The best "imaging" speakers?

Hello Paul,

Not to be argumentative, because for one, I agree with your list of important priorities. But, the sonic attribute(s) that is most important and captivates the listener and makes them think .. "maybe this could be real" ... is subjective and will be different from person to person. For some it will be dynamic linearity above all else, someone else will say correct natural timbre/texture of tone, and yes there are those who will say it is the palpable images within the sound-stage that is most important to them. IMO there is no right or wrong.

Best,
Tom

Trcnetmsncom,

I'm not going to say "to each their own" is a silly concept.

However, I will definitely say that once an audiophile becomes more experienced, and/or morphs into more of a 'music lover', the qualities I touched upon will be *far* more important than the "oh wow" special-effects stuff.

'Imaging' simply is not high on the list of what makes a speaker faithfully reproduce music.

I'm sorry for derailing the thread - I'll stop now.

Audiophiles want it all and we want it now!

For both imaging and "you are there," I haven't heard anything to beat Wilson Maxx 3's or Alexandrias powered by massive tube amps. In one case it was a VTL signal chain including Siefried Reference monoblocks and the other (I heard just the night before last) was powered by Audio Research. Cabling in both cases was Transparent Audio's best or near-best.

The level of resolution on these rigs is such that--even with multi-thousand-dollar digital sources, you can easily hear the improvement when upgrading to 24-bit/88.4 or 96Khz, and from there to an analog source.

Another one that sounded very good was an all-Ayre chain powering a pair of Magnepan 20.1s augmented by a pair of JL 2x12 powered subs. It wasn't quite as fast and dynamic as the Wilsons, but it was very linear, very musical, threw a great soundstage, and Ayre's own in-development turntable provided great-sounding source material. It definitely elevated the experience over both redbook and 24/88.2 digital.

Two+ years ago I heard a SME 30 turntable going through an all-VTL rig powering a pair of Alexandrias and the experience *still* haunts me.