The best speaker you ever heard?

Salk HT3 by Jim Salk. Hand made 3-way with ribbon tweeter. crossover by Dennis Murphy.

gthomas

JMLab/Focal Utopia with the Be tweeters's (any of them depending on your room size). Most transparent speakers around, high sensitivity yet full range and great with most any high quality amp (particularly tubes in my experience). Several cosmetic options. Not cheap but worth it.

Ah..Pgulrich, before you claim the JMLabs with Be tweeters are the "most transparent speakers around", have you heard the various current electrostats (SoundLabs, Audiostatic, Innersound etc), ribbon speakers (Apogee Synergy, Analysis Audio), and horns (Acapella with the plasma tweeter, Avant garde)? I've heard most of these speakers, and transparency is not one of the standout features of JMLabs (Grand Utopia Be) in comparison.

Revel Salon's have to be the best speakers I have ever heard. Words cannot describe how unbelievable these speakers are. I think their only a mier $20,000 for a pair.

Speakers are the most important component, but vary the least of any component (save frequency response). A great amp through mid-fi speakers will sound great, whereas a mediocre amp through the best speakers in the world will still sound mediocre. Anyone who has made a living in audio and doesn't have a tin ear knows this. The idea that you can make an objective evaluation of a speaker without due consideration of the driving amp is the silliest concept in this hobby. With few exceptions, and there are some that I know of, the sound of the speaker you love so much is really the sound of the driving amp. In fact the better the speakers the better you can hear the amp. The physics of the best speaker in the world of a certain type (ribbon, electrostatic, dymamic etc.) varies little relative to the circuit design (physics) of various amps (not to mention tube vs solid state). Don't spend a fortune on speakers or a source component(cd players vary second least ) until you have spent a fortune on the amp and preamp. Experimentation in this hobby is fun and a good thing but there should be some logic applied or else you will end up being taken for a lot of dough before you finally figure it out (or at least approach your ideal).