That's exactly what I'm amazed by. The effortlessness of the sound is what I absolutely love. Means it doesn't sound loud when it definitely is: I often don't notice it's so loud until someone says something and they look like they're miming, then we find we're shouting and I realize it's seriously loud, or I pick up an instrument to play along with a track and realize I'm inaudible...
Check out my first post above, sorry it's quite a way back - #11 on this page, but probably covers your questions, basically yes they go loud, more so than anything I've had here before with the same gear, only exception being my PA. And that's what I was baffled by at WA - the Prestige was shouty and crass when cranked up whereas these seem unflappable, yet they use the same drivers.
And a really strange thing, I don't understand the physics of this at all: Every pair of speakers I've had in this room has had serious problems with placement, wherever I put them I get dead spots and bass trap corners so there's only one sweet spot to listen from... but somehow with these, the balance is even anywhere in the room.
Not sure about the exact models you're asking about but I've heard various smaller ATC speakers in mobile recording setups, sadly never the SCM50s, however I've spent lots of my working life with PMC monitors and these Wilmslows are much more listenable. I can't imagine they have the same level of detail as top end PMC monitors, I can't know without hearing the same material on both, but for example the bow scrape from a close-miked fiddle doesn't saw yer head off the way it does on full-on studio monitors. A mate uses ATC 25Cs, they're not the harshest and I love them to work with, but I'd still struggle with them long-term as hifi. For me personally the WA12s are exactly right in being good enough to check recordings and use as monitors, and really stunning as hifi.
A friend has just got a pair of Spendor D9s, I took a pile of my fave CDs to go and give them a blast. Very slick sound, an almost "oily" smoothness, only a slight "BBC mid" hump, but a similar mid-bass dip to my old S8s though not as bad... very nice low bottom end... really lovely speakers. However the Wilmslows seem neutral on all those points, nothing sticks out as "amazing!", the only effect is the feeling of hearing the real thing in front of you. Strangely enough, more so than with super-accurate studio monitors such as the sort of ATCs and PMCs I've often worked with, that can sound as though you're being attacked by the music rather than listening to it.
I wouldn't ever recommend anyone to buy anything on the basis of me liking it, but I do definitely think it's worth a schlep to WA to check them out.
PS yes it's the same sound at different levels, or at least more so than previous speakers - it doesn't go thin and middly when quiet. I always thought that effect was a natural phenomenon of human hearing, maybe it is to some extent but definitely seems much less pronounced with these speakers.
I find mid bass is the hardest to reproduce convincingly, it's at all the frequencies that most rooms interfere with, but for some reason I can't understand, these speakers seem unaffected. It generally affects the clarity of bass parts, turning them into a mush that supports the music in a vague way rather than being a distinct voice, a separate player. Jeff Berlin, a "toppy" sounding bass player on Bill Bruford's albums c1980 is right there and present in the mix whereas on the Spendors he'd be kinda vaguely floating around somewhere else in the room, and Eddie Gómez's quite middly double bass sound on Chick Corea's album the Leprechaun is clearly fixed in place between the speakers whereas before I couldn't really even hear what he was playing, it just got lost in the general congestion. Slightly similar issue with Glen Moore of Oregon though his is so twangy it almost isn't a "bass" sound. Now on these speakers the timbre, the attack, and a load of previously inaudible nice twiddles of all these players are clearly defined.
In the same way it also improves more classic "bassy" bass players, suddenly Ray Brown is clearer and more present, even though his type of sound doesn't suffer so much from woolly sounding speakers.
Obviously being a bass player I'm biased towards the importance of the bass end, but everything else is also good about these speakers, image, soundstage etc... only downside is their size!
I find mid bass is the hardest to reproduce convincingly, it's at all the frequencies that most rooms interfere with, but for some reason I can't understand, these speakers seem unaffected. It generally affects the clarity of bass parts, turning them into a mush that supports the music in a vague way rather than being a distinct voice, a separate player. Jeff Berlin, a "toppy" sounding bass player on Bill Bruford's albums c1980 is right there and present in the mix whereas on the Spendors he'd be kinda vaguely floating around somewhere else in the room, and Eddie Gómez's quite middly double bass sound on Chick Corea's album the Leprechaun is clearly fixed in place between the speakers whereas before I couldn't really even hear what he was playing, it just got lost in the general congestion. Slightly similar issue with Glen Moore of Oregon though his is so twangy it almost isn't a "bass" sound. Now on these speakers the timbre, the attack, and a load of previously inaudible nice twiddles of all these players are clearly defined.
In the same way it also improves more classic "bassy" bass players, suddenly Ray Brown is clearer and more present, even though his type of sound doesn't suffer so much from woolly sounding speakers.
Obviously being a bass player I'm biased towards the importance of the bass end, but everything else is also good about these speakers, image, soundstage etc... only downside is their size!
thanks for your elaborate answer! appreciate!
I'd use the WA12 as studio monitors for mixing purposes.. and what I ready from your lines is that these defiitely would work for this application.
May I ask how big the room is, you're using them in?
The room is about 7metres by 5, wall to wall carpet, floor to ceiling shelves crammed with gear, and a couple of big home-made bass traps on the ceiling, plus lots of gear hanging up, so there are no large reflective surfaces. Acoustic instruments and amps that sound huge in the average gig all sound unimpressive in that room. I did a recording there the other day, the guy it was for (producer if you like!) commented on how neutral the room was. I mention all that simply because it's possible that these speakers might set off resonances in a different room - BUT, previous speakers in this room have been much worse.
I have Dynaudio monitors I use for mixing, but I have a long lead going to the hifi so I can double check stuff on the Wilmslows, and actually I hear more on the latter. I keep using the small monitors though because I get distracted by things sounding "fantastic" on big monitors so I only check occasionally on those.
I have Dynaudio monitors I use for mixing, but I have a long lead going to the hifi so I can double check stuff on the Wilmslows, and actually I hear more on the latter. I keep using the small monitors though because I get distracted by things sounding "fantastic" on big monitors so I only check occasionally on those.
haha you must be nuts!
having a decent 3-way system which holds up with the likes of PMC and ATC but using Dynaudios for mixing.. no offense Haha... fair point! Actually I was a bit careless in that comment, it's more that I use the monitors for monitoring (amazingly!!) while recording, I wouldn't use them to do a final mix, though nothing I record here is important, it's usually just demos or single parts to go on other people's stuff to be mixed elsewhere.
The other reason is rather mundane: I'd have to have the computer and associated paraphernalia right in front of the speakers whereas I use that room for rehearsals etc and would need to shift it in and out of the way. I could put it all on wheels and move it about I suppose. The question also leads us to the big discussion about what monitors are and what hifi is. I see this a lot in studios, a small pair of monitors close-up, and the main monitors to enjoy every now and then. Can't quite explain why it's better to do most of the mixing on small speakers then check it on the big system, but it's the norm. I think being assaulted with loveliness all day long is hard work, however lovely it is at first!
The other reason is rather mundane: I'd have to have the computer and associated paraphernalia right in front of the speakers whereas I use that room for rehearsals etc and would need to shift it in and out of the way. I could put it all on wheels and move it about I suppose. The question also leads us to the big discussion about what monitors are and what hifi is. I see this a lot in studios, a small pair of monitors close-up, and the main monitors to enjoy every now and then. Can't quite explain why it's better to do most of the mixing on small speakers then check it on the big system, but it's the norm. I think being assaulted with loveliness all day long is hard work, however lovely it is at first!
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