The best speaker you ever heard?

I can still remember the first time I heard Quad ESL-57's, wow.

Rockport Altairs are the total experience nothing else comes close for me. If I only could afford them.
Wilson Grand Slam VII's
Magnepan 20.1's best $/Music
Wilson W/P 8's in my environment

Gerry

Not sure if it was a typo BUT there never was a Wilson Grand Slamm (proper spelling) VII. Prior to my X-2's I owned the latest version of the Slamm which was X-1 Series III which was pretty spectacular but not in the league of the X-2. Once the X-2 came into production the X-1 was discontinued because for the money the MAXX series II was just such a better speaker for 1/2 the price. For those who kept their X-1's Wilson did make available a Series V upgrade (no Series IV because of Asian belief that number 4 is an unlucky number). Gerry you have stood me up several times for a listening audition. I still want to meet you

I second Gary (Grr6001), after 4 years of listening to high-end speakers in Europe and the USA ranging from $10,000-100,000+ I too thought the Evolution Acoustics MM3 speakers are the absolute greatest speakers for the money out there. I only wonder if the Rockport Arrakis at $165,000 could be better sounding or not...

Some great answers. I love the guy with the optimus preference! This quote makes me wonder ""nearly 100% of all professional recording studios use the B&W Nautilus 801 as their reference for the best quality sound". Can't say I'd ever want to work at a place where that was the reference monitor. Yes studio's have different needs, kleenex taped to Yamaha NSM-10 tweets and all, but when it comes time to go home, have a drink, and just listen, my fantasy would still be a pair of Westlake Audio Tower SM-1's. A "real world" second choice is a used pair of Tannoy Churchills. Somebody ealier lamented the evolution towards "monitor" speakers instead of the big old boxes we used to have. I couldn't agree more. from pipe organs to modern techno there is a need for stuff around 20hz that a beautiful little box just can't do quite right.