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  1. #1
    Suspended topspeed's Avatar
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    Top 3 Speakers You'd Like To Hear

    Through the years, I've been fortunate enough to audition a fair amount of speakers, even statement speaks such as ML Odyssey's, Von Schweikert VR11's, and Wilson WP7's (OK, this isn't a "statement" speaker, but it's still my fave). If you attend the CES or THE, you've heard more than most. However, it's humanly impossible to hear them all.

    So, with that in mind, what are your Top 3 speakers you would like to hear? I want you to think about this for awhile and not ramble off a laundry list of gear, which is why it's limited to 3. Your reasons can be anything; from wanting to hear a certain speaker because you're in the market to just simple curiousity. They can be from any era, in production or gone the way of the Do-Do bird. Anything.

    Here's mine:

    1) Avant Garde Trio and Basshorns: Giant horns look like too much fun to pass up.

    2) Apogee Divas: Ugh, as much as I hate to admit it, after reading a review in an old Stereophile, I'd like to know what Flo keeps blathering on about. (I'm never going to live this one down )

    3) Dali Megalines or Euphonia's: Lordy, these are gorgeous and I want to see if it would be something I'd want to buy (the Euphonia's...I couldn't bring myself to waste that much $$$ on the Megalines).

    BTW, this list is subject to change by the hour .

  2. #2
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    Ditto on Florian's setup. I'd really like to hear those...

    jocko

  3. #3
    Shostakovich fan Feanor's Avatar
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    Nice list! To which I'd add ...

    Quote Originally Posted by topspeed
    ....

    1) Avant Garde Trio and Basshorns: Giant horns look like too much fun to pass up.

    2) Apogee Divas: Ugh, as much as I hate to admit it, after reading a review in an old Stereophile, I'd like to know what Flo keeps blathering on about. (I'm never going to live this one down )

    3) Dali Megalines or Euphonia's: Lordy, these are gorgeous and I want to see if it would be something I'd want to buy (the Euphonia's...I couldn't bring myself to waste that much $$$ on the Megalines).

    BTW, this list is subject to change by the hour .
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  4. #4
    Music Junkie E-Stat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by topspeed
    So, with that in mind, what are your Top 3 speakers you would like to hear?
    1) Avant Garde Trio and Basshorns: Giant horns look like too much fun to pass up.

    2) Apogee Divas: Ugh, as much as I hate to admit it, after reading a review in an old Stereophile
    Ditto.

    3) Sound Lab Majestics with UB-1 subwoofers. Gotta love a nine foot tall full range electrostat along with a matching flat to 26 hz double diaphragm electrostatic woofer! Drive mine with VTL Siegfrieds.

    rw

  5. #5
    Forum Regular Florian's Avatar
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    Mine would be the rarest Apogee Grand. Hearing my system is not a problem, many have listend to it. Just yesterday i had a guy over for a listening session and he said that the next thing was a live concert. I am done, no real wishes left. I'll just buy music now
    Some people should start listening and not reading all these adverts on this site.

    -Flo

    PS: Dont sweat it Topspeed, after all i am just an IP Adress. Look at my pictzre gallery and you can, if you like read this article and read it carefully and you will understand how they sound like. He quotes unfortunatly a wrong frequency reponse, the real drop off ocurs at 23Hz by 1db and mine are EQ-ed flat to 20Hz with extension to 18Hz.

    Search for the ultimate speaker
    Last edited by Florian; 02-17-2006 at 01:51 AM.
    Lots of music but not enough time for it all

  6. #6
    Forum Regular Florian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy C
    ... the huge horns from Acapella Audio Arts.

    Actually, any of their models seem interesting - plasma/ion tweeter (forgot which) and all.
    You should come my way then, they showed them last year in Munich at the High End 2005. Was quite good, actually!
    Lots of music but not enough time for it all

  7. #7
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    I'll pick just one...

    ... the huge horns from Acapella Audio Arts.

    Actually, any of their models seem interesting - plasma/ion tweeter (forgot which) and all.

  8. #8
    Class of the clown GMichael's Avatar
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    Just 3? Oh come on.

    1) Ditto on the Apogee's. There must be a reason why Flo gets so hot about them.
    2) Maggie 1.6's. I know, these are not the best. But I have heard other maggies and enjoyed them. These are about as much as I would spend on a pair speakers. On my wish list with the mini-mags.
    3) Legacy Whispers. They look so cool and the stats are fantastic.
    4) Speed won't let me say.
    5) Speed won't let me say.
    6)
    etc.....
    WARNING! - The Surgeon General has determined that, time spent listening to music is not deducted from one's lifespan.

  9. #9
    If you can't run-walk. Bernd's Avatar
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    Well I thought about it and it didn't hurt a bit.

    1) Avalon Eidolon Diamond-Anything that looks that good has to sound sublime.

    2) Perigee Definitive- I just would like to hear them

    3) ART Emotion Silver Signature- The cost no object upgrade to my new speakers. P.O.A.

    The power of music gives you wings

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  10. #10
    Silence of the spam Site Moderator Geoffcin's Avatar
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    Good question!

    Quote Originally Posted by topspeed
    BTW, this list is subject to change by the hour .
    1) Pipedreams

    2) The big Martin Logans

    3) The Manger speakers with "bending wave" tech
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  11. #11
    Suspended topspeed's Avatar
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    Flo,
    Thanks for the link, but I like to listen with my ears, not my eyes . Stats are the beginning, but by no means are they the end.

    GM,
    My buddy just bought Whispers so I'll be auditioning them within the next few weeks or so. These were also something I wanted to hear...and now I get to .

  12. #12
    Forum Regular Florian's Avatar
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    Yups, Stats are the beginning but not the end. Thats why i dont have stats
    Your welcome to stop by for a listen, if your ever in germany.

    -Flo
    Lots of music but not enough time for it all

  13. #13
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    In my area I have been fortunate enough to hear the top of the line Dynaudio, Martin Logan's and B&W's.

    Off the top of my head here's my 3:
    1) Avante Garde, I have yet to hear a good sounding efficient speaker and these costing $25k and up surely have my curiosity.
    2) Something toward the top of the Wilson line to see if they live up to the buzz.
    3) Top of the line Audio Note. Can anything really sound like $225k?

    Don't scurge me, tie for runners up. Merlin, again curiosity. Klipschorns or La Scalla's to see if Klipsch actually did make a speaker that I could tolerate.

  14. #14
    RGA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
    In my area I have been fortunate enough to hear the top of the line Dynaudio, Martin Logan's and B&W's.

    Off the top of my head here's my 3:
    1) Avante Garde, I have yet to hear a good sounding efficient speaker and these costing $25k and up surely have my curiosity.
    2) Something toward the top of the Wilson line to see if they live up to the buzz.
    3) Top of the line Audio Note. Can anything really sound like $225k?

    Don't scurge me, tie for runners up. Merlin, again curiosity. Klipschorns or La Scalla's to see if Klipsch actually did make a speaker that I could tolerate.
    Mr. Peabody. Well you know there are at least THREE people in my area who have flown all the way to England for holidays with the main priority of listening to Audio Note gear at Peter's house. Flights are a cheap investment. Peter owns a set of Avante Guardes which he purchased for research purposes -- he has owned or still does own Apogee Scintilla's, Acoustats, Beveridge systems, various Lowthers, Quads and pretty much every and any high end speaker that has been built over the last 40 years. The man is a collector as well as an audiophile. You may be able to hear all three on your wish list though perhaps not the Wilsons, to audition in an A/B comparison.

    Wilson though should not be too difficult for you to locate. Sound Plus here carries Wilson's Sophia which I heard. If you've heard the Gershman Acoustics X-1/Sub one you can pretty much expect the same thing -- though I think the Gershman's at about 1/4 the money (and nicer looks to boot) sounds better from a music standpoint.

    The $125k E version is made to order (you pay up front and then wait about a year for it) so I should gather that you would have to go to his house to hear it. And to put it bluntly -- for that kind of money I would want the owner himself to play it for me. There is over $40,000.00 worth of silver in the loudspeakers so you are not going to run into them very much.

    That speaker set-up would be on my list of want to auditionsas well as would be Peter's Snell A/III and perhaps a big lowther.

  15. #15
    Silence of the spam Site Moderator Geoffcin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RGA
    The $125k E version is made to order (you pay up front and then wait about a year for it) so I should gather that you would have to go to his house to hear it. And to put it bluntly -- for that kind of money I would want the owner himself to play it for me. There is over $40,000.00 worth of silver in the loudspeakers so you are not going to run into them very much.

    That speaker set-up would be on my list of want to auditionsas well as would be Peter's Snell A/III and perhaps a big lowther.
    Spot price for silver is about $9.50 a Troy Oz. So these speakers would have to have about 4,210. troy oz of silver in them, or about 289 US lbs. Are they working speakers, or a metal investment? I assume all this silver is for mass loading, as I can't see any other need for it. I suppose it would work better than sand given the density of silver. Of course you don't have to polish sand.
    Audio;
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  16. #16
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    Thanks, I'll put that on my "to do" list That is the "to do" list right after I win the lottery. It is sincerely a trip I'd love to make though and I'm sure it would be very enlightening.

    Was Peter the one who died at CES? I remember the name sounded Japanese but I thought Audio Note was a British company.

  17. #17
    Forum Regular Mike Anderson's Avatar
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    1) Wilson Alexandria X-2
    2) Magnepan 20.1
    3) Florian's Apogee Divas
    Last edited by Mike Anderson; 02-19-2006 at 09:58 PM.
    There's an audiophile born every minute. Congratulations; you're right on time.

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  18. #18
    Forum Regular Florian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
    Thanks, I'll put that on my "to do" list That is the "to do" list right after I win the lottery. It is sincerely a trip I'd love to make though and I'm sure it would be very enlightening.

    Was Peter the one who died at CES? I remember the name sounded Japanese but I thought Audio Note was a British company.
    No, the person who died was the actual designer, brains, founder and genius maker of the AN Ongaku and did not sell or make the speakers from Audio Note UK
    Last edited by Florian; 02-20-2006 at 05:35 AM.
    Lots of music but not enough time for it all

  19. #19
    Silence of the spam Site Moderator Geoffcin's Avatar
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    I'ld rather have the silver in bars.

    Much easier to mass load the cabinets with.
    Audio;
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  20. #20
    RGA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Geoffcin
    Spot price for silver is about $9.50 a Troy Oz. So these speakers would have to have about 4,210. troy oz of silver in them, or about 289 US lbs. Are they working speakers, or a metal investment? I assume all this silver is for mass loading, as I can't see any other need for it. I suppose it would work better than sand given the density of silver. Of course you don't have to polish sand.
    No this is the cost not just of the silver but the cost of forming the silver

    "AN-E SOGON, between 35 and 45 kgs of 99.99% pure silver foil contained in the approximately 60 x 3.3uF silver foil capacitors, the couple of silver wires chokes used, plus the 7 meters plus SOGON (there's that word again!) speaker cable used to connect to the external crossovers, drivers contained in hand made enclosures using the best AA grade veneer available coated with 8 layers of hand polished piano lacquer..../...Just for the record, the price you quote is the spot price for silver in bars, not for foil, for your information the cost of specially heat treated 73 mm wide 0.023mm thick silver foil is far far higher than that, more like $ 350.00 - $ 500.00 a kilogram, dependent on quantity. Then the foil has to be wound into capacitors, assembled with copper casing, mylar film, and terminated with silver wire lead outs, because of the sheer weight of the silver foil, the wastage is high, about 25-30% (because of the height and weight of the stack on 1 in every 4 caps on average the stack collapses when it is taken off the machine)."

  21. #21
    Forum Regular Florian's Avatar
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    Oh come on RGA, the Audio Note stuff is seriously overprized and one of the most controversial products in the entire HIFI realm along with the Red Clock. Its great that they use so much silver etc.. but charging over a 100 Grand for silver, 2 drivers and a normal wooden cabinet is just out of this world.
    Lots of music but not enough time for it all

  22. #22
    RGA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
    Thanks, I'll put that on my "to do" list That is the "to do" list right after I win the lottery. It is sincerely a trip I'd love to make though and I'm sure it would be very enlightening.

    Was Peter the one who died at CES? I remember the name sounded Japanese but I thought Audio Note was a British company.
    No. Kondo-San the founder and original proponant of Silver passed away at the CES. Peter Qvortrup is not a design engineer. He is a music lover and was a dealer who put the money up and was the distributor for Kondo-San and then became his partner. Peter decided which products would be sold which designs Kondo was making sounded best and put Audio Note on the map. Peter hired another very good designer by the name of Andy Grove who developed with Peter the no sampling DAC which Kondo copied later when the two men split in the late 1990's due to philisophical and financial arguments. You can read about it here http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?...up&r=&session=

    You can listen to the Kondo Ongaku and the new AN UK Ongaku at Peter's house and determine for yourself which Ongaku sounds better. Kondo, from pictures of his plant uses the AN E to voice his products but AN UK has the rights to the Snell designs. Kondo then made speakers called the Ruthy series but they have not been well received and as such he used another company's speaker at this year's CES. Andy Grove has been commisioned out to design amplifiers by other companies such as Quad. Peter Qvortrup listens and is the ultimate decision maker - Grove is the guy who implements and does the designing and they actually were responsible for making improvements in the Japanese plant such as quality control. Grove is from what I can determine the guy who creates the technical follow-thru of what Peter wants to be the result. Comnpanies need more than great designers - they also need a keen sense of the market which is why very rarely can one person operate a successful audio company by himself -- people bring different talents to the table.

    As the fellow here who went from Mark Levinson's/ Cello big ass system to an AN level 5 system noted that Mark Levinson while a good designer was a terrible businessman and he's into his third company now. The current Mark Levinson for example is not a Mark Levinson design - in a way he lost his own name to financial difficulty and when he was bought out the name went with it. He is now making Red Rose or something.

  23. #23
    Tyler Acoustics Fan drseid's Avatar
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    1) Lumen White Diamond Light (or any Lumen White speaker)
    2) Legacy Audio Helix
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  24. #24
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    I can think of a few innovative designs I'd like to hear and these would be on the top of my list.

    1. The GedLee 'Summa.' Earl Geddes is an expert on small room acoustics and he has some interesting and plausible ideas.

    http://www.gedlee.com/
    http://www.gedlee.com/Summa.htm

    2. Linkwitz Labs 'Orion.' Another design by a real expert, which is said to sound excellent.

    http://www.linkwitzlab.com/

    3. VMPS Audio new speakers with the Constant Directivity Wave Guide. Brian Cheney seems quite proud of his latest effort. Well, I'd like to hear some of his other models, too.

    http://www.vmpsaudio.com/
    "Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony."
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  25. #25
    Forum Regular Florian's Avatar
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    Hello Pat.

    I have a VMPS RM30M and a VMPS 626R here and can only suggest that you satay far away. I had nothing but problems, with build and sound quality. I am getting a fully loaded RM30M with the CDWG but have offered it for sale already to get some small Apogee's for my parents.

    -Florian
    Lots of music but not enough time for it all

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