The best speaker you ever heard?

Rlapporte, Boa2, Sphere...

Let me state my .02 on the dealer participation (welcome) and disclosure (always a must).

It is not a matter of doubting someone's honesty or integrity, but understanding any conflicts of interest. You wouldn't think it was ethical if Sean Casey or Ty Lashbrook or Jim Salk or one of their employees posted as "MusicLover2000" and without disclosingt the affiliation, said his company's speakers are the best. Dealers are in the same boat.

An individual can say whatever he wants about any product. We may doubt his expertise and knowledge but not the freedom. But even the most honest employee or dealer does not have that latitude. He can speak freely about many things but not about many others. So a dealer's opinions have to be interpreted in light of that limitation.

To dealers I would say, I know it is heart-warming that you want to, and feel you should be able to be just one of the guys. And in my home or yours you probably can. But in the end you do know the truth that in public forums you can't, and in spite of our home-like folksiness, this is a public forum. No matter how you rationalize it, some words have to be measured, softened, watched for. Just like a guy who works for Nikon can never be just one of the hobbyists in public discussions about camera. There are invisible strings attached to you and we need to know what they are. So, don't rationalize, do the right thing always and disclose your affiliations.

I do agree that listening for yourself is best - so go and listen and you don't have to read anybody's opinion. That's how I lived when I had the time, and you have my envy and admiration. But this is not an argument for diluting ethical standards: those who do take the time to read an opinion need to be able to consider it properly; even if you use A'gon casually, its integrity has to be maintained for those who like to use it more seriously.

Aktchi,
I understand your interest in comparing the HT3s to Tyler, Silverline, etc., as those are presumably in a class higher than most speakers I have heard. Unfortuntely I have not had the opportunity to hear any of them. I would love to go to one of the shows to hear speakers like those, but travel is nearly impossible. I can only hope that one day a show will be in Atlanta. We did not try different amps, but I suspect not (fussy), for two reasons: (1) The amp used was a Van Alstine Fet Valve Ultra 550 (hybrid - 250 wpc). (Pre and DAC also Van Alstine Ultra series, transport unknown, but nothing special. Also, speaker cable was plain old hardware store 12 gauge wire.) This gear, though well built, is relatively affordable and very straight forward engineered (all stock power cords). In other words, about as plain a set-up as one could have. (2) Jim stated that he sometimes demos his HT3s with lower powered amps, some costing only a few hundred dollars, with similarly impressive results. After visiting with him and experiencing his modest set-up, I do not doubt this statement. I am not sure how sensitive to room placement they are as we did not move them around (130 lbs. on a spiked plinth, carpeted room), but they are dual rear ported at the bottom (woofer) of the cabinet. They were approx. 3' from the front wall and several feet from either side wall, toed in slightly. Medium-sized HT type room, but no special treatments noticed at all. At one point, Jim pushed the volume way higher than anyone would/could listen to. I suspect that the room contributed more to the ear pain than distortion. His drivers (cone material) are super high def/ low distortion. I went there hoping to hear a QW that was for sale on A'gon, but it was sold. I did not listen to any two-ways. I wish I could have, but I was crunched for time per my flight home that afternoon. (Jim's place was not the purpose of my visit to Michigan, just a quick side-trip. Though an awesome one, at that.) As far as comparing them to the Zu Druid, overall I found the Zu less full, with less satisfying timbre. To me, the music produced by the Druid sounds like its coming from a tall, shallow box. The HT3 simply fills the room to capacity with music as if there were no box speakers involved at all. If interested, my review of the HT3s is posted : http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=29112.0

I hope this helps.

Laurence Dickie, the then head techie in B&W, conceived the Nautilus as a true terminated transmission line to completely eliminate rear wave from the driver.The original design called for the 5 way I mentioned earlier,but was shot down by B&W top brass and was finally conceived as a 4 way that you see.It uses an active crossover and needs identical 4 stereo or 8 monoblocks per pair.The crossover is an advanced Bessel type,originally manufactured by Krell,later due to misunderstandings between the two companies was shifted to another source.Lawrence put in many state of the ideas into this procduct for driver isolation,dome construction,magnet and motor construction and a host of other innovations.The enclosure was manufactured by Lotus sports cars, because the diffraction free design drawn by Laurence's girlfriend (an industrial designer )needed expert fiberglass fabrication techniques.
There is a lot of stuff which I have not mentioned as it will take up pages.
Do check out Vivid, it is vivid in presentation and takes time to get used to,as it is too transparent,Cheers.

Linkwitz Orions with 12” Peerless XLS woofers, Seas T25CF002 tweeters and Seas W22EX001 midrange drivers in a 3-way dipole design. Siegfried Linkwitz is the nearly legendary designer of the Linkwitz-Riley crossover, Audio Artistry’s acclaimed Beethoven Loudspeaker System, and the Orions, perhaps his greatest accomplishment in speaker design. After listening to the Orions, I wrote this review for a friend: “The Orions were so transparent, and conveyed such openness, I couldn't tell they were in the room. They sounded neutral to me, not adding to or coloring the information coming from upstream. They had a dramatic three dimensional quality. The soundstage was huge and stretched in every direction. I could not tell that the sound was coming from the speakers. The music flowed over and around me with such realism and so effortlessly that, within my limits to perceive it, I couldn’t detect a single flaw in the playback. The sound was so pure, nothing in the system seemed to create distortion of any kind. Imaging was superb. Instruments and voices were clearer and more defined than with any speaker I have ever heard. There was no noticeable degradation/roll-off with any of the instruments. The low end was full, deep and grand. More information seemed to come through the low end than I’m used to hearing. I've never heard anything that can compare to the bass of these speakers, so tight and articulate. I liked the way it was ‘just there’ when called for, sounding effortless, not seeming to come from a source point, but filling the room seamlessly. The mid-range was impressively lifelike. The tonal quality of voices was right on the money. The upper range was crisp and precise, bright yet soft. Throughout the frequency range, low, mid and upper, the speakers seemed to blend seamlessly. Accuracy and fidelity were revealing. I was lost in the music.“

To me... the most important thing of all in this hobby is to discover your own musical taste first, before considering any equipments...
IMO...
If it's classical... The Apogee is best.
If it's classic jazz... Wilson will do best.
If it's voice... Try Tannoy.
If it's rock, rap, hip hop... Go for 8 ohms speakers.