Which speakers gave you the *wow* factor?

[Pearljam5000]

Correct..!

16 inch woofer is insane even the 8361 is tiny next to it with its 10 inch

 

[Doodski]

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

The first Klipschorns I heard at my young age of ~12 where playing this and the tambourine was in the room it sounded so good! It had better tambourines than my new Sennheiser headphones do and they are pretty good.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Beveridge Electrostatics, Model 2SW2.

I heard those in my '20's, and while they did fantastic things with the solidity of image, I came away unimpressed. Ultimately, they lacked high end air. Back in the day, I could hear all the way out to 18-19 Khz, and I thought my LS 3/5a's sounded far more airy than the Beveridge. Also, they really didn't go very far into the bottom octave either. The Model 3's were even worse, sounding like 50 gallon drums b/c of the poorly damped enclosures. A dealer friend of mine also told me Harold went a little crazy with requiring dealers to put up the cash up front to have 3 pairs in inventory at all times. So, he kind of faded away in the '80s if I remember rightly. Too expensive to compete with cheaper, hightly performant designs from companies like Kef, Martin Logan, B&W, et al.

 

[ripvw]

Infinity Servo Statik 1A
original Quad ESL
Quad ESL-63
Infinity IRS V
Stax ESL F83
Dunlavy SC-V
and my current system: Genelec 8320A's, 7350A & GLM 4.2 - best near-field system I've heard to date, best speakers I've ever owned

 

[phoenixdogfan]

The large Apogees had it for me. Could play loud, great bass, highs and midrange to die for and exemplary imaging. The original version which I heard at Golden Grammaphone in Akron had a nominal impedance of l.t. one ohm and could only be driven by Krell amplifiers. The Scintillas had a similar impedance but were not nearly as impressive. Later on they added a Kapton backing to the original ribbon which made them easier to drive and not nearly as transparent.

Neither Stereophile nor TAS ever reviewed it, which is one of the reasons I concluded early on both publications were for shite.

 

[Berlin]

16 inch woofer is insane even the 8361 is tiny next to it with its 10 inch

Yes, it is. But bass is not overdone. I found that the speaker sound well balanced...

 

[jhaider]

Historically, the first speakers to “wow” me were probably Martin-Logan Quest, followed by Tannoy D700. I’d like to hear the latter again sometime to see what experience says. I have heard the former subsequently in the same room (though last time I heard their new speakers with end fire array bass and ARC I thought they were very good!)…and chalked up my previous enthusiasm to youth and inexperience. After that KEF Q15 (first speaker I could afford that I liked), a DIY subwoofer from the Peerless XLS Application Note (830500 XLS12 +XLS12 PR in 35L), Quad 63 on Gradient dipole bass bins, Soundfield Audio Monitor 1, KEF 201/2, JBL LSR32 (would have bought these when current if they had grilles), Revel Salon2.

My most recent “wow” was JBL LSR705i when they first came out. Such natural tonality - with headroom! - out of a shoebox.

There have also been plenty of speakers that brought a wow factor, but in the sense of “wow what are they hearing in this; have they ever experienced live unamplified music?” Lowthers in back-horns, for example. Or Wilson WATT/Puppy, Avantgarde Trio.

 

[Senior NEET Engineer]

I was blown away by Infinity P362. They were the first speakers I purchased. Past experience was just earbuds and economy car audio.

I haven't been wow'd by any speaker since. It's only minor improvements. I've demoed the following:

Kii Three
Dutch 8C
Revel F226Be
Genelec 8351A
Martin Logan ESL 13A
B&W 802 D3
Magico A3
ATC SCM50

However, these changes did wow me:

Comfortable recliner
Dedicated room
Acoustic treatments
Room mode equalization
Subwoofer

 

[Sokel]

Blumenhofer DV-3.WOW is not a strong enough expression. Don't know and care if it's accurate,this thing is ALIVE.

 

[tuga]

Quad ESL63s w/ Gradient dipole subs.

 

[tinnitus]

Backes&Müller BM20 classic

 

[AwesomeSauce2015]

First time I was really impressed by an audio system was at a Dolby / AMC Theater (The fancy Atmos one). Some trailer had Holiday by Madonna in it, and it was clean but loud. Quite impressive. (The movie I was there to watch was terrible tho...)

Arguably the first time I've actually felt the "wow" factor would have been when I set up the JBL 580s in the theater room... Even with a mid-budget-level AV receiver, they still were amazing. They still do wow me from time to time...

The second time was when I was demoing a pair of KEF Blade 2, I was impressed by the deep bass they put out in that room, basically having an integrated fullrange sound. IT was quite impressive.

But the third time (and arguably the best time), was when I was in a JBL HDI / Synthesis demo room with either the HDI-3600s or 3800s and 2 of the matching 12" subs, and with one of the JBL surround processors. Played Money for Nothing and turned it up a bit... And was blown away by the imaging and dynamic power. That was really my most "wow" moment.

 

[peanuts]

 

[Ciobi69]

Klipschorn, i was literally assaulted

 

[avanti1960]

Recent ones-
Harbeth SHL5+, the clearest most natural sounding vocals I had ever heard at the time.
Joseph Audio Pulsars, clear and ultra refined. not a sour not or edge to be fund.
Spatial Audio X Premium, dynamic, smooth open baffle design with incredible bass and freedom from cabinet coloration.
Audio Note AN E Hemp, refined yet explosive high efficiency, notes start and stop on a dime, best midrange I have heard to date.

 

[steve59]

Whew, the bose 901 vI hanging from the ceiling could play LOUD. Kef R105/3 then VA beethovens, and now Meridian dsp 8000's and Kef Blade.

 

[sunao]

When I was a kid, my parent brought back to home with Lo-D (Hitachi) speakers. They managed to bring it home with a courier service.

Lo-D HS-1400W

I astounded it was almost same height with me at that age, and how big their internal magnet size.
Yea, I was just a kid, interested about collecting a strong magnet, not a speaker system (^^)...
Later, when I became an age to listen a music, that became a big part of my room.
A pair of speakers still sits at that house, but nobody uses it anymore.

Reading this thread reminded me that was my WOW moment. a time flies...

 

[sarumbear]

Crown ES-224, 1972

 

[boXem]

Kii Three BXT

 

[steve59]

First pot smoking party in high school baba o Riley was playing on a clock radio and my jaw went slack. Meridian dsp 8000se after a long line of top shelf passive speakers knocked me out