Your personal best, Earth shattering speaker auditions that left you speechless

Memorable products that elevated your hi fi standard to the next level, time, place, and music presentation? Your own personal experiences,

Here are mine:
1) Magnaplanar MG-II, Willie Nelson, Arnee Audio Wappingers Falls NY, apprx 1974. At that point, I was familiar only with multi-way speakers. The MG II's were an awakening on how vocals should sound, an "uncolored" presentation of voice, not much low bass, and not needed for program that doesn't contain the lowest octave.

2) Ohm Walsh F, the original model, Bad Company: Bad Company, Rock Steady, Arnee Audio apprx 1974, The revelation was percussion immediacy, speed and attack. I had been a musician since my teens, so being familiar with a live drum kit, was so impressed by the hi hat sound, cymbals, the hit of the snare. The hi hat timbre just sounded right, hollow but crisp and nuanced. (My young ears were good to 18 kHz at that time.. via a test tone record, now not too bad at 13.5 Khz) The Walsh F, a large floor standing speaker was driven by a phase Linear 700B.

3) Dahlquist DQ-10, James Taylor, Sound Odessey, Wappingers Falls NY, approx 1981. Like the Magneplanar MG-11, the DQ-10 illicits voice very naturally, but perhaps more dynamic than the maggies. I would rate the Ohm Walsh F as a better sounding speaker overall, but the DQ-10's were affordable.

4) Acoustat 2+2 electrostatic, Michael Jackson Off the Wall, Sound Odessey, Wappingers Fals, NY, apprx 1981. The Acoustats were set up in their high end room, a spacious room that the Acoustats like. The sales team were ultra friendly, and seemed to enjoy talking shop about hifi gear. They were also an authorized Nakamichi dealer, Adcom, Klipsch, KEF, Luxman, etc. I was struck by the imaging of the Acoustats like I had never heard before. Michael was front-center, and so beautifully presented. Although not a live to tape recording, instruments could be located beyond the speakers, and front to back. The Acoustats vanish in a sea of visceral musical energy, which wraps all around and embraces you. This energy is kinetic, the result of the massive emissive surfaces, so lots of air is set into motion. You can feel the energy, not only bass, the mids too! They are at their best turned up, and require at least 300WPC to come alive. They are fussy, must be set up just right. The Acoustats became my reference speaker by which I compared all others.

5) Jadis Eurythmie II full range horn system, various music, pop to symphonic, Hifi expo at the Waldorf, approx 1996. The Jadis speaker is enormous. My attractive audiophile companion, Catherine, described them as the "Gossamers" the monster of the mad professor in the Bugs Bunny cartoon. The Bass horn was large enough to almost swallow a Volkswagen bug. Their sound was stunning. I literally turned my head to where I thought an instrument was located. More so than the Acoustats, the Jadis faked me out into thinking I was at a live event, and it WAS a live event. The audience was asked in advance as per flyer, to bring their own music to audition the horns. I recall about 12 seats, located canter and close to center as possible. There wasn't any musical program they did not like. My only minor criticism, the midrange did sound ever so slightly "horn-like" a little forward, but nice to me when lead vocals sound slightly forward. Even with the knowledge, eyes open and aware, the Jadis of imposing size did not deter from disappearing acoustically. It's as if no speaker is before you, but your eyes lie... and so amazing how convincing the imaging was their sound so dominating and amazing.. the Jadis overrides all other senses. The Jadis Eurythmie II's were driven by 2.5 WPC SET Jadis monoblocks.

I've auditioned many other fine speakers, some not so fine, not anything since 1996 that really left me "speechless". I am sure they are out there. I'd like to hear about your "greatest hits", thank you!

rock on,
Steve VK

 

I don't know about speechless, but the new Spendor SP200's were pretty amazing when I heard them. Not sure that I would drop $25k on them though.

 

Klipschorn
Klipsch Cornwall
Klipsch Heresy
JBL 4311b
JBL K2 Everest.

 

PSB towers. Don't remember the model as this was around 1998. The imaging...
JM Lab Utopias

 

Many, many years ago I was visiting an audio store in an area of Providence up near Brown. I'd never been there before and was delighted to see gear on display I'd only read about: VTL, Conrad-Johnson, SOTA, etc. As I walked around I became aware that a chamber group was playing somewhere nearby. I looked all through the store and even outside and couldn't find them. Finally it dawned on me that it wasn't real! So perfect was the illusion that I was completely fooled. The music was coming from a Magnum-Dynalab tuner, a C-J Sonographe pre-amp and power amp, and a pair of small Proac speakers. It was sublime.

That and two other experiences dumb-founded me:

1. Hearing the Apogee Duetta Signatures driven by Threshold monoblocks mentioned in another thread; and,

2. Hearing the Rockport Altair at Goodwin's High End in Waltham, MA. Just mind-blowing!

Just recently I heard a demo of the Wilson Alexandria XLF and was very impressed. Megabucks!

One more: I'll never forget Clark Johnsen's refrigerator-sized VMPS speakers in the big room at his Boston loft.

 

Did have the privilege of listening to the Apogee Duetta Signature II's, these in piano black with gold leaf pattern. These were on display at a small shop in New Paltz NY, forget the name, but it was about 1996. I had taken my Dual 1215 to be sold on consignment, and spotted these gems. I nearly emptied my bank acct, but would have starved for a month. The music was a jazz quartet, have no idea who. I left the shop awe struck, and disappointed that owning them at that time, for me, was unrealistic!

 

When the Magneplanars first came out, they were miles ahead of most of what else was out there. I liked the big Klipsch horns and original Quad ESL's too. The bottom octave may not be present on many recordings, but the next one is everywhere, very important, and not well done by many speakers, especially planar and the small ones. DQ-10's never did that much for me. Speaker design improved massively from 1990 through 2005 or so. There are a lot of good ones out there now for under $2k, and nearly full range.

 

Klipsch Palladium P-39Fs with some SS MacIntosh amp.

 

The Fringe - great list! When you mentioned Arnee Audio I immediately thought of Sound Odyssey, sure enough you mentioned the DQ-10s - I remember seeing them there. I never bought anything at Arnee, but bought a decent amount of gear from Sound Odyssey... That was a great store, never found a place with a staff as cool as they were...

 

The fist time I guess I was stunned was in the early nineties when I first ( and last time)heard some Magneplanars, I was like "what the hell" how is this thing making music, and the most pure sounding music I ever heard.
I would like to hear some again after all these years, but just haven't encountered them.

 

The ones I own. That's why they're here. I was a huge proponent ( and a very happy owner ) of the PMC fact.8 from the first time I heard a pair. The imaging and astonishing clarity of their presentation coupled with their clean, unassuming appearance were something I was so taken with that I had to own a pair. When the fact.12's were announced, I was willing to take a considerable leap of faith and order a pair without demo'ing them. During a wait of around a year for delivery, I was able to actually get a demo pair into my system for a few days and was utterly enraptured - all the finest qualities of the fact.8 were still there but noticably improved upon while the predecessors' shortcomings had been eradicated. A huge leap forward. These are my bucket-list speakers and after owning them for some time, during which the entire system was upgraded around them to take it's current and likely final form, they have not only held their own but have actually revealed even more of their impressive capabilities. They still make me grin like an idiot.

https://pmc-speakers.com/sites/default/files/attachments/HiFi Critic fact.12 Review_0.pdf

D.D.

 

Apogee Caliper Signature (ca. 1992)
Aerial 7t (2015)
Janszen zA2.1 (now: Valentina) (2015)
some big, expensive Avalons. (2015)

I bought a demo pair of the Caliper Sigs, and had to sell them when we moved. Now, I use the Janszens in my main system.

 

Tannoy DC4 Revolution. Never knew, or gave any credit for a small speaker of that size sounding as good as they did. Bought a pair on the spot.

 

To The FRiNgE, you sir have one hell of a memory.

The one that comes to mind for me was at Audio Solutions in Broadripple, IN. A pair of Proac Response 3.8s driven by a Cary source and two large Cary monobloc tube amps. I don't remember the music being played but the experience is one I'll not forget.

 

Most recently got to listen to a pair of Dynaudio Contour 30's. Well, I listened to Dire Straits, the Contours just disappeared.

 

From all my auditions, the ones that I remember more vividly were:

Wilson Audio Alexandria X2 driven by Jadis J200 monoblocks.

Apogee Centaur Major driven by Krell FBP 200.

Apogee Diva driven by Krell KSA 300s and 200s.

Spendor BC-1 drive by some Quad amp, cannot remember the model, this demo was the reason that made me purchase my Stirling LS3/6.

And last but not least:

Quad 988 driven by Mcintosh MA6600.

 

Dahlquist DQ10's. It was a Friday night and we sat around that little shop until midnight or so, smoking pot and listening to those. Bought em too.

 

A friend of mine has a pair of Spendor SP2/3's, and those speakers were part of the system that first showed me what I had been missing with the low-end system I had at the time.

I've also had my KEF LS50's for nearly 4 years, and I have yet to hear a pair of small monitors that can beat them.

 

Years and years ago, I heard a set of Magnepan Tympani IVs, driven by a bunch of home kit electronics, materialize a lute in my friend's basement. It was a fully rendered 3D holographic lute suspended in space, with each string vibrating independently. I could see it with my eyes closed.

I've heard a lot of great gear since, and my current system does a number of wonderful things, but I am still haunted by that lute. My bother has a pair of 1.6's, and I have have held numerous seances with them over the years, but have yet to resurrect the spectre.

 

Although they weren't a speaker that I would own myself, these certainly made an impression : The Anthony Gallo Reference LS5. A pair of 7 1/2 ft. tall line arrays with seven tweeters, eight midrange drivers and twelve 4" subwoofers all encased in a semi-tubular stainless steel cage of sorts. The soundstage is literally floor-to-ceiling-to- wall-to-wall and there's the rub - once the novelty of the initial impact wears off, the presentation is ultimately a bizarre Imax-scaled image that has little to no relation with reality. Looking for a soundstage where a trombone player ends up in the top left-hand corner where your wall joins your ceiling ? I might have a speaker for you.... But the initial wow factor was certainly there in spades. Strange beasts indeed.

Anthony Gallo Reference 5 »

D.D.

 

I don't know anyone who was into hifi in the 60s who wasn't enthralled by the ubiquitous (in listening rooms at high end stereo stores) set up of Klipschorns, McIntosh electronics, and a Thorens 124 or 125 with an SME arm and a V-15. Usually auditioned with something loud like Big Brother or, if you wanted to hear classical, Toscanini conducting Beethoven's 9th. My breakthrough was hearing a friend's home built speakers with 15" woofers and horns for mid and tweeter playing DSOTM while we hung out before going to hear Dylan and the Band. Wow! I have heard a few super expensive stereos and maybe it was the settings but none of them punched me the way my humble Tektons do.

 

The event which got me interested in audio gear as other than appliance to begin with: as with The FRiNgE, in the mid-Seventies I happened to tag along with a friend to a high-end audio store in Seattle, his purpose getting his turntable adjusted. I wandered into the main demo room, where they had a system with a pair of gigantic Magnaplanars playing Hejira by Joni Mitchell ... and I was gobsmacked. Huge, 3D cinematic stereo image, effortless smooth presentation, detailed, coherent, gorgeous tone ... the description writes itself. I inquired after the price of the setup, and I was chagrined, being a largely penniless musician! (I had an appliance - a Philips stereo record player with built-in speakers - at home.) But that experience set up a set of aspirations (for the most part suppressed) for hearing music at home that I've only really made progress towards in the last decade or so.

In recent years, I've heard countless great setups in shops; one that stands out was a few years ago, I stopped by Portland HiFi (now defunct, I think ) where I heard a demo of Line Magnetic CD player and integrated amp with DeVore Orangutan speakers. We listened to some Blue Note jazz, Nick Drake, Crowded House ... and the system disappeared. The performers were simply there in the room. Once again, the price was a bit beyond my means; but it informed my criteria for selecting what comprises my current setup.

 

I was walking down the sidewalk in the Arcade (shopping mall of sorts) in Sasebo, Japan, 1982 or so, heading on down to a Japanese rock & roll bar called 'Today' and one of the stereo stores, on the far end - left side, was playing Sony's new Big Box speakers (model unknown), for sale in Japan 'only'. The actual individual speakers were square, not round, I remember that! Square speakers??

I just couldn't believe the sound quality coming out of those speakers. Totally blew me away. Still does mentally, in memory. Awesome.

It sounded outrageous, honest... and 'REAL'. Quite amazing really. Blew my mind - totally. Just stopped me in my tracks. I stood there memorized. Jaw dropping sound. Like OMG.

And they were SONY! Never expected that from SONY.

(The Japanese audiophiles will pay top dollar for quality. Japanese gear, for sale in Japan 'only', far exceeded the quality of their export models... But we all know that.)

 

Two VMPS towers, flanked by two equally large VMPS subwoofers. They were arranged for close-field listening along the long wall of an open kitchen/living room area.

Sitting down and staring at the four very large speakers arranged like linebackers threatening the line of scrimmage, I assumed I was going to be blown out of the listening chair. Noting the array of inelegantly numerous drivers, I also assumed the music would come at me in bleeding chunks of separate midrange, tweeter and woofer beams. Instead I was treated to the most integrated, delicate and perfectly imaged sound I've ever heard.

 

I find it interesting that many post feature Apogee or Stats.

the first time Ive been blown away by audio was when I first heard the Wilson Cub 2.
Hearing tannoy red 15" also