Top Picks

Speakers

GoldenEar Triton One
(July/August) Well, another year, and another Triton makes its way onto our annual list of the year’s best. But this one, the company’s long-awaited flagship, is a doozy that, even at $2,500 each, performs well beyond its price tag. $2,500/ea, goldenear.com

Definitive Technology Mythos ST-L
(September) Def Tech’s top-of-the-line Mythos ST-L is the culmination of everything the company has learned about powered towers since its founding in 1990; the result being a remarkably transparent, tonally neutral, and affordable high-end loudspeaker. $2,499 each, definitivetech.com

Cambridge Audio Aero 2 Speaker System
(May) The Aero 2s use a unique flat BMR (balanced mode radiator) mid-to-high-range driver that replaces a conventional tweeter and helps create a spacious, open soundstage and exceptionally pure midrange sonics. $2,446, cambridgeaudio.com

M&K Sound S300 Speaker System
(July/August) This M&K system’s nosebleed pricing is hard to justify except by ultra-high-end standards, but there’s no denying that the big-brother successor to the legendary S150 monitor was a highlight of our 2014 test year. $17,700, mksound.com

Silverline Audio Minuet Supreme Plus Speaker System
(November) You’ll need to add your own sub, but these pedestrian-looking yet oh-so-sweet-sounding, no-non- sense mini monitors proved exceptionally versatile with both movies and music—“addictively listenable,” noted reviewer Mark Fleischmann. $1,748, silverlineaudio.com

Pioneer SP-EBS73LR Atmos-Enabled Speaker System
(February/March 2015) Thanks to a new concentric midrange/tweeter driver, designer Andrew Jones’s (and S&V’s) first foray into a fully integrated Atmos-enabled speaker system delivered a startling coherent soundstage. $2,500, pioneerelectronics.com

Monitor Audio Silver 10 Speaker System
(soundandvision.com, July) Superb imaging, a Monitor Audio trademark, along with a well-defined high end and decidedly uncolored midrange were evident in spades in this well-crafted tower system. $5,925, monitoraudiousa.com

Infinity Reference R162 Speaker System
(soundandvision.com, December) The R162’s rising high-frequency response makes for a deliciously crisp and exceptionally detailed listening experience that will have you hearing things in your familiar recordings that previously went unnoticed. $2,100, infinityspeakers.com

B&W CM6 S2 Speaker System
(soundandvision.com, September) This latest “S2” update to B&W’s CM series includes improved drivers and other enhancements, and further refinement of that classic, neutral Bowers & Wilkins sound. $5,850, bowers-wilkins.com