The best speaker you ever heard?


In my opinion, the speaker is by far the most important part of the audio system. After all, it is the only part you hear. OK, the other stuff really matters a lot, but without a great speaker... No go.

I am a bit 'speaker-obsessed' I guess, and now I am wondering: What are the best speakers you have ever heard, and what made them the best?
njonker
Best speaker I have ever owned, it's got to be REGA RS5.
Why? imaging is extraordinary, left to right, back to front. Tonality, transparency, detail is spot on. Not too forward, not too bright, the presence is awsome. Voices are palpableVery Dynamic, but not too thunderous. Bass is just right. Super easy to position! Easy to drive. Enormous qualities, within this $1.5k budget of course...
Before, I have had in chronological order bose 301, polk rt-12, b&w 601, my own (scanspeak/vifa/dynaudio), dynaudio active bm5, martin logan aerius i, magnepan mmg, magnepan mg12, b&w cdm-9nt, vandersteen 2 signature, paradigm studio 40, psb image t5, and the Rega.
I usually swap speakers once a year; I have had those for the past 4. Next stop will be totem. Unfortunately, it is hard to go somewhere and listen these days, but I would like to give totem a listen. If anyone has had the opportunities to compare the rega rs5 and preferred something else, I would be interested to hear your comments.
Electroslacker, yes I had such an experience with Infinity ServoStatic 1s driven by ARC early tubes stuff. I had to go in and ended up buying them and the ARC a week later. But I've had many more instances at CES and other shows, where I walk in hear awful sound and turn around and leave. Once this was a McIntosh speakers where the young woman at the door who had welcomed me looked curious and I said, that had just remembered an appointment.

Incidentally, I will never have an experience walking past a dealer anymore, as there are no dealer with 200 miles of me. I expect within 50 years all dealers will be gone.
I spent some time at a friends house today listening to the Raidho D1. This was the best sound I've ever heard to date, on all genres of music. In all fairness, the entire set up was very well thought out and my friend does own a high end shop. He was also using the Raidho stands. If I had the money I would buy them without thinking twice.
I don't think I'm ready for ceramic drivers again. I think the B.M.C. Arcadias sound much better than any of the Raidhos I've heard.