What is the best HEAVY METAL speaker?

Atmasphere, I've been thinking about your always thoughtful comments, and I think you're missing something. I know that you are using the top of the line Classic Audio speaker, which is a design that I've admired several times at RMAF, particularly for small group jazz recordings and vocals. However, I would not regard it as an optimal transducer for digitally recorded, highly compressed metal in its current incarnation. For Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and other 70's metal and hard rock, it would be a nice speaker choice, but certainly not for Meshuggah, Animals As Leaders, and countless other current artists. If you are ever in Tucson, AZ, I'd be glad to show you what I mean.

You named some stuff in my personal collection, and I have Classic Audio Loudspeakers in my living room. They can shake the walls! What's nice about them is that you can play sustained high levels without compression and without straining the amp.

More: In Flames, Skepticism, Therion, Earth, Sunn (and incarnations thereof), Om, Opeth... I don't think anyone would be suggesting that a speaker is good for some metal and not other forms of metal.

Really, all music is composed of combinations of sine waves and transients. Its been shown mathematically that nearly all waveforms can be created by the right combination of sine waves. Its only the human ear/brain system that makes the distinction between various forms of music. The reproducers don't care so long as you stay within their range of linearity. So dynamic range is important, but on this matter metal rarely has the dynamic range of classical, and with peaks of 120 db on stage, classical can be just as loud although usually not at sustained levels.

I'm not sure what you were implying about digitally recorded, but FWIW, when analog technology is used you often get greater dynamic range. This is not because analog as more dynamic range (although it is so close its really not worth arguing about) its because digital recordings tend to have more compression because that is how the industry likes to handle it. Analog is a little more forgiving of overload and so while compression is still likely, its often just not as much.

I run an LP mastering operation and a recording studio BTW, so I see this stuff first-hand.

Atmasphere, Hey, Try listing to avengeged sevenfold- Hail to the King, this song is recorded very decent, Rock's really good, incredible actually, tell me what you think about it, please listen to the whole song with you set-up, should bring a smile to your face, Happy Listening.

Dang! Old school!

atmasphere, actually, they are a new band of about 6 years of being famous, they have a huge fan base, sale out concert's world wide, yes, the music does remind me of old school a little, what did you think of the recording quality?, it's not compressed at all to me.