what's best sounding speaker you have ever heard?

Sampajanna

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Apr 1, 2021
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I just got the playlist. Excited to listen. Thanks Elliot for putting this together! Finishing up listening to the new Taj/Cooder album for the fiftieth time, then it is on queue!
 

Elliot G.

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Jul 22, 2010
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I just got the playlist. Excited to listen. Thanks Elliot for putting this together! Finishing up listening to the new Taj/Cooder album for the fiftieth time, then it is on queue!
thank you and like i said i need to find the time to either list or figure out how to share my other lists :)
 

Lee

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Feb 3, 2011
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where you mention monitor speakers when you have the opportunity to buy used intonation terzian. do it now, they work great with luxman amps (class a). they look small but cast a spell on you from the first note.
View attachment 97466
The new version mk III here

What US dealers carry these monitors?
 
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DasguteOhr

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Sep 26, 2013
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What US dealers carry these monitors?
I don't know ask here sorry
Intonation Audio Manufaktur

Martin Küper, Dipl.-Ing. VDI
An der Kolpingschule 39
D-41516 Grevenbroich
+492181 - 7749
E-Mail: info@intonation.de
 
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rpk

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Aug 30, 2020
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What US dealers carry these monitors?
Good morning,
after I was able to meet and purchase my Terzian III, I visited Mr Küper, as he lives only 30 KM away from me. In the end, the Terzian IIIs are order items without a dealer network.

Used copies of the Terzian III can be obtained at most once a year, even in Germany, and find an immediate buyer.

A listening review from Image Hifi (a German audio magazine with more substantial reviews) = http://intonation-audio.de/064_PDF_3-16_Intonation_image_hifi.pdf

However, in German..... Can a translation programme be used here as well?

Interesting are the – Grundlagen und Messergebnisse - from the HP (scroll down) from http://www.intonation.de/terzian.html

Even if they are "only" accessories, the black high-gloss acrylic stands are a feast for the eyes and difficult to photograph. However, the design can be seen and understood in some pictures.

The Terzian III can be more than just a monitor speaker and can present even in medium-sized rooms of 50 sqm. Due to the sensitivity of "only 83dB", power amplifiers of 70 - 100 W are advantageous.

What these small speakers have in store for their user is ultimately comprehensively impressive.

Anyone who has heard the small Boenicke W5 = https://boenicke-audio.ch/products/loudspeakers/w5/ may be able to understand the size-to-audio-performance ratio, even if the W5s do not quite match the overall format of the Terzian III (Which is also reflected in the price x 3).

Regards Rainer
 
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Jim Smith

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Dec 14, 2012
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This nomination is very interesting, Jim!

Would you please kindly tell us what is it sonically about the G1 Spirit (in that room) which created for you the highest level of musical engagement you have experienced?

What was so great acoustically about that room?

Thank you!
Ron,

It was simply a large reinforced room over a garage. It dId have some acoustic treatments.

I think it was about 25 or so by 16 or so, by 10.

The G1 Spirits sounded pretty nice even before I started voicing them to the room. The client had used me to voice his previous system to his previous room several years earlier, so he had already done an above average audiophile set-up.

THE G1 Spirits excelled in the three areas that I value most - Dynamics, Presence, & Tone.

Unlike most high-end cone-and-dome speakers, the G1s did not need to be toed-in so that they were slightly off axis.

In fact, they were best aimed directly at the listener, maybe even slightly cross-firing.

I expected to go back later, as he had some additional room treatments done, but sadly, he passed away.
 

gleeds

Industry Expert
May 29, 2018
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Even when heard under less than ideal conditions, the Tidal Audio Akira. I'm a panel fan and cherish an open and uncolored midrange. With its diamond midrange driver, the Akira presented to these ears the most exquisite mid-band I have heard in four decades of immersion in performance audio.

Another favorite for different reasons is the Destination Sound Vista horns powered by low-wattage SET amplifiers. Dynamics and tone to die for. From what I understand but have not yet heard, the field coil update takes them to another level.

Although I have not heard them in a proper setting, next time I'm in NYC, I hope Bob V. will allow me to experience the Alsyvox ribbons, which I understand are pretty special.
 

gleeds

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May 29, 2018
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Where are the playlists?

Best speakers I’ve ever heard are the big Tidal Absolutas with all Tidal gear behind and a Horizon dac…. I am not a bigger=better dude, but these were epic not just in size. The sound was unbelievable….
I love the idea of the Lampizator Horizon fronting this incredible system!
 

Sampajanna

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Apr 1, 2021
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It was flawless. Big room, musicians not too large like some big speakers, but rather actual human scale and so 3D you could walk around them…
 
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Audiocrack

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Aug 10, 2012
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Where are the playlists?

Best speakers I’ve ever heard are the big Tidal Absolutas with all Tidal gear behind and a Horizon dac…. I am not a bigger=better dude, but these were epic not just in size. The sound was unbelievable….
I would not dare to disagree with you:)…., however the combination of the LA’s with the Wadax reference combo might be interesting as well;)
 
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Sampajanna

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Apr 1, 2021
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I would not dare to disagree with you:)…., however the combination of the LA’s with the Wadax reference combo might be interesting as well;)
I never heard Wadax yet, so cannot say. The sound was as good as a show can get, though. At home would be a different story and if someone were investing this kind of money in speakers and the accompanying Tidal electronics, one would certainly want to weigh all options and try everything.
 

Audiocrack

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Aug 10, 2012
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I never heard Wadax yet, so cannot say. The sound was as good as a show can get, though. At home would be a different story and if someone were investing this kind of money in speakers and the accompanying Tidal electronics, one would certainly want to weigh all options and try everything.
A few years back I had the pleasure to listen to the LA’s and the Tidal top of the line LA monoblocs and presencio linestage in Tidal’s gorgeous (sounding) dedicated listening room at the Tidal headquarters in Cologne. Digital was played through the Tidal Camira dac. I wrote about that exciting adventure on WBF in the Tidal La Assoluta thread. Roy Gregory visited this listening room as well and wrote a review of the LA’s based on his listening experiences in that room. You are right of course that typically the sound at home will be clearly better than the sound that audio dealers or manufacturers are able to achieve under (mostly quite challenging) show conditions.The fact that you were already so impressed with the LA’s under show conditions says therefore a lot.

I have not heard the (tube) Horizon dac (yet) in my LA system at home but I expect the Wadax reference combo - in particular after the latest (software) update on both the Wadax reference server and dac - to have a lower noisefloor. As a consequence imho this Wadax combo likely ‘suffers’ from less digital artifacts. For me that is important because not only are the Tidal LA’s extremely ‘silent’ loudspeakers of their own but these speakers have their Tidal made grounding option (btw, both the Wadax reference server and dac have dedicated grounding binding posts as well): in combination with top notch grounding - in my situation with the Tripoint Elite NG and various Tripoint grounding cables - the LA’s as well as the the digital source components (Wadax in my case) can demonstrate what they are really capable of.
 
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Sampajanna

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Wow! You have an epic system!
 
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caesar

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Ron,

It was simply a large reinforced room over a garage. It dId have some acoustic treatments.

I think it was about 25 or so by 16 or so, by 10.

The G1 Spirits sounded pretty nice even before I started voicing them to the room. The client had used me to voice his previous system to his previous room several years earlier, so he had already done an above average audiophile set-up.

THE G1 Spirits excelled in the three areas that I value most - Dynamics, Presence, & Tone.

Unlike most high-end cone-and-dome speakers, the G1s did not need to be toed-in so that they were slightly off axis.

In fact, they were best aimed directly at the listener, maybe even slightly cross-firing.

I expected to go back later, as he had some additional room treatments done, but sadly, he passed away.

Very sad about Tedtag. But Tedtag did reach audio nirvana toward the end of his life with the Vivid Giya Spirits and CAT amps.
 
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DDgtt

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May 1, 2023
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Of over a thousand systems that I have voiced to rooms, my favorite - at delivering the highest level of Musical Engagement - used the Vivid Audio G1 Spirits.

But the room - as well as the associated components - always enter powerfully into the Musical Engagement aspect, so some of my longer-term favorites could possibly have been better there, as we didn't do any comparisons.


I'll second that motion (albeit a year late)! The Vivid Audio G1 Spirit brings one closer to the real performance than I've ever experienced before. Naturally, the right partnering components are important (using an Audionet Heisenberg/Stern setup). If you want to hear into the recorded stage with true transparency and revel in the importance of the details on offer, the G1Spirit is it. This is all delivered with perfect tonality and a dynamic realism that is so close to the real thing.
 

amadeus

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Jan 13, 2018
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-Alsyvox Rapphaello
-Cessaro Beethoven
-Rockport Arrakis
 

gleeds

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May 29, 2018
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Tidal Akira's with Tidal Presencio pre-amplifier, Absoluta monoblocks and Camira DAC
Von Schweikert Ultra 7's with Westminster electronics and Lampizator Horizon
Destination Audio Vista's with Destination Audio GM-70 integrated and Destination Audio DAC

Nostalgia "best" Mark Levinson HQD system all ML electronics and Tom ML modified Studer A80 circa 1976
 

Solypsa

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Top vintage horns but only with Lamm SET. Exception: Mitsubishi Diatone speakers for cones.
Giving away all the secrets ;)

(Diatone that is.... I think there are a few other non Lamm SET that can work in a pinch ;) )
 
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