[Tuberoller]

Audio shows typically have very bad sonics or very good sonics there seems to be no real middle ground.Jude is correct about the Joseph Audio Room at NY.The room at CES was not as good with identical equipment.The only show I have ever been to that has had consistently good rooms was the T.H.E show which is put on in Vegas in competition with the CES Alexis Park exhibits.My dad says that the Show last month in China was pretty awesome and all the rooms were very good sounding.

Ok.the question was,what are the best speakers I have heard?In my own systems that would go to the Maggies that my wife has stolen from me.As far as at a show, I loved the Avant Garde Duos that were driven by Glass Audio Company SET Monoblocs at T.H.E show.That same set-up in my house never sounded right,good thing I had a buyer for them before I got them home.The best I have ever heard period was recently at a new friend's home.he has a set of Maggie 3.6 along with a two custom subs using a total of four 15 inch drivers.All this is driven by four VTL 750 watt tubed monobloc amps.The sound is unreal and is truly akin to a live performance.

 

[cjc]

For midrange clarity I really like Apogee Stages (Ribbons).
Hardest part is finding a suitable room, they are rather space hogs. Also needs powerful amp.

 

[rickcr42]

thinking about it , I was very impressed with a pair of behemoths (15 in woofer , horn mid and tweets ) in the Classic Audio Reproductions room a couple of years ago , HE01

Hooked up to some PP Triode amps they did sound good

 

[gerG]

oooohhhh, so many many great speakers. B&W top of the line has always wowed me with the combination of dynamics, accuracy, and image. Even better with a pair of good subwoofers (I heard a 801 + Janis combo once, wow).

Probably the "best" (meaning my favorite) that I have heard to date was my B&W DM17s hooked up with a set of home brew subs, outdoors. Room boundaries are a bigger degradation that speaker price, it seems. Maybe I can get OldPa to bring over his N800s to try out there

Great thread, btw.


gerG

 

[chadbang]

First of all, everyone, amazing selections. Such diversity. They sent me looking stuff up on the web several times. Lots of great idea (and sadly will remain "ideas").

rickcr42, you're my hero. You owned Dahlquist DQ-10s. They were one speaker I always lusted after. I have a question: Are your Klipsches a "forgiving" speaker? I mean, are they the kind that make mediocre recordings sound really lousy, or do they tend to just let you enjoy the music? I'm currently getting rid of a pair of B&W 602s (Hated them, way too bright) which made some of my favourite less-than-perfect recordings, that sounded fine on my KEF Crestas, sound REALLY less-that-perfect (they brought out all this upper end garbage). Frankly, I like a slightly more forgiving speaker - given all my odd and assorted music tastes and recordings (even bootlegs). Recently I've been curious about horn speakers (it all started with the Voight pipe Neruda tried to build. I finally heard a set and I liked them. But, like Neruda, I decided they threw a tall and wide soundstage, but not a very "deep" one. Granted these were really cheapies built with a less-than Radio Shack quality Chinese driver) and I've wondered if they fall into the forgiving category?

 

[rickcr42]

I would say the Heresys have the potential to sound very good with the correct electronics but can also be edgy with 'hard" electronics.

The bass extension is not the lowest , you will need a sub for the last octave , but at the same time drums have an impact that is incredible.

The mid band really shines and is produced realistically

and the top end sparkles

these (as are most high effeciency /high power handling) are VERY lively speakers and can go from soft to loud fast enough to startle !

25 watts will do for most as they are 96dB/1W/1M effecient.
100 watts will break the lease and piss off the neigbors , around 117db and that is
[size=medium]LOUD[/size]

I think what really gets me goin' is the "livelyness" of the sound.
Again , maybe not the most accurate out there (and just what IS accuracy hmmm? Earburn or musical ?) but definately they make music , and that is what all this is about.Totally enjoyable no matter if i throw on some Sly Stone , boogie to cool and the gang,rip some old deep purple or floyd, or (HIDE THE WIMMIN" CHILDREN AND PETS ) AC/DC "Stiff Upper Lip"---damn scary with a sub !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And with the Stereophile Test Disc everything is just fine in casa de ricster

My DQ-10 s ........................man I loved those , but what a bitch to drive !
200 watts just got them going and more wouldblow the suckers.Very frustrating for someone who back then liked his music loud.
But still there was something about the sound............

 

[Budgie]

I may be lucky, but, the best speakers I have heard are still sitting in my living room. Custom built line sources. 9 eight inch woofers and 20, 7/8 inch tweeters per side. 7 feet tall.

 

[chadbang]

Rickcr42,
What the HECK was it about the sound of those speakers -- the DQ10s -- that made them sound so good? I don't know if you ever heard the Allison One's but those speakers shared "a quality". I can hear it, but to describe it... Ah, let me try.

They had a nice controlled "punchiness"; As if they had a fast, but controlled (limited?) dynamic response. Their was a certain tautness about their dynamics.

They were EXTREMELY neutral. Today, some might say they lacked "air" because of a high frequency roll-off (which I think accounts for "airiness" - those ole' high frequencies bouncing around, except in the case of planar speakers in which they are widely distributed). I would say their sound was very flat.

In the case of the Dahlquist, there was also the phase alignment which created a 3-D space beautifully. What a little tilt will do! (This is why I still covet Thiels and Spicas).

What else can you think of Rickcr42? Or anyone else?


BTW, has anyone every heard JBL L250s someone here in Thailand is selling a pair (in teak) for $1,600.

 

[JML]

Several of these have been listed, and the list shows when I was at the age to buy them, but I will always remember the first time I heard:

Advent (Large) -- I bought them
Dahlquist DQ10
Rogers LS3/5A
Spendor BC1 -- I bought them
Quads
Magnepans
Snell Model A
Spica TC50
Conrad-Johnson Synthesis LM210 -- I bought them

Fourteen years ago I stopped bringing speakers home, and I brought a baby home instead. Now he's picking up where I left off -- unfortunately the prices of what we like are way beyond our means.

 

[Old Pa]

The point made earlier by several individuals about the importance of room interaction is too true: your dream speaker set up is how it's going to sound in your room. That said, I have been blessed with speakers that have sounded good in every room I have found for them (or at least was able to dig my way out of a couple of audio "holes" otherwise).

I had a pair of mirror-imaged Dahlquist DQ-10s with an M&K subwoofer 25 years ago. Nice, accurate sound at the time, but they would not play that loudly. The complexity of the crossover/driver arrangement put me back onto well designed 3-way systems, but the time phase array was also an idea that worked and I have followed. My Fried satellites and subwoofers were the result of the DQ-10 lessons and went over 20 years and one re-drivering; they were at their best with Morel drivers. Right now, I'm still pretty much smitten with the B&W N800s driven by a 20A Bryston B14ST . . . .

Chadbang: Two years ago She-who-must-be-obeyed and I were in Cancun for New Years. We had a 10th floor condo and there was a disco on the other side of the buiding across the street. I KNEW they had JBL speakers in the disco from the first night. JBL treble at high volume will rot your gums and make your teeth fall out and it is the same as it has been for 30 years.

 

[chadbang]

Point taken, Old Pa. Bad treble? Forgettaboutit!

JML, that list looks eerily familiar. I had the large Advents as well, I wonder what they would sound like now? Maggies always nice. Snells are lovely. I've got to track down some Spendors or Rogers for a listen. What I wouldn't give to stumble across some used Spicas. Auggh, this is madenning. Get me back the the US, land of excessive used audio equipment! Long live consumerism! Grrrr, I hate living abroad. Bangkok is the worst place for audio, well, maybe Cambodia or Laos....


I must be immature about not bringing speakers home because I CAN"T STOP THE MADNESS. Still need audio. Need toys. Must...have....ugh....


I managed to locate a used electronics classified section here in Thailand. Of course I can't READ IT, but the pictures and product names work. Is it worth my following up on a pair of Yamaha NS-1000Xs for $850. How is the treble on these, Old Pa? Is it tamed? Sweet? I needs me sweet treble for these old ears.

 

[rajan]

chad,

hongkong is the best place to track down rogers and spendors. i am not sure which store but a lot of members of the ls35a yahoogroups are from hongkong. fwiw, most the audiophiles out of hongkong are agog on the vintage ls3/5a's.

 

[Old Pa]

Chadbang: I'm sorry, but I can't remember all the old Yamaha speaker models. I had a small pair 20 years ago that were pretty bright, but some of the big Yamaha bookshelf speakers of the late 1970s I remember as sounding pretty good at the time. I am not sure I would even consider a used pair of loudspeakers that had been in the tropical climate of SE Asia for a couple of years. Wood and humidity as to structural integrity, and Bob's Your Uncle as to how they would sound when you got them to a dryer clime. And that doesn't even get into the Joys of Shipping. I think I would stick with headphones unless I was getting loudspeakers to use there and then sell again before I came back stateside.

 

[aerius]

So far it's a set of MartinLogan Prodigy's hooked up to VTL amps (don't know which ones) that I begged a listen to at the local audio store. Besides looking real pretty and being see-thru, they do the most amazing disappearing trick I've ever heard. I tried them out a couple days after a Cowboy Junkies concert I went to, and when the Trinity Sessions CD started playing I was brought right back into the concert hall.

I thanked the nice sales guy profusely and left the store with the biggest grin on my face ever.

 

[Kirium]

Thread revival!!

Uhh.. B&W 801's fed from a pair of biiiiiiiig Halcro amps.

Also some speakers that got my attention were some Piega columns (don't recall the model) fed from a MF CD player and thru a tube amp that i can't recall... the guitar string definition was an audio revelation to me...