I only voted for the Wilson Watt/puppy because they have been a standard that all others have been judged against for over 15 years. Also there are probably more of those setups in people's homes than any of the other listed speakers.
Was pretty cool in the High End Prague 2011 a few month ago.
edit: I did not vote of course, it is too much subjective and there are so many speakers and experiences missing. But these speaker have enermous potencial to be best speaker. Just tip nothing more.
A relative owns a pair of Acapella High Violoncello II's (speaker pictured below)
Needless to say they sound downright brilliant. No headphone will ever come close... bass manages to have a clarity usually only found in the midrange of the best speakers. The treble (produced by an ionic tweeter) doesn't seem to end... if I remember correctly the frequency response extends past 60khz and being an ionic tweeter, the driver has near-zero mass. This results in the most realistic cymbals and stringed instruments I have ever heard from audio equipment. The catch? $80k for the pair.
Not to mention the $100k+ in audio gear required to appreciably get everything out of these speakers.
I dont understand why so many people have these $20,000 speakers in such a crappy acoustic environments. They spend all this money on cable risers and power conditioners, when the room itself is the obvious bottleneck.
It seems like people who have the money for exotic speakers really value aesthetics as well. A perfectly treated room almost always looks ugly.
Id bet a $2000 speaker in an optimal environment will outperform a $200000 speaker that sits in an untreated room.
I'm a humble IEM-er but I must concur with eyedrop and rgs9200m that the ENTIRE system including the environment in which used has to be taken into account - For example an electrostatic headphone is worse than useless in a public place, just to bring up one visual...
And what if you're listening underwater? - and so on, and so forth...
I dont understand why so many people have these $20,000 speakers in such a crappy acoustic environments. They spend all this money on cable risers and power conditioners, when the room itself is the obvious bottleneck.
It seems like people who have the money for exotic speakers really value aesthetics as well. A perfectly treated room almost always looks ugly.
Id bet a $2000 speaker in an optimal environment will outperform a $200000 speaker that sits in an untreated room.
I bet not.
The "room treatments are king" mantra has gotten out of hand, much to the delight of the few acoustic treatment pushers, I'm sure.
Yes, treatments can help. No, you don't want to put big speakers in a bedroom. Yes, a sterile hospital-like room will audibly suck. Sure, a lot of show-pics will show the latter - who cares.
However a well furnished, aesthetically pleasing & cozy room of a decent size, with minimal-to-moderate treatments (depending on level of furnishing) is all that's required to enjoy the nuances of VERY high end audio. You don't have to go ALL_OUT with treatments, and in fact sometimes that can be counter-productive.
A $20,000 speaker - much less a $200,000 pair - is going to have the option to take a LOT less compromises with regards to efficiency and bass extension, versus any $2K speaker. It would have to be a TERRIBLE room and a TERRIBLE speaker design to "eff" that advantage up.
Wow, quite a few mentions of the Goto setup. Aside from some really custom designs using some very large and exotic Western Electric drivers, I would say that an all out Goto system was the best I've heard--warm, musical yet detailed and not at all sluggish or murky sounding. To bad the drivers alone cost more than most houses.
I know this is going to sound strange, but, for a completely different sound--more in line with conventional "audiophile" taste (meaning much more detailed and edgy sounding), I heard YG speakers that were at least interesting.
For any kind of sane money, I would urge people to check out Sanders Sound 10C electrostatic speakers. $13K isn't chump change, but that price includes active crossover and 500 watt bass amp, and compared to some truly multi-mega$ speakers, these speakers truly shine. If you love the 'stat sound but were put off by their limitations, the 10C's ameliorate most of them, including low efficiency, low dynamics, poor bass (transmission bass), arc'ing, low volume capability, and especially panel/bass incoherency (for hybrids).
A relative owns a pair of Acapella High Violoncello II's (speaker pictured below)
Needless to say they sound downright brilliant. No headphone will ever come close... bass manages to have a clarity usually only found in the midrange of the best speakers. The treble (produced by an ionic tweeter) doesn't seem to end... if I remember correctly the frequency response extends past 60khz and being an ionic tweeter, the driver has near-zero mass. This results in the most realistic cymbals and stringed instruments I have ever heard from audio equipment. The catch? $80k for the pair.
Not to mention the $100k+ in audio gear required to appreciably get everything out of these speakers.
These are not the exact speakers. I just don't have a picture of them in the setup. Nonetheless, the room they're in is a nice dedicated room with decent accoustics but isn't heavily treated nor has reflectors of any sort. Let's just say that in his position, the sticker price is sort of irrelevant anyways. For him it was a combination of sound and appearance that did it. I would never spend that much on speakers, personally. There's definitely a point where the improvement is so marginal it's likely not worth it given the natural loss of high frequency ear response with age (i.e. by the time I could afford a pair).
Quote:
"all that expensive stuff, and he couldnt afford a good carpet cleaning?"
This was at a HI/FI show where the marks on the carpet were left by paramedics after reviving a guy from sticker shock.
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