Wilson Audio Speakers: Why do people like them?

[Juhazi]

This blue color thing, is an american secret code or something?

JBL started it in 1970s, distinguished the "Pro" line of studio monitors and L100 for home

75 years of JBL: 75 years of Loud + Clear!

Quite interesting German magazine article about the history of JBL which I post electronically translated below, the original source with more photos is https://www.lowbeats.de/75-jahre-jbl-75-jahre-loud-clear/ Like no other manufacturer, JBL stands for the combination of hi-fi and studio -...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Frank Dernie]

Unless they move their chair.

Well the "old way" of positioning speakers done by specialists was to make them excite room modes as little as possible so the sound was good over a reasonably large area in the room. Moving the chair is less likely to move to a less good sound that way.

Using room compensation software definitely produces a better result at the measurement position environs but may not (and IME will not) be particularly good sounding elsewhere in the room if the speakers are non-optimally positioned.

IMO it is best to do both if your room and living habits allow it.

 

[mglobe]

This blue color thing, is an american secret code or something?
I see it all over the place, cars too!

No way a thing colored like that would survive a European room.

lol, the vast majority of cars in the US are white, silver, or black. I own two BMW’s, and estoril blue 328d touring, and a portomao blue m340i sedan. They stand out from the crowd here. No way I’d want speakers that color though.

Here is data on car color preferences in the US

https://www.motor1.com/news/784678/most-popular-car-color-america-2025/

We should try to not make assumptions about groups of people.

 

[Sokel]

lol, the vast majority of cars in the US are white, silver, or black. I own two BMW’s, and estoril blue 328d touring, and a portomao blue m340i sedan. They stand out from the crowd here. No way I’d want speakers that color though.

Here is data on car color preferences in the US

https://www.motor1.com/news/784678/most-popular-car-color-america-2025/

We should try to not make assumptions about groups of people.

I absolutely agree about cars, and I'll take your word for it.
About speakers though, the norm in Europe is of the Sonus Faber kind, Kef, etc.

(although I'm on the Blade side of things even if they are plastic, that gray they have is me)

I only own two cars, a black one and a vintage (as the car) brown-gold one (or Mercedes brown, you know the one)

The only blue speakers I know made in Europe* are the new Blades (I think) but not that strange Wilson blue (it looks automotive!)

*Edit: Searching in my mind for the ones I have seen in Munich, also some horns! (but not the whole speaker, only the horn)

 

[mglobe]

I absolutely agree about cars, and I'll take your word for it.
About speakers though, the norm in Europe is of the Sonus Faber kind, Kef, etc.

(although I'm on the Blade side of things even if they are plastic, that gray they have is me)

I only own two cars, a black one and a vintage (as the car) brown-gold one (or Mercedes brown, you know the one)

The only blue speakers I know made in Europe are the new Blades (I think) but not that strange Wilson blue (it looks automotive!)

Not sure what the norm is here on speakers, but I’d guess it’s wood, black, white in that order. I’m in the wood camp also.

The one and only time I heard Wilson speakers, I was impressed, and the data I see online generally demonstrates good performance. I’m not a fan of their appearance, nor of their price.

 

[PGansz]

I absolutely agree about cars, and I'll take your word for it.
About speakers though, the norm in Europe is of the Sonus Faber kind, Kef, etc.

(although I'm on the Blade side of things even if they are plastic, that gray they have is me)

I only own two cars, a black one and a vintage (as the car) brown-gold one (or Mercedes brown, you know the one)

The only blue speakers I know made in Europe* are the new Blades (I think) but not that strange Wilson blue (it looks automotive!)

*Edit: Searching in my mind for the ones I have seen in Munich, also some horns! (but not the whole speaker, only the horn)

Interestingly enough, the most heinous of designs and colorways for automobiles comes from Europe. Ever heard of Mansory?

For speakers, they just need to be match the aesthetics of the room, or provide the accent if necessary. People who buy 20k and up speakers, have rooms with themes. It is not inconceivable they would also purchase loud-color speakers.

 

[PGansz]

lol, the vast majority of cars in the US are white, silver, or black. I own two BMW’s, and estoril blue 328d touring, and a portomao blue m340i sedan. They stand out from the crowd here. No way I’d want speakers that color though.

Here is data on car color preferences in the US

https://www.motor1.com/news/784678/most-popular-car-color-america-2025/

We should try to not make assumptions about groups of people.

I had the Zandvoort Blue M2, loved that color IRL.

 

[Sokel]

People who buy 20k and up speakers, have rooms with themes.

???
What's a theme?

My dedicated has none, (treated though) and I have speakers well beyond that figure.

But scrap the dedicated, say about the living-room I'm about to finish this month at the top floor of my house.
No theme whatsoever, as minimal as it gets.

If you want me to put a theme to it, I would call it glass-cement (although the cement walls are covered and cement floor has tiles, but you get the color idea)
Also, the plan is that no speaker will be visible, but if they are, they will be on the art side, like that (they have some nice gray too) :

If by any chance you mean something like a library full of wood and leather as a theme, we have that too, frequently, but we don;t usually put speakers in it.

 

[Bwaslo]

"the vast majority of cars in the US are white, silver, or black"

Ironically, all colors very similar to the color of roads. Not the most safe choices

 

[Buckchester]

Well the "old way" of positioning speakers done by specialists was to make them excite room modes as little as possible so the sound was good over a reasonably large area in the room. Moving the chair is less likely to move to a less good sound that way.

Using room compensation software definitely produces a better result at the measurement position environs but may not (and IME will not) be particularly good sounding elsewhere in the room if the speakers are non-optimally positioned.

IMO it is best to do both if your room and living habits allow it.

Only below the room transition frequency.

 

[kidprofessor]

lol, the vast majority of cars in the US are white, silver, or black. I own two BMW’s, and estoril blue 328d touring, and a portomao blue m340i sedan. They stand out from the crowd here. No way I’d want speakers that color though.

Here is data on car color preferences in the US

https://www.motor1.com/news/784678/most-popular-car-color-america-2025/

We should try to not make assumptions about groups of people.

This is a measure of sales, not preferences.

 

[Frank Dernie]

Only below the room transition frequency.

I am not convinced about any "correction" at higher frequency in a reverberant field (ie domestic listening) anyway and that would almost certainly be screwed up if listening away from the measurement location too. Probably OK in a well treated studio with fixed listening position(s) with easily reset correction for when one moves from one LP to another.

Still very much better to start with a sound not really badly influenced by the room first - lipstick on a pig and all that.

 

[Frank Dernie]

This is a measure of sales, not preferences.

Unless dominated by price sales numbers are preferences.
Here in the UK the demand is for monochrome paintwork in cars, and has been for sufficiently long for many makers not to offer more than one colour in their choice list any more.

 

[kidprofessor]

Unless dominated by price sales numbers are preferences.
Here in the UK the demand is for monochrome paintwork in cars, and has been for sufficiently long for many makers not to offer more than one colour in their choice list any more.

Absolutely not. When people buy cars, or any big purchase they will resell, they are buying availability, resale value, production costs, and profitability, the later two which are controlled by the car manufacturers. To say the color chosen for a car represents an actual preference is not measurable by sales numbers, because of these factors and probably more. To say that the color even represents a choice by the consumer is not measurable by sales numbers.
If we could measure preferences by sales, then measuring preferences of speakers would just be a list of sales numbers. We don't do that, for quite obvious reasons for members of this forum.

 

[RexrothPigeon]

Absolutely not. When people buy cars, or any big purchase they will resell, they are buying availability, resale value, production costs, and profitability, the later two which are controlled by the car manufacturers. To say the color chosen for a car represents an actual preference is not measurable by sales numbers, because of these factors and probably more. To say that the color even represents a choice by the consumer is not measurable by sales numbers.
If we could measure preferences by sales, then measuring preferences of speakers would just be a list of sales numbers. We don't do that, for quite obvious reasons for members of this forum.

But but but the invisible hand of the market is infallible!

/s

 

[Frank Dernie]

When people buy cars, or any big purchase they will resell, they are buying availability, resale value

I don't.
I buy a car for me to enjoy - mind you, you may well be right in a lot of cases since when I was choosing the spec of my current car the salesman kept reminding me that I needed to order certain options if I wanted to sell it, so I suppose he is used to people buying stuff they don't want for those reasons. I told him I was buying it for me not the next bloke.

 

[Buckchester]

I am not convinced about any "correction" at higher frequency in a reverberant field (ie domestic listening) anyway and that would almost certainly be screwed up if listening away from the measurement location too. Probably OK in a well treated studio with fixed listening position(s) with easily reset correction for when one moves from one LP to another.

Still very much better to start with a sound not really badly influenced by the room first - lipstick on a pig and all that.

You can certainly EQ above the room transition frequency, but it needs to be based on anechoic measurements. Not in-room measurements. And EQ in that range cannot fix directivity errors, which Wilson speakers likely suffer from.

 

[mglobe]

I don't.
I buy a car for me to enjoy - mind you, you may well be right in a lot of cases since when I was choosing the spec of my current car the salesman kept reminding me that I needed to order certain options if I wanted to sell it, so I suppose he is used to people buying stuff they don't want for those reasons. I told him I was buying it for me not the next bloke.

I'm with you. I bought our Touring used, and spent a year looking for a diesel in Estoril Blue. I ordered our latest car purchase to my specs. My 965 is Guards Red, but it would be Cobalt Blue, Mint Green, or Rubystone if I could have found one at the time.

The vast majority want to walk into a dealership and walk out with a car. I think the dealers primarily stock black, white, silver, and the color du jour (clay grey right now), because they know what is the easiest to sell. So you could say the color choices are decided but the manufacturers, but I can guarantee that if they knew they could sell purple cars with green vinyl roofs, that's what they'd stock.

 

[Frank Dernie]

if they knew they could sell purple cars with green vinyl roofs, that's what they'd stock.

and that is what I'd buy

 

[Juhazi]

Shades of success: Europe's Favourite car colours revealed

Discover how European car colour preferences reveal untapped revenue opportunities for automakers, with a focus on regional trends and strategic marketing insights.

www.jato.com

My car colors have been red (3), blue (4), white (2), grey (5), sand/beige, green. Never black!
My speaker colors - black, white, blue, teak, dk. brown, grey. Grille cloths - black, grey (mostly no grille) And no Wilsons...