BEST Speakers of ALL-TIME (Vintage ~ Modern)

Your old Tannoys would be awesome now

Intersesting, the JBLs look potentially gr8 tho ive never heard large vintage JBLs. I personally found the ESL'57s more dynamic & better in low end & bass than the (overly soft & boring to me) ESL'63s, tho both were s/h so it's not a firm belief as it could well have been the state of the ESL'63s panels while the 4 ESL'57s bass pannels (2 a side) were fully refurbished < 2'yrs before i bought them, confirmed on seller's reciept that stated by "One Thing Audio" in u.k. They were replaced with no hesitation by vintage 1969 Tannoy 15" Dual Con' speakers, (now stashed since magnet rubbing started on 1 driver nearly a year ago, the were my fave speakers till that awful day)
What you said about your first Martin Logan non-hybrid (CLS?) speakers, sound like they'd suit Kanya West's music.

Compiling a list of the greatest speakers of all time without including the Klipschorn or La Scala proves that you're completely clueless with a tin ear

Jay, you have prices mixed up on the original Rogers LS3/5A's. I got them new in 1975, and they were 500.00 not 200.00. You didn't mention the knock-off Sound Artistry's available from ChinaHiFi for 599.00. The Falcon Acoustics are the most faithful version of the original LS3/5A's, and the pedigree is in the designer who did the original KEF drivers. there are 2 versions of it, but prices are too high for cost/benefit to make any sense today

You talk of speakers and amplifiers but what format are you using? cd? crap.. vinyl? so so.. FM? so so,..... Otari MX5050 BII-2 @ 15ips 2 track studio master or even 2nd gen reel to reel tape will sound fabulous though any sound system, but if you have Tannoy GRF's 1959 Red LSU/HF/15/8 and McIntosh Pre and power amplifier accompanied by a EAW subwoofer you have magic, undiscribeable....this is one of my setups...
should you ever get the opportunity listen to a set of Western Electric 753C speakers...mind blowing....

Audio Note, Marten and Verity need to be on any list.

It has so much to do with the size and treatment of your listening space. A7's...voice of the theatre, not voice of the rec room. Im open baffle, never going back. Home made and everything.

Jay you look so young !

The 4311 was not used in recording Billie Jean. It was the 4310 that was used which has a different tweeter and crossover.

To all the diy guys, that 12" white cone JBL woofer in the 4311/4312 is truly special, evan by todays standards. And Don't get caught up trying to hunt down the early alnico magnet versions as there is no sonic difference in real world use, although alnico bragging rights are worth something.

Is it just me or is the quality of the video recording, literally the resolution or whatever REALLY GOOD?

I love my JBL 300s I don't see myself ever selling them

My absolute favorite sounding speakers to date are Heritage Series Klipsch Belles driven by my Sansui au-717 amp. Not what some of you would consider upper end I'm sure, but for mere mortals such as myself, this is as sweet as it gets I think. Great vids bro.

Hi Jay! I wanted to buy the JBL l100 Classics I was wondering if it would be too big for my 11ft x 17ft room.

Proper coffee 👌👍

"Embarrassing" you didn't have $21 grand for a pair of speakers? LMAO!!! Gimme a break...

Exhausting

Have you ever tried a Snell type J or an Audionote speaker? Also the Vintage spendors are very nice.

Those Altec Lansing A-7 are auditorium speakers for rooms the size of school gymnasium. You never had the room to listen to them correctly.

I owned lots , since audiophile in the 70ies...and shopowner in the 90ies in brussels , second hand audio....today retired ,have 2 rooms full speakers and electronics.....
I listen mostly to bbc monitor kef p60 k300 system with philips dac cd ....and a modern version of jbl 4345...: Bass 2245, mids p-audio 10" , midhighs beyma tpl 150h triamplified...with 'cheap studio amps....

For me some of the best vintage speakers of all time nicludes the legendary Infinity IRSV, Genesis 1.1 and 2, ATC SCM 300 ASLT, Cello Stradivari Grand Master, Naim DBL

Your discussion on the VOTT speakers was quite good, I would agree with you generally......I power these beasts with an old McIntosh MC2500 power amp.....a nice combo......mids and highs just jump.......but with that much power, I get plenty of grunt.....I enjoyed this video, thank you!

I would love to see the list of speakers you had when you had over 60 pair, I too have a large collection of vintage speakers stored in my garage that I call the wall of shame (tough I dearly love them all). I went for tube amps as well for some my favorite speakers. Have you tried Infinity, Dahlquist or Klipsch corner horns?

A7 going down only to 80/100 Hz??? what bass unit was there? a 515B up to G driver model,8 or 16 ohms, can make a A7 going down at 20Hz....I'm sure your crossover caps were dried out....

The all new Stratton Acoustics Elypsis 1512's are the New Holy Grail of Speakers ?!

Had "Voice" of the theaters. They were not "Thump" of the theaters. Bought magneplaners and powered with bridged NAD. Interested in AGD and 1.7i now. Had kids and private colleges. Son bought Maggie's and used the NAD preamp/ Amp. Sold my magneplaners to a chorus conductor doing large scale concerts. Deep base may be a fad reflecting hip hop culture. I'd rather use low frequency for healing.

It seems many reviewers have not owned or rented larger homes to properly review larger products. if the review cannot be done in a room to match the speaker don't try to do it. rent a place to match the products and add sound treatments.

Audiophilia- The endless pursuit of the perfect sound

Speaker to amp matching is very important too

좀 여유 있게 미소 지으면서 얘기하면 좋겠다는 생각이 듭니다.

PIONEER HPM-100's!!!!!!!! One wooden pair and Three pairs of clear lucite! How'd you guess I was a fan?

wa wa wa

I had Altec's a7 in the 70's. They can produce a lot of bass in very large rooms. That's what they were made for.

Curious how long your journey has been, and how your taste in music has changed over that time... Most of my friends have passed, but my own journey started back in the 50s. Not many of us left. Loved your comment about having over fifty pairs of speakers at one time. To me, the l300s were a classic. Did move on to the 4343bs and been stuck on them ever since. That is indeed a nasty bug that we have. Thanks

Ooo!!! I like the sound on that coffee pot! Sounds outstading!

The best amplifiers are in what they call Class A, as long it is class A a amp will sound quite awesome , the speakers are the hardest thing to find that will give you that live performance feeling I enjoy hearing my ancient Electrovoice speakers , for modern speakers ,I find that the speakers built bye Klipsch are probably the best speakers made, Paul Klipsch worked for Electrovoice back in the day and built some very iconic speakers for Electrovoice , to me Electrovoice is still the best there is in building speakers for theater and live performances in the music industry second place is Altec , and JBL there are others that come very close to be like the three i have mentioned here today .

@jayiyagi - I recently acquired a speaker that I’ve been lusting for for over 30 years - the Dahlquist DQ-10s. The stars aligned and I was able to pick up a pair locally that were in fantastic condition. I love the sound, but my vintage Yamaha CR-600 just isn’t strong enough to push them. So, I just hooked it up to my Yamaha home theater receiver and they sound great! I’m hoping I never need to buy another set of speakers for as long as I live!

This is how my buddy got in to big debts from buying those expensive stereos that cost him almost 20 thousand dollars or more and now his stressed out how to pay those banks bank,I tell you guys out there you follow all this audiophiles life style you will get into big debts and you will regret one day big time

You are on a very long journey and may never reach your destination. Enjoy the journey. Where ever you are, be there.

Yes, part 2, please...thanx...(David)

I love it! Great journey. Totally relate to wanting to hear all these different components. A great, but expensive, hobby. Thanks for posting this.

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF ALLISON ONE SPEAKER. DO YOU HAVE A TAKE ON IT..THANK-YOU !!

2024: Good Day. Most Enjoyable. Thank You. And Yes, I have been subscribed,

altec come alive with jbl biamps 30 watt highs 60 amp low.

ALTEC A7's were designed when high power amps were unavailable. They needed speakers that were efficient to fill a theater. The emphasis was on volume not deep bass. Still, they sound pretty close to the JBL 4311's you like so much. So, I don't understand your criticism of them.

all great gear, a turntable was enough for me as a source or maybe a open reel deck also, i started with my grandfather´s Dynaco tube amplifier and kenwood speakers that looked like closets and 70 watts of power but how good it sounded ,this using a 60´s professional thorens after two radio stations still works perfect at home, it had a cartridge with diamond stylus from shure ,now i´m using a mono cartridge from ortofon as most of my older records are in mono, and the shure is gone for a lot of time ,can´t find other not even in images on google

best speakers of all time, i think it´s not possibvle for several reasons but the ones who left me with eyes wide open, the face ones was the altec lansing my father bought in 1970 for his home studio and just restored to original specifications last month of november of 2024, now with a old accupahse 70´s system, which sounds amazing, my last purchase were two mono blocks from Dan D`Agostino, using a somehow not conected by me PrimaLuna tube pre-amplified control amplifier which is great ,the ones that made the early 2000´s prologue one, that i never had means to buy it, as i was out of work as a forced license (which in 2018 ,june received 96.464,32€ )and received 300€ a month but always some money falling into my lap, than retirement and as speakers had doubts about what to buy but i thought that when in my 20´s i said to myself , when in doubt buy JBL and it as been working for decades the DD67000 and as optional speakers the Elac vella 2.0 with stands, try to put the jbl´s on stands and you´ll see what is good to your back and other two friends backs, PAIN! only crazy people would try it.

Too bad, one of the great speakers ..but Jay didn't have the right space nor the right SET amp. ..not picking on him...just a thought ..