I don't know if i've heard 10 different speakers that have absolutely amazed me. As such, i'll have to stick with speakers that have "intrigued" me over the years. This does not mean that i think that they are the finest made or that i've even heard all of them under "optimum conditions". Some, like the Plasmatronics, i've never heard at all. I'm sure that there are TONS of others that deserve mentioning, but these are what stuck out in my mind right away. Many different brands or models are simply refined variations of someone else's previous idea or an existing design.
I do think that most of these listed have specific traits that one might find "endearing" or "special". They do some things so well or differently that you could overlook specific "drawbacks" that you might notice later. Most of these were different enough at their time of introduction that they were "groundbreakers" and as such, i've always loved things that were "out of the ordinary" or "freaks" that carried themselves well : )
Listed in no specific order, the Beveridge's, Hill Plasmatronic's, Ohm A's and F's, Quad's, K-horn's, Dayton-Wright's, the BIG Infinity's, Shahinian Obelisk, DCM Time Windows, Dahlquist DQ-10's, the Radialstrahler's, etc... These were all speakers that caught my eye / ear for various reasons. As you can see, most of these are pretty good sized speakers with some "mid sized" candidates thrown in for good measure. For "little tyke's", i think that the early Spica's come to mind the most.
Believe it or not, i also have to ( honestly ) mention the original Bose 901's. Whether we like to admit it or not, without Dr Bose's "breakthrough" research and initial product release back in 1968, we might not have had "wide dispersion" speakers for some time after that. This is not to mention his idea of a crossoverless full range design ( like the Ohm's ) and the use of multiple smaller drivers for transient response. Honestly, I think Amar was onto something, he just didn't know how to properly impliment it. Sean
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