Wilson Audio - who has heard them?

[humanhuman]

Thoughts? Why do some claim they are the best speakers out there? I am just looking for subjective opinions...thx

[Landroval]

You can find at least 50 brands of speakers that somebody claims to be the best ever. WA's are nothing exeptional, just very good enclosures, good drivers and good implementation.

[lgreen]

might want to read this thread

[PMA]

Me. Wilson Audio Maxx and Wilson Audio Sophia. I made a preamp for presentation of them on High End exhibition here.

[humanhuman]

I see, thanks guys.

PMA, what are your thoughts? I like the way the Sophia's look...

[forr]

Humanhuman,

---I like the way the Sophia's look...---

I liked the way the Sophia's sound.
I heard them at the last hifi show I went, two years ago. For me, with the Davis Cesar's, they were the best speakers of this show with a good stereophony and freedom of the listening place. It must be said that the listening rooms were quite large. There was also a demonstration of an other Wilson pair of speakers, I did not like it at all.

[nate]

I've heard the complete line with the exception of the Watt Puppy 8. They are all great speakers from a fantastic and successfull company. Their success is no fluke, they have good products. I have had the opportunity to hear the Focal/JMLabs Utopia BE speakers and the Focal tweeters that Wilson Audio uses sound broken to me in comparison to the Focal BEs not to mention the Diamond tweeters from Accuton. Much of this, as with all things audio, is due to my personal preference and taste.

Great speakers, just not for me!

Nate

[Willitwork]

Originally posted by Landroval
You can find at least 50 brands of speakers that somebody claims to be the best ever.

I was lucky enough to hear and compare two among those brands who are cited by those critics who like to use the expression "best in the world". One was the Wilson Audio Maxx and the other was the Verity Audio Lohengrin. They were demonstrated at a trade show and both were powered with the same electronics, the appropriately esoteric Moon Evolution line by Simaudio. The demo was actually run by Simaudio, not the speaker manufacturers, but I suppose these were somehow involved, be it just by providing the goods to Simaudio. I'm not an expert but I am told that these pricey and well appreciated electronics are quite transparent so the sound we hear is close to that intended by the speaker's designer.

Hooked to these massive looking amplifiers and CD players I felt, and that is the right word, that both set of speakers sounded exceptionally fine, wrapping one completely in high-grade musical reproduction from massive bass to the most subtle highs, all seemingly perfectly blended with a seamless frequency "spread" that is rarely heard except in very high end products. I can't describe this sonic signature, it has to be heard, but those of you who have had similar experiences will know what I mean. It's solid without being overly tight, lush without being mushy, best of both worlds: airy with high definition.

The presence is amazing, it is very obvious that these speakers are built with the absolute goal of perfection without any of the usual commercial considerations of manufacturing costs. The results are two cost-no-object products that look quite different from one another but sound strangely alike, perhaps an indication that there aren't that many ways to build what experts consider the best possible speaker.

This being said, those products are only available to very few people, yours truly definitely not among them, and perhaps it's better that way because otherwise a lot of money could get needlessly throwned out the window.

Why? Because even though those speakers sound great they don't sound superior to some of the the best designed very high end DIY projects that I have heard. They simply sound just as good, and for 10 times the investment it's not worth it. After all there is only one part that very high end commercial speaker manufacturers use that is never used by DIY'ers, it's the plate with the name of the company that built the speaker. For some reason that's always the costliest part.

[Landroval]

Originally posted by Willitwork
The results are two cost-no-object products that look quite different from one another but sound strangely alike, perhaps an indication that there aren't that many ways to build what experts consider the best possible speaker.

Those are very "basic" implementations of dynamic drivers; cones, domes and a ribbon for the Lohengrin.

When looking at and listening to speakers like Acapella Sphäron Excalibur, German Physics The Gaudi, Martin Logan Statement, Avantgarde Trio /w Basshorn and Marten Design Coltrane Supreme, you really understand that there is no one right way for outstanding audio reproduction.

[Willitwork]

Originally posted by Landroval


Those are very "basic" implementations of dynamic drivers; cones, domes and a ribbon for the Lohengrin.

When looking at and listening to speakers like Acapella Sphäron Excalibur, German Physics The Gaudi, Martin Logan Statement, Avantgarde Trio /w Basshorn and Marten Design Coltrane Supreme, you really understand that there is no one right way for outstanding audio reproduction.

Then perhaps I should have added "on dynamic drivers based systems" at the end of my statement. Designs based on more esoteric components obviously require different engineering.