Most Expensive Speakers

Product Strengths

• Capable of creating a 'completely credible illusion' of live music, including solo artists, rock bands, or a symphony orchestra
• Listeners can perceive details in recordings, revealing elements that may have been previously unnoticed, such as the pressure and realism of a bass drum
• Thanks to its sensitivity of well over 100 decibels, it manages to trace the played content down to the finest detail, even at moderate volume levels
• Voices are projected with an incredibly natural sound
• The system's design eliminates the need for a separate bass horn acoustically coupling to the room
• Connectivity options

Product Considerations

• Limited listening time made it difficult to assess long-term satisfaction
• The Acapella Spharon is very heavy, with an estimated weight between 650 and 750 kilograms per side
• The system requires a large room (from 40 m²), and one installation occurred in a room that was 19.5 meters long x 13.7 wide and 6.4 high
• It can make any technical gadgetry within a recording instantly audible, potentially revealing unwanted artifacts

Comparisons (according to reviewers)

• Vs Acapella Poseydon: It plays in a more casual manner with almost unlimited dynamics than the Poseydon

Takeaway: The Acapella Spharon Excalibur is a state-of-the-art speaker system that offers a realistic and detailed audio performance. It allows the listener to experience music in a pleasurable way, bringing them closer to the original recording.

Product Strengths

• Considered the finest loudspeaker the reviewer has ever heard
• Achieves precise time and phase alignment of the mid-range and beyond in the listening room
• The speakers 'disappear completely' leaving only the music
• Provides amazing separation of musicians and instruments
• Recreates music in a way that sounds more real

Product Considerations

• Requires careful selection and compensation for upstream electronics
• Installation requires trained and obsessive-compulsive installers to complete the process with absolute thoroughness
• The reviewer noted the weight and packing requirements are on the 'substantial side'
• The loudspeaker challenges all your perceptions of what you thought possible from an audio system

Comparisons (according to reviewers)

• The WAMM Master Chronosonic can do things the Alexia V can't do, nor do them at a level only dreamt possible
• The Chronosonic XVX also does many things the Alexia V can't do and is very good, but the XVX is also no WAMM
• It's possible to listen to supposedly spot-on products like the Quad and point to where the timing isn't right

Takeaway: The WAMM Master Chronosonic is an amazing speaker that creates a real and engaging musical experience. It represents the pinnacle of speaker design and achieves a level of sonic perfection.

Product Strengths

• A coherent, embodied musical presentation, that flows with unfettered lightness of music
• Radiates with concert hall-like balance and authority
• Brings impressive coherence over a wide bandwidth
• Delineates the timbre and tone of individual instruments, such as a violin within the mass orchestra
• Transparent and genre-less

Product Considerations

• May require dedicated listening spaces to host such a big speaker system
• Some may feel that horn speakers lack transparency and airiness
• The 'horn sound coloration' can happen when there are unresolved issues

Takeaway: The Master Horn is a complete system that delivers pristine emotional and musical reproduction that's soulful and engaging to listen to. For those interested in upper echelon horn speakers, the Master Horn is worthy of experiencing and hearing what is possible.

Product Strengths

• The Suprema system stays very clean, however loud it is played
• It sounds great at any volume level
• The Suprema delivered sound precisely as recorded without a hint of subdued highs, understated midrange, or ill-defined bass, being musical and replete with fine musical detail
• The system's imaging was outstanding, presenting a properly scaled, well-proportioned soundstage
• Subwoofers blend seamlessly with main speakers on good stereo systems, with the Suprema system demonstrating how complete such integration can be

Product Considerations

• Without a subwoofer, the Suprema wouldn't qualify as a full-range system, needing it to have a flat response down to 16Hz
• The Suprema system requires ample amplification, needing hundreds or even thousands of watts
• Room modes can affect bass reproduction, requiring careful subwoofer placement

Takeaway: The Suprema has innovative features and a brilliant implementation of known technologies, and it offers invaluable acoustic flexibility, marking a transformative direction for Sonus Faber. The seamless integration of subwoofers and main speakers provides exceptional sound quality at any volume level.

Product Strengths

• Alon Wolf's most successful design to date
• Permits the least colored, most authentic sounding, and musically engaging performance of any loudspeaker
• Unmatched resolution, and the resultant transparency into the recorded event that it wrought
• Vanishes from the perceptual experience of listening to a recording, leaving only the more convincing sensation of live music
• Enclosure is effectively silenced, with no sympathetic cabinet motion

Product Considerations

• Massive, exotic, and very expensive loudspeakers
• Requires exceptional associated system of components
• Requires a custom-built and optimized listening space
• Each external crossover weighs another forty pounds and includes a sixty-pound power supply
• Is actively bi-amplified

Takeaway: The M9 provides the least colored and most authentic sound. It's a remarkable engineering marvel that brings you closer to the experience of live music.

Product Strengths

• Well-balanced speakers provide reference sound reproduction in a very neutral and transparent manner
• The system lacked nothing in terms of authority or clarity and delivered a thoroughly convincing performance
• The Reference module's MTM array is on a remote-controlled pivot, so the mids and highs can be actively adjusted for listening position

Product Considerations

• The room may need to be larger, as the open living room was still too small for the Statement, and only 10% power was being supplied to the bass modules
• The Reference/Statement monoliths are not inexpensive

Takeaway: The Stenheim Reference speakers deliver a reference sound reproduction in a neutral and transparent manner, and the remote-controlled pivot for the mids and highs allows for easy adjustments. The audience was convincingly transported into a live show.

Product Strengths

• Exceptional transparency, revealing details in recordings that are often missed, offering an open window into the music
• Purity and coherence brings out the best in every recording, and is devoid of the usual loudspeaker distortions or colorations
• Commanding dynamic range, superior transient performance, and effortless power, akin to a great horn-loaded speaker—but without the shoutiness
• Fanatically well-damped cabinets appear to have banished self-noise, allowing the driver array to deliver protean scaling and dimensionality
• Incredible bass power, reach, articulation, tautness, and precision rivals the best top-tier performers

Product Considerations

• High-quality source and amplification is required to realize its full potential, which may expose weaknesses in the existing system
• Cable terminals at the bottom rear of the cabinet can be tricky to access when the speaker is placed against the wall
• Some may prefer a 'sweeter' sound from loudspeakers that have been tuned to flatter test tracks, the Moya is straight down the line neutral
• Large and heavy speakers can make them difficult to transport and install
• Careful component matching and setup is demanded to achieve optimal results

Comparisons (according to reviewers)

• Moya M1 boasts a more contoured radiation pattern of 180 degrees versus the Vivid Giya G1 Spirit's 270-degree radiation pattern

Takeaway: The Vivid Audio Moya M1 is a groundbreaking loudspeaker that offers unmatched transparency and effortless performance. It delivers a captivating and lifelike listening experience for those seeking the pinnacle of audio reproduction.

Product Strengths

• Natural suppleness balanced with quickness gives transients a purity and completeness suitable for all kinds of music
• The diamond tweeter blends the characteristics of different tweeter types, reporting treble accurately without editorializing
• These are uniquely revealing and musical speakers whose spatial characteristics and tonal sophistication befit their stature and unusual design
• The midrange has physicality and roundness to singers, sounding light and sprightly, while balancing presence and transient agility
• The Sunrays disappear into the soundscape they create and conjure powerfully real images in the listening room

Product Considerations

• The Sunrays don't possess the ultimate in bass weight, power, and bloom
• The sensitivity of the Sunrays may be too modest for some single-ended triode (SET) amplifiers
• The cabinet is made of HP-MDF, which some may perceive as less refined compared to other high-end speaker cabinets made of composites or aluminum
• Initial setup may prove unsatisfying and requires some fine tuning for optimal soundstage

Comparisons (according to reviewers)

• Vs Tidal Contriva Diacera SEs: The Sunrays are significantly better, sounding bigger, more transparent—especially in the midrange—and wider in bandwidth
• Vs Wilson Audio MAXX 3s: The MAXX 3s have more bass weight, power, and bloom, and are more coherent across their range
• Vs Wilson Audio MAXX 3s: The Sunrays walk a fine line between in-room and within-the-recording energy, with more variegated high frequencies than the MAXX 3s

Takeaway: The Sunray speakers are uniquely revealing and musical, offering a natural and detailed sound that brings recordings to life. They are an alternative to other big and expensive speakers and could be valued because of their spatial characteristics and tonal sophistication.

Product Strengths

• The Kodo projects substance and energy, creating a solid central musical presence, and can adapt in size and scale to the recording being played
• Gryphon's bottom end relies on attack and impact to impress
• The Kodo possesses remarkable low-frequency definition and transparency due to the kilowatt of power residing in each bass tower
• The philosophical elegance of the thinking behind the Kodo's conception and the mechanical integrity with which it has been realized makes this a speaker system that is more than capable of exploiting—as well as being exploited by—a whole range of electronic partners

Product Considerations

• The Kodo has a pervasive warmth to its acoustic that invests it with an inclusive sense of presence, but also limits its internal spatial separation
• With the Kodo's gigantic dynamic range and clean delivery, it's easy to forget just how loud you are listening
• The Gryphon speakers are seriously cable sensitive, and the best results are achieved using the company's own wires
• Installing a Kodo system demands that the towers break down into component parts, and the individual cabinet elements are heavy enough to make unpacking them quite a workout

Comparisons (according to reviewers)

• The Kodo system is similar in warmth and weight to Rockport Arakis, but with a lot more energy
• While Wilson Alexxes with Thor's Hammers provide separate rows of instruments with depth and height, the Kodos offer a softer focus and more general orchestral spread

Takeaway: The Gryphon Kodo is a high-end speaker system that delivers music with real drive and purpose and boasts impressive low-frequency definition. It is a versatile speaker that offers excellent value.

Product Strengths

• Exceptional clarity and precision with its Diamond drivers (0.75-inch pure Diamond tweeter and 2-inch pure Diamond midrange)
• Powerful and precise bass response down to 22 Hz, delivered by four 8-inch Aluminium Sandwich drivers and four 10-inch passive Aluminium Sandwich radiators
• Exceptional craftsmanship and a stunning finish (25-42 mm fibre laminate cabinet, finished in Piano Black with solid wood top and bottom)
• Marten Isolators featuring IsoAcoustics technology isolate the cabinets from the floor, minimizing unwanted resonances and vibrations
• First-order crossover for perfect time and phase coherence

Product Considerations

• Premium pricing reflects its high-end status
• Substantial size may require careful room placement
• Demands high-quality amplification to reach its full potential

Comparisons (according to reviewers)

• The Mingus Orchestra uses the same drivers and crossover as Marten's top-of-the-line Supreme 2, but with fewer bass drivers and a less expensive cabinet

Takeaway: The Marten Mingus Orchestra offers a high-end listening experience, recreating music with exceptional clarity and powerful bass. For audiophiles who want top-tier performance and craftsmanship, it could be worth buying.

Product Strengths

• Stunning elegance and can be customized in a wide range of colors, materials, and textures, making it suitable for elegant homes
• Incorporates advanced and unusual technologies, including the ability to rotate the speaker around its fixed base and change the driver configuration ('Live' and 'Pure' modes)
• Delivers generous bass with deep extension and the ability to play loudly without strain
• Offers a smooth and liquid rendering of timbre that starts in the midrange and extends all the way to the silky top end, allowing for long listening sessions without fatigue
• Offers selectable driver array and easily adjustable toe-in, making it adaptable to a wide range of environments and listening tastes

Product Considerations

• Each speaker weighs nearly a thousand pounds
• It will perform its best in a fairly large room that can handle strong low-bass energy
• It's a very expensive pair of loudspeakers

Takeaway: The Burmester BC350 provides an elegant design with customizable features and unique technologies. The speaker offers a smooth and adaptable sound that ensures an enjoyable listening experience.

Product Strengths

• The Magico M7 delivers the highest sound quality by the reviewer's metrics
• Described as 'vivid' due to a comprehensive lack of distortion, low compression, rich texture and detail, and coherence across the spectrum and image
• Soundstaging hangs in space with a realistically large soundstage window and deeper stage depth, approximating real sound in a real performance hall
• Superb instrumental definition with a tonal density that removes a filter, revealing the believable richness of each instrument combined with high definition and low etch
• Voicing is resolutely flat in terms of frequency response, so well-balanced recordings sound impressively right

Product Considerations

• The M7 might require bigger amplifiers to reach the dynamic levels of the best horn speakers
• It will not be a good fit for listeners who need frequency colorations to reassure them that their expensive speakers are doing something

Comparisons (according to reviewers)

• Vs MBL 101X, the M7 does a more believable simulation of the stage because it's rather clear about performer locations, but the MBL-101X gets the image off the speakers more reliably, but at the price of some placement precision and air

Takeaway: The Magico M7 speakers deliver a rare and significant sonic achievement with a focus on distortion minimization. These speakers set a benchmark across almost all important sonic dimensions, making them worth considering for serious audio enthusiasts.

Product Strengths

• Sets a new standard of realism in reproduced music, more fully conveying artistic intent
• Delivers a physically startling sense of suddenness on transient attacks, combining tremendous transient speed with hard-hitting physical power and force
• Has a preternatural ability to seemingly change its tonal balance based on the music's energy distribution

Product Considerations

• The physical design places it into large rooms
• Requires professional installation by an authorized dealer
• Needs good care and the best audio equipment upstream

Comparisons (according to reviewers)

• The Chronosonic XVX has physical dimensions more like the Alexandria XLF, but its sound is more like the WAMM Master Chronosonic
• The Chronosonic XVX has a design language borrowed and scaled from the WAMM Masterchronosonic
• In outright terms, the XVX gets within 'a gnat's crotchet' of the WAMM, but The WAMM demands more

Takeaway: The Chronosonic XVX brings music to new heights. It gives more flexibility of options than many of its peers lack and will result in better loudspeakers all round.

Product Strengths

• Tone color and instrumental timbre are portrayed with accuracy
• Voicing is full bodied and replete with the complex harmonic structure
• Stark transparency is rendered to the sources, to reveal any nuance in detail or scale
• Superb dynamic performance is exhibited, with both subtlety in the microdynamic realm and stunning macro capabilities
• Bass pitch definition is unsurpassed, with unyielding yet utterly articulated weight and attack

Product Considerations

• An exaggeration of the soundstage and of image sizes was noted, they are notably larger than life, much like watching an early 1960's film in Ultra Panavision 70 or CinemaScope

Comparisons (according to reviewers)

• Compared to Magico Q7 and Q7 MK II (and to some similar degree, the less expensive S7), ULTRA 11 has better coherence, tone color, and especially dynamics
• Compared to YG Acoustics Sonja XV, ULTRA 11 has better coherence, tone color, and especially dynamics

Takeaway: The ULTRA 11 is a monumental achievement in acoustic engineering, so it is capable of recreating a dispersion pattern that simulates the pickup pattern of an omnidirectional microphone. It is worth buying for those seeking the best in audio reproduction due to its accurate tone and superb dynamics

Product Strengths

• Reproduction of the very bottom octave (below 20Hz to 30Hz) with power, color, clarity, and completeness
• Reproduction of 16Hz at the same level as 1kHz
• Creation of a wall-to-wall-to-ceiling-to-floor soundfield with layered depth and uniform ambience, merging the listening room with the recorded space
• Images instruments with lifelike timbre, power, and dimensionality, creating near-visible 3-D images
• Gestalt shift comes as part of the package with magical three-dimensionality of image and stage with every recording

Product Considerations

• Images at centerstage aren't as sharp-edged as direct-radiating loudspeakers, being larger and more rounded
• The Radialstrahler sections are tough to drive, requiring two amplifiers per speaker side
• While they work well in any size room, they need to 'see' walls to function as designed

Comparisons (according to reviewers)

• Versus Wilson Audio Chronosonic XVX, Kharma Exquisite Extreme Grand Signature, AlsyVox Michelangelo, Stenheim Reference Ultime Three, or an Estelon Extreme Mk II, it plays in roughly the same ballpark
• Versus Magico M6, Rockport Lyra, Magneplanar 30.7, Sound Lab Ultimate-1, it can be obtained for considerably less money

Takeaway: The MBL 101 X-Treme MKII offers unparalleled low-bass response and creates an immersive, three-dimensional soundstage that blends the recording space with the listening room. It's a top-tier system for audiophiles seeking a lifelike and engaging listening experience.