The Best Loudspeaker Brands for Both Luxury and Performance: The Definitive List

Sorry Jeff... but these two statements means that the list has no value what so ever in my view.

"Price matters. By definition, a low-priced product cannot be a luxury product. For the purposes of this list, any company that doesn’t make a loudspeaker model costing north of $100,000/pair (all prices USD) is excluded.

Cones and domes only. Although I’ve spent years listening, at audio shows and in dealers’ showrooms, to horn, planar-magnetic, electrostatic, ribbon, and hybrid speakers of all sorts, I’ve never heard any that produced what I thought was the very highest-fidelity sound. If any of those types of speakers are your thing, that’s great -- but they’ve never been mine, so I can’t include them here."

Really, so KEF does not qualify... well maybe it does because they have one model that is a quarter of a mil, but then their next closes is what, $32k... so a company that makes one over the top model qualifies even if all their rest top out at 1/3 the requirement.

Avantgarde doesn't qualify... nor does Sound Lab, Martin Logan, Magnepan, Klipsch, JBL, B&W, MBL, T+A, MC, Vandersteen, etc., etc. Many of the longest standing and top customer loyalty brands in the world...

Just got to say, while I enjoy your writing skills and descriptions I disagree with the entire premise of the article. It excludes far too many of the longest standing and normally highest rated speaker manufactures. And again, you state top speaker brands, not top models, and then excludes many, dare I say most, of the longest standing most renowned brands in the world from even being considered.
 
Randy Myers said:
Sorry Jeff... but these two statements means that the list has no value what so ever in my view.

"Price matters. By definition, a low-priced product cannot be a luxury product. For the purposes of this list, any company that doesn’t make a loudspeaker model costing north of $100,000/pair (all prices USD) is excluded.

Cones and domes only. Although I’ve spent years listening, at audio shows and in dealers’ showrooms, to horn, planar-magnetic, electrostatic, ribbon, and hybrid speakers of all sorts, I’ve never heard any that produced what I thought was the very highest-fidelity sound. If any of those types of speakers are your thing, that’s great -- but they’ve never been mine, so I can’t include them here."

Really, so KEF does not qualify... well maybe it does because they have one model that is a quarter of a mil, but then their next closes is what, $32k... so a company that makes one over the top model qualifies even if all their rest top out at 1/3 the requirement.

Avantgarde doesn't qualify... nor does Sound Lab, Martin Logan, Magnepan, Klipsch, JBL, B&W, Vandersteen, etc., etc. Many of the longest standing and top customer loyalty brands in the world...

Just got to say, while I enjoy your writing skills and descriptions I disagree with the entire premise of the article. It excludes far too many of the longest standing and normally highest rated speaker manufactures.
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Right there with ya, Randy.

It appears that...Gamut, Dynaudio, Wilson, Borreson, Raidho, etc. don't qualify either. Why no Wilson Chronosonic, for example? And anything Dynaudio doesn't know about loudspeaker design is probably not worth knowing.

And..what's with the light grey font on a dark gray background? Not a model with respect to print design for readibility and legibility. There's a reason books have been printed with black ink on white paper for over...500 years.
 
I’ve typically enjoyed Jeff’s articles. This one, gets two thumbs down. Why? There are many brands that are in the top tier of audio that are not considered; Stephen (Puma Cat) mentioned just a few.

PS - What’s the value of such a writing? In my view, this is a partial list.
 
Jeff, very interesting. Correct me if I’m wrong, but what you’re saying here is that speakers must be both incredible sounding, well engineered, a heritage and elegant so as to earn the true meaning of luxury. Speakers which aren’t mentioned are akin to saying a Tesla Model X might be fast, but it won’t win any beauty contests, doesn’t have much of a heritage and is difficult to consider it “luxury” against a Ferrari or Bentley.

So basically, the non-audiophile is seeking true luxury in a speaker and therefore, they tend to look more at the criteria you laid out. An audiophile might be ok with paying a lot of money for average build quality, average appearance, if they simply love the sound.

Would I have this correct?
 
Mike, your avatar is of a speaker that simply is not luxurious enough because it is hybrid and uses God awful ribbons (ok, Radialstrahler) in their design.
 
Randy Myers said:
Mike, your avatar is of a speaker that simply is not luxurious enough because it is hybrid and uses God awful ribbons in their design.
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I don’t think they use ribbons. I think he’s referring to ribbon speakers like Alsyvox perhaps?
 
Mike said:
Jeff, very interesting. Correct me if I’m wrong, but what you’re saying here is that speakers must be both incredible sounding, well engineered, a heritage and elegant so as to earn the true meaning of luxury. Speakers which aren’t mentioned are akin to saying a Tesla Model X might be fast, but it won’t win any beauty contests, doesn’t have much of a heritage and is difficult to consider it “luxury” against a Ferrari or Bentley.

So basically, the non-audiophile is seeking true luxury in a speaker and therefore, they tend to look more at the criteria you laid out. An audiophile might be ok with paying a lot of money for average build quality, average appearance, if they simply love the sound.

Would I have this correct?
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Hi Mike,

Yes, precisely. The answer is complex. I've written a series on luxury purchases, but one quote I'd like to share. The quote comes from this article:

I've Changed My Mind About Luxury Audio

"In his article for Fratello, Rob Nudds said: 'Time and time again, wide-eyed, somewhat green Kickstarter campaigns pop-up promising to ‘democratize’ luxury by making it affordable. Unfortunately, however, such a promise doesn’t even make sense. Luxury cannot, by its nature, be democratized; quality, however, can be.'”

There are some awfully fine brands listed above in the replies that I myself love. The definitions as applied in my article are very stringent, and are applied with my own biases. There are many great speakers that are very high performance and are built extremely well that do not make the list because of one or more criteria not met -- these are extreme for sure. I do understand there will be disagreement and I respect that!
 
Mike said:
I don’t think they use ribbons. I think he’s referring to ribbon speakers like Alsyvox perhaps?
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I know they are not true ribbons, but very similar; however they are definitely a hybrid design which are specially eliminated from consideration. :)
 
I think if we all take a step back from the outrage that our favorite speaker brand isn’t mentioned and try to understand the point Jeff is trying to make.

I’m wondering if Jeff is thinking about the non-audiophile, true luxury buyer. I have had the pleasure of working with many of those folks. I can assure you, they would never consider a speaker that doesn’t at least look similar to what everyone envisions a typical speaker looks like - a box. I can assure you someone who doesn’t understand panels, horns, etc., would look at an Alsyvox and think of them as a room divider, chuckle and say “no way”.

Let me give you a REAL life example. I had a call from a very wealthy gentleman in the north west. He said he had just heard his friends system in California. He knew nothing about high end audio. Our conversation, went like this: “what can I get for $100,000?” I put together a system. He looked at it online, researched a little. He called 24 hours later and said, “what can I get if I double it to $200,000?”

I ended up putting him in a full MSB, Magico M2’s system, cabling, conditioning, rack, etc.
 
Puma Cat said:
Right there with ya, Randy.

It appears that...Gamut, Dynaudio, Wilson, Borreson, Raidho, etc. don't qualify either. Why no Wilson Chronosonic, for example? And anything Dynaudio doesn't know about loudspeaker design is probably not worth knowing.

And..what's with the light grey font on a dark gray background? Not a model with respect to print design for readibility and legibility. There's a reason books have been printed with black ink on white paper for over...500 years.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... Wilson offer the WAMM at $850k... :D... Why I didn't put them on my list 😜.
 
Mike said:
I think if we all take a step back from the outrage that our favorite speaker brand isn’t mentioned and try to understand the point Jeff is trying to make.

I’m wondering if Jeff is thinking about the non-audiophile, true luxury buyer. I have had the pleasure of working with many of those folks. I can assure you, they would never consider a speaker that doesn’t at least look similar to what everyone envisions a typical speaker looks like - a box. I can assure you someone who doesn’t understand panels, horns, etc., would look at an Alsyvox and think of them as a room divider, chuckle and say “no way”.

Let me give you a REAL life example. I had a call from a very wealthy gentleman in the north west. He said he had just heard his friends system in California. He knew nothing about high end audio. Our conversation, went like this: “what can I get for $100,000?” I put together a system. He looked at it online, researched a little. He called 24 hours later and said, “what can I get if I double it to $200,000?”

I ended up putting him in a full MSB, Magico M2’s system, cabling, conditioning, rack, etc.
Click to expand...

Mike has nailed it. This is the article where I sorted it out in my mind:

The Purchasing of Luxury Audio and the Pursuit of Hi-Fi Are Two Different Hobbies

They are two different buyers oftentimes. The luxury buyer will only consider a limited subset of products as Mike describes. What I am doing is limiting it EVEN MORE. Now luxury AND super high performance. Hence my list is very short.
 
Mike said:
I think if we all take a step back from the outrage that our favorite speaker brand isn’t mentioned and try to understand the point Jeff is trying to make.

I’m wondering if Jeff is thinking about the non-audiophile, true luxury buyer. I have had the pleasure of working with many of those folks. I can assure you, they would never consider a speaker that doesn’t at least look similar to what everyone envisions a typical speaker looks like - a box. I can assure you someone who doesn’t understand panels, horns, etc., would look at an Alsyvox and think of them as a room divider, chuckle and say “no way”.

Let me give you a REAL life example. I had a call from a very wealthy gentleman in the north west. He said he had just heard his friends system in California. He knew nothing about high end audio. Our conversation, went like this: “what can I get for $100,000?” I put together a system. He looked at it online, researched a little. He called 24 hours later and said, “what can I get if I double it to $200,000?”

I ended up putting him in a full MSB, Magico M2’s system, cabling, conditioning, rack, etc.
Click to expand...

I do see your point but I do not agree that elimination an entire brand because they do not offer a model over $100k is silly. That same customer that you described would as often as not end up with a full McIntosh system maybe even including their speakers, but would also enjoy a JBL or some other speaker they have seen at a concert. They would probably be extremely happy and believe that they purchased pure luxury.

Most of the brands that have been mentioned here have the legacy and are known for quality, and consider luxury products maybe even more so then some of the products that made Jeff's list.
 
The issue, I think, is with the word “definitive” on the title. Indeed, SF and Tidal wood work and related accessories are just plain beautiful. The others manufacturers on the list are definitely high quality but do not necessarily exceed the beauty and finish of other speaker lines.

Lastly, not a big deal to me. I look forward to more articles and perspectives from Jeff.
 
Ritmo said:
The issue, I think, is with the word “definitive” on the title. Indeed, SF and Tidal wood work and related accessories are just plain beautiful. The others manufacturers on the list are definitely high quality but do not necessarily exceed the beauty and finish of other speaker lines.

Lastly, not a big deal to me. I look forward to more articles and perspectives from Jeff.
Click to expand...

That might have been the initial issue for me as well. I saw definitive list and then read limitations that made it anything but a definitive list. Also the references to the entire brand not specific models. When considering a definitive list of luxury brands I do not believe an entire renowned brands should be eliminated because of one design facet or another, especially when considering some of the most long standing and highly respected manufactures.

I do look forward to reading additional articles by Jeff however.
 
Randy Myers said:
Sorry Jeff... but these two statements means that the list has no value what so ever in my view.

"Price matters. By definition, a low-priced product cannot be a luxury product. For the purposes of this list, any company that doesn’t make a loudspeaker model costing north of $100,000/pair (all prices USD) is excluded.

Cones and domes only. Although I’ve spent years listening, at audio shows and in dealers’ showrooms, to horn, planar-magnetic, electrostatic, ribbon, and hybrid speakers of all sorts, I’ve never heard any that produced what I thought was the very highest-fidelity sound. If any of those types of speakers are your thing, that’s great -- but they’ve never been mine, so I can’t include them here."

Really, so KEF does not qualify... well maybe it does because they have one model that is a quarter of a mil, but then their next closes is what, $32k... so a company that makes one over the top model qualifies even if all their rest top out at 1/3 the requirement.

Avantgarde doesn't qualify... nor does Sound Lab, Martin Logan, Magnepan, Klipsch, JBL, B&W, MBL, T+A, MC, Vandersteen, etc., etc. Many of the longest standing and top customer loyalty brands in the world...

Just got to say, while I enjoy your writing skills and descriptions I disagree with the entire premise of the article. It excludes far too many of the longest standing and normally highest rated speaker manufactures. And again, you state top speaker brands, not top models, and then excludes many, dare I say most, of the longest standing most renowned brands in the world from even being considered.
Click to expand...

Puma Cat said:
Right there with ya, Randy.

It appears that...Gamut, Dynaudio, Wilson, Borreson, Raidho, etc. don't qualify either. Why no Wilson Chronosonic, for example? And anything Dynaudio doesn't know about loudspeaker design is probably not worth knowing.

And..what's with the light grey font on a dark gray background? Not a model with respect to print design for readibility and legibility. There's a reason books have been printed with black ink on white paper for over...500 years.
Click to expand...

I think what's being overlooked in these responses quoted above is this is one person's list, one person's limited experience, and one person's definition of luxury/performance for his definitive list. If he's being honest (I have no reason to believe he's not), he can only list what has been heard, in context, and what he likes in terms of fitting in his list.

It may not meet with your idea of a similar list using your definitions. That is mostly to be expected with any list put together by any individual. Try putting a list together and see how many will agree with it. We all look at and pursue this hobby differently.

Mike B. has good points and a more objective perspective. He see's the difference and acknowledges it, whether he agrees or not.

Sometimes it's helpful to observe another person's perspective even if it's not your own. If anything, it makes part of the hobby less than boring for some.

I don't particularly care for the list one way or another. It's something to read and it certainly drew enough interest to elicit the responses quoted above. (Although, I'm not sure what the out of context website font and background comment has to do with the subject of the thread's post.)

If he wanted the article to get a response, he accomplished his task with some.

Dre
 
Dre_J said:
I think what's being overlooked in these responses quoted above is this is one person's list, one person's limited experience, and one person's definition of luxury/performance for his definitive list. If he's being honest (I have no reason to believe he's not), he can only list what has been heard, in context, and what he likes in terms of fitting in his list.

It may not meet with your idea of a similar list using your definitions. That is mostly to be expected with any list put together by any individual. Try putting a list together and see how many will agree with it. We all look at and pursue this hobby differently.

Mike B. has good points and a more objective perspective. He see's the difference and acknowledges it, whether he agrees or not.

Sometimes it's helpful to observe another person's perspective even if it's not your own. If anything, it makes part of the hobby less than boring for some.

I don't particularly care for the list one way or another. It's something to read and it certainly drew enough interest to elicit the responses quoted above. (Although, I'm not sure what the out of context website font and background comment has to do with the subject of the thread's post.)

If he wanted the article to get a response, he accomplished his task with some.

Dre
Click to expand...

This is true with one rather large cavoite. When the title of the thread/article starts with "The Best Loudspeaker Brands" and ends with "The Definitive List" it is implied that it is a whole lot more than one person picking a list of his favorite few companies. It would have been easier to be recognized as such if something identifying it as such was in the title. Other than that you are absolutely correct.
 
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