What are the best speakers you have ever owned and why?

As a former dealer, we had pretty much every good speaker to listen to and compare to each other.  After a couple of years of doing this with various electronics attached, we realized that all box speakers and electrostatic versions had some positive qualities when driven with quality electronics. 

It was not until we hooked up Magnepan products that we finally realized that NO box or HORN or ELECTROSTATIC or RIBBON or any combination of these reproduced sound as accurately as Magnepan products.  Some better than others, of course, and positioning is a key item--and VERY frustrating at times--but at the end of the day, no matter what we put next to them, Magnepans were more accurate.  

Now, you may not LIKE accurate, so they are not for everyone.  For example, if you prefer kick-a__ bass, you need Cerwin-Vega (in those days) or Hartley 24" woofers, etc.  If you LOVE those shrill highs, you will love most electrostatic and/or ribbon models, etc.

This is what we discovered--no bias going in, but sure had some coming out.  Not many people are fortunate enough to have access to 20 or 30 brands of speakers and quality electronics to drive them (we were what was called back then a "HIGH-END" shop) and had only the better items on the shelf.  This is merely the result of our exploration. 

By the way, the boxes that we felt were the "best" back then were Fulton 80's and especially 100's.  Our college-day faves, Advents, were VERY, VERY INACCURATE, and the tweeters blew out at volume. We all learned a lot back then and I maintain that high quality tube electronics and Magnepan speakers can be dialed in to provide the most accurate music reproduction you can find.  Once again, you may not like it, but play your personal favorite instrument live next to a system like this and all will be revealed.

Cheers!

@prof1 and terry 9:

To take the one at a time--Quads are wonderful speakers.  We built some stands for the Levinson HQD system and had the pleasure of listening to them with the full setup--Decca ribbons in the middle of stacked Quads and 2 24" Hartley woofers in cabs we built that were as big as we were.  Totally great sound when driven by tubes.  The original Quad electronics were rather weak, but joined to Audio Research products, they sounded pretty durn good!  We were not a Levinson dealer--he did not care to be in the same shop with some other of our brands, and actually, back then, his stuff sounded pretty bad even though it was built like a tank.  He was what we called a "slow pay" as well, but that's another story.  So yeah, Quads are nice in the right room...I would bet a dinner that I could spend a day in your room and show you how much more accurate the Maggies are, but glad you love your system. That's all a good dealer wishes for his clients, and you are an example of one who knows what he likes and is able to own it.  We call that a huge WIN!

Aprof1, back then we all played instruments of various kinds in bands and went to a lot of concerts.  A fellow dealer from Miami became an expert recording person of live music of various kinds.  The chamber music was done very well.  When played over any other speaker, it did not sound as it did live based on us being in the room during the recording.  I would like to tell you we set up a big lab and measured everything with million-dollar mics in an anechoic chamber, but no one I know listens to music in an anechoic chamber, so we relied upon the musicians and experts in the room to point out places where other speakers (and electronics in some cases) added or subtracted or otherwise changed the music.  Obviously, no recording, etc., is perfect nor is any system perfect; they all have their idiosyncrasies.  BUT, without question, the Magnepan products introduced less of all undesired qualities to the music.  We have some theories, of course, but I will let the engineers argue incessantly over all that stuff.  I just knew what we heard, and it sounded like the instruments we heard live.  I have always put forth the concept that accuracy is best, but many clients want something else.  That is why there are over 300 speaker makers with many items in each line pretty much all the time.  There were 2 tube hardware manufacturers in the 1970's; today, I can't even count the number, so it must be a good business or it would not thrive.  I also have some theories and many hours of explanations from engineers, inventors, etc., about the how's and why's of things, and I know that what we hear is somewhat colored by many variables out of our control.  Go to a live concert (rock) today and like me, you might walk out time after time given the horrible sound systems they use.  It is almost unbelievable based on current technology, but I seldom hear the musicians playing their instruments or the vocalists singing.  Mostly, it is just loud noise.  Back in the day, Yes was the loudest band on the planet; today, Yes seems like chamber music when compared to the concerts I have attended in the past 6 years or so.  So, the best I can offer is to attend concerts where the music is played at normal volume and then see if your recordings of that same music sound as they did in the hall.  Where you notice differences that YOU DO NOT LIKE, talk to your dealer and try out some other items in your system to see if it gets better to you.

There is no perfect, only what you like in YOUR ROOM and can afford.

Cheers!

@prof1Now your're talkin'!  This is exactly what we did and even though the sounds produced by amplified instruments were controlled by the musician, the sound live and the sound recorded was compared and found either lacking, changed for the worse, changed for the better, or pretty much identical.  Non-amplified instruments sound differently depending upon mic placement, of course, but in a recording, as you know, one is trying to capture the ensemble as heard mid-far center, so it can be a challenge.  Obviously in a studio, one has elaborate mixing equipment to end up with the dynamic range and mix per instrument on the final recording, but just using a Stellavox and a couple of good mics, our Miami dealer, Peter, was able to do some pretty impressive live recordings back in the day.

Keep doing what you are doing, go down to your dealer and listen to a pair of Maggies--the new ones are all over the place with the number of panels, etc. (I personally prefer multiple panels per side) but make your own decisions.

Finally, funny how all high-end speaker manufacturers are now making 6' tall speakers all of a sudden.  I WONDER where they got that idea???

Cheers!