Addressing the original question
Its a very difficult question to answer. First there are many speakers out there made by small manufacturers, you are unlikely ever to hear, that, to my ears anyway, simply blow away commercial stuff.
There is a guy in Sydney Australia who has a home made Axiom 80 based system that is very famous. Some guys from the US were in Sydney and decided to check it out, as well as other systems here in Aus. Their verdict was it outshone by a wide margin anything else they heard here or in the US.
But of the speakers most people are likely to have access to, my personal favourite is the Rockport's. That however is just my view. For example I don't like Magico much - too brittle in their sound for me - yet some love em. I really dislike B&W's 802D's - grungy midrange, boomy bass and tissy treble - but again some love em and really argue with me about why I feel that way about them despite I am not the only one of that view. Heard the PSB Synchrony a while ago and thought they were ghastly - but again some love em. The Martin Logans have this utterly entrancing midrange you can reach out and touch, but sound disjointed in the bass as if you are listening to a separate subwoffer. Yet some are not bothered by this at all.
I could go on but hopefully you get the idea there is really no answer to such questions except to experience it yourself.
Thanks
Bill
Its a very difficult question to answer. First there are many speakers out there made by small manufacturers, you are unlikely ever to hear, that, to my ears anyway, simply blow away commercial stuff.
There is a guy in Sydney Australia who has a home made Axiom 80 based system that is very famous. Some guys from the US were in Sydney and decided to check it out, as well as other systems here in Aus. Their verdict was it outshone by a wide margin anything else they heard here or in the US.
But of the speakers most people are likely to have access to, my personal favourite is the Rockport's. That however is just my view. For example I don't like Magico much - too brittle in their sound for me - yet some love em. I really dislike B&W's 802D's - grungy midrange, boomy bass and tissy treble - but again some love em and really argue with me about why I feel that way about them despite I am not the only one of that view. Heard the PSB Synchrony a while ago and thought they were ghastly - but again some love em. The Martin Logans have this utterly entrancing midrange you can reach out and touch, but sound disjointed in the bass as if you are listening to a separate subwoffer. Yet some are not bothered by this at all.
I could go on but hopefully you get the idea there is really no answer to such questions except to experience it yourself.
Thanks
Bill