The best speaker you ever heard?

Fla, all that I know is that HP of TAS mentioned it in very positive tones, and I heard it at the RMAF. For the first two days of the show, it was, IMO, the best sounding. It was a little bright but that may be the associated electronics. I know only the Veena and the Grand Veena.

ESL 57. I recently got them (piquet modified) and they transformed my system from good to sublime.

in the their respective price ranges Reference 3A and here is why -
Please also remember when reading opinions online a lot of guys use a so so amplifier and this speakers are so reveiling to the source, garbage in garbage out, as well as setup
straight on that is the proper setup for this is a time and phase accurate loudspeaker,most people don't realize that the midwoofer is totally made by hand in house and the Tweeter is totally custom made and has tighter specifications than any of the ring radiators
out there as well as using solid Copper in the Faraday ring used in the motors structure in the tweeter,all very expensive that is why most companys donot do it.please also remember if a speaker is a 1st order design the tweeter has to work harder and have far better band width.This tweeters resonance point is at 590hz where most other Tweeters are well over 1000. Being time aligned the Tweeter and Woofer are arriving at the Ear at the same time and that is why it is much more precise and natural and the most critcal driver in any loudspeaker is the Midrange driver and in all Reference 3A loudspeakers the Amplifier power is fed directly into the Mid driver, also for example a B&W 802 for instance it's phase many vary over 30- 40degrees, with the Reference 3A loudspeakers under 10 degrees maximum for all drivers also all drivers are Matched paired only after 100 hours of breakin, at under .5 % for the Tweeter and under 1% for the Midwoofer. The drivers themselves are all underhung meaning much lower distortion than the average by as much as 5x .By Having a wider Magnetic gap and a shorter underhung voice coil, under extreme driver excursion the coil does not stray into the magnetic field ,also using Neodymium magnets which are 10x smaller and powerfull than the standard Iron core type.
Read the writeup on on the Decapp-I since the review 3 years ago showing a peak here or there in a graph can be deceiving, for the reviewer gave the loudspeaker a rave and a Best Buy.Not being satisfied with very good they redesigned the midwoofer and it is now even better ! Internally all silver carbon Van Dan Hull wiring is used as well as a solid Aluminum backing plate also Cardas binding posts and jumpers
and only 1 custom oil Capacitor to the Tweeter used as a high pass filter with no other power robbing distortion elements in the signal path , also the dynamic range spl is around 107db for the Decappo or Veena which is super loud without cone breakup driven with quality electronics.The cabinet is solidly braced with various thicknesses and the rear bass port is of a folded type for proper loading and no Bass overhang .
1.5" of Wool Felt is also used for internal cabinet vibration absorbtion, the Middriver is Carbon fiber and runs directly from the amplifier output that is why it sounds so electrostatic fast and clear. In business for 48 years and well known through Europe, they are making a Big comback in North America from their Swiss beginnings with many Patented technologies being used by other companys, to the cutting edge methods
such as liquid coatings that damp and absorb vibration to The Very expensive Murata Super tweeter used in the Grand Veena this is why Reference loudspeakers sound so natural, taking the time to do it properly
using the highest parts quality and methods, that is why Reference 3A loudspeakers and a best buy in every respective catagory.

Pjl2122, thanks for the information. I own a pair of the Muratas and have used them with my old Beauhorns and present Acapellas. They do lend a realism to speakers that I recognized in the Grand Veenas. I also liked the simplicity of the crossovers in the GVs and expect that this is part of their success. In my opinion the Grand Veenas were one of three best speakers at the RMAF.

I thought the Feastrex 9 inchers ($30k +)in a temporary cabinet were more integrated and clean but did not have the bass of the GVs. I thought the LSA1s ($2500) imaged better, although this may have been their electronics and fell between the GVs and Feastrex 9" in integration.

Pjl2122:
How does the Grand Veena compare to the older L'Integral Nouveau, if you've compared them? Please be specific.