What's your speaker IQ, and the best speaker?

Apogee centaur, psb a/b, infinty 300, magnapan 1.2, sound dynamics 300ti, merlin vsm owned these.
mbl's 101 116 121, jm labs diva, piegas c10, magico mini, dynaudio c4, kharma, avantgarde duo,
My favorite still is mbl's.

Sold when I was in the biz (among others): Aerial 10T, Dunlavy SCIV and SCV, Magnepan MG20, Quad ESL-63, Snell Type B, Thiel CS7.2, Wilson W/P and X-1, etc.

Personally have owned (chronologically): large Advents, Spica TC-50 w/Kinergetics subs, Snell EIII, Snell Type B, Reference 3A Royal Master. Now I own the best I've ever heard, the Avantgarde Duo Omega.

I have modest experience in high end speakers (long time high end headphone user in College). Anyway here is a list of speakers I have heard in the last two months.

B&W 802D (also 803D): sounded pretty good. Loved the wide sound stage but the mids are too recessed for me. Used Classe Mono Blocks...

Focal 1037: I wanted to like these speakers and they have their good points. But lack of tweeter integration and boomy or thin bass (depending on room placement) was a deal breakers. Over priced for what you get. Use Arcam mono blocks.

Paradigm S8 (new version): very bland not for me at all. Mids were congested. I had an A/B comparison with the Focal 1037s (same room, same electronics) and the 1037s were better on every level.

Wilson Audio Duette: These were a big let down (too much hype maybe?). The highs were not very detailed. Mids were OK but not stunning. Bass seemed a little over done in the 100hz range (room was 17x20x9 with musical fidelity equipment).

And the Current winner for me... THIEL 3.7. I really like these speakers. I did a direct A/B with the Wilson Audio Duettes. The thiels out classed the duette on every level. The thiel were extremely detailed but not harsh or bright to me. I should not that I like hard rock. The sound stage was huge and they integrated extremely well. Bass was tight and clean, never too much or too little. The mids were great just like every thing else.These get a big thumbs up from me... and I plan to buy a pair in the next few months. Room was 17x20x9 with musical fidelity equipment.

This is still a ridiculous thread. When you listen to a "speaker", what are you really listening to? The room? The power cord on the CD player? The brilliant pebbles? The cryo'ed CD-R? The broken-in tonearm wire? The NOS tubes? The salesman?

It cracks me up to think about someone stepping into a dealer and asking to hear a particular speaker. Then after that customer leaves, someone stepping into the same dealer asking to hear a particular CD player. Both customers hearing the exact same system. Both customers thinking they heard what they came to hear.

Unless you are able to compare different speakers in the same system / same room, you have no idea what you're hearing. Just my opinion. YMMV.

Speakers I have owned:

Energy C22
Spica TC-50
Sonus Faber Electa Amator 1
KEF Reference 3
Merlin VSM SE
Genesis VI
Sonus Faber Extrema
Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy 5.1
ProAc Response 1.5
Totem Acoustic Model 1
Acoustic Energy AE1 .Signature
Usher S-520
Dynaudio Audience 80
Hales Revelation 1
Dynaudio Confidence 5
Sonus Faber Grand Piano Home
Sonus Faber Grand Piano
B&W 802 Nautilus
Tannoy D80
Tyler Acoustic Lynbrook
Dynaudio Contour 3.3
Revel M20
Sonus Faber Cremona
Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor
Sonus Faber Amati Homage
Sonus Faber Guarneri Homage
Usher X-718
Sonus Faber Concertino Domus
Sonus Faber Electa Amator 2
Usher BE-718
Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento

Some as short as 2 weeks (like Wilson W/P 5.1) because I could not live with the sound, most last over a year. The longest ownership were Dynaudio Confidence 5, Sonus Faber Extrema, and Sonus Faber Amati. Currently own Amati, BE-718, and Guarneri Memento.

I have also heard numerous world class speakers at length, not including speakers heard at show:

MBL 116, 111, 101E
Aerial 20T
Gryphon Atlantis
Avalon ISIS
Avantgarde Duo & Trio
Dynaudio C4 & Temptation
Elac FS609 X-PI
Usher BE-20
Sonus Faber Stradivari
Egglstone Andra 2
and many others I can't remember.

If I need to buy a pair of speakers tomorrow, my money will be on Usher BE-20. It has the most incredible leading edge transit attack among any speakers I have heard. Most people talking about trailing edge, or "air", of any instrument during playback. I assume the BE drivers are so fast you don't hear as much trailing edge and therefore some people thought BE-10/20 were dry sounding. But if you can get past the thought and learn to appreciate what real music should be like, the leading edge strike reproduced by Usher BE-10/20 are so addictive I haven't found anything, regardless of the price, that can compete.

I have read in a thread on Audiogon BE-10/20 can be further improved by changing out the cross over parts.