What are some of the most underrated and overrated loudspeakers you’ve auditioned?

dave123456
You are right,many hyped dac are non musical and many speakers also, perhaps most... Paired them and you will understand the ordeal I go trough at the end of seven years and many thousand dollars of expanse for my journey...Now I am satisfied oufff...Music and analytical microscopes are incompatible in audio, it is my humble experience..."details without whole" are engineered hallucinations or obsessions not music...

By the way price are no indication in general of quality"per se"... A simple example, the best headphone I own is the headphone I pay 50 bucks new many years ago and they are better if properly damped  than all my others including 2 Stax, hifiman HE 400, and AKG 340 and AKG 701...Then price in speakers are not also an indication of quality of sound "per se" in general... For sure anybody knows that we must pay for quality but it is a very general rule with many, many, exceptions...This Fostex can are one...

winnardt2 posts08-30-2019 4:55pm mahgister

You do realize that the MMGs are Magnepan’s entry level speaker and cost $600/pair, don’t you? You called them "top level speakers" and then proceeded to discredit them when compared to your Mission Cyrus 781 at $900/pair. Sure, the MMG owner may not have prepared his listening room correctly or even had them set up correctly, negatively impacting the sound, but Magnepans have traditionally been thought of as some of the best value speakers on the market, regardless of price, especially when paired with a sub. It’s possible that I’m a bit biased because I bought a pair of 15 year old Magnepan 20.1s (originally $12,500) for $5,500 and absolutely love them, but I think the only speakers that can compare to them cost more than $20,000. This is the price point at which we begin talking about "top level speakers".

You misread my post... I said explicitly that the Magnepan are at another level of quality sound than my Mission in principle for many reason(one being a superior technology at this price range the difference between price is not significative)... My point was not discrediting them ...My point was that a speaker is on his optimal peak point ONLY after many cleaning,damping, room treatment and many other essential tweaks... And I give this example with my audition of the superior MMG in a bad noisy embeddings...Here they speak of TOTL speakers at a high level price...But they speak about the sound of these speakers without being conscious that NO speakers sound what they may be able to give in term of sound without any cleaning whatsoever... It is like price was a warrenty...And to dissipate any doubt I will repete my saying, MMG are superior to my Mission but not on all count, anywhere and without cleaning methods... Giving the right embedding yes they crush my Mission...But this day I listen to them, no... Why? Because my own Mission are embedded in an heavily cleaned room and house on many counts...Nevermind the speakers you bought you must clean the room and the electrical grid of the house, treat the vibrations first before upgrading or speaking about them...

This thread cannot signify something, beside a complete description of the room, tweaks, and audio gear associated with the speakers... Yesterday I had listen to Magnepan MMG a pair of speakers with a relatively fair price and on the top audiophile field...The sound was " bad", unbeknownst to the owner himself, because of the level of noise; the sound was less interesting than my own speakers that are however in a totally other sub level category than this big MMG...The reason is NO speakers sound at their potential level without cleaning of the electro-magnetic field of the house first, of the room after that, without serious controls of vibrations, without controls of the acoustic of the room, and without at last pairing with the right amplifier and dac ( I will not add here other essential tweaks that are very potent and necessary)…Except for the pairing, all other means were ignored by the owner of MMG...


My speakers are only good,(Mission Cyrus 781) not the best in a possible level of comparison with top level one, but yesterday these speakers of mid-level grade were more ,way more better than a pair of top level speakers (MMG)… The reason is simple: my room is under treatment, my vibrations control in efficiency, and the electrical line of not only the house but of my room is prepared for being the best embedding for the speakers... I had with that astounding tweaks that can elevate any speakers to his true potential... Anybody can say that Harbeth Tannoy, Focal, Splendor, Dynaudio or MMG are more than good...Money can talks also...

But the question, the true one to ask is : How can we put our ordinary speakers on their true top own accessible potential level, be it mid-fi speakers or top one ? If not for this question, the other question is what are the best speakers money can buy ? This second question is of little interest and is the only question asked everywhere... When you have no limit of money you dont even need to read article about that question, you go somewhere with top level speakers at high price, you listen to them , you smile, you buy....And you call them the best speakers big money can buy...And the word "tweaks" repulse you, or suggest at your revolting mind that perhaps your speakers are not at the peak of the world...And you dont give a back thought at all to this fuss about audiophile obsession with good sound...Your money had already talk loud after all...But I am poor and I must make the better with the lesser... It is possible trust me...