Your wow speakers

Its always difficult to know how much is due to the speaker and how much depends on the rest of the system. My first ’wow-moment’ in hifi was hearing Tom Waits in the beginning of the 90’s through Linn Kan2s driven by a top spec LP12 and a 72/HiCap/250 combination. Shortly thereafter I purchased Spendor SP 2/2s which did have an ability to reproduce vocals that gave me a ’wow-effect’.

Other highlights have been Naim DBLs driven actively by 135s and passively by a 500, Dynaudio
Consequence speakers ( a 5-way with Isoberic bass) driven by large Krell power amps and YG Acoustics Carmel2s driven by Aesthetix amps.

The last expereince convinced me to eventually purchase the YG Acoustics Sonja 2.2i I use now.
These provide the wow every time I turn up the volume a bit.

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Best regards

Hans

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It’s more about how speakers play a room. This is dependent on many variables, system, positioning, cables… and can win or lose by millimetres.

Memorable speakers are few and far between.
A small pair of pyramid like Regas (Tonbridge HiFi Consultants around 1989) that sounded ten times bigger than they looked.
Spendor S8e (Audience Bath around 2006). Beautifully detailed, relaxed and flowing.
SL2/nSub (Audience Bath around 2008) which was one of the most transparent and realistic presentations I have heard in my dealer’s audition room.
Neat SL6 at home around 2017. Really big, airy and life like. Very musical. They didn’t work unless they were positioned half way down the room, which looked daft and was physically impractical. A shame.
B&W 803D at home around 2018, the best speakers we had heard playing in our lounge until the 802D came for a try out and stayed.

In our room, isobarics and rear reflex ports don’t tend to work. Downward ports and front ports are usually better at playing the room.

I’ve had more source changes than I can remember since I built my first “proper” system in 1979. Less amp changes, and four changes of speaker. I take my time in selection (our current 802D took 18 months) and when we find something which works how we like it in the room, it stays, because if it’s any good and works well in the room, it will just keep giving more if system components are upgraded.

One speaker change came off the back of us moving into our present home. The Ruark Talisman we so loved simply wouldn’t work in our new lounge. I took them back to base to be upgraded to Mk2 spec, which was a fun day out. Big improvement but they still couldn’t play the room.

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Many parallels Richard … I had one of the first pairs of HB2’s / (78/79?) matched with RP2 and A60 - replaced s/h Wharfedale Lintons and beat Kef Corelli’s in a dealer shootout (quite liked those little Kef’s too!) … Couple of pairs of Saras a bit later (not 9’s) … and DBL’s for a couple of decades. QUAD 57’s, Linn DMS and Kef 105/3 along the way. Spoiled or what.

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DMS were actually labelled up as PMS and had external passive crossover boxes underneath. Tempted … but never got to try them active … (scratched that itch later with the DBL’s).

Premmyboy,

That’s a fantastic system you have there, and I would need no assurance how wonderful it sounds :wink:
If only I could move to a room which would accommodate the MF7’s!! I assume you have a fairly sizeable listening room, as I think they need a reasonable amount of air around them to work well; a luxury I don’t have unfortunately.

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I hadn’t noticed the Heritage Specials , they look lovely indeed ! Very tempting , I had Dynaudio Audience 50s for about 10 years with a Nait 2 . Loved them .

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A couple come to mind. My very first visit to a hifi dealer some 30 yrs ago, at the time a huge Naim dealer, played some Christy Moore on a Naim system already set up in his demo room. SBL’s were the speaker and wow was certainly the word out of my mouth.

At the same dealer about a decade later I heard Shahinian Arc’s for the first time, again wow.

More recently I took the plunge blindly on a pair of ProAc Tablette 10 Signatures and I have been blown away by them. (Listening to them right now).

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I love my Indras! Boulder Integrated 866 and dCS Bartók.

These…

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And these…

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Both equally as good once setup correctly, love um :heart_eyes:

For me it was the ones that got away, I had an opportunity to purchase a set of Canadian made Mirage OMD-28 know for their great soundstage and omni polar design. Mirage was bought out by Klipsch and then buried the product line. I missed out on the store demos….

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The second pair were the Sonus Faber Domus floor standers…
I was new to the brand and didn’t jump on them fast enough what a steal they were at the time.

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Bit left of field but for ‘Wow’ moments Naim IBLs on the Naim stand at the BBC radio show in 1988 fed via a NAT02 (I think) tuned to BBC Radio 3, and JBL 4425s powered by an Ashly FET2000 used as monitoring to master a recording I did of a friend playing Cello for his music degree.

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I never had the pleasure of listening to IBLs having bought their larger sibling (almost a pun). I do know JV thought very highly of them.

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I heard a full set (the word “pair” seems inadequate) of YG Acoustics Sonja XVs at a dealer a couple of years back, powered by a bunch of Octave kit. I don’t have much in the way of details, as I was shopping for something along the lines of a Nova and I tried not to touch anything in that room (I couldn’t have afforded the cables), but it was the closest feeling to live music I have ever experienced in a listening room. It just washed over me like a wave. I could be happy with those speakers for a little while, I think! :grinning:

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Also forgot the KEF R109 Maidstones at the factory on a tour in 1999. Beautiful and sonically invisible. I’d grab a pair today if I could find some.

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Great thread! Like a few others, my first wow speakers were Snell - in my case J3 - now 30 years ago. Loved their natural open sound. I have since lived with speakers also using SEAS units and find they share that addictive sound, while of course also being different speakers. Snell E3, Kudos S20, ART 8.3 Diamond and now Shahinian ARC all have that in common with my first wow speakers. / Lars

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March 2020 … self imposed lock down from Covid here in the US … totally bored … NDX/252/scdr/300DR … I had always been intrigued by open back speakers (Open Baffle) … I ordered a pair of PureAudioProject Trio15 Classic … 30 day no question return … the demo took 30 seconds … I called them and said I wanted to keep them … The man said “I understand” … and laughed …

Totally stunning speakers … 20KHz - 20 HZ … I feed them now with Aavik kit …

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The Quad Electrostatic (now called ESL57) remains, for me, the best loudspeaker ever made. Designed by Quad’s presiding genius Peter Walker, they have never been bettered. I have a ‘stacked pair’, with an extra pair hung from the ceiling behind the listening space, for added room effect (see my profile). Bl**dy marvellous!

It’s a huge shame that Guy Lamotte was never able to bring Naim’s built like a tank ‘copy’ of the ESL57, the legendary FL-1, into production. I suppose that he did give us the ARO, though!

Intriguingly, I have read that improved modern techniques would give Naim a chance of making the FL-1 successfully today. I would be at the head of the queue, if that were ever to happen.

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those Linns have a 10 dB dip in de midrange that’s why they sound so relaxt.

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