Wilson Alexia V - 2023 Stereophile Speaker of the Year ???

[Penelinfi]

Not picking on you, just a pet peeve: "Audition" means to try out, as in "audition for a part in a play." The director is not auditioning, the actor is. Don't fall into the audiophool pretentiousness of substituting "audition" for "listen."

I guess the speaker is auditioning to the prospective buyer .

 

[Koeitje]

There are plenty of speakers that measure poorly and people love them. ATC, Harbeth, lots of others. It's up to the person to decide. This is my take I am not telling anyone they have to go do it, or moving goalposts. The rancor on this forum is W I L D.

The question is whether they still love them just based on just their sonic qualities compared to speakers that measure better. At the same time I do recognize there is more to a speaker than just audio fidelity, such as their looks or even perceived prestige.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

f course, that picture may have been taken with the turntable in the normal upright position...then turned 180.

If so, the Empire folks (headed by Herb Horowitz*) went to the extreme trouble of constructing upside-down shelves stacked with glued-on little boxes and dipping the "suspending" chains in molten metal or glue to complete the illusion. FWIW, Dual Audio did similar demonstrations.

*Herb Horowitz died at the age of 103 in 2021 and a new biography of him is due out soon.

 

[mhardy6647]

All right, @Kal Rubinson you've triggered me again*...
DUAL encouraged their customers** to use their DUALs for party tricks!



From the manual for my DUAL 1019 (which I have, and keep, strictly for sentimental reasons)

___________________
* Yes, that is a low bar.
** At least in the US (i.e., perhaps United Audio's doing and not Gebrüder Steidinger's).

 

[Galliardist]

How on earth is she going to change that record, ridiculous.
Keith

We present the quantum enhanced, cryogenically treated, audiophile stepladder.

Also suitable for mounting Atmos speakers.

 

[thewas]

FWIW, Dual Audio did similar demonstrations.

Here a photo from a fair in those good old days, it was rotating around both axes:

Source of the photo: https://www.dual-board.de/index.php?thread/10925-wandmontage-plattenspieler-senkrecht-aufstellen/

 

[Archguy]

This is Innovative Audio's purpose-built listening room?

I guess they could remove the floor mat; otherwise I'm not sure how on earth they could make it any more reflective.

These are the experts? What am I missing?

 

[ahofer]

This is Innovative Audio's purpose-built listening room?

View attachment 399865

I guess they could remove the floor mat; otherwise I'm not sure how on earth they could make it any more reflective.

These are the experts? What am I missing?

I’ve been in there and listened to their high end setup. Meh.

 

[Selkirks]

These are the experts? What am I missing?

Expert salesmen.

 

[Archguy]

I’ve been in there and listened to their high end setup. Meh.

It's kind of mind-blowing to me. D'Agostinos and Wilsons and who knows what else. While you could transform the listening experience with just a few hundred dollars' worth of room treatments. It's almost like they're not taking their business seriously.

Or (more likely) I just don't understand their business.

 

[ahofer]

It's kind of mind-blowing to me. D'Agostinos and Wilsons and who knows what else. While you could transform the listening experience with just a few hundred dollars' worth of room treatments. It's almost like they're not taking their business seriously.

Or (more likely) I just don't understand their business.

They have other listening rooms for the mid-level stuff with other, worse, issues. They really do push Wilson vs everything else.

Lyric’s dedicated room, before it closed, had two reflective ends and two opposing systems at each end.

It’s NYC, space is expensive.

 

[Purité Audio]

I heard recently from a U.K. manufacturer, that US distributors want 70% of retail and will only take products on a sale or return basis.
I have always had to buy everything up front but then I am admittedly a minnow.
I wonder if it is the same situation in the U.K.?
Keith

 

[teched58]

They have other listening rooms for the mid-level stuff with other, worse, issues. They really do push Wilson vs everything else.

Lyric’s dedicated room, before it closed, had two reflective ends and two opposing systems at each end.

It’s NYC, space is expensive.

Why do you need a non-reflective listening room for an ugly speaker that's being bought solely because of its high price?

I wonder if most buyers are single/divorced/widowed men. What woman would allow such monstrosities in her home? Maybe if they're relegated to the basement as in Mr. Fremer's case.

 

[CJPopovich]

I've gone to Wilson demos, I consider it a fun experience to get a taste of different goals. It's pretty enjoyable usually, some wine and snacks laid out, poking around before and after to look at the fit/finish, which is first rate. I further enjoy contrasting my listening experience with what I know are questionable measurements. To me it simply means, whether through perception or incomplete science, there may be a little more to it than some on axis measurements. Don't get me wrong, I personally purchase speakers that speak to me AND measure competently, but if Brand X measures poorly yet stirs the soul of someone else, who am I to judge? I mean, I'll stick to my Revels but I do have an interest in speakers of all types. Can't seem to stop loving them.

The last Wilson demo I went to they had a decent setup and were using room correction, so the sound was a combo of the equipment and the target curve, which was not disclosed, chosen by the staff. I can tell you there was a lot of fiddling around with settings by one guy while the other talked a bit before starting the next track, so it was my suspicion they used track-by-track eq, dialed in by the staff, but this is just a guess.

As to why they were speaker of the year? Who knows. I don't really pay too much attention to that stuff, fun to read and experience but relies too heavily on the unknown things, at the expense of the known things, at a cost that I can't afford, for me to get serious about saving up for a purchase of that magnitude.

 

[ahofer]

Who knows. I don't really pay too much attention to that stuff, fun to read and experience but relies too heavily on the unknown things,

Worse, they are “unknown unknowns”-that is nobody has even proven these differences exist, let alone how to produce/mitigate them.

 

[TonyJZX]

Worse, they are “unknown unknowns”-that is nobody has even proven these differences exist, let alone how to produce/mitigate them.

ahhh the Rumsfeld defence

to me the whole idea of 'Speaker of the Year" is something of an aspirational thing in some years

and then the next year its a $1k floorstander to show that there's a 'disruptor' to the hegemony of high priced hifi.... they have to hit multiple hip pockets

on the visual side i think they look like Star Wars period trash cans...

 

[Multicore]

Expert salesmen.

Are they? I never heard of the brand before this thread.

 

[ahofer]

There’s also the “kill a gnat with a sledgehammer” type where they overengineer a solution to a known problem. Wilson advertises how their revolutionary materials and driver isolation kill resonances. The guy from Chord claims to hear 300 s/n, requiring heretofore impossible levels of oversampling.

But I’m not sure the FR for this speaker suggests success here. There IS a notch in the impedance graph and FR, more prominent than in cheaper speakers. So honoring them is a nod to some other unexplained/unsupported quality.

*notches that narrow aren’t very audible are they?

 

[DSJR]

If so, the Empire folks (headed by Herb Horowitz*) went to the extreme trouble of constructing upside-down shelves stacked with glued-on little boxes and dipping the "suspending" chains in molten metal or glue to complete the illusion. FWIW, Dual Audio did similar demonstrations.

*Herb Horowitz died at the age of 103 in 2021 and a new biography of him is due out soon.

Got to chime in - In the 1970s UK, the Dual importers (Farnell if memory serves), had a dedicated exhibition rig with a 1219 or 1229 upside down, the main bearing race and thrust washers were set on top of the record label (underneath as viewed) and the deck set to repeat the playing of the sacrificial LP. Made quite a stir and got me interested and then hooked on the brand. My 701 can't be used upside down though as the direct drive Pabst motor and suspended counterweight needs gravity the right way up to work

 

[egellings]

I guess the speaker is auditioning to the prospective buyer .

"Audition" is probably being used colloquially, rather than in its strictest dictionary definition.