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

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#201
KEF 107 . So easy to own . Whilst the Quad 405 is a modest amp it was a great starting point for 107, 606 might have been perfect . The 107 was musically addictive and reasonably accurate . I prefer OB speakers . The KEF sounded as if they liked OB also . The were very obliging as far as rooms were concerned . I installed some where the customer who was Christopher Pearson had them along with his pipe organ . 107's could play disco also .

Gale 401 . weird and wonderful . I would love a working pair as a gift . I might even pay $300 . A Barcelona Chair in speaker form .
 
#203
Lansche 7's...I'm pretty sure how you spell them. The Owner, President and CEO of Morrow Audio invited me to his home to hear his system and a demonstration of his products. His system was $200+ thousand. I think the speakers alone were $108,000 a pair.
 
#204
I don't know about the best, but here are the most memorable ones I have heard in no particular order:

Adam Audio Tensor Delta
Adam Audio Column MKII
Linkwitz Orion 3.1 with rear tweeter (owned)
Wilson Audio Sophia 2, Watt/Puppy 7,8, & Sasha | Maxx 2 | Alexandria X2
Quad 2905
Gedlee Abbey (I currently own)
TAD Compact Reference
Sonus Faber Stradivarius

I've heard others, but the ones listed here tickled my fancy.

Cheers,
Ian
 
#205
I've heard quite a lot of very nice speaker systems- as previously mentioned, this thread is as much about personal preference as quality. I'd add that "Best with what music and at what level and in what room" is a meaningful qualifier. I've had some that really perform beautifully, but are limited in application. The galacticons are modded FR125 fullrangers in spherical aluminum cabs. In the right setup and without high output levels/big room/etc, they're quite tops.

Galacticons1.jpg
 
#206
badman said:
I've heard quite a lot of very nice speaker systems- as previously mentioned, this thread is as much about personal preference as quality. I'd add that "Best with what music and at what level and in what room" is a meaningful qualifier.
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Made me think of the 2.5 way system (plus a phantom third speaker) I built for one of my sailboats, sounded fabulous, with a 10 watt amp could do around 110 dB peak, smooth response from 35 Hz to 18 kHz.

The P 17 Seas coax was in a .4 cubic foot box tuned to 45 HZ, a port 6 square inches, 12 inch deep.
The Vifa woofer (bass assist cone), the model number which has escaped me, was in a 1 cubic foot box tuned to 37.5 HZ, a port 8 square inches, 11.2 inches deep.

The cabinets were put in the “V” berth of the boat, and to achieve the correct toe-in, the speaker baffel is angled in around 45 degrees. Since the coax speakers are only 6.5” (as I recall) that angle allows the cabinet to be only about 5” deep from the side wall, but because it is so thin, around 3 foot deep, tapering thinner at the back of the cabinet, which is in the forward (pointy end) of the “V” berth. I put the ports on the outside, running flush against the hull.
I built these in 1996, and at the time had never heard of Seas or Vifa, being pretty much only into pro sound. Took it all on faith from Bob Oswood that they would work out, and they did, surpassing my expectations.
I also put a third speaker near the companionway steps using another Seas P 17 Coax wired as a “phantom” speaker. This speaker is wired with the positive and negative leads going to the two positives on the amp, so only left/right difference information is reproduced out of it. With that speaker, you can hear stereo no matter where you sit on the boat.

Sold the boat last summer, miss the sound system more than it...

Art
 

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#208
The Lansche 7's were complimented by powered Legacy subwoofers. The were powered by biamped 300B SE amps driving the mids and tweeters and PP amps driving the woofers. The room was set up to be a very nice listening area...which I believe is key to having benefiting an expensive system and making it worthwhile.
 
#211
wireswithgain said:
Rules:

1. You have to have really heard them

2. Attach a picture!

That's it 🙂 It's okay if you haven't heard a lot of high-end speakers, I still want your opinion.


For me, I really really liked the Winds I heard at Totem's booth at CEDIA. They also had them going with a pair of their Tribe subwoofers. Really great sound.
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Hard to say... Over 62 years I've heard some great speakers. There are two which I think had the greatest impression on me - jaw dropping awe, like I was hearing high fidelity for the first time.

I once heard a live broadcast of a Met production of Richard Wagner's "Das Rheingold." It was over - now get this - a Fisher 500C all-vacuum tube stereo receiver. (Don't laugh! The 500C produced audio and FM reception of the finest order available in the heyday of vintage audio - the 1960's and '70's. It was very expensive in its day and a meticulously restored 500C now commands a fortune.) The speakers were KLH Model 9 full-range electrostatics in conjunction with an M&K Servo Volkswoofer sub. I don't know if these are the best speakers I've ever heard, but the experience was life-altering; never before had I felt more "I am there! I am really there!" The speakers were a window into reality like I've never experienced since.

Another candidate would have to be a pair of Magneplanar Tympani 3a's I heard in a friend's home about 10 years later - supplanted again with an M&K sub. I remember all-vacuum tube amps. The preamp was an Audio Research SP3 and the power amps were a pair of Dynaco Mk III monoblocks. Again, the material was live performance origin. It was a recording of a Seattle-area performance of Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers. It was a 2-track stereo, 15ips master played on an enormous Crown open reel tape deck. I was in the audience for the actual performance, yet the sense of realism from the recording was simply stunning. I could close my eyes and transport myself mentally back in time to the performance; it was as if I were there all over again, but this time in a better seat!
 

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#212
nigel pearson said:
KEF 107 . So easy to own . Whilst the Quad 405 is a modest amp it was a great starting point for 107, 606 might have been perfect . The 107 was musically addictive and reasonably accurate . I prefer OB speakers . The KEF sounded as if they liked OB also . The were very obliging as far as rooms were concerned . I installed some where the customer who was Christopher Pearson had them along with his pipe organ . 107's could play disco also .

Gale 401 . weird and wonderful . I would love a working pair as a gift . I might even pay $300 . A Barcelona Chair in speaker form .
Click to expand...

Is kef 107 (which model ?) far from the KEF104/2 ref ? This last is very a non fatiguing one with addictive treble and soundstage (but a global lake of transparancy... but I could live with : it's my second system)
 
#214
rave959 said:
I don't know about the best, but here are the most memorable ones I have heard in no particular order:

Adam Audio Tensor Delta
Adam Audio Column MKII
Linkwitz Orion 3.1 with rear tweeter (owned)
Wilson Audio Sophia 2, Watt/Puppy 7,8, & Sasha | Maxx 2 | Alexandria X2
Quad 2905
Gedlee Abbey (I currently own)
TAD Compact Reference
Sonus Faber Stradivarius

I've heard others, but the ones listed here tickled my fancy.

Cheers,
Ian
Click to expand...

Hey how would you compare/contrast the Orions and Abbey's?
 
#215
Likely these....

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Salk Sound 'Archos' prototypes. Jeff B did the xover, and they were fantastic.

I would also have to state these are also in my top ten:
Dan Neubecker's 'Echelons'
Paul K/Rick Craig's "Cantilena"
My very own "Attitudes"
Jeff's "Davids"
Curt Campbell, Wayne Wendell, and Jim Holtz's "Statements"
Salk 'Soundscape 10'
Maynard G's 'Tzu-Jans'
BESL 'System 5' (all actively driven)

I know there are more...
Wolf
 
#216
Great thread.

Has anyone heard Troels Gravesens DTQWT MKII in familiar environment?

As for other the best system (not necessarily the most expensive one) I've heard would be Tannoy Kingdom 12 with Gamut 250 monoblocks and Burmester preamplifier.

I've heard Wilson Alexia with Spectral amplifiers and front end but I didn't like it that much. There were many other good and excellent systems but Tannoys sounded really really great!
 
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