich man I might have considered it.
They were magical and huge sounding, it was an absolute wall of sound. I tried to purchase them once, however they were one of the things I just couldn't get him to let go of, whenever I mentioned taking them off his hands his response was always "million dollars, you can have 'em"
If I was a rich man I might have considered it.
Easy, TAD Reference One
Heard them at least twice at CES, both times with Andrew Jones present, lots of Pass Labs power amps:
5.0
Stereo
At one or both demos Andrew played Boz Scaggs: My Funny Valentine, solo with only Boz playing his own huge grand piano, recorded at Boz's San Francisco home, original hard drive master recording, played back through Pacific Microsonics pro ADC/DAC on the same original hard drive, one of if not the absolutely best reproduced music demos ever, made me cry. You've never heard this song till you hear this recording.
Andrew (formerly of KEF) teaming with Pioneer/TAD is/was a match made in heaven. One of the nicest people you'll meet, cheerful, happy, no hype, no ego, the polar opposite (emotionally and stature-wise) of the shrimpy Napoleonic Magico principal.
One of the few criticisms of Rocky Mountain is it's primarily a retail/end user event vs. industry events like CES with design giants like Andrew.
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The best I've heard is Pano's big VOT system. Effortless, low distortion sound. It literally transports you to another place. It's like your not sitting there in his garage anymore.
Similarly, carpenter's paper mache horns (inlowsound.com) have that effortless, big sound quality. I'm building his horns, in fact just completed them last night. Planning to drag these over to BAF and the Puget Sound DIY contest.
These systems make tiny 2-ways, and nearly all direct radiators sound like distorted, bad sounding transistor radios.
Similarly, carpenter's paper mache horns (inlowsound.com) have that effortless, big sound quality. I'm building his horns, in fact just completed them last night. Planning to drag these over to BAF and the Puget Sound DIY contest.
These systems make tiny 2-ways, and nearly all direct radiators sound like distorted, bad sounding transistor radios.
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Home made Karlson´s
I have 3 home made Karlson´s, using two 15" and 4" cone tweeter coaxialy mounted, and a third 12" + 4", using old Sansui 70W woofers re-coned by a friend Carlos Uslenghi (Only perimetral suspension has been replaced, the coil and cone are the original from 70´s as a seal in the magnet it is dated), a specialist in speakers. Whit only 12W per channel (TDA2006 with +-14V SMPS) they makes a earth quake in my apartment.
I have 3 home made Karlson´s, using two 15" and 4" cone tweeter coaxialy mounted, and a third 12" + 4", using old Sansui 70W woofers re-coned by a friend Carlos Uslenghi (Only perimetral suspension has been replaced, the coil and cone are the original from 70´s as a seal in the magnet it is dated), a specialist in speakers. Whit only 12W per channel (TDA2006 with +-14V SMPS) they makes a earth quake in my apartment.
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