Wow that’s a very helpful dealer.
I heard some Kudos 505s at Audio East and thought they were outstanding for their price range. Now own 707s, still very impressed.
They normally run them with a 552 and 3x NAP 250DR
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The fact that you can drive them with an Osiris says an awful lot about the Osiris. Great speakers
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Heybrook HB1 - not all cheap standmounts sound unconvincing and thin!
Shahinian Diapason. What Tannoy Westminsters do with little amps, these do with lots of watts. but they also have a wide listening position and a very natural voice across the whole range, and are equally convincing at any volume. If your room isn’t really big enough for Westminsters and you don’t have an amp like a 500-series, don’t consider them. They were the first speakers I ever heard where the only constraint was needing an implausibly large room & a £100K+ hi-fi and really made use of both when they got it.
ESL63s - you know why.
Linn Kans in about 1980 - ditto.
B&W 804 D3 - the first B&W I enjoyed completely for 20+ years. In the dealers, they were good but not clearly best - and not cheap. In my house, with extra space and less rear wall reinforcement and a bouncy floor and careful positioning, they were suddenly materially better than every speaker tried in every way that we were noting on every song we played over about 3 hours.
Neat Xplorers - lost out to B&W in my house, but just everywhere else I have heard them I have been struck - not just by the excellent bass from such an unobtrusive box but from the amount of intensity, vigour and pure fun they can deliver, while being delicate and controlled whenever required. On SQ / £, they were remarkable. On SQ per cc of volume, they were remarkable. On fitting them into a real room without taking it over, they beat floorstanders and anything on a big stand - remarkable.
I could have included any Neat speakers I have heard - all were really ear-opening - but stuck to my favourite.
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Quad Electrostatics fed by from a Quad tuner to (Presumably ) Quad amplification.
Looking back , not only were they amazing speakers , I never realised radio could sound so good.
These days a lot of the music I listen to is from the radio, Radio 3 fed from my Nova . Electrostatic speakers like that , totally unfriendly to the average sized living room .
The speakers I do have Harbeth P3ESR still amaze me with voices such as Cohen or Cassidy
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The first time I heard Quad’s original ESLs I was transfixed, then I moved my head and the illusion shattered.
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Of course, if the speakers that suit someone’s personal criteria, and preference for sound character, are a low distortion, low colouration design with flat frequency response right down and through the bottom octave, they inevitably will be very expensive… And not so expensive gear may make them sound amazing!
To me, 15%-20% on speakers and 5% on cables isn’t a bad guess for most 1-source systems. You’ll find few fans of mullets here!
That’s quite enough to make one say “Wow!”
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There are a good sprinkling of us on this forum who are unafraid of mullets…!
But as speakers contribute more to the character of a system’s sound than any other component, it all depends on what each individual wants and appreciates in terms of music presentation.
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I’ve been impressed by several speakers, but only really wowed by two, the Quad ESL47 which has tons of limitations, but is fantastic for what it does well, and the Shahinian Obelisk and Diapason. When I got the latter on home demo, I paid for them on the spot and here they have stayed.
Edit: wowed by 3 - incredibly, I forgot the DBL! Loved my SL2s but they never wowed the same. They were a bit like the ESLs - not sonically, but in having moments where they were truly exceptional. They however stunned less in these moments while having fewer limitations. The DBLs are great in so many ways despite being a little room fussy.
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I wouldn’t do it that way around. Electronics take precedence for me
The best I ever heard were the Sonus Faber Aida’s, powered by a Naim Statement system. It by far the best system I have ever heard.
In the budget realm, the Ryan Acoustics R610 at 2000$ US are an absolute steal! They sound much better than their price. If my budget was only 2000$, I would own the Ryans.
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Electronics can’t get undiminished low bass out of a speaker not capable of it…. Good, capable speaker design is crucial for me, not least because speakers are core to a system’s character.
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I remember hearing some DBLs in a 500 Series setup and they sounded totally amazing. Blew me away.
Another time was a CDS2, active SBLs from a four pack Olive system. WOW.
Just recently is a pair of n-SATs from a NDX 2/XPS DR/HiCap DR/ SN3 - quite possibly the finest speakers in the world…
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Hence my statement about criteria. Among which you can select a speaker based on how much bass output is satisfactory. Another factor is select a speaker suitable for the room as its the speaker that is interacting with the room.
the difference in all the speakers I tested this year was not night and day and certainly not worth the difference in price.
IMHO I had just as much fun listening to bowers wilkins 685 on my system as I did the more expensive ones. I’m not saying they are all the same or of the same quality, absolutely not but I can enjoy modest speakers on a very good hifi system whereas I didnt enjoy my Harbeth shl5 plus on a modest amplifier and source anywhere near as much.
Having said all of that I do understand the importance of speakers of course. For example there are very few speakers that can do what the Linn Kan or the SL2s can do when properly setup. A person who is after that sound signature will only ever be satisfied with that kind of speaker.
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Good observations there.
G
Resonating cabinets, cone breakup, distortion, sibilance, wooly bass, poorly designed crossovers, phase issues, timing issues. These are all problems that can befall many lower cost speakers and good electronics can’t do anything about it. It may mask it slightly but once you switch for a high quality alternative there’s no comparison. However, a company that makes really expensive electronics would prefer you continue with your method.
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Perlisten s7t’s. Ordered on the spot with a centre and 4 surrounds as well.
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They can affect many higher end speakers, too…
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