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

Thiel CS2.4's. I bought them several years ago. They are currently driven by a Mark Levinson 532H amp. Still using a Mark Levinson 38S Preamp also.

 

Amazing spl in the sub range, and good design just by driver configuration. Notice how the mids are angled and focused on the vertical plane. This reduces reflections off the floor and ceiling, reduction of early reflections, produces central directivity needed for strong depth of image in the mid band.

 

I am not sure if that is the name. It was on Lancaster Ave. in either Ardmore or Wynnewood. It wasn't a typical brick and mortar shop from what I can remember. I recall going to a place that was more like an office building. Offices within were the listening rooms. Some of these rooms were rather large, obviously if they had DQ-10's setup. I also remember purchasing a Signet cartridge from these guys too.

 

Only ones I really remember, and that did give me a life changing experience were

Infinity sm15? 15" 2 mids, tweeter

Cerwin vega d-9's (which I own still)

The infinity's went to another Level when driven hard, my chest could feel the bass, like my kid was hitting it.
Other than that, haven't been impressed with too much audio.

Mid 90's B&W 80? Also did this, but were and always will be unobtainable for me.

 

Klipsch Chorus IIs (Chorus IIs crush my Cornie IIs in the BASS dept.) amplified with vintage Sansui 990DB. They fill the listening space with magical 'n mystikal mids and tightly wound BASS TERROR even better with Bob Crites networks. I have yet to hear a better loudspeaker for Hip-Hop & Heavy Metal at the price point i paid.

 

A pair of ATC active loudspeakers from the late 1980's/early 1990's at a HiFi show here in Sydney, can't remember the model, but they sounded unbelievable. It was funny at the time, they started playing DAFOS on CD and once everyone heard the sound coming from the room that they were in, everyone left all the other show rooms to hear these things. Everyone was spellbound. They then played a number of other CD's and the dynamics, the bass, the clarity (and the price!!) was simply amazing. No speaker has left such an impression before or since - not that I have done a lot of auditioning in the last 10 years.

 

You cannot go wrong with the new Magico S3 mkII's.

 

Klipsch Cornwall II

 

Good thread.

 

I have found IME essential for rock music is a woofer that hits hard. There seems to be no single design approach that works better, ie: closed box, vented, infinite baffle, transmission line, horn loaded, etc., each has its perks and flaws. That's what makes speakers so interesting. But whatever the design, the woofer must have fast transient response and recovery. Amplification with a higher damping factor helps to control that a lot.

 

MBL 101 X-treme. Every one in my family found the MBL system, not only the speakers but the complete mega high end MBL system was simply amazing.

 

Regarding the Ino Audio studio system above. Not only does it have high capacity SPL-wise. Distorsion is very low, frequency response excellent and it also recreates waveforms perfect. Below some measurements from Ino Audio pI60s. A very fine loudspeaker, but unfortunately too expensive for me.

Stereo systems_2

 

I've never had the opportunity to hear any of the MBL stuff at all but the speaker design alone fascinates me more than any other audio design I have ever seen.

 

So have you had the opportunity to compare them against the original S3s?

The skinny on the new drivers is quite compelling to me--the introduction of graphene in combination with their proprietary material has resulted in (they claim) a 300% improvement in driver stiffness with a 20% reduction in driver mass. I would think that has to equate to less distortion and greater transient response...in a speaker which already excelled in those performance areas.

 

Recently saw an audition of Paradigm Persona 9F's and it was jaw dropping. Effortless power, awesome bass, revealing mids, and delicate highs. Just amazing. They struck me as a very capable do-it-all speaker from rock to jazz. Equally impressive, but in a slightly different way, are the Sonus Faber Il Cremonese. They are definitely the most beautiful speaker I've ever seen in terms of craftsmanship (esp in red!) and have nearly the same ability as the Personas to deliver effortless high SPL without distortion. The mid and highs are luscious and elegant with incredible detail. If I'm looking for performance/price ratio, I'm going with the Personas. If I'm not as worried about the price and looking to have one set of speakers for life, I'm going with the Il Cremonese's.

 

Was it the 9H model? I'd like to hear those.

 

uh well remember, he had to sneak into that room......

 

9F, 9H. Same difference! Whatever you call them, they do sound great, I must say.

 

The "F" designation is used for the 3, 5 and 7 floor-standing models. For the top of the line, the 9 model, the "H" designation is used - and I assume it stands for "Hybrid"; since the speaker contains two amps for the active bass section. Same difference?

 

1977. Continental Sound on St. Charles Rock Road in St. Louis.

Breyer-dynamic tonearm with a Sonus blue cartridge on an Ariston RD11 turntable.

GAS Thaedra preamp, Ampzilla II amp, Dahlquist DQ-10's, DQ electronic crossover into a Son of Ampzilla amp running stereo DQ-1W subwoofers.

I heard 'Carmina Burana' on that system and 'Mars' from 'The Planets'. Blew my mind and I've never been the same since. I would have that system today and no complaints.

Next - early 80's, Spendor LS3/5a driven by an ARC D70MKII. Astonishing midrange and image.

 

Close enough, I say. Sorry for the confusion. The Paradigm Persona 9 series sounds great. I think that is the designation differentiating between the F and H. There is no 9F.

 

I'd really love to hear them. I have a low powered pair of SET amps (18w) and they could suit them perfectly. I used to own Yamaha NS1000M speakers in the early '80s (owned them for 5 years and sold them for slightly more than I paid for them) and think very highly of beryllium diaphragms for tweeters and midrange units.

 

Fixed that for you - I used to have Herr Breuer's cartridge and 8C tonearm - works of art and sound from a retired watchmaker and very nice man, according to my parents who picked up the combination directly from him.

 

Nice arm, John. Reasonably rare and pretty bloody expensive, as I recall.

 

A pair of Wharfedale diamond 10.1's driven by a Cambridge integrated amp and a Rega p3-24 spinning Stevie Wonder's - Talking Book. Hearing that bass line of Superstition I was blown away. I had grown so accustomed to listening to mp3s on computer speakers and ear buds that I had forgotten what a "stereo system" could sound like. I was instantly hooked into the hi-fi game.