Top Ten Speakers of the 20th Century - Haven Poll

I got out my hip waders and pruning sheers and cleaned up the mess that this thread was turning into. Unfortunately, with the cleanup, some innocent bystanders posts were removed also. My apologies to those folks.

One of the core principles of the Haven has always been that we all respect each other’s choices, and no one gets to tell someone else that the another persons system choices are wrong. Its insulting and offensive, very obvious trolling, and leads to no where except battles between members. That also doesn’t mean that any member has to like or agree with anyone else’s preferences. It only means that we are adult enough, respectful enough and polite enough to allow everyone to enjoy the hobby as they see fit, and allow everyone to enjoy their own path to musical happiness.

From what I can tell, we are all here for the enjoyment of music first, and the enjoyment of the gear second. To suggest that there is only one right path to musical reproduction is a clear violation of rule number 2, and the next time it happens here, that member will be gone.
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Another choice, that is bound to be controversial. The Polk SDA-SRS, here seen with Matthew Polk himself. One of my most memorable audio experiences was a set of SRS’, perfectly set up in a room large enough to handle them, with enough high quality amplification to drive them correctly. Yes, the sweet spot was small, and the effect wasn’t perfect on every recording. But, when it was right, it was incredible. It’s the only time I’ve ever heard a set of speakers actually capture the true scale of an orchestra and large choir.

Sadly, they were a victim of both their own technology, and changing tastes in speaker design. By nature, they required a large speaker, and a wide baffle, and to Polk dealers in the early 90’s, they became almost unsellable, as taste switched to tall, narrow boxes.

Too bad the technology basically died there. I’d love to hear a pair with cutting edge, high end drivers.

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Another choice, that is bound to be controversial. The Polk SDA-SRS, here seen with Matthew Polk himself. One of my most memorable audio experiences was a set of SRS’, perfectly set up in a room large enough to handle them, with enough high quality amplification to drive them correctly. Yes, the sweet spot was small, and the effect wasn’t perfect on every recording. But, when it was right, it was incredible. It’s the only time I’ve ever heard a set of speakers actually capture the true scale of an orchestra and large choir.

Sadly, they were a victim of both their own technology, and changing tastes in speaker design. By nature, they required a large speaker, and a wide baffle, and to Polk dealers in the early 90’s, they became almost unsellable, as taste switched to tall, narrow boxes.

Too bad the technology basically died there. I’d love to hear a pair with cutting edge, high end drivers.

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Interesting. A pair of smaller Polk SDA speakers went up on Marketplace close to me today (SDA-2). I don't remember ever coming across a pair before.

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I Nominate Acoustic Energy AE 2's. Still listening to them here in sunny Arizona after 31 years. What can you say about Phil Jones? Speakers are clear in the mids, excellent in the highs and have a substantial bass.
Welcome to the haven! It’s nice to have another fellow Arizonan here. I’ll have to look up those speakers.
 
Interesting. A pair of smaller Polk SDA speakers went up on Marketplace close to me today (SDA-2). I don't remember ever coming across a pair before.

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I had a set with the two mids instead of three. They did sound good, but I never gave them a serious listening (also, my gear at the time was silver faced so probably not feeding them what they needed to really shine).
 
I Nominate Acoustic Energy AE 2's. Still listening to them here in sunny Arizona after 31 years. What can you say about Phil Jones? Speakers are clear in the mids, excellent in the highs and have a substantial bass
Welcome aboard. Don’t forget to start an intro thread. Would love to hear more about your system.

‘The Acoustic Energy line has always intrigued me. I still remember where I was when I heard my first pair of AE1’s. 1987 or 88? I was shocked by what they could do. I almost bought pair of 1‘s or 2’s a number of times, but it never panned out.
 
I had a set with the two mids instead of three. They did sound good, but I never gave them a serious listening (also, my gear at the time was silver faced so probably not feeding them what they needed to really shine).

‘They are odd and demanding. I can see a lot of people disliking them because it’s obviously an effect. However, so is stereo. :)
 
‘They are odd and demanding. I can see a lot of people disliking them because it’s obviously an effect. However, so is stereo. :)
Very true, I think they were a bit ahead of their time. I found it to be quite interesting and unique that they would be linked by a special cable. The top end models you posted definitely caught my eye early on, and I almost pulled the trigger on a set. At the time they were 1k, which was a bit rich for me.
 
Nice…But why the mid range and tweeters pointing in the direction other than straightforward?
It has something to do with an improved SDA implementation -- fair amount of verbiage & Youtubiage ;) on these from Polk, and others, when they came out.

The sweet spot for the SDA (ahem) "effect" :confused::o is... rather restricted.
I believe that DEI Holdings/Sound United seriously considered retaining the Jamaican Bobsled Team for the ad campaign for the L800.
:smoke

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It has something to do with an improved SDA implementation -- fair amount of verbiage & Youtubiage ;) on these from Polk, and others, when they came out.

The sweet spot for the SDA (ahem) "effect" :confused::o is... rather restricted.
I believe that DEI Holdings/Sound United seriously considered retaining the Jamaican Bobsled Team for the ad campaign for the L800.
:smoke

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This hobby is nearly always a hair's distance from being self parody.
 
I've heard the little L200s from the Legend series (non-SDA) and thought they were good but overpriced by a factor of two -- the even newer R[eference] Series R200 is reputed to be as good if not better than the L200, at a much more realistic* price point.

I am (in all seriousness) pretty seriously considering a pair of R200s to replace the ELACs here -- which, try as I might, I just can't quite warm to.
 
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