The best speaker you ever heard?


In my opinion, the speaker is by far the most important part of the audio system. After all, it is the only part you hear. OK, the other stuff really matters a lot, but without a great speaker... No go.

I am a bit 'speaker-obsessed' I guess, and now I am wondering: What are the best speakers you have ever heard, and what made them the best?
njonker
I am intimately familiar with the Wisdom 75's, both in their original and second generation. They are not an easy speaker to find an amp for. The woofers are very current hungry and the planars are quite revealing of amp character. Well set up and properly driven, they can create a huge layered stage and be quite dynamic with thunderous lows, at least above 30 hz. Having said this, I have yet to hear a pair that has the delicacy, immediacy and transparency of a well set up pair of Quads being driven by a good tube amp. This does not mean that the Quads are better or worse, only that they have very different strengths and weaknesses and that neither is perfect.
Fcrowder, the Quads driven by a pair of Jadis 80 monos, HP of TAS once called a match made in heaven and by golly, how right he was!
OK...here goes. I will try to make this to the point as possible: The Infinity Servo Statics 1-A's were a shocking eye (ear) opener....I never thought a speaker could be so clear and clean and have such a powerful (gut strong) bass....then came the Infinity/Maggies QRS/1-D's....wide,wide stage and very uncolored. The match between the infinity mids and tweeters and the magnaplaner base panel was awesome! What a spactacular system.....The infinity RS 1-B's (my current speaker) was the little brother of the IRS.....it was 1) more affordable 2) retained the wonderful mid and highs and the base went to the basement and moved tons of air.
I am considering upgrading to the Piaga's P-10's.....heard then briefly and will hear them again soon at an audiophile group I belong to...but boy what I hear (briefly) had tremendous promise!!!!!Transparancy, clean, uncolored, efforless.......it's sings!!!!!
But the best I've ever heard (at a dealer showroom) was the Levinson HQD........at Lyric Hi-Fi about a 1000 years ago (lol)....sounded at one point to be really...real.
Anyway, anyone want to comment on the Servo's? QRS/1-D's? RS-1-B's?, Piega's?, HQD's???????
RWD, WOW, now you are talking! I used to own the Servo Statics 1-A, sans the bass however, used the panels for the mids and highs and mated them with the Maggie bass panels you mention, which I still run today, together with my Quads. Those highs and mids were incredibly pristine, smooth and clear. I also attempted something like the HQD, but since I could not get Decca ribbons, I used those by Dick Sequerra, and boy did that system sing. Voices, small Jazz combos, chamber music was- you've said it- occasionally frighteningly "real". The Servo Statics died, the highs went first and then the bigger panels and spares were not to be had. The Quads were exchanged for the 63's, and other ELS which I still run today in a stacked version.
Cheers
Avantgarde Trios are the best yet to my ears.Too expensive, though. The Avantgarde Duos are a great second choice. You can't skimp on electronics, however.