The best "imaging" speakers?

I'm not sure "best imaging" equals "the most you are there experience", but the best imaging speakers I've ever heard were the Dynaudio Special 25's.

A pair of Apogee Scintilla's.

I've found that imaging is mostly a factor of proper setup, proper room treatment and overall room acoustics. Most speakers will image if the above are addressed correctly. Yes, the speaker plays a part after that, but until you have those other 3 set right you can't really compare one speaker vs another to say which is "best".

Having said that, speakers that use concentric drivers or simulate point sources (like MTM's) tend to do a better job IMO.

Enjoy,
Bob

I'm sure that speakers alone are not the answer. In the systems that gave me the best illusion of real life presence were MBL 101's, and a close second Hansen King. I think a key element of achieving this is rendering a lifelike scale (not too small and not too large). So many other things go into it...you certainly couldn't take either of these speakers, throw them into any system in any sized room and expect similar results. "Imaging", which you used in the title of the post, is only a part of what speakers must do well to create a convincing illusion, but imaging alone does not do it. Some of the best imaging speakers I've heard are smaller monitors, but they just cannot convey the scale or impact that really makes the "lifelike" illusion complete.

The best imaging speakers I ever heard were KEF 105.2s - spooky good. But the sweet spot was about 1 foot wide, move your head and the soundstage shifetd or collapsed.

-RW-