The best "imaging" speakers?

I am proud to say that i create "imaging" and "soundstage" at nearfield listening (3 feet) and at regular listening (7 feet) in my smal irregular room by passive materials controlling acoustic methods and also with many different active methods (mainly different size and kind of resonators)

Most people stick on their favorite brand of speakers, completely unconscious of the importance of the room acoustic.... I even speak with some " reviewer" that argue against the too much importance given to acoustic.... He was not conscious of the fact that the Greek theater exist before Edison.... Hi-Fidelity recording of sound is slave of acoustic rendering by the room at the end.... :)

I call my method the triple embeddings of an audio system...(mechanical,electrical,and acoustical)

Give me a good speakers, certainly half of them are good, i will make it imaging like crazy.... If not his design is very bad....

Like engineering electronic design, acoustic is an art of trade-off, your ears are the judges.....And we live with our judges then why not using them?

I call that listening experiments, it is fun, and the only way to reach, incrementally, one step at a time, at low cost, audio paradise....

Audio Physic Virgo II. These image like nothing I've ever heard (and I've been to a few shows). I used to own a pair and 'upgraded' to MBL 121s. Even though others have cited the MBLs as imaging masters, the Virgos were even better IMHO. I miss them in many ways, even though they are so cheap - they're a real bargain.

Interesting.  I've had the Virgo IIs at my house - and the Audio Physic Libras, and I owned the AP Scorpios.  I also owned the MBL 121s for many years (just sold them not too long ago).


The AP speakers are definitely up there with best soundstaging/imaging.They just do a spooky disappearing act.  Not sure I'd quite put them in league with the MBL 121s.   The most amazing disappearing/imaging act goes to the MBL 101s IMO.


I've always enjoyed soundstaging/imaging/disappearing speakers so that's been a requirement.



Next to the AP speakers I'd place Waveform speakers (with their egg-shaped head module) for a crazy disappearing act.  Also my current Joseph Audio Perspectives really do soundstaging/disappearing.


Other honorable mentions:   Hales Transcendence 5s imaged wickedly.Probably the biggest surprise were a pair of Shun Mook Bela Voce speakers.  Plain "made-in-wood-shop" looking speakers that somehow soundstaged like giants!



For small monitors:  My Spendor s3/5s do a crazy disappearing/imaging act, probably only exceeded by a small pair of Meadowlark Swallow speakers - those were insane.


Holy geeze...forgot about my original big dynamic speakers, the Von Schweikert VR4 Gen II.   Those were known for their 3D effect (with rear firing ambience retrieval tweeter) and that was true 3 dimensional sound.


But if I had to nominate one overall best imaging/soundstaging speaker I've had it was probably the Thiel 3.7s - Thiel's final flagship speaker.The reason is that, despite their size, they disappeared from top to bottom in an utterly coherent way beyond anything I'd heard.  Soundstaging was as vast and deep and wide as I've ever had.But, crucially, the sonic images had a focus and density, a palpability and "thereness" that tends to escape other speakers.

If you have the room and the money  it's hard to beat the newest Magnepan 30.7 you are there.

IMHO, and at the risk of appearing pedantic: I believe many of the speakers nominated are really known for their soundstage rather than their imaging.
IME, those speakers that aspire to time coherence tend image best.

Coherent is a good thing.