Which speakers gave you the *wow* factor?

[thewas]

For me it was rather the combination of good loudspeakers and acoustically optimised rooms, can mostly remember 2 such moments, the KH420 plus subs in the Neumann demonstration room in Wedemark and the Blade 2 in the demo room of KEF in Maidstone.

 

[MattJ]

First time I ever heard Holographic Imaging was from a pair of Infinity RS6000A's. My jaw hung open as I could all but *see* the musicians in the recording. That really started the high end fever with me.

 

[onion]

Hearing a decent sub (XTZ 3x12) in the movie room for the first time
Hearing multi subs with miniDSP in the same movie room
Using Bacch4Mac for the first time (not speakers but still wow!)
My Genelec setup 8341a alone. Adding the subs put a smile on my face but no 'Wow'.
Combining Bacch4Mac with the Genelec setup

 

[DSJR]

Too many 'Wow' speakers in my life as I worked in it. Big IMF's Crown driven, the then rather evil D) Crown/Amcron hybrid electrostatics, active Isobariks (a good set in a favourable room was a very good sound I always thought), BIG active ATC's with dynamics to pin you to the wall and with low colouration at least for the times, the odd large JBL's I heard starting with the L200's decades ago, AR LST's - loved 'em -, Apogee Duetta Signatures with their 'through a doorway' soundstage (deep midrange response dip probably). Got to say the PMC Fenestria in a large room with high vaulted ceiling was incredibly impressive and effortlessly loud given half a change. FAR too overpowering in a smaller space though. I'm sure there ar emany others, but these stand out scanning back through time. Interesting that most huge 'High End' confections left me totally cold as they kind-of sounded 'introverted' rather than mini versions of 'real life.'

 

[Angsty]

The first speaker that impressed me to remember it by name was the Paradigm Model 7se; a fraternity friend bought a pair that mesmerized me at the time. The one that made a big enough impact to make me invest was the Thiel CS2 2 I heard at a dealer. I craved them for years and eventually bought a pair of Thiel CS6's which I currently own.

 

[Berlin]

I just ordered the Geithain RL 900K - natural sounding, gerat bass... Will have to wait for 12 weeks now...

 

[Pearljam5000]

I just ordered the Geithain RL 900K - natural sounding, gerat bass... Will have to wait for 12 weeks now...

You mean 901K?

 

[gsp1971]

I'll play too.
In a hi-fi show in 2017, went from room to room listening to the set-ups, as you do, some you like, some you don't, you know how it works.
And then .... BANG!
I entered the room and was flabbergasted.
Focal Sopra No1 powered by Mola-Mola Kaluga (NCore NC1200 mind you) monoblocks.
I will never forget that sound.
I was just standing there, paralyzed.

PS1 €8,100 for the speakers + €12,000 for the amps = €20K. Save some change for source and DAC.

PS2 In the same event I was really impressed by Spendor Classic 2/3 speaker powered by Exposure electronics. That would have been my choice if it wasn't for the Focal / Mola Mola combo that blew everything away.

 

[norcalscott]

One such wow moment for me was about 7 or 8 years ago when I was visiting LDS (Mormon Church) in Salt Lake City on business and got a tour of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Recording Studio, which was about a year old at the time. They were proud of Wilson Audio speakers that they had in the control room (I think it may be the Sashas). The engineer asked me if I would like to hear them so of course I said yes! A week prior to me being there, James Taylor had performed live in the Tabernacle with the choir (magnificent place by the way).

The audio engineer brought up their high resolution recording of that performance and played it at a generous volume level - absolutely fantastic to hear that in a studio environment, has to be the cleanest audio I have ever experienced, felt like ole James was right there in the room. This video goes into the speakers they used in that studio.

 

[Gorgonzola]

For me it was the first time hearing the Ohm F speaker circa 1973 which I heard at Bay Bloor Radio in Toronto, (founded 1946 and still extent). I bought them a couple of years later and foolishly sold them in about 1980.

Honestly, I don't know how I would react to them today, 50 years later. Ohm is still in business and makes models very similar in concept and appearance as the 'F' model.

 

[captainbeefheart]

Still one of my favorite setups is two Brook 12a tube mono amps pushing Klipschorns. This was maybe 50 years ago and I only know one person that has the same setup today and it still sounds as good as I remembered. I cloned the Brook circuit and built the amps for him per my recommendation due to him asking a similar question. "what was the best amp you heard with Klipshorns?"


Flat response? I don't know the owner doesn't care to bring calibration mics into his room for treatment or any sort of tweaking but I can't blame him, that setup just sounds sublime.

 

[Berlin]

You mean 901K?

Correct..!

 

[NiagaraPete]

Mine was the 8050, it was the first time i heard such perfect tonality (to my ears) was also impressed by Focal Solo6

I’m in the same boat with the same speakers. Sadly I know it can be improved upon.

 

[Chester]

I had mainly been focused on headphones but then decided to venture into speakers more seriously. Bought myself a pair of low level Fyne Audio bookshelves. Was very unimpressed. Thought it must be they were too cheap so bought a higher tier pair from Fyne Audio (the F500 if I remember correctly). They sounded better but still ultimately underwhelming. I had just started to lurk at ASR around that time and this fella called Amir made a comment about how good the Revel M106 sounded. This was a good while before the official review.

I thought I will give them a try but if they don’t blow my socks off, I’m done in terms of speakers. Well, they blew my socks off. Such a contrast.

My main speakers these days are the Revel F208’s but I finally got around to unpacking the M106’s and setting up in my study this week. Are they equal to the F208’s? Of course not. But they still sound very very good, and I’m sure with a sub or two would be serious competition.

 

[Timcognito]

Back in day the Klipsch Klipshorn and KEF Model 105. Later the Thiel higher end models upon listening (I know - one test is worth a thousand expert opinions, even my own).

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[Pauper]

AVI ADM40 …never gave a thought to passives again and then KH120.

Mine was similar with AVI DM5

 

[Godataloss]

I heard a pair of Quad 57s with Quad tube amps playing a Billie Holiday record in a dusty audio shop in Cleveland when I was a freshman in highschool. It was a feeling like heartbreak, awe and deja vu intertwined.

 

[Dustyc]

Beveridge Electrostatics, Model 2SW2.

 

[Pauper]

I remember hearing the big klipschorns for the first time. Stunning dynamic sound that I bet was also inaccurate!

 

[Vacceo]

For me, the Blade Meta have been the thing, before them, the Nautilus (almost two decades ago).

The Blades are curious because they are not 'spectacular', they are super clean, clear and sound feels like coming from the air around you, not from a device. It was a very strange but very pleasant audition.