The best speaker you ever heard?

Ctsooner,

I heard the D40 and I agree that Proac does a very good job with a ribbon tweeter where other manufacturers haven't quite pulled it off. I suppose it is mostly a matter of voicing than any particular technology. I say this because Proac seems to do a good job of getting the sound of its speakers fundamentally "right" across their entire lineup.

Maybe IMF SACM. Anybody else ever hear these?

Larry, I think you are right. I was blown away by the Proacs and I've been a Proac guy for years and years, but they haven't sounded like that. With the right components, I think they can bloom, but they do need some power. I heard them with 50watt tube stuff and they were plenty loud, but I could tell there was more to them than that.

Devore 0/96....superb tonal density and still resolved, accurate, and balanced. Listen to mostly strings and voice and they're the best I've had overall including speakers costing 5-10x the price...

I'm still a Vandersteen fan after hearing so many different speakers over the last couple of weeks. Honesty, up and down the line their dynamics are very real as is their staging and imaging. I just don't fully get that response from any of the other speakers I've heard. I think that most folks just love that 'open, detailed, wide staging' etc...but even the Proacs are not emotional like I want at this point. The Audio Note stuff is great and very dynamic, but in the end there was just a little something missing. I don't even know what it is, but when I first started to listen years ago, single ended didn't do it for me either. At first they were so impressive, but on every day music they didn't fully do it. I think it would cost a ton more than other systems I'm looking at to get the best sound from them.