✅ *🛒 some of our current favs: **bit.ly/shopwithAR* ✅ *What speakers are in YOUR top 10?* ✅ *This video was created over 2 years ago. If I had it to do over again, I would have included more images.*

I blinked and missed the picture of the speaker. 😂

I grew up with my father's system. He was a home audio enthusiast and he taught me electronics at a very early time in my life. He set aside time to show me how voice coils worked inside the speaker cones and how the enclosure suspended it. I remember going to his friends audio shop and my father buying a set of Bose SE-5 speakers and I helped him set them up. We were blown away by how much sound they made at such a small footprint. Years later I have moved through the rack systems, Paradigm speakers which were my first real speakers(monitor 7) and onward. My first separates were Adcom which i still have one of the amps powering my rear channels. I even worked in higher end audio in the 90's managing and store in my home town. Now I own Spatial Audio open baffle speakers, Pass labs amp, Hegel Preamp, and etc, so I have moved way passed my fathers level but I will still always remember the fun I had learning audio with my father.

1:00 Paradigm Atom / Mini-Monitor 1:50 Magnepan 1.6 2:58 MartinLogan CLS II 3:56 Klipsch La Scala 5:07 JBL L100 6:07 Bowers & Wilkins 802D 7:38 Tekton Design Pendragon 10:23 B&O BeoLab Series 12:35 Wilson Audio Sophia 14:32 Bose Acoustimass Series

I was at a Stereo show in San Diego 40 years ago and I went into the Cerwin Vega room. They shut off the lights and played a recording of a steam training coming into a station. The recording was fabulous including hearing people walking around, buying tickets for the train, children, etc. The sound just blew me away with the volume and clarity. They then turned on the lights and the speakers were relatively small for the size of the room and the performance.

You should have kept the picture of the speakers on screen for longer so we can have a look whilst listening to you rather than forcing us to pause the video.

Klipsch. I 've owned Heresy's, Cornwalls, La Scalas, and a set of Horns. They are like being outside at a perfectly-mixed jazz festival with Weather Report or Steely Dan playing. The catch is, you're not outside. As a gigging musician, they are amazingly accurate. Thank you. Great video

Bose 901 in 70's was pretty amazing, the Acoustimas also for its size, interesting no mention of the Advent speakers.

What a joy this was to watch. I was taken back to an experience in the '70s when a salesman took this teenage kid and plopped him down on a sofa in front of a McIntosh-Klipschorn system. I was gobsmacked. A couple of years later I had saved enough for my first set of good speakers,Klipsch Heresy, purchased from the same man. I spent a lot of disposable income in that shop over the years, and that first exposure to quality audio was a formative event in my life.

In the early 60's my dad (a physicist) designed and had built a custom horn speaker system. The horns were vacuum cast out of magnesium by the honda motorcycle company in Japan where we lived at the time. The center base horn was 4' high and driven by a 600 watt tube amp that my dad made by hand. The midrange horns were three feet square with two horn tweeters mounted above each. The cabinets were custom made by the Y L Acoustic Company in Tokyo. To my knowledge, there were 6 sets of these made. One to Tocheira Honda for doing the casting. We had to remove a wall to get the system into our house. I would love to track these down as my dad sold ours when we moved into a house here in the states where they would not fit.

I still have my JBL L100’s I bought in 1974. I still love them after all these decades.

The Bose 901s, may not have been the best sounding speaker of all time, but it certainly was a revolutionary design. I think like "pound for pound" for boxers, dollar for dollar speakers, it's gotta be up there! You have to respect the science behind the design, the the emphasis on psychoacoustics of the real world vs the theoretical anechoic chamber measurements, made them great in real life and less so in the lab... which is all that matters, and that's no small feet.

Of all the speakers I've experienced here are my favs: 1) Focal Sopra No. 2 2) Paradigm Persona 3f 3) Martin Logan ESL Impressions 11A 4) B&W 802 D2 5) B&W CM6 S2 6) Martin Logan Motion 40 (this sounds the best to my ears in the entire motion line) 7) Dali Rubicon 8 8) Tannoy Canterbury 9) Polk Audio LSiM 707 (just an easy to listen to speaker, and at the 75% off clearance sale, unbeaten value) 10) Bose Acoustimass (for being the game changers they were)

The absolute best system that I have ever heard was put together by a concert violinist from the Philadelphia Philharmonic. Powered by a 220 watt Marantz amp and SAE Equalizer driving some JBL C50 Olympus S8R-2s. Because the sound was so intense, it had to be on a concrete floor, as it would shake the entire house. Listened to Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Picture at an Exhibition and the presence was beyond words. This was back in the early 70's.

ESS Hiel with the AMT air motion transformer playing Pink Floyd Time on a Phase Linear system in the late 70's. That started my journey.

I did not had contact with a lot of these speakers mentioned but some of the outstanding ones that I have heard over the years and made a big impression were: Meridian M100 Linn Isobarik and Linn Sara Driven by Naim NAP250/NAC 32.5 Acoustat Spectra 2200 (owned) B&W Nautilis driven by Mark Levinson No.33 B&W 800 matrix series (Still own the 804 matrix) Celestion SL600 (owned) Thiel CS2 Magnapan Tympanis' AR-98LS (My first set of speakers) Proac Tablette

I owned JBL "Century" L100's for many years, back when I had my first Pioneer, the SX-750. (I'm old.) Loved them and still do.

I had three Bose units around my apartment with the bass under the couch. My friends couldn’t believe those little speakers were so throaty. Lol. Thanks for bringing them up, classics for sure.

Re: Bose loudspeakers. My wife has the most discerning hearing I have ever encountered. That is saying something because I was a mix engineer for nearly 3 decades and have 39 gold and platinum albums to my name. I also owned a pro audio store and was a dealer for both JBL and Bose, among many other brands. I did some product evaluation for Bose when the Acoustimass first came out. While evaluating that system at home, my wife commented she couldn't stand listening to them and that they actually gave her a headache! A few months later, I saw a demo kiosk set up in a high end stereo store. The speaker cabinets looked like JBL L100s, but there was no brand identification on anything, just a pair of speakers flanking a video screen and a button that said "Play". It played a series of different video clips with audio all the way from chamber music through rock to ending with the Space Shuttle launch at a very realistic level. This is impressive, I thought, even for L100s. At the end, the cabinets opened their grills to reveal a pair of Acoustimass speakers inside the empty enclosures. Blown away and thinking I would teach my wife a lesson, I brought her to the store. Within seconds of the demo's start, she remarked it sounded as horrible as those awful Bose I brought home, and walked out of the store. The moral to my story is you can only bend the laws of physics so far before some people won't accept it. There is something about all of the processing required to correct for the inadequacy of those tiny drivers and enclosures that literally made my wife nauseous. All that said, the Bose Quintet series is phenomenal by comparison, and not that much larger. Just a really well made, traditional 2-way system with a small woofer and a tiny horn in a reflex cabinet. I have used them in over a dozen budget home theater systems and never had a complaint, not even from my wife!

My brother bought a pair of La Scala back in the late 80s or early 90s and still has them today. Can't wait to tell him.

Could we watch the pics of each speaker a little longer while you talk about them, and maybe talk about the price of these legends

In 1978 I bought a pair of I M F monitor speakers. I have listened to many top end speakers from then until now. I wouldn’t change them for anything. The greatest music experience you could wish for.

Rogers ls3/5 pre 1982. The best loudspeaker I have ever heard. No earth shaking bass no cracky crispy highs but pure emotion and a mid range to die for. Till now my number one.

Klipsch La Scala. I purchased many speakers over the years out of curiosity. My La Scalas have been in my house, ready to go since I bought them in '83.

In 1990 I bought my Bose Acoustimass 5 Series II Speaker. Many years later I bought a used second pair for my large living room. Until today I use them with a Marantz Stereophonic Receiver Model 2275. I put both subwoofer together in a corner to get more base.

Infinity IRS V... Genesis I. Yamaha NS1000 and NS2000... JBL Everest... Klipschorn... B&W Nautilus... KEF Blade... AR LS9... Magnepan 3.7... APOGEE Grand... PIEGA Master Line Source.... Gryphon Audio Kodo Speaker System...

Acoustic Energy AE-1, Yamaha NS-1000M, Totem Arro, Martin Logan CLS-2, KEF 105-2, Wilson Grand Slamm X1, Living Voice Vox Olympian, Infinity IRS-V, Apogee Scintilla, Tannoy Kingdom 18.

That’s awesome on your Bose story! Growing up my grandpa had a Bose Acoustimass system in his living room which led me to my love for speakers and along the way I’ve collected a few myself!

In 1981 I bought a pair of celestion ditton 551, and have had a love affair since then. A lightning strike blew a tweeter and burnt a hole in my crossover. They have been fixed and still bring me joy.

Finally an Audiophile who doesn't sneer at B&O

Remember.The equipment used to drive any speaker, the reflection of the room. The size,and type of music. Equalization, cross Over frequencies. Humidity. Old lady's mood. All effect our musical experience. And of coarse Budget.. back in 79 a Pioneer Super Tuner and the set of Jensen Tri axles mounted in an Impala with an empty trunk was total Bliss after I just got done burning one

Pioneer HPM-100. My dad brought them home in 1979 and I still use (CRANK) them every day. Bulletproof!

I still have the Bose Acoustimass Series, which I bought about 18 years ago! Still sounds amazing! Will be upgrading to something else when we move some day soon.

You missed out on maybe the most iconic speaker company ever TANNOY. Their duel concentric drivers are pure magic and have stood out for over 50 years. B&W make great speakers but their progress has slowed over the years. Their Silver signature speakers from the 80s was their best speaker they ever made and is still better than their current models except for their 90s nautilus that they still make today.

It strikes me that there's a few lists here being conflated into one: a) The 10 best loudspeakers I've owned b) The 10 most influential loudspeakers I've owned c) The 10 most memorable loudspeakers I've owned But the "10 best loudspeakers of all time", I don't think, is the appropriate title.

I have a pair of LaScala speakers - bought them in the mid 70’s for $760 each - back then had them connected to an SAE system - beautiful. I now have them as the front speaks for a digital organ Hauptwerk and have a pair of Klipsch bookshelf for the read speakers. WOW WHAT A SOUND.

The Klipsch La Scala. It can do anything. Great stereo speaker, but we used a pair of these along with some sub woofers as the mains for our band. The JBL L-100 is a studio legend. My favorite two.

Great list. I sold Bose. 301's never ever broke and never ever sounded bad. Not great, but never bad. I started with a pair of AR 4ax two-way speakers while Henry Kloss was still at AR. My friend had four KLH monitors in a quadraphonic system. I would agree with all of your choices. I have heard most of them. I sold JBL and Klipsch. The La Scala's are truly magnificent. I almost bought a pair of Forte's - alas I should have. Celestion Ditton 66 and 662's were very enjoyable and I listened to them for a long time every day at work. When you work in a hi-fi shop you may or may not listen to the very best every day, but you tend to listen to what you like every day. In competition with the Paradigms I would suggest the first Psb Alpha's. I met Paul Barton, their designer, and I owned a pair of them longer than any other speaker I have owned. Like the Paradigms, they didn't do everything, but everything they did was right. One very fond memory comes from being able to pair Wharfedale TSR's with Denon components - particularly some of their class A/B amplifiers, their superb turntables and their giant-killer moving coil cartridge the DL-103. The TSR's made everything sound beautiful. Currently I own a pair of Tannoy Revolution XT 6f speakers which please me very much. They have the high efficiency that brings truly live dynamics to the fore and their dual-concentric design gives them imaging rarely found in dynamic speakers. Thanks for the video. Perhaps let the pictures of the products you are talking about linger longer onscreen. I found the quick glimpse of the B & O's to be a bit frustrating as i wanted to try to drink in the design you were describing. Shalom

In 1978, I bought a pair of Bose 901s Series 3 and 20 years later the foam deteriorated, thank God I taped my receipt to the bottom because after I called them, produced my receipt and returned them to Bose ... back came a new pair of 901 Series 6 and still today, I have not heard a better speaker !!!!

I had a pair of Cannon loudspeakers in the 1970 s twelve inch woofer paired with an Akia 400 watt amplifier. Today I have a pair of Cerwin vega loudspeakers, 15 inch woofer incredibly heavy speaker box like 74 lbs each. They have max input of 400 watts they are paired with a 400 watt Yamaha amplifier. The bass is amazing, the highs and mid range is very clear. I'm glad I live out in the country , no neighbors for miles. I enjoyed your video, I'm still old school grew up in the early seventies. To be honest have not heard of some of the brands you mentioned.

Loved the Acoustimass part as that hit home! When I was 12 I was introduced when my grandpa got a system setup In his living room and I’ve been hooked ever since!

I'm 64, so I have a different historical perspective. I'd include the Bozak Concert Grand, the Rectilinear III, the Altec Valencia (the A7 in living room trim), the KLH 12, the original Advent Loudspeaker from Henry Kloss in 1969, and the Dahlquist DQ-10. I attended the debut of the DQ-10 at Opus One's Forbes Avenue store in Pittsburgh in July 1972. I was 17 at the time and I enjoyed a great conversation with Jon Dahlquist and his business partner, Saul Marantz. The DQ-10 was praised by J. Gordon Holt in Stereophile and by Harry Pearson in the Absolute Sound. It was also used by Dave Wilson in his development of the original Wilson Audio Modular Monitor (WAMM), which sold for $35,000.00 per pair in 1981. Sadly, Dave Wilson passed away from bone cancer in May 2018, but he released his masterpiece, the WAMM Master Chronosonic, which builds on design principles used in the DQ-10. The WAMM Master Chronosonic retails for $685,000.00 per pair and each speaker weighs 900 lbs. (408.23 kg.)

A couple favorites- Klipsch Kornerhorn, Altec Lansing A7 Voice of the Theatre, AR 3a, ADS L700, Snell

I really love my Polk Audio Monitor 5 from 1991. I drive them with my vintage Denon PMA 520. 70wpc. I also have a Denon dcd1560. The imaging is incredible. I've heard stuff beside me and behind me. They accurately reproduce instruments with such detail I can actually hear if the piano is a Yamaha, Steinway, or something else. I hear resin on bows, and wind instruments mechanics open and closing. For me, the Polk Audio M5's are a forgotten gem that really fits in all environments and provide the ultimate in music therapy. ( Deep relaxation). 😄

Klipsch Klipschorn AK6 is my "If I win the lottery" speaker set. I've only heard them one time but they sure made an impression on me!

My personal favorites: 1.) The Infinity Reference Standard. Way out of my price range but the best sounding speakers I have ever heard. Back around 1980 I had gone to the house of a guy who's father owned large company (thus the deep pockets) and was amazed when I first laid eyes on those gigantic columns. I was even more astounded when he cranked them up. I don't recall exactly what he was using for components but I do remember it was all high end separates. Probably McIntosh or Carver. They needed a lot of power but the precision and clarity of those speakers stood out instantly. 2.) The Klipsch Forte II. Around 1991 when I was finally earning enough money to purchase a decent pair of speakers I spent quite a bit of time going around to the high end audio stores listening to various high end speakers. After much sampling I chose the Klipsch Forte II's, preferring them over even the Klipschhorn. They provide rich, deep bass thanks to their rear mounted 15" woofers and crisp, clear mid's and high's that are precise and yet easy on the ear. I still own them and they are still my primary L R Front speakers in my home theater set-up.

My list is all vintage speakers that I have heard and or own. There is no particular order. 1. Infinity IRS Series V 2. Fulton J-Modular / Fulton Premieres (P10 / P12’s) 3. Magneplanar Tympani ID’s 4. Mark Levinson’s HQD Speaker System 5. Sound Labs A-1 6. Fulton FMI 80’s 7. JBL L-100 8. Celestion SL-6 9. Apogee Diva 10. Spendor Ls3/5a

My first acoustimass are the original series back in 85. As an experiment and on advice from my local high end store I swapped the Bose bell wire cables for some heavy duty Naim cable from the amp to the bass cabinet and QED qudos to the cubes. Wow! What an improvement, the system came alive like never before and blowing up the Death star from Star wars was incredible, still run that setup today. Also looking for a higher end setup for music but its got to be better than a Nad 3020 on the 901's

My first memory with Hi-Fi is Bose acoustimass. Second is the Sony home theater system my dad got when I was maybe 14 years old and I would sit in front of those four-way towers all day listening to 1990s pop and hip hop music and watching the woofers do their work. They were actually really good sounding speakers, really warm, the highs were not too crazy and you just didn't get tired of them. I miss those.

I bought a pair of jbl l 100s in 1978, that I still own and listen to daily. Great speakers.

The ESS AMT1 was the speaker that woke me up as an audiophile and I began my journey in 1977. It is still a speaker that I would enjoy today, but difficult to get (in pristine condition that is). Thank you taking me down memory lane today. Best wishes to you.

I will never forget as a teenager the first time I auditioned Quad ESL speakers, 18 years ago (vintage 57 and newer models 63 , 2912), to this day still blows my mind (as a magnepan lover and experienced with focal, b&w, klipsch, tannoy, harbeth, kef, jbl and more). I wish I could own a system and a room to facilitate them fully, I would be perfectly happy with the 63's ^__^ .

My all time best loudspeakers I built myself. As a teenager back in the 70's. It was a transmission line speaker with only one driver. Very low budget. My amplifier was a Quad 33 + 303. A match made in heaven.

My best list. Personally own/owned. Duntech Princess, Thiel 3.5 with eq, Klipsch LaScalla, Magnepan MGIIc, Thiel 1.5, Dynaudio Audience 80, JBL L7, Altec Lansing Voice of the Theatre, Vienna Acoustics Bach.

Don't pay attention to the negative comments! I really enjoyed this! I have been a musician for 54 years (drummer since I was 7) and have always enjoyed great sounding music! As a kid, I had a few sets of cheap speakers, but my first "real" speakers was a set of Bose 301 bookshelf speakers! Wow, they blew me away! I went to a set fo Bose 802 PA Speakers on my stereo, then Klipsch, back to Bose. Thanks for the info.

I bought a set of Klipsch KG2 small two way speakers for $200 built in 1985 that are so freaking awesome I just can't explain how good they sound. I have several other speakers and non of them come even close to sounding as good as these little gems.

While my comment is not speaker specific it relates to an experience that I had in 1969. I was in an audio dealership in North Carolina for a demo of Klipsch speakers and the guest of honor was none other than Paul Klipsch! Wow, what a privilege to meet this guy, but what a strange guy he was. He did not seem to be interested at all in things audio, but he had, gosh, I don't know how many wrist watches on his arms so he could tell what time it was in any time zone it the world!

I remember first time hearing the Bose brand at my friends place, I was so amazed by the sound specially that small speaker.

Love that you put the Bose AM into the conversation. I’ve bought and sold more of those systems than I can recall and still have an old set of redlines floating around. I’ve moved on to bigger and better but easily the best starter sound you can ask for

I’m still the original owner of a set of 1979 KEF Model 105 Series 1 speakers, this model was the choice used by Nelson Pass for his critical listening evaluations. ‘Nuff said, I’ll never sell or replace them, hence you missed a major milestone in historical loudspeakers.

Owned Heresy in early 80s. Then La Scalas. Finally Klipschorns. Most gigging musicians don't own high-end stereos. 50 bucks a night, go figure. I'm lucky in that I've worked steadily for years. Great speakers. Great video. Thanks

I love my Maggie 1.7i's. And after hearing your praise of the Crown XLS, I run them now with a pair of bridged 1002's. I'm blown away by the price/performance ratio of both products.

Oh man, the Sophias... I too had a period of going to a local audiophile shop where I was living at the time (The Thirsty Ear, now long gone in that city) with that same setup you describe: The pair of white Sophias (first series) on a Krell. Moving from so many other setups (Some of which are on your list) and continually coming back to those Wilsons and being stunned by the detail, nuance, clarity, emotion... just all of it. Such a moving experience no matter what music you put through them. While I probably did not go in there as often as you did in yours, it was still that moment when I realized that should I ever be in the market to spend that much for a stereo setup, Wilson was going to get my money. Thanks for bringing that memory back to me!

Quick suggestion for future videos like this. The speaker ypu are talking about should stay on screen for more than a second. No disrespect but I don't think people tune in to se your face 95% of the duration of the video. Leave images of the speakers you're talking about. Thanks

The best High End Speakers of All time are in no special Order: ALTEC Voice of the Theater series, JBL Paragon, QUAD ESL, Mirage M1, B&W 801, Apogee Grand, Martin Logan CLS, Magnepan 3.6, HALES SS2, Avalon , Wilson Puppies, Dunlavy SC4, Thiel CL3, B&O 8000, MBL 101, AudioNote AN-E, Von Sweickert, Vandersteen CS2, Nelson PASS Rushmores, etc.

I still have 2 JBL L100 studio monitor speakers. 40+ years old (bought in the early 70's). Still sound great.

I bought a Bose Acoustimass 5 set when they first came out in 1987. About 800 bucks back then. I still have them and while other speakers have come and gone, they still sound good to this day. Looking to replace them with a Dolby Atmos set now.

That B&O experience was similar to mine....except in San Francisco. My brother in law had a Beosound 3000 player and I was so impressed that I walked into the San Fran B&O store and was just blown away by the design and performance of the Beolab speakers. Beolab 5's being my favorite.

Quad ESL57. I’ve heard more loudspeakers than I can remember, and owned more than I should have. Only the original Quads sound like real music

Why do you not say what the price of this stuff is?

2 weeks ago I bought both the Pendragon (for my mains) and the Lore Reference (surrounds). I fell in love with the Pendragon's so much, that I haven't yet bothered to set up the other speakers.

All of these fond memories are from fifty years ago for a reason. My folks shopped at Sears. For everything. we had a Sears stereo system in the house, Sears BEST. The first time one of my friends, eighteen or nineteen years old, got a substantial tax return...it was time for a new stereo. He bought some kind of Onkyo receiver, 1980, 81'ish. A pair of speakers with 12" woofers, do not remember the brand. Guess what, it completely blew the doors off of Sears BEST, and I was hooked. Today I realize if you crave that kind of revelation, you really need to listen to Sears BEST for a couple weeks,

My favorite loudspeaker system I had was the Apogee Duetta Signature's driven by Krell mono blocks. Nothing ever came close to that. It all had to go when we had kids.

The Bose 901s deserve a place in any top 10 loudspeaker list

I bought four Pioneer CS-R700 speakers in 1974 when I was in the Navy. They are heavy speakers, weighing almost 50 lb. but I love those 12" woofers and mid-range horns they have. I have had them hooked up at parties where I could compare them to friend's speakers (JBLs and Altec-Lansings) and they always performed just as well. It was easy to shake the whole house when those babies were cranked up. GREAT, hard rock speakers, IMHO.

When I was 10 my dad built us a new house and we got a Bose surround sound and a 40" Sony XBR crt it was one of the first HD TV's (to my knowledge) it had a either 3 or 4" thick solid glass screen- that thing was insanely heavy- the heaviest TV I have ever picked up lol. At the time it was the shi+ and all of our neighbors would come over and watch newly released DVD's (when a DVD cost like $50 or more). One of the first movies we watched was Jarrasic Park, wow was it amazing. Like you it was what turned me into an audiophile. I always loved playing the Bose demo cds. Also the Whitney Houston Bodyguard soundtrack it was definitely next level. Bose are awesome I don't understand why audiophiles don't like them. Yeah I'm sure they aren't the best sounding speakers available but they still sound much better than most, in my opinion.

As long as the list has the LaScala, I'm happy.

One of my old favourite speakers were the Energy Connoisseur. It always amazed me what a 6" driver and tweeter could accomplish while in a very sleek floor standing ported cabinet

Interesting review. I liked your descriptions and reasons for your choices. I've been using the same JBL 4311B monitors since 1981 and still going strong.

The reason why I fell in love with audio was because of Bose. I know I am going to get flak because of this and thant's ok. The first time I listen to a Bose system was the Lifestyle 10 back in 91. The store was Fedco. I also watched a demo on laserdisc of T2 I was 13 at the time and fell love with Laserdisc as well. They sold others like Sony, panasonic, etc. From that point I was inspired by audio and technology. Good times.

If I may add some key speakers that should be in the 'all time best'. Firstly, and perhaps the biggest omission, the BBC LS3/5A the original reference speaker. Also missing was the Quad Electrostatic ESL57, considered by some to the best speaker ever. KEFs (104/2) are mentioned elsewhere. Tannoy Westminster with dual concentric drivers. Sonus Faber Cremona. Linn Kans. Meridian active (various) and ACT active monitors.

JBL! Yep. My neighbor had a pair for sale during her garage sale. At the end of the sale, they didn't sell. She ended up just giving them to me for FREE. All they needed was a cabinet refresh (sanded, stained, and Minwax finished) and new woofers/midranges. I found some OEM direct replacement mids...no issues. The tweeters and crossover were in perfect shape. I worked with Dayton Audio and Simply Speakers to find a perfect match for the woofers (or a recone kit). I ended up using Eminence Legend bass guitar drivers in them (perfect fit and REAL copper voice coils). They sound amazing and look great for 40+ year old speakers. The presence and sound stage is life-like.

Your videos are great. No big words you are talking to the ones are just starting. I bought my first rack system in the 70's. The system was a Fisher Studio Standard. Still have the receive and turn table. Just got them repair. Thanks for being you and down to earth. Thanks Al Hartman

AR3s and KLH were before your time. They are still Classics. Large Advents were next for Henry Kloss. They are a Classic too. Brought hi end audio to the masses.

So glad you mention the Acoustimass system. I've had two since they became available and have loved every minute of them.

Good video for a new subscriber. I went into a local (Albany, NY area) stereo shop in 1973 with the absolute intent of buy the JBL L100s. I mean I was walking out of that store that day with those speaker. I conveyed this to the low key salesperson and he said great choice, but do me a favor, 10 minutes of your time. He introduced me to the ESS AMT 1Bs. The ones with that silly little Heil air motion transformer. I became the guy in the L100 ad, blown away. I give him much more than 10 minutes and about 2 hrs later walked out with the ESS. I’m not sad to see if they made your list, but pound for pound and $, they owned my world for the 15 yrs. thought I’d share. I enjoy what I’ve seen so far and look forward to more. Bob G

Andrew , I respect your analysis on the many of your videos which I’ve viewed. I’m a Bang and Olufsen and among my various tangential turntable , CD players , multi room , headphones and sound bar review( Bang and Olufsen Stage ) which I purchased and it’s great I have two pairs of Beolab 3 and Beolab 8000 mk2 Both married to Beolab 11 and Beolab 19 subs Bang and Olufsen make AWESOME HI FI The Beolab 3 are 8 inches square with an acoustic lens on top as you know designed and manufactured between B n O and Sausalito audio The 3s sound as thu they were a reasonable pair of floor standers How the company can make such a sound and powerful to , detailed and warm from these tiny units is unbelievable. And they look KILLER !!!!! the build as always is pure unadulterated craftsmanship Great kit 👏👏👏👏

If you "lived" with these speakers...How can I argue? I could not afford a Sophia or B&W 802, so bravo good job, lucky guy

It’s more of a “10 Speakers I’m most sentimental about” list. And that’s cool... but I’d like to see a Top 10 Best Sounding list

Klipsch Forte II, Klipsch KG 5.2, Phase Technology PC10.5, Dynaudio Audience 72 SE, B&W 802, Hales Revelation 3, Hales Transcendence 1 and Dynaudio Focus 140. I've had other speakers but these are my all time favorites. Still have both sets of Dynaudios. Wish I had the Hales as well.

Infinity IRS V, Infinity Reference Kappa 9 (current ), Yamaha NS 1000, Quad ESL 57, Martin Logan CLS, Acoustic Research AR3, Wilson Audio Watt & Puppy

Great review. For me my favorite speaker of all time is the Pioneer HPM-150 paired with a Pioneer SX-1280 silver faced receiver. This was during the big Receiver wars when the Pioneer SX-1980 Receiver dominated the market, the SX-1280 receiver was one notch down from the SX-1980. I still have four Pioneer HPM-150 speakers to this day but they are powered by two Yamaha MX-1000U amplifiers. They were designed by Bart Locanthi who was lead designer at JBL and he left JBL to design speakers for Pioneer during the receiver war era. The pioneer HPM-150 speakers were one of the top speaker designs second only to the HPM-200 speaker, even the drivers all look just like JBL in the HPM-150. They shake the concrete floor and the entire house when I turn them up and produce a wide range of sound. You do not need a subwoofer when these speakers are properly amplified. They can also produce those subtle sounds that everyone loves during movie soundtracks. When I first finished restoring them I was watching the movie Predator late at night and one of the actors whispered "Hey over here" and I swear it sounded like someone snuck up behind me and whispered in my ear! Scared me to death! These speakers have a neat way of throwing sound from that four way design and that super tweeter just sprinkles the fairy dust perfectly to top it all off. These speakers are big and produce massive amounts of sound and are concert loud. The look is definitely 1970s but hey it is what I grew up with and I love them. I have listened to many high end speakers over the years and for a speaker design that is 44 years old I can tell you that they still hold their own. Every time I have someone over and they hear them they all ask the same question. What are those speakers and where can I buy some? Then I have to break the news to them on what it actually takes to get a set of these speakers and restore them. I only wish Pioneer would begin to make them again. Back in 1977 to 1980 they sold for $500 each so they were not cheap back then. Unfortunately today the cost would be high to reproduce them and would make them unobtanium for most consumers.

just found this channel - it is great. Brings back the true appreciation of stereo equipment. So regarding my Bose story: I walked into a stereo store back in 1981, when i was in college, and heard an entire lineup of all Bose made at the time. I also listened to other great speakers of the day. Without a doubt, the Bose 601 Series II blew me away. They sounded so full at a loud and low volume. I bought a pair in 1984 and I still have them. Still totally satisfied with the sound; but you need the proper room to put them in.

The Boston Acoustic A100 Series II floor speakers are unbelievable for the cost. I bought a pair new in 1985, & still have them packed away. They're simply a 10 inch paper woofer & an ear level 1 inch dome tweeter in a big heavy box. I ran them with a NAD 7140 receiver & a Denon DCD-1500 CD player from the same era. I still have those, too, with the 36 year old Monster Cable; the old original thick gage clear stuff.

Good list, well thought out....I think that ignoring AR, specifically the AR 3 is a miss. Back in the 60's, 1 of every 3 loudspeakers sold was an AR speaker so, like the Bose, you may not like the AR 3 but you can't ignore it's signifigance. I'd also make a similar argument about Quad...either the 57 or the 63. Also tough to ignore the Vandersteen 2 series just on the basis of longevity. Others you could make a good argument for, Thiel 3.6's, Dynaco A25 and the Dahlquist DQ-10...

I am currently using Klipsch Heresy III's and they are some of the best I've heard. So I want to fall back into the realm of affordable vintage that I personally own and have great admiration for... Cerwin Vega AT-15 Pioneer CS-911 Rectilinear Lowboy III's These were all affordable ( for me) and sounded great. I have no argument with your list, because I have never heard most of them. Just a budget enthusiast's opinion.

Have owned a pair of jbl l200 since 1977. Still love them!

Had a pair of LaScalas, bought new in 1975. Loved them all the way through 80s,90s early 2000s, when I gave them to a friend (long story,don't ask) been missing them ever since. Got some Klipsch towers now,just not the same.

Vandersteen model 5, Ohm F, IMF tls 80, Yamaha NS -1000, Quad 63

Had a pair of JBL 300's. Great sound and real nice wood work.