Are these the best speakers ever made?
- Thread starter sealy
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GuyNoir
Hallowed State
Oh Lord, I just had a good hard belly laugh over that one!:lmao:
michaelhigh
mind's eye music
I understood that...it meant that although the speakers smell like crap they are the best-sounding, conjointly speaking!
Don't confuse machine translation's failings with problems with the speaker -- it may be good, it may be bad, but the inanity of the description has nothing to do with the equipment. I very much enjoy the translations of the German Micro Seiki site's material, which rivals the verbiage offered up here, but the wackiness of the descriptions doesn't alter my opinion of my turntable.
What about the Backes&Müller BM 20?
According to a german Hifi magazine the worlds best speakers sometime in the late seventies. Anyone here familiar with BM 20?
According to a german Hifi magazine the worlds best speakers sometime in the late seventies. Anyone here familiar with BM 20?
BankShot
A Work In Progress
To say that any one speaker is "the best" simply cannot and should not be stated IMHO. Over the years there have been many really fine speakers introduced with each one being able to reproduce sound as if it were live right there in the room, etc. With that said, my personal choice for "one of the finest sounding" speaker systems ever would have to be the Infinity IRS series and/or the Genisis 1.2 system. They not only are capable of reproducing a full classical orchestra as if somehow, miraculously, and with all the timbre, richness and fullness of that orchestra as would be heard live in person, they are both incredibly beautiful to look at. Main problem with either of them is having or finding a room large enough and built soundly enough to hold them due to the enormous weight of the four separate towers in each system. If you have never seen these speakers, simply Google Infinity IRS or Genisis 1.2 and take a look and perhaps you'll see why I said what I just did. I had the opportunity years ago to listen to the IRS system and I have never, ever again heard speakers that came close to what I heard that day. There is no "best" speaker but there is a handful that could be considered the "finest". Again, only IMHO of course.................
bowtie427ss
Lunatic Member
I'm a pretty strong advocate of free speech.:yes:
But, i think i agree with the basis of your point.
IMHO, with regard to loudspeakers "the best" is completely meaningless unless "the best" has been clearly defined and limited to that context within any given statement or discussion.
With a few defined parameters, there will indeed exist a "best".
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
This is a very-good point. There is no "best" speaker, ......... only the best speaker for YOU. For example, I would love to be able to have a pair of Bozak Symphonies or Concert Grands, but neither of them would sound as good as my Wharfedale W90's in my smallish room because the old Wharfedales were designed for smaller rooms. Now, if I had a BIG room, the Symphonies and CG's would KO my W90's by the fourth round. It's all about having the best speaker for MY setup (I'm up in Maine right now, watching "American Gangster" with my W90's handling home-theater duties.... These do surprisingly-well in a BIGGER room.... The Bozaks can go louder though, but they have more drivers than the W90's, so they SHOULD be louder, but in a smallish room, the big Bozaks are just too-much speaker for the job).
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Actually, the question about japanese speakers and the discussion of Bozaks and Warfedales are mutually relevant. It is true that the average living space in urban Japan is smaller than the average in the US (just as was true of british houses vs american). But all have produced large systems because there are always wealthy people, and their living rooms are not average at all, and neither are their wallets. No manufacturer making a statement speaker is aiming at the average consumer, though the statement speaker may actually help sell the low end line.
Bragging rights come from the top end (and often the profit margin is so large that small sale numbers are acceptable, especially if the prestige derived from the high end helps the low end).
It seems to me also that the Japanese may be more likely to value a single minded quest for perfection than many other cultures, though obviously there is no proving any such blanket statement. But HiFi News and R&R once commented on how many japanese companies have enormous anechoic chambers for research, compared to western companies, so there may be something in the idea.
Bragging rights come from the top end (and often the profit margin is so large that small sale numbers are acceptable, especially if the prestige derived from the high end helps the low end).
It seems to me also that the Japanese may be more likely to value a single minded quest for perfection than many other cultures, though obviously there is no proving any such blanket statement. But HiFi News and R&R once commented on how many japanese companies have enormous anechoic chambers for research, compared to western companies, so there may be something in the idea.
Here is the spec's for the Onkyo GrandSepter GS-1
http://audio-database.com/ONKYO/speaker/grandsceptergs-1-e.html
http://audio-database.com/ONKYO/speaker/grandsceptergs-1-e.html
Good luck ever finding a pair to audition. I've been told by several, actually every, B&W dealer I've asked that they are only made to order. So you not only need the dinero to buy them, you need the dinero to replace them if they aren't what you hoped they'd be. Back to the Grand Scepters, best ever? Hard to say. Poorly designed? Totally. 250# speakers without slots in the base for a pallet jack. Are they freakin kidding?
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NavinJohnson
Professional Amateur
buy them now and be the one true king.
ofajen
Daddy-O-Daddy-O-Baby
Here's a big system. Haven't added up the combined weight of the various components, but it's a lot.
http://oceanwayaudio.com/oceanway-monitors/hr1-monitor-system/
Designed for Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson, but apparently popular with people who mix sound for big-impact motion pictures.
Cheers,
Otto
http://oceanwayaudio.com/oceanway-monitors/hr1-monitor-system/
Designed for Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson, but apparently popular with people who mix sound for big-impact motion pictures.
Cheers,
Otto
Stephen J
Suum Cuique
ofajen
Daddy-O-Daddy-O-Baby
Their HR2 system is a slightly larger system than the Onkyos, at 6 ft tall and a total of 400 lbs:
http://oceanwayaudio.com/oceanway-monitors/hr2-monitor-system/
It's a three-way, with separate mid-bass and sub-bass horns, and goes for a mere $38,600, while one version of the OWA system lists for $120,000. Not clear how similar that is to the cost of the HR1.
The Onkyos were 1.2M yen 28 years ago. Exchange rate was about 230, so that's about $5,000. The inflation adjustment is just about 2.3, meaning the Onkyos were about $12,000 in current US dollars.
Cheers,
Otto
http://oceanwayaudio.com/oceanway-monitors/hr2-monitor-system/
It's a three-way, with separate mid-bass and sub-bass horns, and goes for a mere $38,600, while one version of the OWA system lists for $120,000. Not clear how similar that is to the cost of the HR1.
The Onkyos were 1.2M yen 28 years ago. Exchange rate was about 230, so that's about $5,000. The inflation adjustment is just about 2.3, meaning the Onkyos were about $12,000 in current US dollars.
Cheers,
Otto
legalalien
Well-Known Member
A better question would be "Are these Onkyo speakers as good as they look?" It's like asking which is the best exotic sports car, there will NEVER be a consensus on the BEST loudspeaker. Everyone will have an opinion as to what they think is best but that's all it is, an opinion.
