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

I must agree with those who consider the Golden Ear products overrated.

They get a lot of mileage and street cred from the great sonics of the folded ribbon tweeter, which is superb, producing great clarity and detail resolution, which also adds to their great soundstage and imaging... BUT (there’s always a but)... their mids and bass are veiled and do not possess the same dynamics, speed, texture, clarity and detail resolution... say as... many of the underrated speakers such as: Proac’s, or Legacy’s (especially the Aeris and Focus), or ATC’s, or Tannoy’s, or JBL’s, or Linkwitz Orions / LX521’s, or Quad ESL 57’s (divine when properly set up and amped), or even Maggies, or my little known favorite... the Wavetouch Audio Grand Tetons / Anteros (true giant killers).

Now... this is all in the context of 2 channel acoustic, jazz, classical, country sounds (i.e. guitar, piano, double bass, cello, violin, sax, trumpet, brushes on cymbals, etc., etc.).

Avanti1960s list - perfect!
under Joseph Audio.

Overrated: Most of the Wilsons

Underrated: Thiel 3.5, 6, 2.7

Impossible to listen to: Bose

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...

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...