Wilmslow Prestige floorstanders
I now have a speaker (the other will be working soon) based on a Wilmslow Audio Prestige cabinet with the Volt Radial bass, Scanspeak D2905/9900.00 tweeter and an early PMC mid driver which is very similar to the ATC (but probably better than the original ATC). I aim to go completely active but at the moment am active on bass and using the passive mid/high crossover sections. This speaker is fantastic. To put it into perspective a friend recently commented that he couldn't believe that it makes my B&W M801s sound muffled!!! He is right too, M801s are some of the best speakers ever made but this Prestige design is amazing. It's not all good though, if you play some poorly recorded music it sounds bad. Since bass was specifically mentioned I can also say that the bass is the most tuneful you could expect, no indistinct booming but clearly audible sounds and tones.
I now have a speaker (the other will be working soon) based on a Wilmslow Audio Prestige cabinet with the Volt Radial bass, Scanspeak D2905/9900.00 tweeter and an early PMC mid driver which is very similar to the ATC (but probably better than the original ATC). I aim to go completely active but at the moment am active on bass and using the passive mid/high crossover sections. This speaker is fantastic. To put it into perspective a friend recently commented that he couldn't believe that it makes my B&W M801s sound muffled!!! He is right too, M801s are some of the best speakers ever made but this Prestige design is amazing. It's not all good though, if you play some poorly recorded music it sounds bad. Since bass was specifically mentioned I can also say that the bass is the most tuneful you could expect, no indistinct booming but clearly audible sounds and tones.
Lots of speaker companies will assure you that 'that driver that looks like a well known, high performing diy driver' isn't. Because of course that amazing driver wasn't 'good enough' and there's is made by the same manufacturer but to higher specs... go figure.
That said, I'm a fan of PMC, and from the interactions I've seen with their staff they're pretty honest about what's what, so it may not be a volt but my gut instinct still says it is.
That said, I'm a fan of PMC, and from the interactions I've seen with their staff they're pretty honest about what's what, so it may not be a volt but my gut instinct still says it is.
No PMC drivers aren't generally available, I was lucky to find them. I also thought PMC used Volt drivers but I have good reason to believe that PMC make their own. All three (ATC, Volt and PMC) are very similar to look at, and seem to be of closely related design. The visual giveaway is that the PMCs have four bolts showing on the waveguide but ATC have three. It's possible that ATC withdrew the supply of their drivers to PMC and that this prompted PMC to design their own version. What ever the story they are amazing drivers! As are the Volt Radials and the Scanspeak tweeters. I'm looking forward to going fully active with them, I just need another power amp.
It is possible that Volt make components for PMC but I have seen pix of a rig PMC use to dope their linen domes; if they are doing that type of process they are probably doing other things too. I have other reasons to think PMC make their own drivers, such as the fact that the PMCs I have feature the flat edges on the waveguide (the part that is inside the cabinet) while the Volts I have seen do not (this is clearly visible in the pix on WA website). In fact the physical fitting of the PMC into the WA Prestige cabinet was perfect, which to me means the PMCs were made as a drop-in replacement for the ATC domes.
The Volt radials are excellent drivers, I use a couple of RV3143s myself.
I think there is a possibility that PMC originally used Volt mids (AFAIK ATCs have visible lead out wires while PMC and Volt do not) but then went on to produce them themselves at roughly the time the Volt became available to the public.
But I would not stake anything on the correctness of this scenario.
I think there is a possibility that PMC originally used Volt mids (AFAIK ATCs have visible lead out wires while PMC and Volt do not) but then went on to produce them themselves at roughly the time the Volt became available to the public.
But I would not stake anything on the correctness of this scenario.
That is very true but the cabs I have are the early type and they were the Gold version not the Platinum. I know that this version definitely used the ATC mid because I know the person who bought them originally and he just upgraded cabs to the new version and went active all at once. They sound very, very good but he reckons there is no difference in the sound of the two cab variants. The Volt driver shown on the WA website wouldn't physically fit into the inner recess behind the hole for the driver because the recess is shaped for the flat(ish) sided driver.
I was under the impression that PMC originally used ATC drivers (pre SL ones) which have always been available to the public. It could be that ATC realised that PMC were becoming major rivals and terminated supply when the SL drivers were released. I think you are right about the lead-out wires on the ATC. The PMC domes can be replaced in about 10 minutes with no soldering required, they are a drop-in fit and self align. I think the Volts are used more often in pro monitors of the sort made by Quested and, in the past, Boxer.
OK you've almost sold the idea of the Wilmslow Platinums to me with the comparison between them and the B&W M802s. Yes the M802's were awesome speakers but technology has marched on. Lessons learnt by B&W with the Nautilus has been passed down to later generations of their speakers. How much better are my B&W 683's vs the 802's? I find the 683's very pleasant to listen to, why do I want to DIY, just because I can and I'd like to see what I can do to better a £700 B&W 683.
The 683 employs the Nautilus' mid range unit. I found the 603/2 bland in the mid range but the 683 is just alive.
The 683 employs the Nautilus' mid range unit. I found the 603/2 bland in the mid range but the 683 is just alive.
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I don't know about the M802s but I guess the main difference from the M801s is bass? I seriously doubt if there are huge differences from the M801 (at least the mkII version) compared with the Nautilus simply because the M801s were so good that there isn't a huge amount of room for improvement. I might need to explain that I am not looking for a nice, warm sound, I am looking for the true sound as in pro monitors - for which the M801s were used extensively. Mine came from the Sony Classic studios in Hamburg and they could afford to buy any speakers they wanted to buy. If you are looking for speakers that are "very pleasant to listen to" then you might do well to be wary of this style of speaker - bad recordings and production are revealed fully. A few weeks ago WA were offering 50% off the cabs when you bought a full kit from them, that's worth a bit of cash. I'd advise you to try to hear a pair first and also to weigh up whether the Platinums are worth the extra over the Gold version.
I was going to mention that the Klein&Hummel/Neumann O500 uses the ATC dome but it seems they stopped making them! ;-)
Their O410 uses ScanSpeak D7608.
I think that if you are careful you will get a good result but I heard that WA didn't supply any instructions with the cabinet kit, so some level of cabinet making skill would be required. The person I know, who made some of the newer Prestige cabs, said that a certain amount of filler was necessary afterwards, possibly due to the difficulty of getting the angles perfect. It is a relatively complex enclosure but it does look very good, more important is that they sound amazing. You might like to consider whether you want the passive version, or if you would go for an active system because the passive crossovers are not cheap.
I have a pair of these speakers and they sound incredible. If you build a pair and get it right, you won't regret it and they will probably be the last speakers you will ever feel the need to own.
Mine have the ATC mid but the Volt 12" and come with passive crossovers upgraded by Wilmslow at the previous owners request.
Mine have the ATC mid but the Volt 12" and come with passive crossovers upgraded by Wilmslow at the previous owners request.
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