Top brand speakers

Why would anyone settle for 4D video when we can get it in n-D?

Addressing the original question

Its a very difficult question to answer. First there are many speakers out there made by small manufacturers, you are unlikely ever to hear, that, to my ears anyway, simply blow away commercial stuff.

There is a guy in Sydney Australia who has a home made Axiom 80 based system that is very famous. Some guys from the US were in Sydney and decided to check it out, as well as other systems here in Aus. Their verdict was it outshone by a wide margin anything else they heard here or in the US.

But of the speakers most people are likely to have access to, my personal favourite is the Rockport's. That however is just my view. For example I don't like Magico much - too brittle in their sound for me - yet some love em. I really dislike B&W's 802D's - grungy midrange, boomy bass and tissy treble - but again some love em and really argue with me about why I feel that way about them despite I am not the only one of that view. Heard the PSB Synchrony a while ago and thought they were ghastly - but again some love em. The Martin Logans have this utterly entrancing midrange you can reach out and touch, but sound disjointed in the bass as if you are listening to a separate subwoffer. Yet some are not bothered by this at all.

I could go on but hopefully you get the idea there is really no answer to such questions except to experience it yourself.

Thanks
Bill

Back to OP,

I had Avalon Eclipse, B&W 801 S3, Merlin TSMM, Spendor 7/1, Vendersteen 3a and 2Ce, NHT 2.5i, Canton Carat, and Definitive Tech BP10 speakers in last 24 years. All their mid/high freq. were faded and washed off with any powered sub-woofer. The powered sub doesn’t blend at all with almost speakers.

The mid and high freq units on floorstanders or standmounts are same The floorstander has bigger cabinet for only (low) bass. The floorstander is worse with powered subs because the juice/power from amplifier is wasted on woofers on the floorstander and the mid/high freq. are weaker.

The standmount speaker has cleaner/stronger mid/high freq. with more juice from amps. Still they don’t blends well with powerful subs. The conventional speaker doesn’t blend well with any powered-subs.

A good satellite speaker system (whether floorstand or standmount) requires vivid and strong mid and high freq. Nowadays, many high output ribbon tweeters (94db) make a good match with powered subs. However, the mid range drivers (89 db max.) are still with low output and can’t be match with powered subs.

Wavetouch Grand Teton speaker has strong and vivid mid and high frequencies to match even with multiple powered subs. Only Grand Teton offers mid range horns in their price range. OP asked “which ones are the top brands and worth the money?” Grand Teton is not a top brand, but it’s worth the money.

Alex/Wavetouch Audio

Gee Alex/Mihorn...those speakers must be REAL GOOD!

mmmm, no comments about Vapor audio speakers?, I was told by a reliable source that this was the best speakers he has ever heard, I never have listened to them, I just found out about their exsistance,LOL!