The best speaker you ever heard?


In my opinion, the speaker is by far the most important part of the audio system. After all, it is the only part you hear. OK, the other stuff really matters a lot, but without a great speaker... No go.

I am a bit 'speaker-obsessed' I guess, and now I am wondering: What are the best speakers you have ever heard, and what made them the best?
njonker
i was at a demonstration at "the mountain" bose factory. in a semi darkened small theatre [100 seats]the audience listened to some 901 series 5's. most people we pretty impressed and assumed the set up had to be tweaked but.....? then 2 people walked in and theatrically removed the "fake 901s" and exposed the fact that we were listening to 2 acoustic waves on pedestals.suggestibility and eye over ear bias? true story....
Hotmailjbc , these 901's can be tweaked to sound much better! Put two coats of Elmer's carpenter's glue on all the paper cones of the speaker drivers. The amazing sound was there all these years, you just needed to "tweak" it out of them!.. WOW !!....
Shahinian Obelisks that were playing Beethoven's Ninth. When the choral movement started I could feel chills running up my spine like Vincent Price's "Tingler."
The sad thing is I sold them and just bought them back.
I have gone thru probably forty speaker systems the last thirty years.
I let a pair of Rosinante Evolution Reference go about eight years ago.
I just bought them back a couple of days ago. The fellow I sold them to had to move. Playing them on my present electronics and cables made me realize i should have never sold them in the first place. Best i have ever heard in my home.
Bowers and Wilkins 800D's are the single-best sounding speaker I've ever heard. I've heard those silly Focal Utopia things - they're not great. They don't have the imaging / sound stage that the B&Ws do.

If you like listening to music, you'll love Bowers & Wilkins speakers. If you like listening to speakers, try Wilson or Focal - hell, why not just buy some Bose speakers and a big ol' sub. It will all sound fine, but you're not listening to the music, you're listening to the speakers.

When you want to hear the music, as recorded, with nothing else, buy the B&Ws and then buy me a beer. You're welcome.