Experienced audiophiles best speaker

This type of discussion often leads nowhere. I have heard 500 dollar Paradigms that sounded better than 3000 dollar Vandersteens. System synergy is EVERYTHING and that includes the room where the listening is done.

I don't care how good the system is; a bad room will not allow a system to excel.

There are a LOT of good speakers out there and few "experts" can agree on them because of the vast variables involved. Trust YOUR OWN ears first. They are specific in their ability. My wife has worked at a hearing clinic and I can assure you that there are VAST differences in the way we hear, just as there are between systems. Find what you like and enjoy the MUSIC...the system is secondary.

Cheers,

Rob

Noam Chomsky

george w. bush...didn't take the gold.

Well there is agreement that the Merlin VSMs are the greatestest speakers ever made:)

Jim, the reason you might have to wait a while before calling Tvad or Paul is that when you mention your gear that way in your threads it degrades your credibility.

IMO its OK to steer the conversation into an area where you can offer correct and impartial advice which might relate to what you are selling, but leave it up to others to comment on the sound in such situations!

regular programming:

here are 6 speakers:

I've had very good luck with the Wilsons over the years

Sound Lab is the state of the art in ESLs, and for that matter, planars, although I really like the big Audio Analysis.

While not full range, the High Emotion Audio Bella Twin does everything else so well I am including it.

A surprise for me is the mbl101, which at shows always has been way too bright and stilted. Turns out its not the speaker; at shows its always been an all-mbl setup, and their preamp is their weak spot by a wide margin.

Of course I always show with Classic Audio Loudspeakers and own a set of the field-coil models. Before he introduced the field coils and the new first order crossovers, I felt that the CAL was a good compromise of what you want in a good speaker, but now I don't regard it as a compromise on anything that you want a speaker to be. Except small.

preferences:
I ignore speakers that cannot be driven easily with tubes or are built around the Voltage Paradigm, as such speakers rarely sound like real music. The exception so far to that has been the mbl and I do believe there are others. Since Voltage Paradigm rules ignore human hearing rules for the most part, its a real testament when such technology is actually musically convincing.