10 enjoyable speakers you've owned

[geofff]

Can't say that I've owned 10 speakers that I've enjoyed in retrospect, if you see what I mean, but the ones that I have are:

Shahinian Obelisks - beautifully musical. Not sure that they are particularly accurate, but who cares.

Reference 3A Royal Master - very easy to drive (no crossover) which I think adds an ease to the way they present music. Too many speakers sound uptight to my ears.

Living Voice Airscout - my current speakers for the last 10 years or so, and I can't ever imagine replacing them.

[The Black Adder]

I've recently got some Harbeth Super HL5's - The best speakers I've ever had. Here is a list of my previous in 'out of 5's.

1 - Harbeth Super HL5's - 5/5
2 - Dali Helicon 800 MKII's - 3/5
3 - Wilson Benesch Arcs - 3/5
4 - Monitor Audio BR5's 3/5
5 - Sonus Faber Liuto Towers 3/5
6 - B&W CM7's 2/5
7 - NVA Cubes 1/5

[Hypnotoad]

Speakers I currently own in order of enjoyability out of 5.

1. Polk SDA 1C's 6/5
2. Polk SDA 2A's 4/5
3. Boston Acoustics A200's 3/5
4. Boston Acoustics A150's 2/5
5. Boston Acoustics A100's 2/5
6. Advent/1's 1/5

That's all my wife will let me keep. Started off years ago with some Kef/Bailey Transmission Lines wish I still had them today, they were really sweet.

[jandl100]

I've certainly bought some that didn't suit me and were moved on smart-ish.

My least faves were probably ..

QLN Siggies - dull
ProAc Future Point 5 - vague
Spendor SP1/2 - boring
smga - vague
Quad 63 - boring & dynamically dead
Amphion Xenon - bland
Yamaha 1000 - OK on rock, crapola on classical
ATC SCM10 - just kind of pointless ....
Horning Zeus - lawdy, but I came to hate these coloured horrors!

My fave 10 speakers ...

MBL 116F - I can't even imagine a better speaker for me
Infinity RS2.5
Leema Xavier
Virgo 2
Martin Logan CLS2z
AE1
Quad esl57
Jim Rogers JR50
Thiel CS2.3
Bowers Active 400
SD Acoustics SD1
... oops, that's 11

[MartinT]

My word, Jerry, never was a byline more appropriate. So many speakers!

Do you still have the Infinity RS2.5s? I heard a pair of Infinitys years ago, I think they were called Kappa Beta or some such? They made a very nice sound indeed, still a memorable experience for me.

[jandl100]

My word, Jerry, never was a byline more appropriate. So many speakers!

Do you still have the Infinity RS2.5s? I heard a pair of Infinitys years ago, I think they were called Kappa Beta or some such? They made a very nice sound indeed, still a memorable experience for me.

Hi Martin

Well, I've owned a lot more than those listed - they were just the top & bottom of my fave list.

No, sadly I don't have the space (or the finances!) to hang on to old speakers ... and to be honest, I don't really want to either. When it's time to move on, it's out with the old and in with the new!

Yes, the Infinity Reference Standard 2.5 were very fine indeed. A well-deserved 2nd place in my list of all-time faves. Not exactly pretty though! ....

[Neil McCauley]

In no particular order of preference:

Stacked pairs of JBL Century 100s (driven by Accuphase)
Lecson HL1s (Lecson AC1/AP1)
Spendor BC1s (A&R A60)
Spendor BC3s (Meridian 101/105s)
Meridian M1 actives
Lentek Monitors (Meridian 101/105s)
Lentek S4s (Meridian 101/105s)
TDL monitors (Counterpoint SA20)
Lumen White Silver Flames (Ayre pre/power)
Thiel 1.6 (Ayre pre/power)
Vandersteen 2C Signatures (STAX 12-S pre and LFD NLE power amp)
Magneplanar MG3a (STAX CAX-1 pre and Meridian 107 superamp)
Anything designed by Paul Burton (LFD 'cos he used them as his primary R&D tools)
Celestion SL600s (Levinson ML2A mono amps)
Wharfdale Option 1s (8 x Quad 405s in chassis frorm on-board)

[Neil McCauley]

And in addition:

Gale GS401a (driven by Meridian 107 superamp)
Chartwell PM400s (Lecson AC1/AP1)
Monitor MA3 (with elliptical bass drivers driven by Lecson AC1/AP3 Mk2))
Harbeth SHL5 (driven by any LFD)
Quad 57 (driven by Radford STA-25)
Apogee Scintilla (driven by 4 Krell KMA 100s)
Magneplan Typmani IV (driven by ARC M300 monos)

[Rare Bird]

Lecson HL1s

Nice 4 way horn loaded

[Neil McCauley]

Lecson HL1. True. Very true. Sold dozens. Just one track was needed. This never failed. "School" from Supertramp's Crime of the Century. The sheer attack was visceral. It was like being physically assaulted. The cheque books never failed to materialise. Oh yes, golden days indeed. HL1 Owners, even years later always had grins so big that they would have required surgical removal.

That mid-range horn was outstanding. Bloody bass drivers had magnetic assemblies little bigger than a walnut! But the precise dimensions courtesy of Allen Boothroyd and Bob (now Robert) Stuart’s burgeoning skills using Eagle drivers was in the context of the times nothing short of magnificent.