AK Speaker Favorites

Years ago I had a friend who had a par of Altec A7's in his 12' X 16' living room. Absurd. Speakers I'm familiar with Bozak B-410 Concert Grands. Again need a large room. 4 12" woofers move a lot of air. AR LST. AR 3a's in a larger cabinet with angled extensions on either end with an additional tweeter and midrange dome in each to increase dispersion in the horizontal plane. Acoustat X full range eloctrostat with built in 120 watt tube amps. Quad ESL 57 unsurpassed midrange. KEF Cantata B139 woofer produced the finest bass and mid bass ever. Marvelous pacing so tuneful. Dahlquist DQ10's incredible boxless sound fantastic imaging. I now use Vandersteen 2ce Signatures. All the attributes of the Dahlquist, with much better bass extension and weight, easier to drive and better soundstaging. Any Vandersteen model 2 or 3 definitely worth looking into.
 
Bookshelf speakers: Advents Large and Small, AR 3a's, AR5, most Brit Boxes Spendor, KEF, Rogers, B&W all exceptional. Linn Isobarik, IMF Reference Monitors. ( those last 2 are not bookshelf speakers)
 
what a long list of hundreds of opinions.
I think it all depends on your ear, your needs, your wants, and how deep your pockets are, or how much room is left on your last available credit card.
 
Im liking my original large Advents and Marantz Imperial 6's. The Imperial 6's were Marantz's answer to the large Advents. They sound very similar.
 
I'll admit to blue-collar tastes and an affinity for ADS speakers..... 630's on my computer system and 400's in the shop downstairs.

Favorites though are the SpeakerLab 6's on my "main" tube driven system in the living room .
 
Years ago I had a friend who had a par of Altec A7's in his 12' X 16' living room. Absurd. Speakers I'm familiar with Bozak B-410 Concert Grands. Again need a large room. 4 12" woofers move a lot of air. AR LST. AR 3a's in a larger cabinet with angled extensions on either end with an additional tweeter and midrange dome in each to increase dispersion in the horizontal plane. Acoustat X full range eloctrostat with built in 120 watt tube amps. Quad ESL 57 unsurpassed midrange. KEF Cantata B139 woofer produced the finest bass and mid bass ever. Marvelous pacing so tuneful. Dahlquist DQ10's incredible boxless sound fantastic imaging. I now use Vandersteen 2ce Signatures. All the attributes of the Dahlquist, with much better bass extension and weight, easier to drive and better soundstaging. Any Vandersteen model 2 or 3 definitely worth looking into.


Absurd....hum
A bit too much , and not easily comprehensive, from an 2014 member.

For my part,
I wish you will enjoy your "definitely worth looking" Vandersteen,
but I will continue to enjoy my musical emotion with my "Absurd" A7-800 home ported.

thanks

Mario
 
I assume the 'absurd' refered to the A7s in a room that would be significantly eaten up by the A7s, not a criticism of the speakers.
 
Ok so I have some pretty good vintage speakers in rotation - JBL 4311's and Tannoy LRM's. Guess I'm hot for the bigger box monitors on open stands; great look. I have a chance to pick up a set of AAD 2001's in pristine condition for $500. Really like the "steam punk" look and have read the reviews. Seems they are very well made and have a niche following. They're not around the corner and would require a roughly 3hr drive each way. Anyone have experience with these and know what kind of sound I should expect vs what I'm listening to now? Also have some ADS L1230's in my sights. Know them pretty well and real like what they offer but, these AAD's have me intrigued. Thoughts?
 
Phil Jones of Platinum Audio and Acoustic Energy fame is responsible for them. These in question are comparable to the Platinum Solo speakers, make sure they have the stands.
As for comparing to the ADS, you can't. One is a stand mount, the other a full range floor stander.
The AAD's are a fairly boutique speaker, capable of amazing performance for the size, but they need top notch amplification and source components.
 
Yeah no stands, that's the thing but I'm not a big fan of the matching setup anyway, (way over the top look with the entire package). They do come with a set of brass feet that look amazing but still, not sure where/how to place these things. I know they're a different type speaker than the ADS but was more concerned with the sonic footprint one vs the other; seem like polar opposites but was hoping someone may have had the opportunity to spend time with each & who might have thoughts. I really like the L1230's so may grab them anyway. I have quality electronics to power either that I'm pining to get out of storage... Crown Power Line 3 amp and Straight Line 2 pre. Prob pass on the AAD's - thanks.
 
Man I wish I had found this thread earlier I would have nominated the SpeakerLab 7's. With EV mid and high horns and a 10 and 12 inch bass drivers, they performed really nice. I built a set of clones of that design and am still listening to them 40 years later. I admit they needed new sound dampening and new crossovers but they sound just as good as when I built them. Of course its hard to beat the corner horns of Klipsch as my dad had a set when I was a kid.
 
Clearly I've jumped into the wrong conversation but, I guess to stay on point, I'll throw my Tannoy LRM's into the favorite vintage speaker mix. They kill it with every type of music and really amaze with my vintage Micro Accoustics 3002 MC cart. Just a crazy good pairing. Not a set that is all that common and my JBL's are certainly more mainstream, but the Tannoys are incredibly smooth and accurate. So officially, I thrown them into this mix.
 
Going to throw in a vote for the best two I have owned:

Quad ESL 57 - just very engaging...makes me want to keep listening! Running with a competent subwoofer in a small room, nearfield, can't ask for more from an "office" system.
KEF 107 - all around great speaker...BASS...nice, refined highs, plenty "airy", can get LOUD

Would have a hard time getting rid of either of the above, unless something equally awesome took their place, but I'd definitely "miss" either one of those! They both might be sticking around for good!

Honorable mention - KEF LS50 - really if you run a nice sub or 3 with these, they're all you would ever need. Nice, modern looks, built like little tanks, BIG SOUND relative to their size...very CLEAN, CLEAR sound...I might have to get another pair some day. To raise some funds I "down-graded" to my KEF 103.2's...figured I could live with that compromise...but sometimes I regret selling them. Luckily they are easy to come by if/when I need another pair.

I have enjoyed nearly every speaker I've owned, but the above were my favorites. Others I REALLY liked were KEF 103.2, Magnepan 2.7 QR, Apogee Centaur, Bozak B-305. The others I owned were fairly forgettable.

Haven't heard much beyond what I've owned, but ones that stand out were Legacy Focus and Wilson Audio Sasha or Sophia (not sure which it was).
 
For me it has to be:
1. For the history and in your face: JBL L100s' and HPMs'.
2. For the best I own for sound: KEF 104/2s'.
3. Early speaks of full and rich: Rectilinear High Boys.
4. Everydayers: ADS L 810s'
 
I've only owned a handful of speaker types over the years, and I suppose I have some experience listening to speakers that belonged to friends. Anyway, I'm happy with what I currently own: Magnepan 1.7s, KEF LS50s, B&W 805 Nautilus. I'm getting ready to move, perhaps overseas, so even those may all be in storage soon. But, if I had the room and was in the mood to buy more speakers, I wouldn't mind having some refurbished JBL 100s. I had some of those back in the early 1970s. Good memories. A pair of AR3a speakers might be nice as well. Of course, anyone around back then probably had a set of Large Advents at some point.
 
I've been through a ton of speakers...my favorites that have stayed around are:

Large Advent
Boston Acoustic A70
Boston Acoustic T830
AR4X

Loved my Vandy 2CE Sigs, but a bit too big for my room. I really love great acoustic suspension designs!
 
I owned a couple of JBLs -- mainly smaller ones that I wouldn't consider bookshelf, but they probably were at the time.

I landed with some Pioneer CS-A700s. They have some minor age issues, but the sound is very nice for my style of music.

I have them on Plateau speaker stands, they are about 4-6 inches off the ground (stands are slightly angled up), the ground is a wood floor on top of a concrete slab, they both are fairly close to the wall, on corners, bookshelves (with books) absorbing any sound bouncing in the corners. The room is a strange, long space that is not very wide.

I have no background as a sound technician, but I have found speakers take work, patience, and experimentation. Amplifiers are simple; speakers are hard.

All in all, I really like the CS-A700s. I believe the Pioneer FB cones age well.
 
Hi guys and gals, new to AK. My choice is definitely a sleeper in the audio world due to AKAI not being known for speakers and I haven't seen too many reviews on it. AKAI SW-155. If you ever see a pair lying around in a thrift shop, I highly recommend them, and you probably won't need to re-foam even though they are from around 1975 as they have very odd rubber surrounds.
 
It's been almost five years since I stopped trying stuff out and settled on the used gear that sounds just right.
AR3a speakers, Bryston 4B amp, preamp and tuner in the Marantz 2245, a Harmon Kardon CD player and a Technics SL-D3 turntable, the Marantz 5220 cassette deck and a pair of AR2ax run by a Marantz 2230 for the pc connection all sound so good that I really can't take any interest in the new gear showcased at the local big box stores. The cart on the turntable might be improved but it was new and delivers fine sound so it's on the back burner as an item to replace.
I don't mean to say that this setup is good enough. It is impossible to imagine how anything could sound better. It sounds absolutely amazing all the time.
 
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