Favorite Speakers

[Gene C 1,748]

Though the years we have all owned more than 1 pair of speakers, others more than 10. What has been your favorite pair of speakers you have listened to? (can be speakers you used to own, still own, or heard) And what was so great about them? Looks, sound, build quality, imaging, ect...

[kve777 6,888]

My all-time favorites:

 JBL C-60 Sovereign, circa 1968. S8R, three way configuration, PR15 passives, LE15 woofers, 375 mids, 075 tweets. Very efficient, very loud, very accurate. Very BIG!

 

[trav0810 586]

Compared to many of you here, my experience is limited. My favorite pair of speakers were my Polk Audio SDA SRS 2.3TL's. I liked everything about them. Imaging was superb. They sound stage was deep and wide. Deep bass, rich mids and clean highs. They really did everything and did it well. Their only downside was that they required space, and a lot of it. Each one was almost the size of a refrigerator, and for them to sound best, they needed at least 10 feet between them and you needed to be 15 feet or more away from them for optimal sound. 

[jldeni 439]

Altec Barcelona with integrated Altec 771B biamps - Very clean sound - also very big and very heavy - bought a pair in 1973, a year after I started working, and gave them to a friend in 1988. Never should have let them go.

 

 

 

[SteveFord 1,119]

Magnepan 20.7s - they just did everything right except for being too large for my house!

Yeah, I know, buy a bigger house.

[srinath 34]

I loved the Infinity Kappa 9's my friend had. I sold him my carver silver 7t's. But they blew me away - he now has 2 pairs of monoblocks cos he had 2 kappa 9's.

I like speakers that have high efficiency, and make everything sound good.

Vintage Altec's, old Klipschs, old EV's etc etc sound very good to me, and you can push em easily with 10watts per channel. In fact they work better with 10 watts of SET power than with anything else.

 

I also have a infinity copy I made - dayton 12" drivers, a jamo 5" and a emit r ribbon into a fisher st735 cabinet that seriously punches well above the sum of its components.

I tend to like speakers that put out a lot of good high freq. I can hear well into the 20Khz's (odd for a 45 yr old) and hence I almost need it to be there.

 

I also liked those beryllium tweeter ones, yamaha NS1000 and down.

HPM100,1500 etc etc also were cool.

Like those amt equipped ones too. ESS heils and its modern versions.

 

Cool.

Srinath.

[Daddyjt 9,614]

This is a tough one for me.  I have owned (and still do own) many different speakers, and with the exception of a very few, I have found praise-worthy qualities in all of them - From my lowly Realistic Minimus 7s, all the way up to the Kappa 9s and ALIIIs.

 

With the right source material, nothing comes close to the Klipsch RF7.  The problem - Less than 1% of my music collection really brings out the truly magical sound of these speakers.  So on the 1%, I rate them a 10+.  But everything else - 99% of my music - they get an 7.  I don't know what to call this phenomenon - Transparency?  IDK...

 

My current nod would have to go to the Kappa 9s.  They, on the other hand, make 90% of my music sound like a 8+, and the other 10% a 9+.   The Kappas also make me feel better, because they allow me to actually stretch the legs of my Carver amps

 

So I am willing to trade those few "magical" moments for SUPERB sound on everything...  And who knows - When I figure out the ALIIIs, there may be a new favorite...

[Chuck 74]

For sound Quality It would be my Dahlquist DQM-7's "looking for a sub to go with these"

 

For being a talking piece and unusual "plus surprisingly good sound" my Pioneer Acrylic Demo HPM speakers

 

But for blowing the roof off the house and surprising sound would be my Cerwin Vega DX-7's These have actually got the cops at my door once

 

All of these being powered by a Adcom GFP-555II and a completely restored Carver M-1.5t

[Belvedere2 232]

For me it would have to be my AR-90s. Everything sounds really good with the Dynaco amps. My Infinities are very nice but somewhat revealing with some recordings. I love Fleetwood Mac but I cringe when listening to them.

[hewlew1 258]

I am not trying to be smart but I still have all of them. Pair of original Amazings, 2 pair of Platinum Amazings, pair of Silver Amazings,pair of AL3's, pair of Andromeda 3's and a pair of SDA SRS Polks Infinity RS3B's more Polks SDA 1C's, 2pair Monitor 10's, Pair monitor 7's. I am one lucky guy and have a very understanding wife.

[Gene C 1,748]

 

 

I am not trying to be smart but I still have all of them. Pair of original Amazings, 2 pair of Platinum Amazings, pair of Silver Amazings,pair of AL3's, pair of Andromeda 3's and a pair of SDA SRS Polks Infinity RS3B's more Polks SDA 1C's, 2pair Monitor 10's, Pair monitor 7's. I am one lucky guy and have a very understanding wife.

Any individual impressions on your favorite pair? Good god man, that's quite an arsenal.

 

[Magnaryder 757]

I've owned MKIV Plats, Silvers, Amazing Originals, ALVs, The Carver Research DarkStar Sub, Dahlquist DQ-8s, modded Klipsch Fortes, modded Alesis Monitor Ones, Cambridge Audio M-80s, Baby Advents and my current fav the Energy Reference Connoisseur 22s.

 

The Alesis are in my office rig and image really well. I've modded the xover with Mills resistors, REL caps and some silver over 7-9s copper wire. Imaging is broad deep and layered. It's got great system synergy and is a real pleasure to listen to anything on it. The Energy 22s are in my home rig. They have amazing deep bass and image even better than the Alesis.  

 

Both of these rigs are very revealing and are dependent on really good source material. They are mercilessly accurate. Sub par sources sound like the shit they are. I don't know if that is good or bad. I have had to buy some new vinyl :-)

 

ray 

 

currently under construction are a set of ELTIM Elite 621MKIVs. I should have them finished around the new year. These 'should' be the best speaker I've owned. let's see if I can muck them up. 

[dazed_and_confused 194]

I hate this question 'cos I can't pick one. My head's spinning just thinking about it. It's like 'what's your favorite song'.....there's so many of them and so many good ones from which to choose.

 

Heard - Linn Isobarik with full active Naim 6-pack, LP12, Itok, Troika....setup in a large hotel conference room - an orchestra right in front of me, completely realistic and at realistic spl's.

 

Owned - Quad ESL 57 originals. There's no other speaker I've heard which sounds as transparent as these. Sure, they don't play loud or do bass, but for a window into the venue I've never heard anything even close. CLS were the next closest for transparency but the Quads were still way better.

 

Heard - ML Prodigy - for walk around 3-d imaging. Driven by top end Lamm amps. The bass integration was shockingly bad. But the realism and dimensionality were quite special.

 

I'll stop there

[niccolosito 328]

Five pairs currently occupy a large chunk of our bedroom and like some members, I'm lucky to have a wife who sees nothing wrong with me making our room look like a stereo store. Three pairs are currently set up and I consider them all my favorites. On the left hand side of my junk yard is a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10s, to the right is a pair of Vandersteen 2CE Signatures, and on dead center is a pair of bi-amped AL-III+es. All of them are supported on the low end by a Sunfire MK II. A lot of reviews and praises have been written about the DQ-10 and all of it it deserves. SH has never been wider and deeper and classical piano pieces have never been(in my own experience) so natural and life-like(w/o SH) as with the 10s. I consider them one of my best buys ever. Surprisingly, the AL-IIIs needed a lot of help before I was happy with their sound but that's another story. For a long time, the Vandys were the least played pair but this changed when I got an M-4.0t which truly made them sound like never before. They now simply sound freaking good. The other two pairs are another pair of 10s and a pair of JBL L-166, my very first decent hi-fi speakers and sentimental favs. Ok, let's be democratic and inclusive-these five pairs are all favorites!

 

But I would say in all candor that although these speakers sound superb on their own, their sound(to my ears) was vastly improved by the addition of one hell of a trio of procs, all of them made by dbx: an SNR 1, a 120x-ds, and a 4bx. I know a lot of folks don't like their sound "processed" but used in moderation, those three bring a detectable, not imagined improvement and, more accurately, impact to the sound, again according to my tinnitus-infested old ears/brains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Maddmaster 1,001]

Bose 901 VI. I had the right space and room for them. They were spacious and clean once I matched them up with Carver M 1.5t. My only issue with them were they demanded enormous power to really bring the bass out loud and strong.

[slbenz 110]

Probably the best I have heard is a set of Soundlabs but the ones I own are a set of Magnepans which are pretty close. 

[Gene C 1,748]

 

 

Probably the best I have heard is a set of Soundlabs but the ones I own are a set of Magnepans which are pretty close. 

So what impresses you most about those speakers?

[peck555 366]

I love Maggie's, all shapes and sizes, my favorite that I've heard are the2.6's, they were in a stereo store near my home, damn were  they nice.

That being said, I also love my AL3's, unfortunately they are currently in a room that is too small for them, but that will change soon, and they may very well become my favorites after that happens.

 The AL3’s are still in a too small room, but now I have some Maggie 2.6’s that I absolutely love.

 I also have a pair of Mordant Short MS100’s which are very revealing with a beautiful airy top end.

edited 4/18/2020

Edited April 18, 2020 by peck555

[HappyTrails 498]

Infinity RS-4's

 

My first set of real speakers:  I picked them up new at a going out of business auction for a local stereo shop.  Would have been around 1980 give or take, which put me around 16 years old.  If I recall correctly I had to borrow part of the money from my parents to buy them, which I think I gave $300 for the pair.  I was able to buy them before they hit the auction floor, and the people were nice enough to hold them until I came back with the cash.

 

I drove a 1969 Camaro, and made 2 trips to bring them home, one for each speaker.  Carefully wrapped them in blankets and laid each one in the back seat.  69 Camaro's had small back seats 

 

I had to buy the gold Infinity grill badges directly from Infinity as they were missing.  I also picked up a nice set of speaker stands from Crutchfield, which I jokingly tell people I may have placed my order with Bill himself.

 

Carried them with me from college, to homes all the way to around 2002.  Sold them..... which I regret, just like selling the 69 Camaro. 

 

I've owned many sets of Infinity's all the way up to my RSiii's now.  Both in the car and home.That first purchase is what made me an Infinity life long owner

[VTypeV4 37]

EAW, L' Acoustics and Martin Audio are my favourites, the most natural sounding vocal I've ever heard. The KF 695 and  650s are stunning.

 

Regards to components, I'll take a JBL, Celestion and Beyma everytime.

[B-Man 4,780]

Heard - a pair of Thiel 3.6s being driven by a pair of massive McIntosh mono blocks. My friend and I listened for 15 minutes or so and then I asked the salesguy to pull the subwoofer out of the mix. We all walked forward to the speaker setup to discover, much to our surprise, that the subwoofer was not connected or powered up. The Thiel's remain the benchmark of speaker perfection for me. I had a chance to pick up the pair for $3,000 - floor demo models. I kick myself to this day for not doing it...

 

Heard - a close friend of mine has a pair of KEF Reference Series Model 4s that are very impressive. He is driving them with a pair of Acurus A250s and they are impressive on every level, although they need a subwoofer to get to the deepest bass regions. 

 

Owned - My current AL-III's remain the longest standing pair of speakers I have ever kept in use. I bought them new in 1998 and have driven them all this time with a pair of M1.0t amps. As you guys know, I treated my beloved M1.0ts to the mkII opt 002 upgrade and it really woke the AL-IIIs up. Paired with my C-1, it is audio nirvana for me.

 

Owned - Believe it or not, I bought a pair of Advent Legacys while in college, from a friend. A 10" woofer with a soft dome tweeter. Powered them with a Sansui amp and preamp. For the $300 I spent they sounded incredibly good and I often got the WOW !! look from people when they first heard them.

 

 

[hewlew1 258]

Gene,I will comment about the Andromeda's .After i refoamed the 4 midrange drivers and fired them up at Carverfest 2012 using a Sunfire 300x2 I was amazed with how wide the soundstage presented itself open, airy, and very detailed . It was almost as if I had Sonic Holography engaged when It was not. When they describe these speakers as creating a wall of sound there not lying.

[halifaxsteve 8]

I will admit that I'm a a little wet behind the ears in this field. I'm also a bit of a klipsch fanboy but I've run mostly HT and very little 2 channel music.

 

With the disclaimer aside, I love my klipsch rf-7's. They were my first true love. Others may (er...will) come, but I I'll always have a place for them! I'd love to get some vintage klipsch corners, but unless I evict the wife, there's no room for them in this house.

[kingman 662]

Ribbons rule....sweetest sound around.....

[helicopter pilot doug 110]

I have 3 different speakers that have owned and still own btw, which have impressed me the most.

 

Polk Audio SDA 2B's which have been rebuilt and hot rodded with all the tweaks and upgrades that can be done to them.  They have great bass, very clear and natural mids, and highs that have a wonderful sound.  Much better than the original tweeters that came in them.  

 

Polk Audio SRS 2's which again have been fully rebuilt, tweaked and modded.  These speakers have that sound I always wanted, so rich and full sounding.  The bass is to die for!  No need for a sub, unless it's for the LFE channel when watching movies.  These are my main speakers in the living room HT/Stereo set up.

 

Sunfire CRM2's.  As so many have commented, How the heck can so much sound come out of such a small speaker??????  The first time I heard ribbon tweeters I understood what all the fuss was about.  As Wayne said, "Ribbons Rule"!!!  I use my CRM2's in the road set up along with a Sunfire tube pre, a fully rebuilt 300/2 and a True Subwoofer Signature.  This set up blows people's minds, that have not heard CRM2's before.  

 

Oh and one more.  The Polk Audio Monitor 10A's.  I have them in my shop set up on shelves above my work bench.  They have not been touched since new, and they have very good sound.  They are being fed by a C-11 pre and a TFM-55.  This set up is for more for background music, than critical listening, but it sounds really good to me.  

 

My favorite of all these speakers I have to say are the CRM-2's.  This may change after next years Carverfest though.  We are building some new speakers at the fest, that should be even better than the CRM2's!!!