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10 Best Speakers-What do you think

207.54.141.90

Posted by Bold Eagle on January 10, 2002 at 12:40:07

Though the Inmates might like this. We were discussing what the 10 best Engineered speakers of all time were. I decided to see what other aficionados thought.

The rules for your selection:
1. Can be a home or commercial model of substantially full range.
2. The speaker in question has to be a commercial success (the
company may have eventually folded, but the speaker sold well
for a sustained period).
3. The design has to show deliberate solutions to a number of
problem areas (just sounding real good is not acceptable)
and the design has to be woven into a synergisitic whole that
exhibits superior performance for its era and price range.
(it's harder to design a ggreat cheap speaker than a cost-is-no-
object one)
4. It's your own opinion, you're entitled to it, and you cannot
flame someone for their selections.
5. A brief explanation of each choice is optional

My choices:

1. Altec-Lansing A-7: The short plywood horn on the woofer time aligns it with the sectorial tweeter, and provides constant directivity. The combination of front horn loading and rear reflex loading brings the woofer into the same efficiency range as the sectorial horn. Born in the late '30s and still around.
2. BBC's LS3/5a: The king of the mini monitors.
3. Advent Loudspeaker (original model): Best selling model of its time. Priced far below comparable sounding products. A much more complex and synergistic design that it looks at first.
4. Quad ESL 63: Technological tour de force. Concept departed significantly from prior ES designs.
5. Bose 901: Aimed at the classical music market, the 901 introduced direct/reflecting sound and the use of many small equalized drivers. Built on several years of pioneering psychacoustic research.
6. B&W Nautilus: Both a technological masterpiece and an art object. a cost is no object exposition of technology.
7. Tannoy Dual Concentric, The Churchill: The pinnacle of coaxial speakers. Any of the older "classic" Tannoy's would qualify. A time aligned coaxial tweeter using the curved woofer cone as the horn.
8. Weathers Bookshelf speakers and Hide-Away bass module: The first three piece sub-sat system from the late 50's. Slot loaded subwoofers that fit under furniture, and bookshelf speakers about the size of a Collegiate dictionary that actually fit into bookshelves like books.
9. Dahlquist DQ-10: Innovatively addressed both diffraction effects and time alignment. Excellent integration. A true classic.
10. Beveridge 2SW-2 system: Full range non-dipole electrostatic speakers in a vertical linesource format with diffractionless mounting. A subwoofer and crossover module completed the system.

OK there's my 10. Lets see your's.

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