Hi Tarun, your question was : what was the best speaker I have heard this year. Well it is a diy kit , the GR Research NX Studio. The planar tweeter is semi open baffle on the top with a sealed 6.5 “ mid woofer. As a kit with flat pack it will cost you around $1000. You can get it totally finished with lots of choices for about $2700. Premium crossover parts. They image and soundstage like crazy. Maybe you can convince Danny Ritchie to ship a pair across the pond to you. Thanks for your reviews they are honest IMO.
I'd wager that after import taxes and cross-the-pond inflation the complete price would hit over £4000, which significantly reduces the appeal. It's great that Tarun attracts a worldwide audience, but given the channel name, I'd certainly prefer to see products commonly available in the UK and Europe, especially when there is no shortage of great stuff. You'd have to be pretty committed to order from the States without an audition and without backup from a local supplier.
This was a great video. I'm glad you broke it up into segments for different budgetary limitations. Can't wait until the next one! I wish I owned a company that sold a product, any product. You would be the voice over person for my commercials!
10:48 A great point that illustrates the point that ALL loudspeakers are clearly limited in one way or another. It is up to the designer to decide which elements they want to focus on and which ones they will accept some compromises on. This certainly seems to be the case with the Pearl Sibelius.
My favourites are going to be my Proac DB1s…..I did buy them after all😀. But I heard the Pearl Acoustics Sibelius Speakers at the North West show and loved them. If I had the budget and room for them I definitely consider them. Thanks for another great year Tarun. Your channel is going from strength to strength! I hope you and yours haves a great Christmas.
When I was a kid, I would drool over the department store rack systems. In 1986 they were about $1K. They all had really cool equalizers, some were graphic equalizers ❤!
Love your channel and the detail you go through in your reviews! Your listening room is very reverberant however, does the Mrs not allow for any panels to help this?
Tarun, made my Friday hearing the 2023 wrap-up. You reviewing my CSS Typhons? Curious how that will go as you are so discerning. Best YT channel! Thanks.
Ryan R610 are the best I have heard in my system and room, including the ATC SCM 19 and Quad Revelas, both of which I purchased to some extent due to this channel reviews of them. Do yourself a favor and track down the Ryan speakers. The retail for much less than the ATC, same price as the Quad's, so approx 2k US $.
I'm having fun with second hand speakers in the kitchen. 10 year old Tannoy Mercury's bought from BHF - a charitable cause. Merry Christmas to you & all viewers.
Herr Tarun has the goods. ..The Dali selection is impressive! .. My speakers? .. Been stuck on ATC actives for awhile; SCM100 ASL Actives, and an older (25yo) pair of ATC SCM20Pro's actives. .. Cheers, Vail, Colorado
Thanks for this summary of loudspeakers. I would suggest to add to the pictures of each model the writing description, sometimes for a non native english speaker can be challenging. Are you planning to do the same summary on amplifiers (with DAC)?
Thanks for your year-end video looking forward to your others. My top speakers of the year are my Arendal 1723 towers in black satin which I chose after comparing to several other towers and stand mount speakers this past year. They had the best dynamics and sound stage and delivered plenty of clear and powerful bass while still sounding clear throughout the midrange. They deliver treble that is revealing and enjoyable without being harsh or fatiguing. The build quality is top notch and they are rock solid and stable on their mounts at 111 lbs. each. The speaker grills are the best protection I’ve seen which is important around little hands and the occasional inadvertent bump or bounce. They cost $3,699 US a pair when I purchased them though the cost has since gone up.
Excellent video Tarun! Question, do you think you could get your hands on a pair of Triangle Borea BR07 entry level floorstanding speakers? The 07s haven't been reviewed on RU-vid anywhere. The BR03 and BR08 speakers have been reviewed to death, but nothing on the 07s, which seem to be decent 2 1/2 way speakers for mid-sized rooms for all the budget audiophiles out there. I would like to see your take on these, complete with a frequency response graph. Thank you sir. Keep those videos coming. Excellent work! Happy holidays.
Hi Tarun. A great selection of speakers. I have Q Acoustics 3030i in my second system. Q Acoustics make some very good speakers. My new and much loved speakers for 2023 are my Graham Audio LS8/1s. Based on the early BBC designs, and they perform superbly with my Leben 600x, despite the amp only delivering 28 watts per channel. Luckily my listening room is relatively small, so this combination does work. Merry Christmas. Peter.
I just had a chance to listen to the Linn 360 amplified speakers with 2 Linn mono blocks and their top of the line DSM head unit. Wow is all I can say. You hear every instrument’s note and the clarity is second to none. I just need about $170k in Canadian dollars!
Thank you for your review of this year's products and for including a $1000 tier, which is squarely in my retired wheelhouse. I look forward to seeing and hearing you in the new year with new and exciting perspectives and products. Go well, Sir, and all the very best to you and your, family.
Monitor Audio is a underrated brand. The purists tend to turn their noses up at them. But I've owned the old RS6s since 2005, still have them in the attic. Agree they can sound on the analytical side but if you marry them with a natural/organic sounding amp, they are as good as any price compatible speaker. Fantastic VFM
My favourite speakers for 2023 are my TL Castle Howard S2 which I have just run in for 2 weeks and are on song after Wilmslow Audio revived them and upgraded the crossovers using Jantzen parts. I was very pleased with my new Gato FM-15 standmounts, which I will keep for their imaging and ability to disappear. However, the Castles are superior in my system. As the new TL Castle standmounts sell at nearly £4000 I shudder to think what the new Castle floorstanders will cost. Cost of upgrade £400. A bargain. Keep the excellent reviews coming. Compliments of the season. Daniel
Hi Tarun, that was a great shoot out and well presented, as we have come accustomed to. I haven't been exposed to 2023 speakers, but I would like to give the thumbs up to Pearl Acoustics for having their own vision and having the guts to peruse that. It is certainly not a "me too" product and they will make a certain group of audiophiles very happy.
Obviously I am going to go with the speaker I bought this year. The slightly older Neat Acoustics Orkestra. I went for these for better base extension than the Neat petite classics. Such a detailed speaker. With the ribbon tweeter they use some may say bright, but when you are of an age where high frequencies aren’t so apparent, the detail and clarity of these things are superb. Always enjoy your detailed professional videos. A real world take on what’s out there.
Great video as always Tarun! Would be really interesting for 2024 if you could get your hands on some Audio Physic speakers,would like to hear your opinion
Since i arrived with my gear and I’m totally happy with it, i dont care about others realy or new Stuff. Specially passive gear and Floorstanders arent my cup of tea at all. I‘m more into professional Room Treatment (wich is the most important point in hifi), DSP & Subwoofer(s) Placement, Bass Array Solutions and Pro Audio Gear. Since i switched (back again) to Neumann Speakers i dont need anything else. I use 2x Subs and 2x Nearfields (Active & DSP Based of course). Everything Time & Phase Aligned with Neumanns MA1 Software and as DA Converter i use an DAC from CraneSong (also Studio Tech). Everything finished with a lot of room treatment (RT60 = 110Hz -2kHz max 300ms)
@@morespinach9832yes. never heard ,normal, passive consumer speakers wich come close in definition & sound quality compared to studio gear (of course compared in each price category). Listen to actives many years and also my friends changed to active pro monitors, Bass Arrays / Subwoofers use & completly dsp based systems.
I bought the Dali Spektor 2s. Considering their price of £249 they perform well above what you would expect for that price. Paired with my Cambridge CXA61 amplifier and Cambridge AXC35 CD player. Thanks again for another fine video. Very enjoyable.
Interesting comments, Tarun. I had to agree with your comments about the Acoustic Energy and PMC Prodigy speakers. But to be fair, they are the only ones in your test I’ve actually heard. I’ve _seen_ DALI Epicons but never heard them. They are certainly an impressive sight.
Thanks for the video. Best speaker I heard was the KEF R3 Meta, which I bought. Interested to hear your thoughts on the CSS Typhoons I saw in the background.
Surprised the Lintons didn’t make the list…Being a British speaker, and at your back door! I’m across the ‘pond’, being an import speaker, the Lintons are popular in the U.S. …knowing the Linton Heritage are on the warmer side of clarity, they have a fantastic sound stage… Great review, and your diagnostics of your speaker reviews are on cue…looking forward to 2024!
Thanks Tarun for this comprehensive sweep across the speakers you have reviewed this year . For me it would be the PMC Prodigy 5 having lived with TL design from Castle Acoustics - now no longer available . It is the bass of a TL which is so beguiling and unlike most others . As adding a sub-woofer to a system improves treble and imaging (counter intuitively) so the more accurate bass of the PMCs allows them to create an image so well. If I was to be asked for a recommendation - and sometimes this happens - then it would be the PMCs .
It is possibly difficult for Tarun to review every new speaker design appearing on the market and I doubt that is his intention . From those he has been able to review in the last 12 months the PMC Prodigy 5 stands out . From my experience of TL they produce phenomenal bass and imaging . All I can suggest is set up in your particular experience .
@@petergraves3086 the Prodigy 5 produce quite a bit of bass and some care needs to be taken with positioning if you want to hear articulation in the bass. Get the positioning right and you can hear how capable these speakers are 😊
I bought the buchardt A10s I think they would gave any of they speakers a run for their money. I’ve never heard that much bass that comes from a book shelf speaker ever. They are amazing.
@@scottcw31i had these on trial and they certainly had plenty of bass but unfortunately they were not for me - acoustic instruments sounded unnatural but probably depends what kind of music you are into
Hi Tarun. Castle is an interesting one. In the late 80s and early 90s. My local HIFI shop stocked them. A really nice speaker, wonderful wood finishes. All British made. But then all of a sudden they seemed to disappear. I assume that, although this latest version seems to still look very well made. That they are now foreign owned (and possibly made?). Sad if the case. Personally I bought some Ophidians a while ago. The finish on them reminded me of the old Castles. They are made in the UK, and I was pleasantly surprised by the strong sound quality for the price. Have a good Xmas, and thanks for all your interesting inputs. Cheers.
Thank you so much Tarun. Your videos are a highlight of my week. Clear, concise and informative, since the beginning of your YT channel. And as always, in your ears I trust. My speakers are LS50 Metas with the KEF 'football' sub. Works great for my music in my really small room.
My personal speaker choice of 2023 is the Musician Audio Knight 1. When placed in my system, they simply produce enjoyable and highly realistic music reproduction without drawing attention to any particular technical attribute.
My fav Klipsch RP8000. Upgraded OCC copper cable, Viborg terminals, jantzen caps(red), mundrof. After testing many speakers' sound signatures. I found the Bowers 702 S2 Signature, better in midrange projections. But still, the Klipsch upgraded or modified are excellent in image presentation.
Fairly thankful for your MA Silver 50 g7 review. Moving up from Mission 761i's has been nothing but pleasant on the desktop paired with Kimber tc4 bi wired cables to a Topping MX3s. Not the highest end of setups but it does the job reliably and pleasantly on a daily basis.
Well I don't have a 2023 speaker choice but what I would be interested in checking is the "Calibre, from Legacy Audio" and they do passive & active. I suspect they will kick buttocks.
Tarun you should offer consulting as I don’t have the experience to know what speakers would suit a high end turntable to hear the imagery and soundstage.
Great video ! I'm curious , did you see and heard the Opera Seconda mk 2 ( sealed box ) speakers ? For about 2500 £ , i think that they are very good ! Happy Holidays !
How true is that point, spending about three times what you spent last time in order to see a marked improvement. When you are in the highest of high end you might spend 3 times in order to gain only 5%. Basically, us Audiophiles are Looneytics!
Tarun, Tried the MA Silver 50's upon your recommendation. (Along with 13 other pairs,lol) I kept the Silver 50's. Beautiful and beautiful sounding. Thank you for the suggestion and your content.
Currently have a pair of Aerial Acoustic 5T that I'm quite pleased with. The Sibelus though have caught my eye. Really not sure if worth the change. Great review or recap on the best!
Hi Tarun, my favourite speakers of 2023 is Revival Audio Atalante 3, another one is the JMR Bliss Jubile bother are French bookshelf speakers, I haven't listened to them yet. This year I am lucky to get a new pair of speakers PMC Twenty5 21i at half the price, I am thinking about to pair it with the Atoll IN200 integrated amplifier, is this a good match. Cause the amp has no tone controls or loudness button, would it give the speakers enough bass as with the loudness ? As time goes by I wish you and your family have a merry Christmas and a happy New year cheers 🎉🥳🥂.
Hi Tarun.... Watched a few reviews of yours now and well impressed..... Do you have any review (I'm assuming historically) of the Focal Aria 926 by any chance ?? Be interesting to hear YOUR thoughts on them.... After extensive Auditioning and several reviews, I have purchased these for a whopping £815 !! Be interested how you think these stack up against it's "Price point" competition (under £850).......?? Many thanks and jeep up the superb reviews 👏🏼👏🏼
My speaker find has been the Kef r3 meta. Like yourself ive been a ProAc owner. As in the ProAc d2r. Which retail at over a grand more than the kef r3 metas. Loved my ProAc's but have to say that to my ears the kef r3s sound way better with my hegel h390. Very happy with my kef purchase. Happy xmas to all.
During the time I prescribed to hifi mags, Naim electronics was generally described as 'musical'. So I demo'ed Naim electronics, and foot tapping experience it was. My experience of speaker equivalence over a list of speaker manufacturers that could stand toe to toe in the foot tapping department would clearly be 'Reference 3A', based in Canada.
I had the chance to hear a DIY speaker at a hifi repair guys home a couple of months ago.. It was a 3-way looking like a Harbeth type. But it had a 12" Celestion driver in it.. It was connected to a DIY tube amp.. Wauw.. ! That's very informative and textured. The best bass I've heard this year for sure.. Better than the Fyne F502SP connected to a Mark Levinson 585.5.. But surely, room acoustics can play a part of that.
Listened to Dali, was very impressed but think they are too expensive. Looking forward to Canton's new Reference series, stylish and reasonably priced. Hope for a review in the future! Take care!
Hi man, great list. Since you say that the Monitor Audio Silver 50 7G is the most resolving speaker under 1000 pounds, can you please campare it to the Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3? Because a lot of people say that's the best under 1000 pounds/dollars. Thanks! :)
Hey Tarun, great video. I've been looking forward to your awards as I'm due an upgrade on my q acoustics 3020. They are being driven by Marantz pm6007 amp, Ifi zen 2 dac, and Xiaomi box 4k streamer via my tv. The Acoustic energy ae109s are currently on sale for £449. I'm not sure if floorstanders would be overkill for my 16m2 room or if the Marantz (45w into 8 ohms. 60w into 4 ohms) can drive the ae109s adequately. Worth buying?
Hi Tarun, I would like to see you review speakers by Legacy Audio based out of Springfield IL, USA. They keep winning all these awards yet a good unbiased review in recent times is hard to find.
My best choice of speakers are the Q Acoustic 3050i why ? because they are the only speakers I have listened to and bought in 2023 😅but very happy with them, at a price of just £470 they offer great value for money in my opinion, linked up to a Cambridge audio AXR100D and a Cambridge audio AXC35 cd player, hoping to buy a Rega Planar P1 vinyl player fitted with a Goldring E3 cartridge in the new year sales !
The Podigy 5 got my vote, and my cash, before you'd reviewed them. They're all the things you say and I'm current driving with them through the power section of a NAD C 320BEE. A better amp would no doubt make me smile even more.
Am I mistaken, it seems to me, you didn’t go into any specific sound characteristics of the Dali Epicon?You did describe the drivers and talk about how anti-resident the cabinet was, but you didn’t go any into any specific sound quality that you observed from the speaker and I think the thing that’s really important with the Epicon despite the fact that it’s a small speaker, it puts out very well defined bass.
The Epicon2’s were an honourable mention in this video. You may want to check out my review for how they sound 😊 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zRIavPPiIiw.html
Because speakers sit mostly in someone's living space, I feel that esthetics are really important. When listening to music, the eyes are drawn to where the sound is coming from. So, for me anyway, the looks are as important as the sound. The castles stand out, as well as the triangle 40th anniversary, with their amazing wood veneer. I am a huge fan of PMC. What they have done this year, will increase their turnover incredibly. And I would love a pair of either the standmounts, or the floor standing speakers. But they do look dull. A bit depressing even. I know this was done to bring the price down, but this is my view. So...this year it has to be the castles, as I don't particularly like the design of the mission 770. The lines and the attention to detail, mean that I could look at the castles all day. I have a small listening room. These would be my dream speakers. Size, looks and sound. Merry Xmas Tarin.
Love your summary, well done and not focused on insane, overpriced pseudo-gear! Keep going, thx a lot! You are the most trustworthy hifi reviewer currently available for New hifi gear on YT!
Nice recap. Noting that there are likely older speakers that outperform even this sample. A no brainer is Magnepan which would stomp on many speakers like a TRex or Godzilla. , hehehe. For the absolute sound hard to find competitors unless you go ultra high end and even then they won’t be clobbered even by the Magicos or Wilsons being good enough to end the audio race like with the 3.7 series. A matter of preference still. Cheers.
My favourite speakers of 2023, which I bought, were an unconventional choice: Genelec 8331s. Deep bass (down to 35hz in room), sparkling imaging and true high end refinement. Obviously highly transparent which can be too much of a good thing on some recordings. Great in a small room. I’ve listened to a lot of conventional hifi speakers this year and they sounded better than almost anything else. However I did hear some ATC SCM40s driven by a valve amp with a lot of current - that was great, though at a very different price point!
I ended up buying a pair of Dynaudio Evoke 30 compact floor standers - maybe Dynaudio should be on your Radar next year ( so my choice after auditioning PMC Acoustic Energy Dali ) as an aside the best value speaker I have ever owned is and remains the AE 1 Actives pound for pound hard to better As your have indicated in you videos - the room really is a critical factor on ‘best speaker for my room’ love you take on audio!
Dear Tarun, pitching for a friend Thomas has a speaker you might be interested in for a review at some point they being the Galion TS Voyager... his nod to Star Trek ...at $850 a pr. and are a Homage to the British Speaker the LS35a. And of course I thought of you. Though they are a nearfield desktop speaker.
Would be interested in your opinion on the Zu Audio DW6 as a cheaper full-range alternative to the Sibelius, with the super tweeter to fix the issue you point out in the Sibelius.
My fav Klipsch RP8000. Upgraded OCC copper cable, Viborg terminals, jantzen caps(red), mundrof. After testing many speakers' sound signatures. I found the Bowers 702 S2 Signature, better in midrange projections. But still, the Klipsch upgraded or modified are excellent in image presentation.
Id be interested to hear those PMCs although im in the market for actives i could see those for a living room space and they would be ideal size for my space. I have an old Marantz integrated sitting there on the rack doing nothing. If i may ask a question about subs , why is it in the hifi world people always say use dual subs in your setup , but you never hear any of the pro audio companies mention this they always just say add a single subwoofer? I emailed KRK a while back asking them about adding two of their active subs to a setup but they never replied back haha. Thanks for the great content as always man.
Hi Tarun. Good to remember some products.. i am about to buy a bookshelf, still couldnt decide, it will be blind buy second hand. Proac D2, KEF R3 Meta, ATC SCM 19. By the way new mic, lots of detail but your room needs acoustic treatment.
