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
fla -
at present the clx's are driven by a borrowed pair of jolida music envoys in black which are 200 watts per channel monoblocks . the jolidas are great tube amps for their modest price of $2690 a pair but large electrostats need more power and refinement . ( isn't that always the case ? ) i will hopefully soon replace the music envoys with with two vac phi 300.1a's operating as bridged monoblocks which are three hundred watts of tube power per channel . unfortunately two vac phi 300.1a's retail for thirteen times the price of the jolida black music envoys . this is surely a perfect example of the law of diminishing returns .
on the subject of stratospheric prices for high end speakers and amps -- i checked out the new stereo shelf at the dynamic contrasts site : http://www.dynamic-contrasts.com/
the manufacturer makes some of the most over the top claims about his component rack ( called the rts ) in the history of high end hype . has anyone here tried this product ? according to the designer the $12,000 ( !! ) rts stereo shelf will transform the sound of any component to ultra high performance . i do admire this guy's confidence . i sent him a quick email :
" twelve thousand bucks for a stereo shelf ? ! ! ! have you gone completely insane ? ! ! "
and he sends an email right back :
" Well, you can certainly purchase a pair of $100k speakers, a $60k cdp, a $50k amp, or a pair of $30k speaker cables, or all four items and still only obtain a mere fraction of the RTS' performance when coupled with perhaps any well-thought-out system.
I ask you, which is more insane? In fact, if per chance my performance claims were only half true or even just one-quarter true the RTS would still be insanely cheap in comparison, don't you think? Relatively speaking of course. "

you have to love the hutzpah .
The best speaker I ever heard was my own (VMPS RM2) AFTER I replaced my expensive box subwoofers with an IB system(http://home.comcast.net/~infinitelybaffled/).

Suddenly, clarity (the most amazing thing, which I did not expect) from the l/r and center channels, and bass such as I've never heard before: refined, detailed, and extended below 10 htz (yes, I measured ,and equalized, this response, with a Velodyne SMS-1 system).
I will vote for the Focus 20/20 and/or the Helix
I believe that in the audio world qualifying a component should be based on the best quality at a reasonable price
Going above $20K is like selecting a Patek Phillipe over a Jager LeCoultre watch where selection is a matter of taste and preference where they both will have identical time precision