What speaker is the most musical, one you never want to sell?

For tube systems, the criteria begins with high speaker sensitivity.  I have auditioned many brands and models and owned a number of models.  I have two pair that will remain... at very different budgets:

Daedalus Muse speakers (95.5 dB SPL). Meticulous wood finish and wonderful sound in their price range (<$10K).  They hold their own and surpass any models I've ever heard in their price range. Lou, the artisan / designer is a highly-regarded veteran in the audio industry and is directly involved in the building of each pair.  I'll add that I know a number of well-known dealers / distributors who personally own his creations as their personal end-game choice. If your budget allows, his Apollo speakers take it up to another level.  But the Muse are gems.

Tobian 12 Signature Horn speakers (99 db SPL).  Handmade in Switzerland. Works of art. Beautifully musical, meticulously custom-built. Priced at around $45k (maybe a little more due to tariffs), I haven't heard anything that outshines them at twice the price. I am using a pair of 300B tube mono blocks and a pair of 45 tube monos.  Imaging and detail are show stoppers. To inquire or buy, contact Mike at Suncoast Audio in Sarasota, the importer.

@panzrwagn - Cool!!  Yes, all offer something a bit different but IMO are pretty awesome.

Great to see the ADS 810's getting some love from others in the thread.  

Have really just been introduced to Monitor Audio in the last few years, subsequently picking up some Silver S2's, Silver RS8s and then GS20s.  All really well built, great looking and even better sounding!  Cheers!

I’ve owned a fair number of speakers over the years, and the one I’d be genuinely reluctant to part with is the Revel Ultima Salon2.

What keeps them in the “never sell” category for me isn’t one audiophile trick — it’s that they’re musical in the most complete sense: tonal balance that’s right, dynamics that feel effortless, and a coherence from top to bottom that lets you forget about the gear and follow the performance. They play small ensembles with nuance, and they scale to big orchestral and rock without getting shouty or congested.

A huge part of that is their exceptional off-axis performance. The soundstage and tonal balance hold together as you move around the room, and reflections don’t smear the presentation. In real-world rooms, that matters — a lot — and it’s why they’re unusually forgiving of placement and acoustics without sounding dull or generic.

They’re also more tolerant of upstream electronics than many speakers at this level, provided you give them enough clean power. Feed them properly and they just keep scaling — better front end, better amplification, and the Salon2 simply steps further out of the way.

Yes, it’s an older design, and they definitely lack “snob appeal.” But despite hearing many newer, more exotic, and far more expensive speakers, I’ve yet to hear anything that I think is clearly better overall. For me, that’s the definition of a keeper.

Experience has a sound.

True Bookshelf Speakers: Acoustic Research AR-2ax

11-1/2" deep to fit IN a bookcase, no ports, volume controls to adjust the tweeters and midrange in the listening space is vital to their success, no need for a sub.

I’ve had a home office since 1991, commuted to/worked in NYC for others, then my own home based business for many years, various compromises, then after retirement, just before covid, I re-configured my office with proper imaging the priority, my chair/keyboard/Monitor dead center on the speakers mounted at seated ear level.

Various speakers, bought a pair of Wharfedale’s with a single sub, then a conversation about ’what do you wish you still had?" led to re-acquiring and restoring the speakers I had while in college that were stolen many years ago.

For my shop, sounded soooo good, I put them in my office and restored a 2nd pair for my shop, bookshelf, stand-up height at my work counter down there

https://www.audiogon.com/systems/10092

On top of the right speaker, I bought new white linen, just haven’t taken the time to change the fabric.

My point is, the 4 different spaces led to different favorites, if they die, I would just replace them without any further research.

Another +1 for Rockport Avior IIs. Great at all volume levels and pair well with McIntosh C2300/MC275. 

Past speakers include ADS 810, JBL L166, Triangle, Harbeth, Sonus Faber, McIntosh, JBL horns and Magico A5s.

Long strange trip.