The 12 Most Significant Loudspeakers of All Time

[MylesBAstor]

OK, only have TAS issues 1-22 here at home; 23-120 are in storage. I was able to find however, an interview by Tam Henderson (Issue 18 on page 176). with Alan Hill, designer of the Plasmatronics. And yes, Hill put rocks in all the cabinets to diffuse the sound.

So I'd guess the review by HP was somewhere in the '20s of TAS. Maybe some other long time TAS readers remember or have those issues around?

 

[MylesBAstor]

Ok googled and found the Plasmatronics review was in TAS issue 19. Don't seem to have that issue around According to what I found, there were probably around 60 pairs sold. Initially the speaker was around $5 grand; later the priced doubled. Had the opportunity to hear it many years ago at Hy Kachalsky's, the founder of The Audiophile Society in Westchester. That He tank was a nice touch

 

[garylkoh]

There was a night club in Singapore that had quite a number of pairs of these speakers arrayed around the room - fabulous sound if I recall. Unfortunately, once someone circulated a rumour that the speakers had a built-in nuclear reactor and might explode if they played too loudly, the night club lost business and eventually closed down.

 

[bwraudio]

Getting a better match with plasma

View attachment 1364View attachment 1366View attachment 1364This is what was done to alleviate the mismatch between the plasma transducer and existing woofer. Replace the midrange and woofer on Hill Plasma speaker with (Apogee Stages, from 700 hz down to 200 hz, and Apogee Scintillas from 200 hz down to 25 hz. A Eminent Technology Rotary Subwoofer was also added to extend the frequency
range to below 1 hz.

 

[DonH50]

That's one heckuva lava lamp...

 

[RBFC]

bwr,

Can you possible resize your photos to a more manageable size for the forum? That would be a great assist!

Lee

 

[Paul Spencer]

I've heard a plasma tweeter in a horn system, running above a 2" horn loaded compression driver. Some of the best top end I've heard.

It's hard to come up with a list like this. I had a crack at it on my blog, although I based my list to a greater extent on innovation and merit. So an under-rated speaker might make my list and popularity or having a following were rated lower.

For example, my list has the B&W Nautilus instead of the Wilson Watt Puppy because I believe it's a more innovative speaker. The Wilson uses standard drivers of good quality, but B&W designed their own, and the drivers themselves are innovative. Wilson didn't put a lot of innovative thinking into it, even though it's been much copied.

Everyone has a different idea of what should go in such a list, here's mine:
http://redspade-audio.blogspot.com/2010/11/10-most-significant-speakers.html

 

[DaveyF]

I would replace the Magico Mini with the Sonus Faber Guarneri Hommage....I think that Franco was the first person to utilize this shape. Plus, I happen to own them...

 

[Jhellow]

A similar notion, but I would replace the Magico Mini with the Sonus Faber Extrema. The Extrema's crossover was a first and unique in that it does not use a capacitor in the signal path. It's ABR implementation is also unique in that it uses the voice coil and magnet assembly of its passive driver to provide variable Q. It is virtually full range, has extraordinary dynamic range and is phase coherent. The Extrema has few faults, is holographic and while it does not extend much beyond 17khz, within it's range it is very linear. This speaker was a notable miss for the top twelve list.

I also would have included the Proac EBS on the list as the best implementation of a traditional British three way monitor.

Finally, I agree that the biggest miss may have been the Hill Plasmatronics. They simply did things in the upper frequency range that no other speaker has ever done.

For what it's worth I have heard everything on the list.

JHellow

 

[DS-21]

No Tannoy Dual Concentric or KEF Uni-Q? (Brief mention of the "Tannoy Prestige" in "horn loaded speakers" doesn't really count.)

It strikes me that the Audio Artistry Dvorak or Beethoven is more worthy than several of the speakers on this list, too.

I've heard a plasma tweeter in a horn system, running above a 2" horn loaded compression driver. Some of the best top end I've heard.

Acapella?

I loved the Violon 2000 I heard from the midrange up. The bass was a peaky mess, probably a result of tuning to get the midbass efficiency to match the midrange horn's. Haven't had a chance to hear their later speakers, though.

 

[Paul Spencer]

That's the one. The owner is least impressed with the bass, has had the bass driver changed, added an active crossover and subs.

 

[LL21]

i would replace the Watt with the Wilson X-1/Grand Slamm. i think it was, in 1994, quite a leap forward in the earlier years of the no holds barred approach to speaker building. i remember how many manufacturers used them in their own reference listening rooms...i believe CJ, Transparent, Krell (someone told me Dan D'Agostino owned them personally). I also think it was and remains a far more accomplished speaker (not just on an absolute scale...but also relative to what it did within its 'class or category').

 

[MylesBAstor]

i would replace the Watt with the Wilson X-1/Grand Slamm. i think it was, in 1994, quite a leap forward in the earlier years of the no holds barred approach to speaker building. i remember how many manufacturers used them in their own reference listening rooms...i believe CJ, Transparent, Krell (someone told me Dan D'Agostino owned them personally). I also think it was and remains a far more accomplished speaker (not just on an absolute scale...but also relative to what it did within its 'class or category').

Dan's probably had pretty much every speaker made that he wants Among them that I know were Apogees and Martin Logans

 

[RBFC]

Dan's probably had pretty much every speaker made that he wants Among them that I know were Apogees and Martin Logans

I remember talking to Dan and Jason Bloom at CES when the huge Krell Reference amps were driving the Apogee Grands. If one had the right size room, damn!

Lee

 

[JackD201]

Dan's probably had pretty much every speaker made that he wants Among them that I know were Apogees and Martin Logans

Remember that M Logan and Krell system of the romance novel cover model guy Fabio? That was pretty extreme back then. Still pretty extreme today.

 

[MylesBAstor]

I remember talking to Dan and Jason Bloom at CES when the huge Krell Reference amps were driving the Apogee Grands. If one had the right size room, damn!

Lee

One year at the Chicago CES, Dan spent around 100K setting up a system with his electronics and the Martin-Logan Statements

 

[karma]

HI All,
I may be wrong but I think the list was for Most Influential Speakers not the best speakers. IOW, these speakers had the greatest influence on speaker technology in general.

Personally, I would list many other speakers as favorites of mine. But, that's not the point. Take, for example, the AR-3A's. In today's world it is hopelessly out performed by many newer speakers. Yet, can anyone name a speaker that revolutionized the world of speakers at the exact time when such a revolution was needed? Acoustic suspension made great bass possible in an average sized room in a STEREO format, stereo being the operative word.

Until then great bass was only possible with gigantic speakers (K-horns, Patricians). With stereo, now you needed to fit two of these monsters into a room. This not even discussing the expense. The AR-3A changed all this and made good sounding (for the time) stereo possible in a reasonable room. And following closely on the heels of the AR-3A came stereo solid state amplifiers. These two developments made stereo sound possible for a much larger market.

And obviously, the acoustic suspension idea came to dominate the market and is still very influential.

I think this illustrates the point of the list.

Sparky

 

[es347]

Back in 1969 in my "Music Appreciation" class, an elective, there were a pair of AR-3a's hung from the ceiling. I don't remember what amplification was used but there was a Thorens TT up front with a V15 Shure cartridge. I remember how lifeless it sounded but the speaker locations made good sonics impossible. I agree that the AR-3a's were THE speaker to own back then.

 

[DS-21]

HI All,
I may be wrong but I think the list was for Most Influential Speakers not the best speakers. IOW, these speakers had the greatest influence on speaker technology in general.

If that's the case, though, then there is a disproportionate number of panel speakers on there, considering what a small niche panel speakers are. By that standard, there should probably only be two: a Quad 57 or 63 and one of the early Maggies.

Personally, I would list many other speakers as favorites of mine. But, that's not the point. Take, for example, the AR-3A's. In today's world it is hopelessly out performed by many newer speakers. Yet, can anyone name a speaker that revolutionized the world of speakers at the exact time when such a revolution was needed? Acoustic suspension made great bass possible in an average sized room in a STEREO format, stereo being the operative word.

But then shouldn't the choice have logically been the AR-1? Both speakers are admittedly before my time. Though in fairness the text of the review talks much more about the dome miss and treble than the bass loading.

And obviously, the acoustic suspension idea came to dominate the market and is still very influential.

I think this illustrates the point of the list.

But it fails to explain why a third of the list is composed of panel speakers, though. (Or a quarter, if I'm wrong that the Infinity is one.)

Also, I'm puzzled by the inclusion of mbl if "significance" is really a factor. Not only have their speakers sounded absolutely awful to me every time I've heard them (4 or 5 times in real settings, not counting my first exposure to them playing on the electronics floor of KaDeWe ca. 1999, where their flagship at the time was making background music, considering the speaker and the Burmeister electronics probably the most expensive two-speaker PA system ever), but nobody else has followed them. By the "significance" standards, some of the early bipole Mirages (M1?) are more significant, because they directly influenced speakers from Definitive Technology and someone else (Paradigm?). Or, for that matter, one of the Ohm speakers, because German Physics is still using a riff on the Walsh driver.

 

[karma]

But then shouldn't the choice have logically been the AR-1?

HI,
Possibly so. The AR-1 was on the market for a very short period of time. But you are right. The AR-1 did introduce the acoustic suspension idea. In truth though, the AR-3A was a full capability speaker where the AR-1 was not.

Sparky