Who makes the finest full range loudspeaker? - Page 4

I suppose those would have to be the Confidence C1s I think I mentioned earlier? Though they shouldn't be that expensive in the US from what I heard (5600 euros here in Finland), but they are the most expensive Dynaudio bookshelf speakers. Anyway, they did sound awesome.

As for freaky and hocus pocus... well, aside from perhaps the Evidence series and Consequence, maybe Confidence series to a much lesser degree, I always thought of Dynaudio as a somewhat conventional company that simply does things right, so to speak. For example their speakers tend to be box-shaped, compared to many curved or even weirder offerings these days, and there's no ribbons, horns, biwire terminals etc etc. Just top-notch craftmanship and sound quality in a conventional, unassuming exterior without needless extra frills.

If there are two drivers that I would pick for critical listening it would be TurboF3CS drivers!! Don't tell him I said that
The RAAL ribbon alone is unmatched.

Bad polar response

http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/mea...f_main_module/

Again, its a technical accuracy thing. Off axis response have to be as good as on axis response in my opinion.

Ha! Caught you!

The RAAL has a way of making everything else just sound boring and slow. It's almost like when I first started build speakers. At the time I had a pair of Wharedale Opus, the big ones with the dome midrange. I thought they sounded great ... until I put them side by side with my first DIY, a pair of GR Research AV-3's. The AV-3 is nothing spectacular, but it's designed well and by someone who understands proper voicing. Suddenly the Wharfedale just sounded like a fat, bloated pig. The RAAL has that same effect when comparing to any dome tweeter.

I wouldn't call that bad by any means, just the top 2 octaves show the typical off axis droop. The rest of the spectrum is as good as you could ask for.

Congrats, I didnt notice your link before this thread. I have seen that speaker shape on PE before. Im not sure of all the connections but congrats on a very good looking and well designed speaker.

Just an observation here. I have a very modest set up compared to a lot of you. (Denon 1802, Infinity SL50s and a Sony DVD/CD player)
I popped in a new Vivaldi CD in. Sat down to read something. About six minutes into it, I actually had to look up at my speakers. Acting as if someone was playing a violin in front of me! I would partially blame this detail on reseting the room. Moving things around ect. Has this ever happened to any of you?

Only when doing bong hits with Miley Cyrus.

Hmm, my room doesn't come with a reset button

+1 (^He was speaking of the Focal Chorus range) . I have the Electras and think they are the best sounding speakers in their price range I've heard to date.

The Opera Speaker - Callas Tebaldi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4LKIlC5r_Y
http://www.operaloudspeakers.com/c4_...a/Tebaldi.ashx

Is it the finest - who knows.
Anyway, it looks good.

It depends on how you prioritize it all. Polar response and which goes hand and hand with overall power response is very high on my importance list wrt speaker design.

Didn't both Technics and B&W Build similarly designed loudspeakers a long time ago?

Raidho C4.1

costs more then all the above...

I have only heard the 2.1 and they are amazing.

I own b&w 802Diamonds and the 2.1 are my dream speakers.

Status Acoustics Titus 8T


Salk Signature Sound SoundScape 12

Klipsch Palladium and Klipsch rf-7 ii get my vote.

That's frankly a lesser speaker than the 3-way Infinity Primus. You can clearly see the untamed midrange mushroom cloud dictated by the physics of that drive-unit configuation (too large mid and uncontrolled tweeter directivity, and/or too high crossover between mid and tweet) between ~1.5kHz and ~4.5kHz in the off-axis measurements, as one would expect from such a poor basic design.



Anything with a 6" woofer and a tweeter on a 180deg waveguide is going to have similar midrange colorations. (Yes, an intelligent person can look at a speaker and tell just by looking that it's crap, though one cannot tell whether or not a speaker that from outward appearances is well-designed actually is a good design.)

Add to that the fact that the "matching" center channel is in fact just a toppled MMTMM, along with some of their prior train wrecks (three 1" dome tweeters on 4" flanges in a line, anyone?) and any knowledgeable person is left with the clear impression that the loudspeaker's designers are clueless about basic physics.

As for "best" full-range speaker, the real answer is "none." Some "full-range" speakers, such as the KEF Refs, the Revel Ultimas, David Smith-era "XA" Snells, Andrew Jones' TAD's and Pioneer EX's, some NHT's and Tannoys, Gradient Revolutions, Quad '63s atop Gradient subwoofer/stands, etc. are feats of audio engineering, with high quality drivers, well-engineered cabinets, brilliantly optimized filter networks, and superb voicing. Above the modal region, all will be excellent-sounding if used properly.

However, given how awful the bass reproduction will be from any of them when deployed in any domestic living room, the obvious answer is that the "full range" speaker is a poorly-chosen compromise. Better for a given loudspeaker size to shoot for less extension and more efficiency, with a second-order (monopole) rolloff in the bass*, and expect that multiple subwoofers will be blended with the mains to maintain the same excellence sound from the modal region down. I would love, for instance, to see a "Revel-ized" JBL LSR6332, with a nicer-looking cabinet, a grill, and no port. It would also probably need a Be tweeter instead of the standard JBL one for marketing, I suppose.

*Integration of mains that go dipole below cutoff (vented/"transmission line"/"backloaded horn", 6th+ order bandpass/"tapped horn", open baffle, etc.) with subs of any type is almost always problematic.
Edited by DS-21 - 1/24/13 at 9:03am

^ I posed it simply because it's cool looking and "full range". I haven't heard it, so I can't say if the the "finest" full range speaker. I'm betting most of the speakers posted haven't been heard by the person linking them. I also couldn't care less what you think, as we all know how your little song and dance goes here on the forums.

my favorite high end speaker that I've had a chance to listen to is

Kef Blades could shake the room with no problems and i think they look cool. But hey that is just me.

Ain't it funny how this thread has been revived after a 2 year hiatus?

(Unlimited funds? I'd get the Salk SS12's.)

Why not just get an iPhone dock



Behringer iNuke Boom

OMG - $30K?

I burst out laughing!

When there are disqualifying measurements available, one needn't "hear" a speaker. The whole "measures poorly, sounds great" meme is something that never actually held up in my experience. Stuff that measures well (considering the right measurements) sounds good. Stuff that measures poorly sounds less good than stuff that measures well. (I will note that I haven't heard the Gradient Helsinki. Given the excellence of Jorma Salmi's previous designs that I've heard, that's one that I'd be interested to hear.)

Note also that the measurements of Gene's bauble only go out to 30deg off axis. And because it's such an ill-conceived basic design, midrange mushroom cloud is already visible at 30deg off-axis to anyone competent to read and interpret the data.

As for the appearance, that is a matter of taste. I suspect that those of us who actually own real, authentic midcentury modern pieces and use them them in our homes will take a dimmer view of the Status Acoustics speakers faux-Eames aesthetic than people who don't know what the real stuff looks like in person.
Edited by DS-21 - 1/27/13 at 8:16am

Without a doubt I would have to agree that there is nothing remotely like the SH50 by Danley Soundlabs. I have owned just about everything high endish you can think of including Dynaudio, Focal, Quad, Vandersteen, Rogers, Kef, B&W, JBL, Apogee, Magnapan, Infinity - even lived with a pair if mbl's - and nothing touches the SH50 for time alignment, phase coherency, imaging, and accuracy in my experience. Without question do yourself a favor and listen to a pair. You wont need an esoteric amplifier either...

Objectively, probably the Revel Salon 2.

Well, the YG is very nice but didn't play as emotional and didn't disappear as much as my new favorite, the Raidho C4.1. That speaker pair just completely blew my mind, i have never heard music sounding completely real, life like in front of me. The cables that were used at Blink High End in Cambridge, MA, where I heard the speaker for the first time, were the new Valhallas and Audionet electronics, with various extras. Another famous candidate for that title is the Magico Q7, my friend and I agreed, though, that there was something not 100% right in the bass. The speaker was noticeable when it played the bass, it did not disappear, likewise, the dynamics felt not as fast as with the Raidho C4.1. I have not heard the KEF Muon yet but a friend of mine was very impressed with that speaker as well. I heard also the big Sonus Faber which sounded excellent.

I have to agree, especially with the C4.1s that came out half a year ago. Those speakers completely blew my mind, i have never heard music sounding so life like and REAL. Unforgettable listening experience. The cables that were used at Blink High End were Valhallas and Audionet electronics which I decided to buy for my smaller system (one may dream...) , with various extras... do yourself a favor and LISTEN to the C4.1s, you will have a new standard what the best sounds like, it's apparent within the first 10 seconds that this speaker is something very very advanced. I'm saving for my pair.

Magico.