Most beautiful speakers in the world ?

[Sal1950]

MINE, If you don't love your speakers, get something else !!!
This passion is too demanding of our inner soul to let speakers that don't talk to us ruin our tranquility.
Life is short, don't sleep on a bed of nails, satisfy your needs.

 

[MarkS]

My speakers have a very high-end finish and I would never place anything on them, but the high quality finish is not enough to flag to non-audiophiles “ please don’t place your drinking glass, or anything else on top.”

You could put some pillows (or folded towels, or ...) on top when guests are over ...

 

[Flaesh]

put some

There are some kind of flexible plates with sharp needles attached perpendicularly. However, coating these needles with a deadly poison may be a criminal offense in most jurisdictions..

 

[MattHooper]

Diabolical behaviour! Have they no composure, no deportment, no shame?

My glass-sheathed Audio Physic Codex are somewhat immune. But I sometimes regret passing up certain opportunities to buy loudspeakers that are taller than people.

*The pleasingly modular but bass-shy JBL K2 9500 (the vertically-arrayed modular Japanese style with black lacquer finish and aluminium horn, not the squat wood-veneered 9900) or some keenly priced and gigantic Focal Grande Utopia (three pairs no less). The former needed subwoofers of similar scale, the latter a loan anyway for a new listening room ... sigh, what might have been.

Your AP speakers would make tempting and elegant stands for guest’s wine glasses.

Mine seemed to attract beer bottles.

 

[MarkS]

Maybe a couple of trained pet porcupines ...

 

[MattHooper]

Maybe a couple of trained pet porcupines ...

Now you’re talking!

I wish I had a pair of those in the following scenario that I think I’ve recounted here once before:

When our kids were younger, and I had recently just finished a long expensive renovation of our front living room into a high-performance home theatre, we had some sort of party with other families over. Maybe it was a birthday or something. Lots of young kids running around. But all activity was kept to the back of the house and to the backyard.

But I was just passing by the entrance way of the living room when I saw a young kid standing in front of the projection screen, and starting to reach out to put his hands on it.
It was a very expensive and delicate projection screen and I immediately, but not loudly, spoke up and asked him not to touch it please.

He withdrew his hand and looked at me. And then started to reach for it again and I asked him please don’t touch it. Then he looked at me more mischievously and he noticed that he was standing right in front of a very large (and again very expensive and hard to find!) centre channel for my surround sound.
He drew back his foot making a kicking motion towards the drivers of the speaker. As in “ oh yeah? What if I kick this really hard what are you going to do?”
Somewhat panicked but using a calm voice, I asked him again if he could just carefully step away from that area. He throws a quick kick towards the speaker and stopped it just before hitting the speaker and draws his foot back again ready to kick then turns it looks at me with a big smile.
Now I’m stuck. I’m looking around to see if his parents are anywhere while also trying to keep an eye on him. Because I need to make sure this kid does not damage my equipment, but I also don’t want to physically intervene. So I ended up just basically trying to convince him to just leave the room and go join everybody else. Eventually, after another faked kick or so he’d had enough of that game and he left the room glancing up at me with a “ ha ha ha that was fun. I got one over on you” grin.

(gotta wonder where this stuff comes from. I can’t imagine in 1 million years either of my boys pulling something like that at some other parents house).

Anyway, a couple of guardian porcupines at the entrance of the home theatre room might’ve come in handy that day.

 

[Axo1989]

Your AP speakers would make tempting and elegant stands for guest’s wine glasses.

Mine seemed to attract beer bottles.

Your guests are considerate of colour palette? Anyway these are inexpensive.

 

[MarkS]

Anyway, a couple of guardian porcupines at the entrance of the home theatre room might’ve come in handy that day.

I was thinking of them on top of the speakers, but I suppose they could be trained to attack kicking motions ...

Pet ‎Porcupines For Sale | Porcupine Breeder | Dragonstone Ranch

Dragonstone Ranch is a USDA-licensed breeder of pet porcupines. Adopt a porcupine today and get a care package, travel carrier, and lifetime breeder support.

www.dragonstoneranch.com

 

[Mr. Widget]

I was thinking of them on top of the speakers, but I suppose they could be trained to attack kicking motions ...

Pet ‎Porcupines For Sale | Porcupine Breeder | Dragonstone Ranch

Dragonstone Ranch is a USDA-licensed breeder of pet porcupines. Adopt a porcupine today and get a care package, travel carrier, and lifetime breeder support.

www.dragonstoneranch.com

I particularly liked the post: "What to do when quilled by a pet porcupine." Not: What to do IF quilled by a part porcupine.

 

[Axo1989]

I was thinking of them on top of the speakers, but I suppose they could be trained to attack kicking motions ...

Pet ‎Porcupines For Sale | Porcupine Breeder | Dragonstone Ranch

Dragonstone Ranch is a USDA-licensed breeder of pet porcupines. Adopt a porcupine today and get a care package, travel carrier, and lifetime breeder support.

www.dragonstoneranch.com

Oh baby porcupines look adorable. And especially more so than bird spikes. But I fear Matt’s problem children will be grown by the time he works his way up the waiting list.

 

[Sal1950]

My speakers have a very high-end finish and I would never place anything on them, but the high quality finish is not enough to flag to non-audiophiles “ please don’t place your drinking glass, or anything else on top.”
The very day I got my speakers and had marvelled at the beauty of their finish, a cable guy showed up to install something in the same room. I’d only left for a couple minutes to come back and find that he placed his goddamn tools - pliers , screwdrivers, etc. - on top of my speakers!

Do to the highly fragile nature of very high gloss finishes, specially piano black, I avoid them like the plague. Many decades ago when I had completed unknown hours of work putting a tung oil finish on my Klipsch LaScalas, I had glass tops cut for them. Between smokers and ignorant drink holders, there's very little you can do to protect them otherwise.. But even beyond that, the super shiny finishes will still get surface scratches on them even from just dusting. Ever pay attention to a beautiful black car or truck in the sunlight. I got my JBL's in the satin walnut finsh, so far after 5 years they still appear flawless but do keep microfiber clothes on the top of them to protect from the idiots and rub them down often with a cloth covered in lemon oil.

 

[Audionaut]

(gotta wonder where this stuff comes from. I can’t imagine in 1 million years either of my boys pulling something like that at some other parents house).

That's probably what 95% of parents think about their children - but is it true, Matt?

But it seems to be true that most Canadians are very nice people.
I would have grabbed the little brat and sat him in front of the door to the room - and then locked it.

 

[Audionaut]

But on topic > Manger S1

 

[EERecordist]

Architects and acoustical consultants integrate circular surround system into multi-purpose space at sound retreat center in Switzerland.

Genelec stattet den ersten Klang-Dom der Schweiz im Resonanzzentrum Peter Roth mit Lautsprechern aus

Genelec Smart IP verbindet Architektur, Natur und Immersive Audio in der Klangwelt Toggenburg.

www.genelec.de

Klangwelt Toggenburg

Klang, Resonanz, Brauchtum, Stimme hautnah auf dem Klangweg, in Kursen, bei Festivals, in der Klangschmiede und im Klanghaus erleben.

klangwelt.ch

(your browser can likely translate the links)

 

[Doenerkunde]

Architects and acoustical consultants integrate circular surround system into multi-purpose space in Switzerland.

Genelec stattet den ersten Klang-Dom der Schweiz im Resonanzzentrum Peter Roth mit Lautsprechern aus

Genelec Smart IP verbindet Architektur, Natur und Immersive Audio in der Klangwelt Toggenburg.

www.genelec.de

Klangwelt Toggenburg

Klang, Resonanz, Brauchtum, Stimme hautnah auf dem Klangweg, in Kursen, bei Festivals, in der Klangschmiede und im Klanghaus erleben.

klangwelt.ch

(your browser can likely translate the links)

"The Resonance Center houses the Sound Dome, Switzerland's first dome installation...", opened december 2025

Strauss Elektroakustik Musiclab in Bern Switzerland, opened may 2022:

Video tour:

 

[FTB]

Hell yeah, I want to hear that kind of places.

 

[Flaesh]

But do Strauss's monitors possess any special, outstanding, rare beauty?..

 

[MattHooper]

That's probably what 95% of parents think about their children - but is it true, Matt?

In this case, I’m happy to say with certainty:
Yes


Though…. As it happens…. When my first son was about 3, I had a pair of big expensive Thiel CS6 speakers on the loan.
I had listened to them for about a week exclusively with the grills on to protect the drivers from my son.

But one Sunday morning, I thought I really wanted to hear them without the grills. My listening room was on the main floor of the front of the house and I knew my son was with my wife in the back family room.
So I walked over to the right speaker, carefully took off the grill, walked to the corner of the room to place the grill in the corner, and as I was doing that, I heard the sound of little running feet rapidly approaching the room, I turned around just in time to see my son running full speed into the room, happily yelling my name with his arms outstretched… and he tripped towards the speaker… and his finger went right into woofer leaving a sizeable dent.

I had literally taken one grill off the loudspeaker for all of 30 seconds and my son still managed to find a way to dent the drivers in that time.

Little agents of chaos.

 

[EERecordist]

But on topic > Manger S1

View attachment 507138
View attachment 507139

View attachment 507137

I would like to see the Spinorama for that waveguide.

"The Resonance Center houses the Sound Dome, Switzerland's first dome installation...", opened december 2025

Strauss Elektroakustik Musiclab in Bern Switzerland, opened may 2022:
View attachment 507183

Video tour:

Thank you, I did not know about that.

 

[Axo1989]

But on topic > Manger S1

View attachment 507138
View attachment 507139

View attachment 507137

I would like to see the Spinorama for that waveguide.

Not a waveguide at all, it dampens the tail end of the concentric wave propagation across the driven surface. The mid-treble driver is Manger's invention. Here's a better image:

via Stereophile with a description here. Interesting but not without some idiosyncracies. I'd like to hear them myself.