The best speaker you ever heard?

Is it sad......

.. that after spending years in this hobby.. after hearing tons of systems.. after _owning_ literally hundreds of components... there is still not one single speaker that I can think of as "the best", even in my opinion.

The problem is, I've yet to hear any speaker / system that is truly top tier in terms of reproducing every genre of music. Sure, I can recall tons of speakers that sound bad ass with small jazz quartets, or little girls with their guitar kinda music. I've even heard systems with speakers that did a very admirable job of capturing the raw energy and life of a full-sized orchestra. I've heard some make metal music sound every bit as hardcore as it should be, and I've heard some that make electronic sound every bit as atmospheric as it can be... but I've yet to hear ANYTHING do it all in a way that I'd consider to be 'the best'.

Sucks for me, I guess. :) All I know is that at this moment, I'm pretty content with my updated Wilson Watt Pup's. It took a lot of work to get them to sound the way that I want them to, but they are "jack of all trades" enough to leave me (mostly) satisfied. Still, are they the best that I've heard? No. Not by a long shot. If I do find that speaker though, I'll be sure to stop by this thread and make a post that is positively dripping with hyperbole. :)

I really don't understand the trust that this thread has taken. The ideal speaker would be a reverse of the microphone, namely a point source capable of vast dynamic range and very high efficiency. Technologically this is beyond human technology. Similarly the perfect amplifier would be capable of providing the perfect speaker with all that it needed.

Rather than curse the darkness, I have always sought that which was better. I could have dismayed when my ServoStatics kept breaking down, when my Lowthers were irritating in the top end and had little bass, etc.

Of course, I cannot go back to my system in the '70s and compare it with my system today, but I really think it is far more realistic and thrilling. Don't despair, just enjoy.

In my observation,satisfaction (in hi fi) is often hindered by expectation and perception. I'll even go so far as to admit that I fell into this camp for a brief period of time.

I dug my way outta this line of thought by realizing that hi-fi sounds fake. Nothing, and I mean, none of it - sounds like the real thing. Once I came to terms with that, this gig became nothing more than a hunt for finding a flavor of fake that I could live with.

Kinda a glass-half empty point a view,I admit, but it's helped me to reach a level of satisfaction that I may not have achieved otherwise. Hopefully others find their own ways of attaining audio nirvana. Anyways, back to the whole "best" bit..

Regarding expectations, the trap to avoid is expecting a system to make recordings sound better than they are. If you look for a system that makes everything sound perfect, you will find yourself on a never ending and costly quest to achieve the impossible and never weaning the satisfaction that most recordings in fact have to offer.