Your all time favorite loudspeakers

[highfigh]

Interesting, those Wilson speakers always reminded me of a 50's era amusement park trash can........

As for my choice, I gotta go back 47 years to my Dahlquist DQ-10's or my Maggie MGIII's that replaced them 5 years later.

Do they remind you of this?

 

[Happy Joe]

I tend to keep speakers/equipment and use it until it fails/wears out; accordingly I have only owned a very few speakers/systems worth mentioning;
Stacked 2 pairs of 2 EPI 100 speakers vertically on stands and used them with a home built sub for 20+ years
in various configurations; bi-amp, stereo and 5.1...

When the drivers started failing (~2 decades ago) I inventoried the local audio emporiums and found a pair of NHT 2.5 I towers that closely emulated the sound of the EPIs (though not as smoothly); appreciated these for about 20 years mostly in stereo and 5.1 configurations; until they were blown out by a S**y attempt at a room equalization program... (in fairness; they were pretty old).

...Sought some replacement towers and gambled on a pair of polk r700s ... (I rate them, at best as; as fair to good). ...Santa; hear my plea and bring me a better pair of main speakers...
While attempting to get acceptable sound from the polks I have acquired;
an SVS ultra Center channel speaker (I rate it as very good).
and a RSL 12" Speedwoofer, subwoofer (I rate it as very good to great).

The blown NHTs have been partially revived using some highly rated replacement mid/bass drivers and some modified (turned the faceplates smaller to fit the speaker boxes) titanium tweeters from parts express and are currently serving as rear speakers...
.
Currently my last pair of EPI 100 bookshelf speakers are being renovated... up dated/upgraded tweeters scheduled for delivery Tuesday...

My theory is; If it sounds good; enjoy it, until it doesn't... then fix or replace until it sounds good and...

Enjoy!

 

[Happy Joe]

Do they remind you of this?

View attachment 74445

We had one of those when I was a child ...it was even yellow...

Enjoy!

 

[DrMorbius]

Yea, those Wilson’s are one ugly puppy. And for the price I thought they would blow me over. Never happened.

 

[Eppie]

All time favorite for me comes down to which speakers sounded the most realistic.

First speakers to really impress me were the JBL L300 Summit. You won't lack for bass with that 15" woofer but too large for our current home. If we had a bigger place I would love to hunt down a pair but even after 50 years they command around $5,000.

Most realistic speakers that I ever heard were a friend's Magnapan 3.6 Magnaplaner (72" tall). He spent a lot of time tweaking that system and when you sat in the sweet spot it sounded like the band was live right in front of you (a Dianna Krall recording). Those speakers needed a proper room and beefy amplification but could accomplish amazing sound in the right environment.

Latest speaker to impress me was the Salk Varacity that Swerd owned. Those would be end-game speakers for me. The TL design produces wonderful bass and the Seas drivers with the RAAL tweeter are such a great combination. Such beautiful vocals and the speakers had a wide sweet spot to boot so the setup is not so challenging. Build quality was top notch too.

 

[highfigh]

We had one of those when I was a child ...it was even yellow...

Enjoy!

Ours was red. Occasionally, I go to meet with or work for someone who has one and they only buy them because they like anything that's called 'Mid-Century Modern'.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I think the B&W 800’s are the absolute best looking speakers in the world. Yet, many people think they are ugly. So we all love different aesthetics.

Like these? I love how they look too.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Do they remind you of this?

View attachment 74445

We have one of those still. Lol. In yellow…
The Wilson remind me of this…

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Like these? I love how they look too.

Yeah I love how all the B&W 800D’s look.

 

[highfigh]

Yeah I love how all the B&W 800D’s look.

Wow! They look like they're ging REALLY fast!

 

[Happy Joe]

Like these? I love how they look too.

Those, vaguely, look like some tweet/mid-range columns that I made in the 1970s; from large diameter ABS pipe (trying to phase align the drivers and eliminate cabinet reflections & resonances), then hid the drivers behind a cylindrical foam grill. As dark foam cylinders they basically disappeared into the room.... listened to them in a tri-amp setup until the 1980's, when the foam in the grilles degraded, shedding particles.

I don't care for shiny plastic looks... As art pieces I suppose some plastic aficionados might find them attractive. In a retro, 1930's, kind of way.

...visual perfection/aesthetics, is/are almost totally subjective, (IMO) in any case...

Enjoy!

 

[DrMorbius]

Those, vaguely, look like some tweet/mid-range columns that I made in the 1970s; from large diameter ABS pipe (trying to phase align the drivers and eliminate cabinet reflections & resonances), then hid the drivers behind a cylindrical foam grill. As dark foam cylinders they basically disappeared into the room.... listened to them in a tri-amp setup until the 1980's, when the foam in the grilles degraded, shedding particles.

I don't care for shiny plastic looks... As art pieces I suppose some plastic aficionados might find them attractive. In a retro, 1930's, kind of way.

...visual perfection/aesthetics, is/are almost totally subjective, (IMO) in any case...

Enjoy!

Art Deco, anybody?

 

[dlaloum]

Those, vaguely, look like some tweet/mid-range columns that I made in the 1970s; from large diameter ABS pipe (trying to phase align the drivers and eliminate cabinet reflections & resonances), then hid the drivers behind a cylindrical foam grill. As dark foam cylinders they basically disappeared into the room.... listened to them in a tri-amp setup until the 1980's, when the foam in the grilles degraded, shedding particles.

I don't care for shiny plastic looks... As art pieces I suppose some plastic aficionados might find them attractive. In a retro, 1930's, kind of way.

...visual perfection/aesthetics, is/are almost totally subjective, (IMO) in any case...

Enjoy!

Reminds me of the comment by one of the Mercedes craftsmen who used to make the lovely polished dashes some of the classic models had.... He boasted that his work was so good, it was indistinguishable from plastic....

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Those, vaguely, look like some tweet/mid-range columns that I made in the 1970s; from large diameter ABS pipe (trying to phase align the drivers and eliminate cabinet reflections & resonances), then hid the drivers behind a cylindrical foam grill. As dark foam cylinders they basically disappeared into the room.... listened to them in a tri-amp setup until the 1980's, when the foam in the grilles degraded, shedding particles.

I don't care for shiny plastic looks... As art pieces I suppose some plastic aficionados might find them attractive. In a retro, 1930's, kind of way.

...visual perfection/aesthetics, is/are almost totally subjective, (IMO) in any case...

Enjoy!

Very very subjective.

I do prefer the Wood look and feel of the older B&W 800D’s over the newer “plastic-like” aesthetic.

But again, I do realize that many people, including my wife, think all of the B&W 800’s look ugly.