What are the absolute legendary Snell model no.s?

Art Dudley wrote a Stereophile piece about Audio Note and the original version Snell Type J ...

CIV

Type A is IMO the best model. I have an original owner pair, along with E's and K's. I don't think the very expensive Audio Note version of the E is worth that much! The stock E sounds very fine indeed!

My friend has the original type A and had Snell upgrade them 3 times before he passed away. I met Peter Snell one of those times at the factory in Newberryport, Mass. What an awesome guy.

Type A III was my favorite.  Had a pair once.  These are one of my "mistakes" in selling gear.  Should have kept them forever.  Awesome speakers and yes, Peter was really cool.  I was a Snell dealer and knew him well.  GREAT guy!!!   R.I.P. dude...you were the best!

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Snell was my entry into better audio. I started with the Type E. Awesome speakers. Though a basically a floor standing speaker, a short stand helped them even more. I also had the Type B. The Type K were remarkable for the money and the As were wonderful. I moved on to Quad ESL 63s which were a completely different experience, but Snell speakers always are a fond memory.

The Model Q was a 6.5” 2 way stand mount with a rear tweeter…their compact monitor. Driven by a C-J MV55 and used with a Janus Sub, they were one of my favorite systems of that era (mid 80s), perfectly suited to the apartment I was renting.

I have a pair of the Model E5 Mk 2. Bought them new over 20 years ago and used them in my 2 channel stereo and still use them currently in my home theatre system. They were wonderful speakers but I wished they had a better bass response. Being the tinkerer that I am, I pulled the tweeters and midwoofer out to see what they were. Both drivers were fairly entry level Vifa units. I was surprised that a pair of speakers that cost $2000 (in Canada) had such inexpensive driver units

Since I had no faults with the cabinet and crossovers, I replaced the tweeters and mid/woofers with higher quality drivers, still Vifa brand and with the exact same efficiency and impedance. It was  quickly and easily done and improved them quite a bit and I wondered why, for what would have been at the wholesale level perhaps only an extra $100, had Snell not used the better drivers. So I learned a lesson about how speakers components are sourced and speakers are built to a price point and place in a manufacturer’s product line..

Anyways, I ramble, these are highly recommended at the prices they seem to be in the used market if you are looking for a Snell, in tower form with a small footprint. They are easy to drive with 40 watts or more and are tube friendly in my experience.

Type A III review:

I had a pair of Snell type A’s and while they sounded good for their time,  ultimately I sold them because they were too big for my room.

Snell and Halfler really sounded great together.

Snell A/III. The biggest problems IMHO are now the mass loaded woofer which I suspect are all past their usable life spans and I have no idea how you’d replace today.

The driver quality, and crossover parts quality of the time just doesn’t hold up to modern standards.  I think the mids and tweeters are  certainly bettered by modern mid-range equivalents. 

The magic IMO happened in the hemi-spherical baffle and floor facing woofer. I remember seeing hot glued arrays of electrolytic caps. Can’t imagine any of those are still in spec.

The closest for realistic imaging and bringing the recording acoustics into your room I’ve ever heard in a modern speaker is the Sonus Faber Stradivari.