The best speaker you ever heard?

The best speaker I ever heard was the Linkwitz Orion. Being an active crossovered speaker with separate amplification for each driver and also being a dipole, you need to place it out into the room by at least 3-4 feet. But if you can do that, you will be amazed at the huge soundstage, the great imaging, and a sweet spot that is enormous. It sounds great even anywhere in a room. Go to the Linkwitzlab.com site.

As far as classic loudspeakers go, the Devore line, with the top of the line Silverbacks are beyond incredible. The next down the line in the Gibbon series is the Gibbon 9 at MSRP $6,500/pr. In a medium-sized room it is amazingly wonderful and is so easy to drive that it thrives on low-powered tube amplification, such as Leben, Shindo, and much less expensive tube amps.

Greg

Much earlier in this thread I made an indication of the best speaker I have ever heard. These speakers were not set up in an ideal environment , but yet I was blown away by them .I would like to point out that a speaker cannot be evaluated on their own. The room and its acoustics, the connected equipment and cables , the ac supply , the recording , even the time of day , all play a part to the listening experience . Unlike headphones , there are to many variables . We all would have differing opinions to greater or lesser degrees, if the same speakers were set up in different environments. We are all aware of the complexities of putting a system together, making each component work with the rest (according to our own individual tastes ). I personally would like to know other facts about the system/room in which speakers have been determined "best". If this is the beginning of another thread, that was not my intention. When I or someone else says that " these are the best speakers I have ever heard " , the listening conditions are important and critical. I hope I have not upset anybody. The pursuit of perfection , when it comes to listening to recorded music over these years , has made me highly critical ( which is not always a good thing ). Thank you , Dan

Great observations Dan, at least if someone says "these are the best speakers I've ever heard" nobody can argue with them. As a personal experience is always true to oneself, and alas, with more experiences comes changing opinion. That makes this hobby so much fun!

For me that honor goes to the Hales Trancendance 8 if i could find a pair now! Oh how I wish.

The best speaker I have heard lately is the Magico Model 6. My local dealer often has it set up with either full Spectral/MIT or top of the line Boulder equiptment and each time I heard them they were impressive. It also appears that it is equally at home with all types of music.

They are way out of my league. Just good to hear new stuff though.

I agree with Jdub39 about the Hales Transcendance 8 being an exceptional performer and providing an absolutely satisfying musical experience. I have them and haven't felt the need to upgrade from them yet. I said yet, because in this hobby everything is on the table as you know. That being said I always do keep my ear out for my next speaker. Just hard to displace the Hales.