[mlundy57]

My first good speakers were Electro-Voice EV-Sevens and then KEF 303.3's. However, the EV's were made in the 60's and the KEF's in the 80's so I doubt there are very many of them around now to upgrade.

More recently my guess would be B&W 600 & CM series and PSB Image series speakers. 

Mike

[Donald]

On the low to mid range, I would say PSB. Musical for the amount of mula spent.

Speakers from the past, I would have to say the Dunlavy line. Still have a pair of 4a's. Still draws you into the music. Just need room to breathe and WAF very low.

[Hank]

The Large Advents were ground-breakers - still have mine.  I bought a pair of Acoustat Model 3's a few months ago and I'm in music heaven now!

[ebag4]

Although not audiophile approved, I had a pair of the Definitive Technology BP 2002 that I enjoyed prior to picking up a set (3 across the front of my HT) Tyler Acoustic Taylos.

Best,
Ed

[bradmorris1]

the stereo that got me into this hobby back in 1970 was from a store called Tech Hifi, a hifi chain in the Phila area.  The store I got the system from was in Bryn Mawr, Pa and it consisted of a pair of Large Advents, A Harmon Kardon 30watt/ch receiver (HK 610 maybe?) and a Dual 1220 turntable.  The first record I played on it was Abraxas by Santana.  I was a 10th grader in HS and the system was in my bedroom.  I fell in love with audio there and then and never looked back!

[jimdgoulding]

I'll nominate these and for value, also:  http://www.miragespeakers.com/floorstanding-speakers/?sku=OMD-15.  Damn, they do Shirley Horn ("You Won't Forget Me" on Verve) beautifully and cymbals are so free of a source. 

[Devil Doc]

the stereo that got me into this hobby back in 1970 was from a store called Tech Hifi, a hifi chain in the Phila area.  The store I got the system from was in Bryn Mawr, Pa and it consisted of a pair of Large Advents, A Harmon Kardon 30watt/ch receiver (HK 610 maybe?) and a Dual 1220 turntable.  The first record I played on it was Abraxas by Santana.  I was a 10th grader in HS and the system was in my bedroom.  I fell in love with audio there and then and never looked back!

Tech Hifi. That brings back memories. Only difference is the one I frequented was in University City in Philly. On Walnut St., I think. Bought some KLH speakers, an AR turntable with a Stanton 681 cartridge, and a Pioneer receiver there. WMMR and Michael Tearson never sounded better. I never looked back either. I was hooked.

Doc

[JLM]

Honestly, the speakers I've owned and marveled at the most were I. M. Fried Model M's (from 1979), a 3-way design with recessed soft dome tweeter and 5 inch aperiodic loaded polypropylene midrange in a small stand mount cabinet that rested directly below a 8 inch polypropylene woofer in a separate 6 cubic foot mass loaded transmission line loaded cabinet.  Extremely musical, pin point imaging, plenty of resolution, and clean/full/fast bass capable of 114 dB at 17 Hz.

But more on topic, the most popular audiophile speakers should relate to sales numbers (excluding professional use).  My guess would be something like Bose 301's, Paradigm Atoms, or Radio Shack Minimus 7's (had one in a Saab 99 equipped with a monophonic radio) that fit the lower end market, were on the market for many years, and were relatively popular.

[jimdgoulding]

Love your moniker, JLM.

[WGH]

Back in the 70's the most popular audiophile speaker was the JBL L100. According to Sound and Vision more than a million were sold. Mine are still going strong and I use them every day at my shop, one of these years I'm going to build Dennis Murphey's L100 crossover mod.

Wayne

[oldman45]

I have the studio version of the JBL L112 that I use for my desktop speakers, driven by a Crown D-75 amp.  They are the 4411.  I love em.

[bdp24]

Back in the 70's the most popular audiophile speaker was the JBL L100. According to Sound and Vision more than a million were sold. Mine are still going strong and I use them every day at my shop, one of these years I'm going to build Dennis Murphey's L100 crossover mod.

Wayne

It may be nothing more than semantics (one's definition of audiophile), but to my way of thinking, all JBL speakers, especially the L100, were anti-audiophile speakers. They were viewed by true-blue audiophiles as highly-colored noise-makers for tin-eared mass-market-brainwashed non-audiophiles. No offence intended! THE audiophile speaker of the 70's was unquestionably the Magneplanar. It may STILL be the most popular audiophile speaker in the world.

[JLM]

A living dinosaur of a truly popular audiophile speaker that comes to mind is the Vandersteen 2 (and all its variants).  Does much right, reasonably priced, a sane speaker for an audiophile (but who said audiophiles were sane?), just not sexy.

[bradmorris1]

It may be nothing more than semantics (one's definition of audiophile), but to my way of thinking, all JBL speakers, especially the L100, were anti-audiophile speakers. They were viewed by true-blue audiophiles as highly-colored noise-makers for tin-eared mass-market-brainwashed non-audiophiles. No offence intended! THE audiophile speaker of the 70's was unquestionably the Magneplanar. It may STILL be the most popular audiophile speaker in the world.

they may not have been "audiophile" but back then they were highly desirable (at least by me) because they played loud and they had those awesome colored foam checkered grills.  My large advents seemed so tame in comparison.

[The Ninja]

Seems like nearly every post is for a different speaker.  You guys are making this difficult

[WGH]

Tone Audio has a current review of the JBL L100
"Overall, top-to-bottom coherence was fantastic and the midrange clarity was well on par if not better than a lot of today’s speakers in the $1,000 – $2,000 range."
http://www.tonepublications.com/old-school/jbl-l-100-century-loudspeakers/


Yes, compared to today's crop of speakers the L100's flaws are even more pronounced but back in 1972 what were the choices?

Dynaco A25 - no bass to speak of
Acoustic Research - boring
Vandersteen 2 - not available yet (and they were boring too)
Pioneer - screamers
Advent - they did nothing wrong... and nothing right either, the equivalent of audio wallpaper
KLH - Nice, I had a pair of 17's, the rocked but the L100's rocked harder

Everything else was way above my pay grade. I was 24 with limited funds, remember the average wage for a kid my age was between $2.50 to $3.50 an hour. That $119 a week (after taxes) had to cover the rent, car, food, girlfriend, concerts and parties.

And JBL's were used as studio monitors so they just had to be audiophile grade. Right?

Wayne

[nickd]

Sean, are you are looking for ideas in long term popularity or overall sales volume as in market testing for what people actually bought?

ProAc response 2.5's, Vandersteen 1 and 2's JBL L100's were huge sellers, but I think the math on "book shelf" Mini-monitors would suprise us all. most people own smaller stuff. In the EU and England floor standers are VERY rare. The difficulty tracking sales in Minis (and all audiophile stuff) is that there are a LOT of manufacturers and models. So even though the total (box) numbers are big, the individual model sales in actual dollars might be much smaller. I also think its very hard to make a living selling $300.-1200. a pair monitors unless you mass produce and distribute tens of thousands of them.

Personally, the DCM time frames were a favorite of mine back in the day even though I never owned a pair. strange cool looking 2 way with a coax drivers in the 80's. They had a huge soundstage and cost about $500. if I remember correctly. Not sure why I didn't ever buy a pair though. I would buy them now if I could find a nice used pair. DCM has changed their models and sales method (direct) now so I don't know how they stack up any more.

[kenreau]

Seems like nearly every post is for a different speaker.  You guys are making this difficult

The question posed needs a few parameters outlined to narrow things down...

i.e. currently in production?  actually owned, or just lust after from advertising or reviews in $tereophile, TAS, TONEAudio, etc. (i.e. Magico, Wilsons, KEF, Vandersteens, Harbeths, etc), mass marketed, biggest quantity boxes like Polk, Boston, Klipsch. 
Since you identified "audiophile", I will not even mention the other name brand (due to their advertising, probably the most identified by John Q Public as an audiophile speaker... ) that sounds like garden "hose" in a number of ways...

If I understand what you are looking for, I would suggest Klipsch and Definitive Technologies.

Kenreau

[Cheeseboy]

Rodgers LS3/5A

[bdp24]

Infinity appeared out of Arnie Nudell's garage in 1970 with his statement speaker, the Servo-Static. It was a panel of Electrostatics per side with a shared subwoofer, either 18" or 24", I don't remember. It was priced at $2000 (in 1970 dollars!), which of course none of us budding would-be audiophiles could afford. But Infinity had a couple of smaller speakers, the $299 apiece 2000A (RTR Electrostatic tweeters and Transmission Line loaded 12" woofer) and their entry model 1001 for $179, I think it was. Shortly thereafter (I heard and bought them in '72) the Magneplanars appeared, and they really changed the game. Finally, lifesize, open, natural-timbre sound at the working-class price of $995/pr! The line had been drawn in the sand---the "loud" sound of JBL and it's ilk (dynamic, forward, in-your-face-brashness) which were being pushed by the mainstream press (Stereo Review, High Fidelity) vs. the "accurate" sound of Quad, IMF, the new kid on the block Infinity (neutral perspective, low in coloration, transparent) being championed by the lone voice in the wilderness, J. Gordon Holt with his underground, subscription-only Stereophile. Thank God for Gordon. He was the first to review Audio Research (ARC was the only hi-fi company making tubed amps and pre-amps in the early 70's) and Magnepan's first Magneplanar, the Tympani T-I. Thank Him for them, too.