Top 10 Most Influential Speakers of the last 50 years!

[RHSmith]

Thanks Gene--great article. And thanks in particular for showcasing the KLH 5. I thought I was the only one who realized what a significant speaker it was.
I owned a pair for 20 years. A quibble or two on the AR discussion. The early AR's obviously belong on the list. But they were in fact highly colored speakers. All of them suffered from the same flaw (other than the haphazard driver placement). The simple, text-book crossovers failed to control for diffraction peaks at the bottom of the midrange (AR3, AR2, or tweeter (AR4x). My first speakers were AR4x, which I roundly hated. I thought the murky sound was due to a depressed tweeter, but when I got hold of a pair a few years back I discovered the issue was really a broad, veiling 5 dB peak at around 1200 Hz. The 3a had the same issue, but at around 800 Hz. It was worse than on the original 3, which was really the superior speaker. I've redone all of the class AR's, and it's amazing how good they can sound with the original drivers despite their screwy baffle placement. The driver engineering was amazing. The crossovers, not so much.

Did I think you missed anything? I think I would have bumped Thiel off the list for the Dahlquist DQ-10. It was the first to really stress time-aligned drivers and phase relationships. I'm sure not all of the theory holds up, but the sound was a step forward despite the cheap tweeter and somewhat bass-challenged woofer.

I agree with you summation of the AR's crossover being in need ore some serious redesign on the AR2,AR3a, AR4(x).. I think they started to figure this out about the time that AR-9/10 came along.. They were vastly better sounding then the older series speakers and brought with them many design improvements along with an understanding of the relationship of driver alignment. They also brought a first to the industry with the acoustic lens treatment of the tweeter which improved the upper imaging considerably and the dual side-firing woofers were a first as well.. Few speakers had low end performance that could rival them. Tight, hard hitting and smooth down well below 30Hz and able to handle the most powerful amplifiers of the day (Phase Linear 400/700, SAE 400, BGW 250/500, etc..) and delivered rock crushing performance.

I agree here with you about the Dahlquist bumping the Thiel off the list. The DQ-10 were a really impressive sounding speaker with the only real flaw being the ratty sounding $1.00 piezo tweeter and they were a bit short on the bottom end.. I met John Dalhquist when he came into our store to evaluate his speakers and to see why we were setting the crossovers on fire (driving them with big amps like Mac 2300/2500's, SAE 400's, Phase Linear 400's).. We also demo'd them against some others we had in the store (@Square Deal, Patchogue, NY) and he admitted that the bottom was not what it should/could have been.. But we were not able to convince him about the tweeter... But they did sound good when driven hard... just had to let them cool off between songs..

 

[RHSmith]

I too had an issue with Thiel being on the list. I probably would have included the Quad ESL.

I agree here on the Quad ESL.. This should have been in the list instead of the Maggies.. as they pre-date the Maggies by quite a bit.. but then they are English and this was about American speakers.. but then there were B&W's... hmmm..

 

[RHSmith]

Good article.. but I think that the LST's could have come off the list and the AR9/10's put on.. They brought a lot more to the table for improvements over the earlier speakers (AR2/3/3a/4) as well as a number of firsts... time aligned vertically mounted drivers, acoustic lens around the tweeter, magentic fluid cooling of the drivers, dual side-firing woofers, and seriously high power handling capacity (for the day)..

I also think the QUAD ESL should have replaced the Maggies.. They were a major influence to the planar speaker market.. way before the Maggies..

Also the AMT's might have a place on the list for the Heil Air Motion Transformer tweeter.. not that I really liked the sound of them, they were certainly an influence.

Another would be the Ohm Walsh 'F's.. Awesome sounding speaker... and nothing like it.. Omni-directional driver and they had rock crushing performance from the topend right down about 30-35Hz...

 

[rmgantt]

Well, I have no criticisms for the list. I am the exact demographic described, baby boomer college student, totally obsessed by music and the systems we were playing it on, comparing and competing over brands, specs, components, accessories, appearances, what ever metric you choose, we obsessed over it when it came to our stereos. Never mind competing about the most interesting current artist, or the recording quality, or sleeve and jacket design for those wonderful LP's.

The list reads for me like one of the best of the many themes of that generation at that time. I suspect that most of the alternative speaker suggestions although respected and heroic in their own rights, were never widely adopted with wild popularity as the systems mentioned. And in the end, that reflects influence. I owned and own some of these, and now my acquisition list has come into focus. At least in my daydreams.

I would love to see a similar list of stereo components or brands. The best of those 60's and 70's components and brands are quite popular these days on the Bay. Me, I'm a Marantz guy.

 

[Wu-Fer]

I can think of a couple of others that deserve honorable mention for shaping the industry:
Realistic (Radio Shack) Minimus 7 - it was the first mini speaker and produced better sound for its size than anything else like it at the time. Paved the way for smaller speakers
Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble - the first mail-order speaker and redefined the business in many ways
Cambridge Soundworks Microworks - the first computer/portable stereo speaker system of its kind with an amplifier and satellites
The Infinity Reference System - for sheer extravagance, and also for the company's willingness to experiment with new materials like plastic cones, that are now common.

 

[Ponzio]

I guess it's true that even a blind chicken will find a kernel or two occasionally. At one time or another I owned the JBL's & the Bose's thru the years, before I considered myself an audiophile. It'll be interesting to see how my current choices (Focal 1027Be, Salk ST & KEF LS50) fare in future lists like this. Hopefully I'll be around to give myself another pat on the back.

 

[big2bird]

I understand the inclusion of Bose, but twice? Group them as one and shove Altec in there. Or even their roots, Western Electric.

 

[Seth=L]

Thiel 3.6 were probably great speakers, I don't know if deserves to be in top 10 most influential of last 50 years...

Or perhaps they deserve to be on the list, but shouldn't be on the list.

 

[RichB]

Thiel influenced many to buy separate amplifiers

- Rich

 

[OBXMAN]

You guys really need to go back to Speaker School. You never even mentioned the inventor of the soft dome tweeter, Bill Hecht. search for: bill hecht soft dome wiki Do you think the soft dome tweeter was a little INFLUENTIAL in speaker development over the DECADES? Bill Hecht. Inventor of the soft dome tweeter. Founder of Phase Technology speaker company out of Florida which to this day makes some of the BEST SOUNDING SPEAKERS ON PLANET EARTH. Phase Tech speakers have a renowned reputation for blowing away their competition in sound quality for the price paid. Open. Airy. Natural. Silky smooth highs, mids, lows and yet not affected. I have my trusty pair of PC 65 from 1985 still going srong and to this day, only the extremely high priced stuff even comes close - that's right. Close. GO PHASE TECH!!! search for: phase tech speakers florida

 

[haraldo]

only the extremely high priced stuff even comes close - that's right. Close.

Quite strong words that AH should go back to speaker school, I strongly disagree
I disagree with Gene and his mates about great many things, but I do respect them a lot

 

[3db]

Today, Audioholics goes over its top picks for the ten most influential speakers in the American hi-fi market over the last five decades. We'll take a trip down memory lane to look at classics from Acoustic Research, Advent, Bose, and Klipsch among others. We've also got a few speakers in mind that you might not anticipate. Of course, if we missed one of your favorites, make sure to chime in on our forums to let us know who you think deserves an honorable mention.

See: Top 10 Most Influential Speakers of the last 50 Years

Let us know your picks and why.

I'm surprised that Energy 22s didn't make that list. It was North American's response to the "British Invasion" at a price many people could afford.

 

[haraldo]

I don't know how you could "miss" these guys?

http://www.kreiselsound.com/timeline.php

 

[Seth=L]

I don't know how you could "miss" these guys?

http://www.kreiselsound.com/timeline.php

Pretty important influence on studio sound as well as Sub/Sat systems.

 

[walter duque]

You guys really need to go back to Speaker School. You never even mentioned the inventor of the soft dome tweeter, Bill Hecht. search for: bill hecht soft dome wiki Do you think the soft dome tweeter was a little INFLUENTIAL in speaker development over the DECADES? Bill Hecht. Inventor of the soft dome tweeter. Founder of Phase Technology speaker company out of Florida which to this day makes some of the BEST SOUNDING SPEAKERS ON PLANET EARTH. Phase Tech speakers have a renowned reputation for blowing away their competition in sound quality for the price paid. Open. Airy. Natural. Silky smooth highs, mids, lows and yet not affected. I have my trusty pair of PC 65 from 1985 still going srong and to this day, only the extremely high priced stuff even comes close - that's right. Close. GO PHASE TECH!!! search for: phase tech speakers florida

I have to agree with you on the Phase Tech speakers, they are amazing sounding. I like their flat piston drivers.

 

[oqpi]

Interesting list.... although a question:
What would Bose have to do with a list like this ?

 

[Johnny2Bad]

QUAD ESL
JBL 4311's
BBC Ls3/5a
Infinity IRS
Msgnepan MG III
The Advent
Dayton-Wright XG8 Mk III
Klipschorn
Dynaco A-25
Yamaha NS-10
Mission 770
B&W 801
Dahlquest DQ-10
...

 

[tcarcio]

Wow, No love for the old Cerwin Vegas.....

 

[Dr. Glen Rasmussen]

I agree with almost all of your selections, and I think the key phrase of Comparison, that some commenters may have missed is the Most "Influential" speakers of all time. Starting out listening to British speakers, and having blown Advents, Tannoys and EPI east coast speakers. I built myself a pair of West Coast Altec Voice of Theaters, DJ'ed my way through College with high end stereo, Moving coil phono, DBX, Nakimitchi Dragon, Revox open reel, competing with cheap PA systems. Of course few were listening to the quality of the music. Upon graduation I bought a pair of Klipshorns and have had them ever since. One of my best friends has been perusing the British B&W sound with a pair of 804D Diamonds, a pair of DB1 subs. and continues to blowing Drivers and recently the Diamond Tweeters, trying to reproduce that big live sound that comes naturally from the Klipshorns. I once auditioned a pair Quads in a small renovated Church and was blown away with the imaging of the Electrostatics but they lacked the versatility of multi Music Genre capabilities. Beauty of sound is in the ears of the Beholder. As time goes on, its is only getting better.

 

[Audiot]

Gene,
I have a question about naming all three manufacturers of sealed boxes from roughly the same era ( AR, KLH, Advent) as most influential. They are all meat on the same bone in my view. They all share Kloss in a founding role and most of the products are more alike than dissimilar. If you'd used the highly regarded Model 9, then maybe, but taken as a whole there's not much technology to separate them.

I'd have picked one, probably AR, and allowed the rest to reflect the "influence." That would have left two more slots for other equally interesting manufacturers and designs. There are plenty out there that broke ground one way or another that aren't Kloss, as influential as he was, reinventing the acoustic suspension box. That's perhaps a bit of simplification, but maybe you see my point?