Sonner Legato Unum, with Sonner stands. Only other speaker I would consider is the Sonner Allegro Unum MII
Speaker that are 'KEEPERS" for the long haul!!!
For years and years, I brought in a multitude of different speakers into my listening room, never really being truly, completely satisfied with any of them. So the speaker merry-go-round went on and on, until I finally found the speakers that put all of that to rest. Not only was I dissatisfied, I was also going broke in the process. All that buying and selling was killing me and stressing me out, as well. It was the Revel Salon 2 speakers that finally got the job done for me. Once I got my hot little hands on the Revel Salon 2 speakers, it was all over. Now, I have absolutely no desire to switch out the Salons for anything else. The Revel Salon 2 speakers covered all the sonic bases for me, truly capturing my imagination, from top to bottom, like none of the others completely did. I get to hears all the new speakers at dealers and at shows, and they all sound just awesome, too. But, still, for my money, the Salons 2s are the ones (they’re just that good). The Revel Salon 2 speakers turned out to be all the speaker I think I’ll ever need, and will be with me for the duration. For which, my ears and my wallet thank me.
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110 replies and 90 different answers! No love for Vivid audio? Nobody mentioned Usher audio either. Genesis anybody, wtfarkle? I have a pair of KEF Blades with a pair of Mc611's driving them and yeah, they're gettin' it done. My previous was a pair of circa 2002 Vienna Acoustics Beethoven's I sold, went thru a half dozen $20k speakers and repurchased. I have the beethovens in my 2nd system now and still 20 years later am startled at how good they are, mids are a little recessed and they can't go insanely loud, but i'll never sell them. Headliners come and go{props to the salon2 turning 17}, but those beethovens, for the money are stoopidly good. |
Quad 57s for me. Had a bronze pair in the 80s but they vibrated. Replaced them with Spendor SP2/2 but lost the magic. Over 25 years later, picked up an immaculate, matched, sequential numbered pair. Mounted upright at 90° on 20" stands, they are magic. Naked–sans grilles–they’re not pretty. The Spendors are still going strong in another system. It’s amazing how a good speaker will rise to the occasion when the upstream components are improved. |
@fleschler Note that Upscale Audio prices per speaker; so your Tannoys would be twice the price you listed. |
This post by @kennymacc brought back memories of a great speaker purchase. It was about 15 years ago and at the time the Revel Ultima Salon was one of the contenders. In the end it was the 30th anniversary Dynaudio Sapphire that won over all others. Besides the performance the shape/styling and finish were unlike anything I had seen. Although I have considered purchasing other speakers since then I’m happy to still be using them to this day- definitely keepers! |
As someone who can be easily drawn into obsession, I'm glad I lack the financial resources to cycle through a bunch of speakers looking for "the one". It would surely drive me nuts! I've had my Silverlines for about 15 years. Nothing else that was in my system back then remains. I have no complaints about these speakers. Since upgrading my integrated a year ago, I appreciate the Silverlines more than ever.
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ADS 1290 series 2 ,, I’ve owned since 1990s disappear in my 13.5x23 room, transparent lovely image, probably never sell.. took out my legacy focus cause were just too big for the room wouldn’t disappear even with the matched legacy/coda 270 watt integrated amp. Ads are great match and sound incredible with myste’re tube amp also.. definitely keepers.. note: ADS’s are 4.5’ out in the room 6.5’ apart.. holographic n invisible on most proper quality recordings.. Legacy focus went to basement 24x50 room n perform perfectly, jaw dropping even, my son has laughed out loud on several occasion at their incredible sound so also keeping those.. |
I've had my Thiel 3.7s since 2012 and have zero interest in changing until they break and can't be repaired. I've also got a pair of ATC 110s I bought in 2014 from a classified ad. They had been part of a portable stage setup for an orchestra. They're also magnificent and I have zero interest in switching them for something else. The Thiels excel at moderate volume acoustic music. The ATCs excel at loud, large scale music and movies. |
I’ve had over 200 pairs over the last 50+ years and have about a dozen pairs set up around the house now, favorites that I just don’t want to part with. I listen to all of them at least weekly. JBL L-110, L-220, L-300, 4350, Project Array 1400, Tannoy Stuarts, JBL DD67000, Revel Salon2, Altec Valencia, BMR Towers, Ascend Acoustics Sierra 2 EX. There’s not a dud in the bunch. Any one of them would be sufficient for serious critical listening, but I really love to spoil ourselves with wonderful sound all over the house, several hours every day. |
Analysis Audio Orions. Made me do what I thought I'd never do, sell my IRS Betas. As big as the Betas sounded, the Analysis dwarf them in size and sound; all but the low end impact which Rels address. They are brutes with finesse. Huge and deep sound stage obviously, but also image precisely. Close your eyes and you are there. |
Keepers I still currently use: Joseph Audio Pearl 3 Altec Flamenco (with upgraded crossovers) JBL L220 (with upgraded crossovers) The Joseph give you everything audiophile on a plate, while sounding tonally beautiful. They also give the most beautiful "picture" of a performance I have heard. Not genre specific at all. The Flamenco just have a dynamic presence that is hard for me, to be without. This box/horn speaker disappears so very well, and is very coherent. Kind of crazy what they can do, and there is no question about what kind of each instrument is playing. It is there, obvious, in the room. The JBL pop a center image that is hauntingly real, standing there, touchable. Excellent vocal speaker. They remind me of a time I heard some TAD speakers in a studio. You can just touch everything in front of you. See everything that is going on. Each of these provide emotion first for me, HiFi second, and seemingly easy. That emotion part is the hard thing for a lot of speakers I have heard get right. |
I see there are four other Legacy speaker owners. I have Signature IIIs in my living room and Focuses in my main listening room hooked up to a high end system in a high end custom listening room. The Focus speaker, for the price used (even in 2000 when I paid $3600) was/is a bargain. It has fabulous qualities overall for all types of music. I have hooked them up to custom 125 w. push pull Class A/B voltage regulated amps-plenty of control for 6-12" woofers. Great body/tone/dynamics. These never were meant to be my end all speaker. What they lack is significant for me. They do not disappear (although out of the box sound is achievable with well mastered recordings), dispersion is limited with best seat in the center (I have a big problem sharing music with others due to this limitation) and ambiance retrieval is limited. My favorite speaker for my system is a Von Schweikert Ultra 7; unfortunately, out of my pay scale at $180,000 despite my listening room costing $150,000 4 years ago. So, I have compiled a list of potentially adequate speakers and my requirements listed below. Comments are appreciated as I have not heard these speakers yet. Acora Acoustics SC-2 $37K Zellaton Plural Evo $70K Songer Audio S-2 $39.2K or $49K Aequo Adamantis $33,450 Rockport Cygnus $62.5K Tannoy Canterbury $17.5K Tannoy Westminster $27.5K What I am missing from – 1. Wide dispersion/seating 2. Speakers disappear 3. Ambience
I dislike Wilsons (too intense after 10-15 minutes), Magico (uninvolving), YG, B&W, etc. speakers which are more akin to sonic microscopes than musical reproduction. I do not want difficult to drive speakers which require massive power (thanks for informing me about Revels). I do not want single person speakers (akin to headphone listening). Thanks! See my audio equipment /room for details |
For me the JBL 4367 with subs has stopped me from looking at speakers. I don’t even look at the items for sale. Well that is not true I am on the look out for 3 more 4367 or 4349 for a 5.1.4 system. I feel the 4367 does everything as well as any speaker I have heard and somethings like dynamics and bass texture (above 60hz where I bring in the subs) better. The Revel Salon 2 is a near perfect speaker. It has been a few years since I last heard it. It really has no flaw but could us a few things. #1 wider dispersion of the highs above 10khz, better dynamics, and in absolute maybe exotic cabinet materials. I think their sister line, JBL brings the dynamics the Revel is missing but you trade the ultra wide soundstage of the Salon for it. The JBL 4367 (and I assume models above too) are just as good as the Salons but different. Though I have never had the JBL and Salon in the same room so who knows. I have A/B-ed the 4367 with my former Revel 228be and the JBL was simply better at everything.
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Choice of a long-term speaker depends on what limitations you are willing to accept. For me the choice was easy. Quad ESL (the originals). Bought them as a "kit" (frame, transformers and new panels which had to be soldered together) from Q Audio in Cambridge, MA 40 years ago, Still one of, if not the, best mid-ranges available, As Hi-Fi News & Record Reviews wrote in the early 2000s, Greatest Speaker of All Time. Limitations: many, including output level, deep bass, high treble, narrow dispersion both horizontal and vertical. But for me, those don't matter much, although I have added a DIY 24" Hartley dipole subwoofer and recently trying out Townshend super tweeters, for a sort of hafl-assed HQD system. The Quads were refurbished a few years ago by Electrostatic Solutions, which does improve their dynamic range somewhat.. Over time, everything in front of them has changed, but those remain constant. I am not alone: Robin Wyatt of Robyatt Audio uses Quads (57s and 63s) at audio shows with equipment costing multiple times the price of the speakers (Butler Monad mono blocks, Technics SP10R and Garrard 501 turntables, etc.), and consistently gets voted top ten best sounding system awards. |
I have been had so many nice speakers through the last 20 years (Magnepan, Snell Acoustics, Nola, KEF, Klipsch Heritage series, and many, many others) but for some reason I still have my pair of ProAc Tablette 10's. Good little speakers that are so versatile. They are great for small rooms but can still work well in a medium sized room as well. I may have other "main" speakers rotate through, but I will not get rid of these. |
Currently looking for that forever speaker. PASS amp x.250.8, Tekton DI's, SVS SB 4000 sub. Love the the current Just R&R High 80's spl low 90's Out of all the suggestions out there, is there any that may apply. As the Tekton's are quite efficient, the Pass favors me listening in Class A. Is there more out there???? Thanks |
Years ago I auditioned the Salon 2’s at a dealer and met a fellow audiophile, Journalist Carl Bernstein, the one who investigated the story about the now quaint seeming break in, called Watergate. Funny I consider my TAD CR1’s as keepers. Even if I found another speaker I could afford I liked better, (maybe one of the PS Audio with ribbon midrange) I don’t think I could sell the CR1’s. Several people on WB forum have bought, then sold, then bought again their bigger bothers, the Reference 1. They thought another speaker sounded better, but realized the TAD was their keeper. The TAD’s (at least in my system) seem like a forward sounding speaker, but to me they reproduce the leading edge and inner detail of live music better than most speakers. The off axis response is so good I often listen to music on my mezzanine level, 13 feet overhead, looking down on the speakers, where I get a very deep soundstage, and it truly sounds like being in a jazz or small rock club on the balcony overlooking the band. Years ago I did hear the Raidho ribbon tweeter speakers that I though had more air than my TAD’s so I added an electrostatic tweeter on top. This gave me the desired air, but they system sound was now titled up, so I added a pair of Velodyne DD10+ to fill out the lowest octave, rebalancing the sound and creating a live sounding experience. |
I've done a few massive searches over the years for The One, The Keeper speakers. I think the closest I came, sonically, were my Thiel 3.7s (magical match with my CJ tube amps). Unfortunately, aesthetically/ergonomically, they were just a bit too big for my room. Which meant...another Big Search. As detailed in my "Devore" thread I settled on the Joseph Audio Perspectives, upgraded recently to the "2" version. They are better than the big Thiels in some ways, a bit less so in others. So it goes. But for "keepers" a speaker that I can't let go are my other floor standers, the Thiel 2.7s. I bought them to replace the slightly larger 3.7s, and they preserved almost all of what I loved about the 3.7s, while being a bit smaller and looking even better in the room. They are a speaker that do magic for me. They aren't the best in all respects, but as a combination of attributes- in my room, clean, clear, incredible image focus with huge soundstaging, and with my CJ amps also lush and rich...they remain my touchstone. I keep them as a "safety speaker" that I won't get rid of, even if I play with other speakers. (Helps that I got a wicked deal on them). |
Being of modest means, I am very pleased with my Epos Elan 10s. They give me the tonal balance, 'ooomph' and immediacy I like. Heaven knows I've blown too much $$ along the way. I've spent three times as much for other well-regarded speakers, each with their strong points, including Fritz, Amphion and others but I really enjoy these Epos. |
After 20 years of buying and selling speakers to find my sweet spot I've settled on the Wharfedale Linton 85th Anniversary Bookshelf Speakers. My goal was a compact 3 way with great low end and a live soundstage and the Lintons more than surpassed that. My Vincent Audio SV-237 are driving those Lintons. My second system speakers are the upgraded original Klipsch Forte. |
Love my Legacy Signature SEs and consider them to be my endgame speaker. Especially after upgrading the crossover replacing all electrolytic caps and putting Mundorf Supreme silver oil caps in the AMT circuit..I've had Tekton Electron SE, Infinity RS 2.5(these had amazing bass tho), KEF "egg" speakers, Monitor Audio silver somethings but the Legacy's just sound more like music than speakers vs anything else I've ever had. I actually considered the Revel Salon 2 but I found the Legacy's used. Using them with wiim pro, Hegal H90 as a preamp/DAC, B&K reference 3220 per amp. |
