"The 12 Most Significant Loudspeakers of All Time."
- Thread starter mauidan
- Start date
There is no need to restate my case. After the WATT/ Puppy there is a line of little monitors sitting on top of woofers. That's an indisputable fact. Their lineage is perhaps open to debate.
The CLS broke new ground on transparency. Came up with a solution to dispersion and arcing, and the limted SPL of electrostatics.
Maybe I was not paying attention, but what ground did B&W and KEF break? I would be happy to acknowledge their accomplishments.
Gregadd
The kEF 105 came in 1973~74.. Talking about mini-monitor over a woofer look at that picture of the KEF 104.5 in 1974
B&W followed with the original 801 in 1979... I am not sure the Watt was even on the drawing board then. On the Watt, I remember that first there was the Watt wich was very limited in the bass so then came the "Beard" some kind of Stand with a solid face to extend the baffle , thus bumping up some of the mid-lows frequencies .. then came the original puppies, which you bought separately as an add-on to the Watts (Wilson Audio Tiny Tots), back then all Wilson speakers were acronyms ( WAMM being the Wilson Audio Modular Monitor), even the Subwoofer was the WHOW (Wison High Output Woofer), etc. Then they became one speaker the WAtt/Puppy ... then they became the WP.. So, they weren't the first to come as monitors over woofers .. for that you may have to look at the Kef 105 in 1974 ...
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IMO, it really doesn't matter what speakers anyone on this forum thinks should have been on the TAS list.
The list is the list.
BTW- Long before the ML CLS appeared on the audio scene, the Beveridge Audio Model 2s had already brought the word transparency to high end speakers. I've never heard any speaker that matched their transparency at low listening levels.
I read extensively about the Beveridge in The Audio Cirtic. The word transparency just does not come to mind.
The History of the WAtt Puppyas stated on the Wilson website:
Succession is a fact of life in both royal dynasties and venerable audio products. It inevitably calls forth complex emotions, hence the resonance of the phrase above, reputedly first uttered upon the death of Charles VI of France, and thereafter part of the ritual of ascension in many European countries, including England.
For the past 23 years, no product represented the soul and history of Wilson Audio more than the WATT/Puppy. With well over 15,000 units sold since its inception, its place in the pantheon of great audio products is assured. Martin Colloms described the WATT in his landmark book, HIGH PERFORMANCE LOUDSPEAKERS, as the perfect enclosure. Its distinctive pyramidal shape has inspired numerous imitators.
The WATT was conceived of necessity. At the time (the early eighties), Dave Wilson was engineering a series of audiophile recordings and he needed an accurate location monitor. Nothing commercially available met his standards, so he decided to design and build his own. The WATT was in instant demand among Dave’s professional peers. Once it was combined with a dedicated woofer cabinet (the Puppy), its long reign as audio’s most successful over- $10,000 loudspeaker began.
sasha top
Sasha Reviews
From 1986, when the WATT was introduced at that year’s Consumer Electronics Show, to 2009, the WATT/Puppy system evolved through seven revisions. New cabinet architecture, new enclosure materials, new drivers, the introduction (with System 6) of Aspherical Group Delay—all of these changes came as Wilson’s loudspeaker technology progressed and found expression throughout the family of Wilson products—from Alexandria to Duette. The WATT/Puppy, as the paterfamilias, was never allowed to languish far behind Wilson’s state-of-the-art.
The History of the WAtt Puppyas stated on the Wilson website:
Succession is a fact of life in both royal dynasties and venerable audio products. It inevitably calls forth complex emotions, hence the resonance of the phrase above, reputedly first uttered upon the death of Charles VI of France, and thereafter part of the ritual of ascension in many European countries, including England.
For the past 23 years, no product represented the soul and history of Wilson Audio more than the WATT/Puppy. With well over 15,000 units sold since its inception, its place in the pantheon of great audio products is assured. Martin Colloms described the WATT in his landmark book, HIGH PERFORMANCE LOUDSPEAKERS, as the perfect enclosure. Its distinctive pyramidal shape has inspired numerous imitators.
The WATT was conceived of necessity. At the time (the early eighties), Dave Wilson was engineering a series of audiophile recordings and he needed an accurate location monitor. Nothing commercially available met his standards, so he decided to design and build his own. The WATT was in instant demand among Dave’s professional peers. Once it was combined with a dedicated woofer cabinet (the Puppy), its long reign as audio’s most successful over- $10,000 loudspeaker began.
sasha top
Sasha Reviews
From 1986, when the WATT was introduced at that year’s Consumer Electronics Show, to 2009, the WATT/Puppy system evolved through seven revisions. New cabinet architecture, new enclosure materials, new drivers, the introduction (with System 6) of Aspherical Group Delay—all of these changes came as Wilson’s loudspeaker technology progressed and found expression throughout the family of Wilson products—from Alexandria to Duette. The WATT/Puppy, as the paterfamilias, was never allowed to languish far behind Wilson’s state-of-the-art.
The Beveridge was one of these loudspeakers that had the potential to become more than a footnote in history ... I am with Devert on this and have heard them personally, back in 1982, I think .. My father had a thing for serious bass thus Infinity was more in line with what he believed in but the Beveridge low level reproduction was truly special ... trumped the infinty and in a line with the ESL-57 on voices...
I think the company exist to this day but don't know how their current line-up would fare with present days products ...
I think the company exist to this day but don't know how their current line-up would fare with present days products ...
Sound Lab full range quarter cylindrical electrostatic speakers made with small rectangular cells using a single panel. The A1 has been in production for about 30 years (do you remember when TAS guides divided the world of speakers in Dynamic and Exotic?).
Current models benefit from improved technology and a few refinements but the basic idea are still the same.
Current models benefit from improved technology and a few refinements but the basic idea are still the same.
Yes but the Beveridge was an incomplete speaker with some other serious issues too. Me thinks are looking at the speaker with rose colored glasses; if you listened to it today, might have a different opinion
I almost had a LS3/5a. I loved the sound it produced, and I was the importer of Rogers in the P.I. in the late 80s. Why I did not own one is because I already had full-range speakers in my main LR which were the Thiel CS3.5s. I had Spica TC-50s in my bedroom with a Musical Fidelity A1 and a Denon CD player. My sister wanted a sound system in the next room and I gladly recommended the Rogers 3/5a to her, driven by a NAD intergrated amp with a Denon CD player as source. Because of this, I didn't have to buy a Rogers for myself. LOL. Later on, a friend lent me a medium powered Counterpoint amp (pre-amp was a Superphon borrowed from my brother) and we hooked it into the the Rogers and wow, it produced an even lovelier sound. On another note, the Spica TC-50, though not an 'impact player' then in the field, is to be commended for given a truly exceptional sound for its price. And one of the first to employ non-parallel walls in its speaker cabinet, and I recall when Dave Wilson was still a writer for TAS then, he recommended the TC-50 in the under $1000 category.
The model 3 was the loudspeaker that woke me up in 1983. I agree. "It could've been a contender" if not for the really low production numbers leading to their lack of influence. Definitely extremely transparent and probably would be even by todays standards. They were also not very durable. They were monopole stats. The backwaves were effectively killed. The model 3s were set up so the panels faced each other and it had upfiring and downfiring woofers. Very out of the box thinking that came off with very good results.
They belonged to my partner's Dad and they were run with all Luxman gear. We used to steal the keys to his music room and listen to reels while he was in the office. We were 13 at the time. My friend's Dad had a pair of ESL 57s in the living room. We never bothered with it. Maybe because the thrill of sneaking around was more alluring :lol:
Never owned any of the Beveridge speakers. Heard the 2, 2 SW and 3s in a number of different homes and was also impressed with their low level reproduction.
BTW- the Beveridge 2 SW 2s were Kavi Alexander(Water Lily Acoustics)'s reference speakers. See:
http://www.tnt-audio.com/intervis/waterlily_e.html
I believe Peter's reference these days is Linkwitz Orions. I'd love to be swimming in that deep end, but it requires a rather large pool. Speaking of which, that (the Orion) is a speaker that belongs on this list.
P
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