Speakers You Have Known And Loved...

OK - this isn't about speakers you'd like to own. This is about speakers you have known, lived with, and loved.

I've spent 20 odd years with MLs, so I guess I qualify as loving them. But there have been others. What about you?

Feel free to nominate your MLs, after all, you're a forum member, but what I'm really curious to know about is what other speakers you've owned that you've really liked.

Rose tinted memories sometimes tarnish the truth, so have a good think, and when you're done, let us all know your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

Neat question.

I have a soft spot for two speaker companies that I bought from:

JBL L200 studio masters. I had four in a quad setup in the 70's. I still regret selling all four and wish to God I had retained a set. I came within a hairsbreadth of putting 4350's on reserve and backed off. Wish to God I bought a set. 40 years later and I still miss the efficiency and dynamics of JBL's. If I had the room I would have a SET setup with a set of classic JBL's.

Infinity 4.5. I purchased these as replacements for my L200's. Love/Hate as it was truly an audiophile product. They needed gobs of power. I biamped using Hafler 500's and routinely blew 10 amp fuses. Those ribbons resolved better than the JBL's and were the speaker that amazed me with a "stage".

I have heard some very nice products over the decades, top line B&W's, Avalon, KEF's, Dunleavy's, etc over the years. Cones and domes just do not turn my crank like ribbons, horns, and, of course, stats.

1977: M&K Satellite-1 and Volkswoofer system
Mid-late 80's: KEF 104.2's then the 105.2's

Still have the KEFs around in various systems... :music:

DCM time Window 3. I had them in my youth and they were powered by twin M500t Carver amps. Man they had a soundstage. It was a bit overdone but fun to listen to never the less.

I have always had a thing for Appogee as there were several dealers here to listen to them.

Quad ESL 57's. No intro needed.

Wow, so many speakers over so many years and so many lost memories ago. Let's see if my RAM is working.

It goes without saying Martin Logan CLS are some of my most favorite speakers ever. This quantified by the fact they have been in a working system in my house for over 15 years (the longest of any speaker). These speakers fill a room with a huge sound stage, transparency and speed that is aural bliss.

I like Altec A7 Voice of the Theater for that large horn. They don't need much power but they do better in a larger room. Their near field has weak bass, as the bass fold is about 15 feet out. Open airy and articulate.

Roksan Rok 1 were a surprise for me. I wasn't expecting much from this small speakers considering I love large speakers but these sounded larger than their size. They had a liquid midrange and good bass. They also looked really good in rosewood.

A true gem is the Optimus LX4 speakers. Yes Radio Shack speakers. I have fooled many a listener by having them sitting on some larger speakers and asked if the listener like the sound. They always think the larger speakers are playing. They are blown away to find out the little speaker has such a huge sound stage filling the room with music and real bass. The 4" Kevlar woofer and Linaeum tweeter do a superb job even for the more critical lisenter.

Justin, you are trying to get me in trouble... I loved the Spires, but I really love the Soundlabs. Here are the differences between Soundlabs and Logans (especially CLX, to be fair).

Logans are brighter and faster, while the Soundlabs are darker, warmer, and go deeper in the bass. Logans are more dynamic and have faster bass (unless one has Soundlab px technology panels). Logans are more transparent and throw a lot of detail at you. This is really sublime on good recordings, and not so good on crappy or average recordings. It is also not good with weaker electronics. Soundlabs sound much better with an Oppo as the source than the Logans. Soundlabs have more nuance; they reveal inner details in a musical way that reach the heart rather the mind. Soundlabs make everything sound real - they are better at communicating emotion. Logans are better at communicating what really happened in the recording studio or at the show.

I guess it ultimately depends if the customer is looking for the speaker to tell the honest truth or if one wants everything to sound real and beautiful. I guess the truly lucky will own both.

Acoustat Model Three
Acoustat Model Six
Spica TC-50
Dahlquist DQ-10

FoxMulder said:

Dahlquist DQ-10

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Ahhhhh yes they remain in a sweet part of my audio memory as well, along with my Maggie 3.6's !

Wardsweb said:

A true gem is the Optimus LX4 speakers. Yes Radio Shack speakers.

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Hey, don't apologize. I used Radio Shack speakers when I was an impoverished student. I had a choice between no music and listening to Radio Scrap (I have no idea about the model number); it was a no-brainer.

a/d/s

Still have and love my 22 year old a/d/s M-12 tower speakers.

a/d/s (analog & digital sytems) sadly no longer exists as a consumer speaker manufacturer. They used to make some awesome car stereo pieces as well. I think they were fairly well respected at the time.

I was 17 when I bought these and they were $3,000/pair back then if I recall. Don't know what that would be in today's $ but it was a lot of part time work at a fast food restaurant for me

Past Affairs with Speakers

User211 said:

OK - this isn't about speakers you'd like to own. This is about speakers you have known, lived with, and loved.

I've spent 20 odd years with MLs, so I guess I qualify as loving them. But there have been others. What about you?

Feel free to nominate your MLs, after all, you're a forum member, but what I'm really curious to know about is what other speakers you've owned that you've really liked.

Rose tinted memories sometimes tarnish the truth, so have a good think, and when you're done, let us all know your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

I have owned MANY speakers, starting with the AR-3as (not bad for a college student who lived down the street from Acoustic Research). But I fell in love with Planar speakers. Got the bug with the Koss Model 1a's. Big sound, tunable but unfortunately not unbreakable. Then came the Acoustat 2+2's followed by the Spectra 66's. The latter created the biggest sound stage I have ever heard in my round but lacked some depth and definition and needed tubes. Before I got into ML (CLX being my current personal favorite), I had an original pair of Roger Sanders Innersound Eros driven by the Innersound amplifier. A great system, incredible detail and depth but extremely-and I mean extremely-narrow sweet spot. From there, on to the ML Ascent-i's, the Summits and now the CLX. I have heard just about every planar speaker out there including the Apogees (reliability and amplifier matching issues), Quads (ditto until the most recent models), Magnepan, and Soundlabs. The latter create a huge soundspace but are just too big and heavy for my room. Also heard Dayton Wrights but boy were they hazardous and too quirky. Didn't mention a number of box speakers in between but none gave me the imaging and clarity of ESLs.

my infinity ref.5 were my first "real" speakers... loved them more than my girlfriend! lol luckily my wife understands and is ok with my a/v hobby!

DQ 10 with the infamous Sequerra (cyclopes) ribbon tweeter.

Acoustat 1 + 1's.

After the 1 + 1's, it's been all ML.

GG

Wardsweb said:

A true gem is the Optimus LX4 speakers. Yes Radio Shack speakers. I have fooled many a listener by having them sitting on some larger speakers and asked if the listener like the sound. They always think the larger speakers are playing. They are blown away to find out the little speaker has such a huge sound stage filling the room with music and real bass. The 4" Kevlar woofer and Linaeum tweeter do a superb job even for the more critical lisenter.

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I've got a set of these in a small system set up in my basement right now and I couldn't agree more. Very good little speakers.

I used to have a very early set of Mirage's (can't remember the model number), that I really enjoyed for a number of years before I bought my first set of Martin Logans (Sequel's).

I do not know if I belong in this thread, but I feel like sharing.

I have not owned any of the following speakers, but have spent enough time with each to know what I love about each one.

In no particular order,

ML Prodigy (gratuitious, yes true inclusion)
B&W Silver Signature
Krell LAT-2
Wilson MAXX 2/WP 7.1/Sophia
Vandersteen 1/2/3/2WQ
Zu Druid MKIV
Paradigm Signature S1 v.2

Two sets of Allison Four speakers came with the house we purchased about 12 years ago. One set in the LR, and another set in the kitchen. Nicely mounted flat against the walls (as per spec). I think these were from around 1977 or so.

Vintage speakers, but geez are they good! :music:

Hmmmm....

ESS AMT-1's
Magnepan Tympani's
Magnepan 20.1's
Acoustat 1+1 and 2+2's
Spica TC-50's
Rogers LS3/5a's
Celestion SL600's
Vandersteen 1C's
ProAc Tablette's
Harbeth Compact 7's
Harbeth Monitor 40.1's
Meridian 7200's
ML CLS
ML Aerius
ML CLX
Tetra 506 Custom
Verity Audio Rienze
GamuT S-7
YG Acoustics Anat II
Focal Diablo Utopia
Apogee Caliper Signatures

Those are my current faves that I've owned
and/or lived with long term.

Spica TC-50's

From 60Hz to about 12K these were amongst the most coherent and integrated speakers I've ever owned. No bass and not too much treble but what they did with the meat of the music was magical. After modding the x-over they were more extended and lost none of their magic.

ML Aerius (my introduction to ML)

Audio Physic Spark (The original model with the ring radiator tweeter) - one of the most electrostatic sounding "box" speaker I've ever heard......still.

Other Australian speakers from Sonique and Duntech - at the lower end of the market (say below around $AUD5,000) the Australian speakers (without import duty, distributor markups, et al) are substantially better value.

And I can't forget to mention my first "real" speaker, the KEF K140, driven by Harman/Kardon electronics. Wow, that sounded great in its day!!