The best speaker you ever heard?


In my opinion, the speaker is by far the most important part of the audio system. After all, it is the only part you hear. OK, the other stuff really matters a lot, but without a great speaker... No go.

I am a bit 'speaker-obsessed' I guess, and now I am wondering: What are the best speakers you have ever heard, and what made them the best?
njonker
55dok, I may be mistaken but only some of the Dayton Wright XG-10 Mk IIs have leaf tweeters. That's what mine are. They have the XIM-11 interface module which I think is what you are referring to as well - it puts out 15 kV bias voltage instead of the XIM-10's 9 kV, raising sensitivity by 4 to 5 dB.
Sunlight engineering SE 308, 2 way 18in concentric drivers.In my large BR cabinets they fill large rooms with even SPL. Image stays centered even when far off axis. Midrange is so detailed, I hear things in music I know well that I have not before. They have a musical connection that seems to go beyound fidelity into musicality, touch your soul, bring out the emotion in music. Built to last a lifetime, magnets are 50lbs ea of alnico.Cones are easy to repair. They do need help with sub bass and ultrasonic trebile after all at 103db for a 18in something has to be given up ;) but adding a fostex t90aex tweeter and designing a sub wasent so hard. This system is design for use with a powered subwoofer I use a aura 18in monster fills in below 50hz. Together this near 800lbs Sat sub system can fill very large spaces on lower power ampliiers , se308 mains are 103db 8ohm drivers are costly near $10000 pair just for se308,one would still need cabinets crossovers etc. Still one of the best I have heard owned.
The Orion loudspeaker from linkwitz labs has to be one of the greatest speakers ever made.I have heard many many of the highly regarded speakers. I have heard most of the top and current models( Merlin,B+W,Focal,Martin logan,Totem,Gallo etc etc) but the orion is the finest I know of.No speaker is perfect but man this one puts you substantially closer to live music than any other I have heard.
Loki1957 - I also have the Hales C-5. I will never sell them! One of these days I'm going to give them the power they deserve... I'm sure it will be a whole new experience.