The best speaker you ever heard?

The best speaker I ever heard was my own (VMPS RM2) AFTER I replaced my expensive box subwoofers with an IB system(http://home.comcast.net/~infinitelybaffled/).

Suddenly, clarity (the most amazing thing, which I did not expect) from the l/r and center channels, and bass such as I've never heard before: refined, detailed, and extended below 10 htz (yes, I measured ,and equalized, this response, with a Velodyne SMS-1 system).

I will vote for the Focus 20/20 and/or the Helix
I believe that in the audio world qualifying a component should be based on the best quality at a reasonable price
Going above $20K is like selecting a Patek Phillipe over a Jager LeCoultre watch where selection is a matter of taste and preference where they both will have identical time precision

I will admit that nearly all of my high end speaker listening has been with the Focal line, but my clear favorite is the Focal Utopia Diablo with a JL Audio subwoofer. The first few times I heard this combination it simply blew me away. Even if I could afford the Utopia Grande speakers I would choose the Diablo's.

The room heard in has to play a big part in allowing the best speakers heard to reach their potential.

How many of us have rooms like the ones that these larger best speakers in particular were heard in?

So just a word of advice to focus on getting the speakers matched to your room and system rather than on what you hear in somebody else's room. You can reach you own optimal sound a lot faster and likely for less as well that way.

Mapman, the best should excel in at least one kind of music. Until my tidals, my other 29 speaker systems had one virtue or another. Some were fast using compression drivers, some had outstanding sound stages, some had excellent midrange, some had great bass, and some had a sweet extended top end, but none did all of these.