Which brand makes the best quality loudspeakers?

Who makes the best speakers

  • Aperion Audio

    Votes: 22 3.1%
  • Axiom Audio

    Votes: 18 2.6%
  • B&W

    Votes: 154 22.0%
  • Harman (JBL, Infinity, Revel)

    Votes: 155 22.2%
  • Klipsch

    Votes: 106 15.2%
  • Martin Logan

    Votes: 59 8.4%
  • Paradigm

    Votes: 79 11.3%
  • Polk

    Votes: 40 5.7%
  • PSB

    Votes: 24 3.4%
  • RBH Sound

    Votes: 42 6.0%

  • Total voters
    699
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Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
Ummm... @Danzilla31 would so he could do 3 across the front... though he’d have to run the table at the next poker championship, first! ;)

Oh, wait... never mind. Those e-stats don’t have enough ports!
:eek::oops::p

:cool:

(Love you, Danzilla!) :)
On a more serious note the lesser expensive version of these that retail for 2000 a peice I sat down and listened to the other day and was very very very VERY impressed I WOULD slap the money on 7 of those for the floor base 7 layer all day any day and Sunday and to hell with the ports

Unfortunately they are a little too big for that room in the front Id have to build a fake wall buy an AT screen and move the screen forward which would put it close to the front row. So it was a no go

Im not complaining tho my studio 5 lineup in the theater room sounds just delicious after dialing it in and for the price I spent I'm going to for the next couple years have a very hard time justifying anything else that can compete for them for THE PRICE I spent on them there is better out there but for the money I get enough from the 5's that other brands offer that I'm fine with them so I'm all super happy boy right now
 
AVUser001

AVUser001

Full Audioholic
Ummm... @Danzilla31 would so he could do 3 across the front... though he’d have to run the table at the next poker championship, first! ;)
Oh yeah, the identical LCRs! completely skipped my mind, as I was thinking only of 2 channels. I remember Gene talked about it too here optimizing LCR & Center channel designs

"The solution; and not an especially inexpensive one; is to use three identical front speakers positioned at the same height with at least the center (or all three) behind an acoustically-transparent screen with a front projector. This configuration absolutely nails the action and dialogue to the picture being displayed"

"In an ideal world we would have three (3) identical speakers with a vertical arrangement of drivers for the front left, front right and center speakers; hence the term “matching LCR’s”."


Thanks for the reminder.
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
Oh yeah, the identical LCRs! completely skipped my mind, as I was thinking only of 2 channels. I remember Gene talked about it too here optimizing LCR & Center channel designs

"The solution; and not an especially inexpensive one; is to use three identical front speakers positioned at the same height with at least the center (or all three) behind an acoustically-transparent screen with a front projector. This configuration absolutely nails the action and dialogue to the picture being displayed"

"In an ideal world we would have three (3) identical speakers with a vertical arrangement of drivers for the front left, front right and center speakers; hence the term “matching LCR’s”."


Thanks for the reminder.
Like this in my theater room? Lol.
20191210_111808.jpg


I got so hooked on it here's the one in my bedroom :D
20191221_170716.jpg


Unless I'm doing a 2 channel music setup for music only
That's the way I roll on all my regular setups if and when possible it really does sound amazing bro
 

Attachments

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Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
As you've noticed if I can get away with it I'll never do a t.v. again ever if I can get away with it the immersion of projection is just way too cool!
 
AVUser001

AVUser001

Full Audioholic
Like this in my theater room? Lol.
View attachment 33251

Unless I'm doing a 2 channel music setup for music only
That's the way I roll on all my regular setups if and when possible it really does sound amazing bro
That's cool! Room well treated too.. Bet you're spending a lot of time in here(that is , when you're not in the bedroom ;-))

"if and when possible" thats the key.
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
That's cool! Room well treated too.. Bet you're spending a lot of time in here(that is , when you're not in the bedroom ;-))

"if and when possible" thats the key.
Yeah I basically live upstairs when I can get away with it lol
 
AVUser001

AVUser001

Full Audioholic
As you've noticed if I can get away with it I'll never do a t.v. again ever if I can get away with it the immersion of projection is just way too cool!
I'm saving up for The wall, though ;-) If not 292 inches, atleast 130-140.
Scalable Microled tiles.. supposedly better than OLED & LCD . Very promising. Lets see how this shapes up for GA.
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
I'm saving up for The wall, though ;-) If not 292 inches, atleast 130-140.
Scalable Microled tiles.. supposedly better than OLED & LCD . Very promising. Lets see how this shapes up for GA.
Yeah it's gonna be a ways away yet but once it's up and running I'l be going in on those as well the picture not just size will be out of this world
 
AVUser001

AVUser001

Full Audioholic
the picture not just size will be out of this world
Concur..remains to be seen, but from what I've gathered, seems it overcomes the limitations of all the current technologies :
OLED (in terms of brightness,screen burn,overall life ); Projector (brightness, HDR/DV performance,resolution etc); LCD/LED( Contrast ratio(True blacks), TV size, viewing angle limitations))..., with the ability to turn-off individual micro-LEDs and custom scalability to large sizes, thats unrealistic in current LCD/OLED TVs.
probably going to cost an arm & leg , until its broadly adapted and mass produced across multiple companies, in the years to come.
 
D

David Harper

Audioholic Intern
After listening to my new maggie LRS speakers for about a month now they are the best sounding speaker I ever heard. But they have a down side; they're not capable of the kind of volume most audiophiles want. And they require a good powered sub. But after getting used to them I don't require that kind of volume anymore. It's a trade off: sound quality vs slam. I've got them driven by a new Schiit Vidar amp which is rated at 200 wpc into 4 ohms so the amp should be adequate. My previous Polk floorstanders were capable of awesome volume so the maggies took some getting used to for me. Another thing about them is they're very intolerant of bad source material. Compressed CD and mp3 sounds terrible. But well recorded source material sounds amazing. Acoustic instruments like guitar and piano sound as if they're actually in the room. You can hear the pick on the guitar strings and a piano key resonate in the wood structure of a piano. I think it's the speed of the ribbon drivers that sets these speakers apart from conventional dynamic drivers in a wooden box. Last weekend I connected a very good pair of B&W speakers and placed them next to the maggies and listened to them and all I could hear was a box and the mids sounded as if there was some kind of enclosure that they were playing thru. The tweeters had a familiar distortion (a gritty metallic sound) that I had stopped hearing with the maggies. The highs from the maggies are, perhaps, the best thing about them. I was never satisfied with the sound of a dynamic tweeter and I've been an audiophile for 40 years. Probably this is why Raidho speakers are so good, because of the ribbon tweeter.
 
John Parks

John Parks

Audioholic Samurai
After listening to my new maggie LRS speakers for about a month now they are the best sounding speaker I ever heard. But they have a down side; they're not capable of the kind of volume most audiophiles want. And they require a good powered sub. But after getting used to them I don't require that kind of volume anymore. It's a trade off: sound quality vs slam. I've got them driven by a new Schiit Vidar amp which is rated at 200 wpc into 4 ohms so the amp should be adequate. My previous Polk floorstanders were capable of awesome volume so the maggies took some getting used to for me. Another thing about them is they're very intolerant of bad source material. Compressed CD and mp3 sounds terrible. But well recorded source material sounds amazing. Acoustic instruments like guitar and piano sound as if they're actually in the room. You can hear the pick on the guitar strings and a piano key resonate in the wood structure of a piano. I think it's the speed of the ribbon drivers that sets these speakers apart from conventional dynamic drivers in a wooden box. Last weekend I connected a very good pair of B&W speakers and placed them next to the maggies and listened to them and all I could hear was a box and the mids sounded as if there was some kind of enclosure that they were playing thru. The tweeters had a familiar distortion (a gritty metallic sound) that I had stopped hearing with the maggies. The highs from the maggies are, perhaps, the best thing about them. I was never satisfied with the sound of a dynamic tweeter and I've been an audiophile for 40 years. Probably this is why Raidho speakers are so good, because of the ribbon tweeter.
Maggies are indeed special speakers but (and here is the big but!) they are very music dependent. From my experience (which is admittedly limited) they excel on acoustic, jazz and small scale classical. The largest model I have auditioned was, I believe, the 1.6 (which has been replaced by the 1.7 and 1.7i [I find it humorous that so many companies now use a lower case 'i' in their product models because of Apple]) and it was fantastic on the types program I mentioned. However, a lot of the music I enjoy just did not come across as dynamic or explosive as it should because of the nature of the radiating panel. There are just some things a traditional speaker can do that a Maggie cannot (and vice versa!). I cannot speak for the really big models like the 20 or 30 as I have never heard them.

I am glad to hear you are enjoying yours! Magnepan owners are very loyal.
 
D

David Harper

Audioholic Intern
Maggies are indeed special speakers but (and here is the big but!) they are very music dependent. From my experience (which is admittedly limited) they excel on acoustic, jazz and small scale classical. The largest model I have auditioned was, I believe, the 1.6 (which has been replaced by the 1.7 and 1.7i [I find it humorous that so many companies now use a lower case 'i' in their product models because of Apple]) and it was fantastic on the types program I mentioned. However, a lot of the music I enjoy just did not come across as dynamic or explosive as it should because of the nature of the radiating panel. There are just some things a traditional speaker can do that a Maggie cannot (and vice versa!). I cannot speak for the really big models like the 20 or 30 as I have never heard them.

I am glad to hear you are enjoying yours! Magnepan owners are very loyal.
my experience exactly. At first I thought I made a mistake buying the maggies. They just didn't satisfy my need for dynamism , slam, and volume( which I was used to from my previous speakers). But I decided to wait and give them a chance. Glad I did because now I love them. With my old system I loved ZZ Top "La Grange, Sharp dressed Man, Gimme some Tush" but the maggies can't really cut it the way my previous Polk floorstanders did with this kind of music. But the addition of a B&W powered sub with 400 watts built in helped greatly. With the sub the maggies now have some balls.
 
Mikado463

Mikado463

Audioholic Spartan
my experience exactly. At first I thought I made a mistake buying the maggies. They just didn't satisfy my need for dynamism , slam, and volume( which I was used to from my previous speakers). But I decided to wait and give them a chance. Glad I did because now I love them. With my old system I loved ZZ Top "La Grange, Sharp dressed Man, Gimme some Tush" but the maggies can't really cut it the way my previous Polk floorstanders did with this kind of music. But the addition of a B&W powered sub with 400 watts built in helped greatly. With the sub the maggies now have some balls.
as you have found out Maggies are truly superb speakers and the LRS's combined with a capable sub (or two) perform way beyond there price point !
 
E

Edgar Betancourt

Junior Audioholic
Kind of a misnomer since there is no best speaker. Everyone has their own particular tastes. For stereo fans the best speaker is a speaker with least coloration, the most accurate frequency response and most faithful reproduction of what was fed to them. In effect the most transparent transducer. Of course, no speaker does this so we have to settle for the ones that get the closest. There are many brands that come closest, B&W, Focal, KEF, Wilson Audio among others. One thing to remember, if you don't like the particular sound of a speaker when driven by decent equipment there are plenty others to choose from. Its a personal choice. Its also dependent on what you listen to. If listening to loud heavy metal is your thing how accurate your speakers are is a secondary concern sound output and sturdiness would be more important.
 
V

VMPS-TIII

Audioholic General
I have a pair of 20 year old VMPS Tower III's that are my favorite. I also have B&W 801's in another room but they can't compete with the Tower III's. In my listening room I use the VMPS Tower III's as front L/R, Paradigm Studio Monitors on the sides and a pair of VMPS Dipoles in the rear. I love the wall of sound when Denon is set in multichannel stereo. ;-)
 
V

viseral audio

Audioholic
sorry to jump in but I have SVS ultra towers set up in 2 channel and I really love the sound of these, detail imaging, crisp bass, natural midrange. but of course I haven't auditioned near the brands of others.
 
B

Bernie Williams

Junior Audioholic
Just curious: How effective are those ATMOS speakers at "bouncing" sound off the ceiling?
 
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