What are the top 3 dream speakers you wanna buy next regardless of price?

mijostyn

Just a note. Forget reviews. There is way too much bias involved.

Do you think this applies to all reviews? Do you think JA's measurements in Stereophile are "biased?"

For me all point source speakers are out ... Linear arrays are much better at this and they project power better ...

Will you please tell us what a "linear array" is?

Tannoy Westminster
PSB 3
Spendor 9

Hi Cleeds, JAs measurements are great until he gets to some newer electronics that are more accurate than his test equipment which he frequently admits too. His waterfall plots are great and tell you a lot about how a loudspeaker will react with a room. The argument here is, do measurements tell you how a piece of equipment is going to perform under your circumstance and specification. I would say no. Some would say yes. I have had the same speakers and turntable since 1981. They suit my purpose almost perfectly. There are better now but at a price I can't afford yet. I got off the equipment merry go round a long time ago.
Know what you want to hear and find equipment that matches it. Absolutely, definitely, with out a doubt speakers are the most important determinants of how a system sounds. The best electronics and cartridges will not help speakers you do not like. You can make great speakers sound crappy with bad equipment. 
Linear arrays are essentially a single or group of drivers acting as one that radiates in a line. The length or height  of the line determines the frequencies at which the array will act as a line source. Line sources do not radiate off the top or bottom limiting comb filtering in most rooms. They also project power better which is why you see them at concerts. Volume drops off at the square of the distance with line arrays but drops off at the cube of the distance with point sources. 
I use 8 foot electrostatics which are and act like one driver. In order for a multiple driver array to act acoustically as one driver the individual drivers have to be closer than 1/2 the wavelength of the highest frequency you want to reproduce and the whole array has to be longer than the deepest frequency you want to reproduce with one caveat. If the array ends at  boundaries  (ie walls) acoustically the array continues on into infinity. The analogy is if you put mirrors on both ends of a string the string appears to go on into infinity. So, other than projecting power better what is the benefit?  All linear or line arrays give you a larger sound stage. If you like to sit in the first ten rows the image is more realistic. If you prefer being in the back point sources will do. Their image is smaller. Again this is a matter of taste. Just ask any Magnepan owner why they like their speakers. The reason Magnepans have problems with bass is because they stop acting as line sources at about 80Hz and power falls off rapidly. If you cross to subs at 100Hz boy can they rock. Electrostats are always ragged on for having limited output. I have no problem hitting 110 db. I cross to subs at 125 Hz and the subs themselves form a linear array continuing the insanity down to 15 Hz where things are rolled off steeply by a digital filter, an absolute must if you play vinyl. 95 db is a comfortably loud volume by the way. I hardly ever listen louder. 110 db in a normally sized room 16 X 25 feet will cause an earthquake and maybe even a divorce. 
Of all the dynamic line source/linear arrays I have heard I think Magnepans are handily the best value. I have listened to Pipe Dreams and Carvers and did not think much of them in the environment they were in. Electrostats are the best. You only have to hear them once set up with the right equipment to fall head over heals. The only ones on the market today that meet my spec are the SoundLabs Majestic 845s with the Ultimate frame. I would buy them in a heartbeat if I had the money. Some day. The speakers I am currently using are modified Acoustat 2+2s. The power supply is my own design, is adjustable and will put out 6000 volts. The transformers are  Sowter 1/100 4 ohm units which is a stupid spec because they drop to just under an ohm at 20 KHz which is what drives a lot of amps mad. They are British by the way which explains a lot. 
So why doesn't everyone use linear arrays? Packaging is the big one. Most wives vomit when they see the things. Then tell them that they have to be 3 feet from the wall and they chase you out of the house with a shot gun. Manufacturers make stuff they think you want to buy which does not include the monolith from 2001. 
Because of Quads many people think electrostats are hopelessly fragile.
Not so. The only thing I can do to hurt my speakers is run a stake through them. I can handily clip 800 class A watts into them. The amps are probably in more trouble than the speakers. I have beat the crap out of the Stats for 38 years! All I have done besides the mods is replace the grill cloth once. 
One more item. Line arrays that are dipole radiators have additional advantages not shared by any other array. They radiate in a figure 8 pattern. Almost no energy is aimed at the side walls again limiting interference patterns. A linear array dipole radiator only aims energy to the front and to the back. A little acoustic foam behind the speaker kills the first primary reflection from 250 Hz up. The end result is holographic imaging. No other speaker can do this as easily. It is time to get back to Lee Morgan.

Oh and Cleeds, All subjective reviews are biased. If not by money and favor than by experience right or wrong. Specs are one thing, how something sounds is another far more complicated issue. Again I say you have to know what you want to hear and that is experience you have to gain for yourself. The only ears you should listen to are your own. There are instances when reviews help particularly when everyone raves about a piece like the Parasound JC1. It was on Stereophile's recommended list for 15 years! I'm sure JC is going to come up with a .2 version.The Kuzma 4 point is another example. Back in the day the Original SOTA Sapphire was the first example I can think of. Everyone loved that TT for years. It was the very first turntable you could jump up and down in front of without bouncing your cartridge into oblivion. Hard to miss.  

Magicos, Wilsons, YGs suck up power but don't sound as musically interesting as even cheap Maggies.  I like Maggies too but I'm drawn to more conventional dynamic speakers that have dynamics more like horns and resolution more like electrostats.  I had Acoustat 2&2s in between Acoustat Xs and ML Monolith IIIs.  I never had sufficient power for them (except for the Xs which were considered coffins by my late wife and were vertically sound challenged).  The 2&2s were the friendliest of the bunch.  What I long for are big Von Schweikert speakers.  My SOTA was a $1.5 million system with the Ultra 11s but my new music room can only accommodate the VR-55s.