What's your speaker IQ, and the best speaker?

Speakers that I have heard and am Familliar with:

* B&W Nautilus 800 & 802 - My first hi-end experience. Goes for an "impressive" sound - good dynamics, but very hifi - sound gets fatiguing over time. Tweeter is bright and detached.

* Bottlehead Straight 8 - very pleasant, cheap, inexpensive line array (not available any more)

* Maggie 3.6 - Very smooth, this speaker could be it for some people - but does not play rock well (harsh on rock). Great on classical and jazz

* Quad 988 - Best speaker I've heard on classical because of world class transparency. But - Only recommended for classical-only listeners. Not dynamic or forward enough for rock or live jazz

* Kharma Exquisites - heard with megabuk (100k+ total) equipment in a poor room - was not impressed. propably the fault of the room

* Dynaudio S1.4 - I own these right now, they are great but they are very particular with setup. They need juice, they need a well damped room, and they need a big room and lots of space even though they are standmounts. Very dynamic and lively and neutral (not fatiguing) when setup right

* Von Schweikert VR1 - Great monitor at 1k. Warm side of neutral, nothing "wrong" with them

* Insignia - High-end sound for $50. I brought them on my recent cruise vacation with a $100 receiver and I'd wager I had the best stereo that anyone has ever brought to their cruise room cabin.

I could go on for ever I guess... martin logans, various wilsons (including alexandrias), avalon diamonds, Dyn special 25s, Verital Parsifals, Klipsch KLF 20s, Aerial 20Ts, DIY Horns, 47 Labs lens, Quad 22L, god knows what else...

...but to cut to the chase, the most I'VE ever "connected" with music through a system was via the Wilson MAXXs. The big Wilson's 'breathe' like real music. Dynamic as hell - will play any sort of music with commanding authority. I agree with the previous poster that the WP misses out on vital midrange in exchange for explosive dynamics - but I feel the MAXXs have it all.

Apogee centaur, psb a/b, infinty 300, magnapan 1.2, sound dynamics 300ti, merlin vsm owned these.
mbl's 101 116 121, jm labs diva, piegas c10, magico mini, dynaudio c4, kharma, avantgarde duo,
My favorite still is mbl's.

Sold when I was in the biz (among others): Aerial 10T, Dunlavy SCIV and SCV, Magnepan MG20, Quad ESL-63, Snell Type B, Thiel CS7.2, Wilson W/P and X-1, etc.

Personally have owned (chronologically): large Advents, Spica TC-50 w/Kinergetics subs, Snell EIII, Snell Type B, Reference 3A Royal Master. Now I own the best I've ever heard, the Avantgarde Duo Omega.

I have modest experience in high end speakers (long time high end headphone user in College). Anyway here is a list of speakers I have heard in the last two months.

B&W 802D (also 803D): sounded pretty good. Loved the wide sound stage but the mids are too recessed for me. Used Classe Mono Blocks...

Focal 1037: I wanted to like these speakers and they have their good points. But lack of tweeter integration and boomy or thin bass (depending on room placement) was a deal breakers. Over priced for what you get. Use Arcam mono blocks.

Paradigm S8 (new version): very bland not for me at all. Mids were congested. I had an A/B comparison with the Focal 1037s (same room, same electronics) and the 1037s were better on every level.

Wilson Audio Duette: These were a big let down (too much hype maybe?). The highs were not very detailed. Mids were OK but not stunning. Bass seemed a little over done in the 100hz range (room was 17x20x9 with musical fidelity equipment).

And the Current winner for me... THIEL 3.7. I really like these speakers. I did a direct A/B with the Wilson Audio Duettes. The thiels out classed the duette on every level. The thiel were extremely detailed but not harsh or bright to me. I should not that I like hard rock. The sound stage was huge and they integrated extremely well. Bass was tight and clean, never too much or too little. The mids were great just like every thing else.These get a big thumbs up from me... and I plan to buy a pair in the next few months. Room was 17x20x9 with musical fidelity equipment.

This is still a ridiculous thread. When you listen to a "speaker", what are you really listening to? The room? The power cord on the CD player? The brilliant pebbles? The cryo'ed CD-R? The broken-in tonearm wire? The NOS tubes? The salesman?

It cracks me up to think about someone stepping into a dealer and asking to hear a particular speaker. Then after that customer leaves, someone stepping into the same dealer asking to hear a particular CD player. Both customers hearing the exact same system. Both customers thinking they heard what they came to hear.

Unless you are able to compare different speakers in the same system / same room, you have no idea what you're hearing. Just my opinion. YMMV.