Which speaker is the master of IMAGING ????

Sean, I agree with you about Legend. I hope I didn't come off in any way as not being crazy about their speakers, as I do think they sound very good.

In my mind, the biggest crime on the flip side of what most of us complain about as far as the Stereophile Recommended Components List(grade inflation) is the Legend Starlet integrated amp.

As many around here know, I am not the biggest fan of the 6550 tube sound, but Legend really does something special with this amp. What gorgeous sound! I think it is probably the best 6550 sounding amplifier I might have ever heard.

Class C?!? If that amp is Class C then that whole list desparately needs to be rebalanced.

The best imaging speakers I've heard were the MBL's in an all MBL system. While they also had some very excellent other qualties, they seem to have a serious problem integrating the bass region with the same quality that the rest of the system does so well.

At the HE2002 show, didn't Legend have the lights turned out in their room to make it very dark. If so, this could partly explain a better perception in imaging. Just do the same or close your eyes while listening to any speakers.

It was a smart idea by whichever manufacturer did it , if not Legend. However, you have to discount this effect when honestly trying to compare speaker imaging. One other "trick" that sometimes works for imaging is to leave the speaker grill on versus off. Without the grill cloth, some people's eyes gravitate too much toward the drivers and perceive less imaging than with the grill cloths on.

As for the specific question, I think Audio Physic speakers are masters of imaging. Surprisingly, I think the huge Dynaudios disappear amazingly well (they should for the price). Other favorites for imaging are Spendor, Spica and a company once called MCM Audio who made a model called the Focus .7 speaker.

FWIW, that MCM Audio speaker is still the best I've heard under $2500 and better than many well above that. It sold for only around $1,100 new and I recently saw a used one at a dealer for around $300 (amazing steal). If anyone knows what happened to the MCM Audio guys, I'd be very interested to know if they are still working in the industry.

The Merlin VSM is among the top tier of speakers I've heard that image extremely well, they can absolutely disappear, I'll attest to that ;^). I don't believe in best in the absolute sense so I won't say they are but I will say I haven't heard better. I own them, the system has been optimized over a 3 year span so take that for what its worth. I mention them because they aren't included and they are MUCH better than some of the ones noted above that I have listened to extensively. What they also do is image well off axis. The "sweet spot" is less of an issue with these speakers. And of course they are a 2-way which lends itself better to this area of performance.

avantgardes after playing hifi for more than 20 years