Wilson Audio Speakers: Why do people like them?

[Arindal]

At a lower price but wanting to hear this kind of explicit 'energetic' tone, I desperately wanted to hear the JBL l100 Classic. Sadly, the UK market showed almost total disinterest

They are IMHO among the best hi-fi speakers JBL has made, but could not be further away from WA in terms of sound character and ´audiophile´ strong points.

I am not really surprised about the market showing disinterest, and the UK seems not to be anyhow different from other European and Asian markets (maybe North America might be different).

this kind of well projected and lively sound without 'too much' colouration must be available for considerably less money than Wilson charge.

If you take this ´fun factor of kicking bass´ into account, it is not as easy as it sounds to find a passive alternative. Which model would you suggest?

Everests can blow your world away.

In terms of sheer SPL, with ease. Particularly at moderate SPL, the bass did not feel anywhere close to the depth and ´fun kick´ some WA models can provide.

 

[DSJR]

They are IMHO among the best hi-fi speakers JBL has made, but could not be further away from WA in terms of sound character and ´audiophile´ strong points.

I am not really surprised about the market showing disinterest, and the UK seems not to be anyhow different from other European and Asian markets (maybe North America might be different).



If you take this ´fun factor of kicking bass´ into account, it is not as easy as it sounds to find a passive alternative. Which model would you suggest?



In terms of sheer SPL, with ease. Particularly at moderate SPL, the bass did not feel anywhere close to the depth and ´fun kick´ some WA models can provide.

I only heard the 4367 for a short while, but their 'big-hearted' sound (in the best most friendly 'giving' sense with the music) brought a tear to my eye. Sure they may be a bit 'larger than life,' but it was the kind of sound I feel sure I could fall into and not want to come back out, if you see what I mean. A pair of lower cost floor standing Revels (Primare driven) I heard at the same time, were highly detailed, brightly lit and clinical in a 'stripped-out and sterile' kind of way - very 'HiFi' to be sure, but in comparison there was little of the music's 'heart and soul' transmitted through all that 'detail,' at least not to me...

What I've just typed above may have nothing whatever to do with the science of audio, let alone 'accurate' reproduction, but as reproduced music is at a huge disadvantage to seeing and hearing the musicians perform, maybe I have to make allowances in a domestic replay situation?

 

[Lsc]

Well Axpona is this coming weekend. Im gonna try to spend some extra time on the Wilson rooms to see how someone can find their speakers underwhelming.

Plus I have dialed my salons and gothams/f112 in with the CR-1 where the sound blend is so seamless that I can’t tell where the salons end and where the subs begin. See if I can with my short audio memory gauge if I’m in their ball park. If the answer is yes, it’ll make my wife very happy lol.

 

[MediumRare]

Well Axpona is this coming weekend. Im gonna try to spend some extra time on the Wilson rooms to see how someone can find their speakers underwhelming.

Plus I have dialed my salons and gothams/f112 in with the CR-1 where the sound blend is so seamless that I can’t tell where the salons end and where the subs begin. See if I can with my short audio memory gauge if I’m in their ball park. If the answer is yes, it’ll make my wife very happy lol.

REW plot please!

 

[Arindal]

Im gonna try to spend some extra time on the Wilson rooms to see how someone can find their speakers underwhelming.

If you have a chance to ask for a specific track to be demoed, choose something electronic with very low, punchy, fast kicking beat, like Daft Punk's ´Random Access Memory´. You might like or not like the rest of the speaker´s performance, but this bass is definitely not easy to rival.

 

[steve59]

I see the megabuck speakers as any other luxury product. Luxury products appeal to people that value differently than I do. In fact I'd be surprised if i listed my top 5 priorities in a loudspeaker pair if any of them would be on the luxury buyers list, let alone the order I placed them.
That said I'm always impressed at the level of professionalism Wilson exudes at shows like upcoming Axpona.

 

[MediumRare]

So, instead of Wilson Chronosonic XVX, what would be - based on pure quality alone - the top 3 or so competitors for full range towers for a large residential room?

No subs, no EQ, no compromise. Regardless of luxury status or not.

 

[dfuller]

So, instead of Wilson Chronosonic XVX, what would be - based on pure quality alone - the top 3 or so competitors for full range towers for a large residential room?

No subs, no EQ, no compromise. Regardless of luxury status or not.

An obvious-ish answer would be the big Revels - the F328 Be and Salon2.

Less Toole/Olive optimised but still very good, ATC SCM50 or SCM100 ASL - either in tower or very-big-standmount form. Those get the benefit of being active, and with generally better amps than on most actives. These might present more like a Wilson, i.e. big wide baffle effect, but I'd consider these to be superior in any meaningful way.

Maybe I'd consider the PMC MB3 or BB6. They're more Wilson-priced, and they're pretty much the only PMCs I'd bother with.

 

[Lsc]

REW plot please!

Unfortunately I don’t use REW but I did use JL audio’s TUN4 which has RTA to dial things in. I essentially measured the salon2 by itself (that included the bass hump since it’s a full range speaker), then calibrated the subs to where the bass curve fit within salons’ bass curve.

Before this though, I used TUN4 to dial in the phase which actually resulted the the F112 in the back of the room being set to 180 degrees compared to the front subs. Then the damping controls on the CR-1 was varied slightly based on what sounded the most natural.

I’ve always had subs but it never blended well. I probably should have bought some REL subs since a lot of these controls are built into their subs. This surprisingly actually makes the subs sound better for movies as well.

 

[Lsc]

If you have a chance to ask for a specific track to be demoed, choose something electronic with very low, punchy, fast kicking beat, like Daft Punk's ´Random Access Memory´. You might like or not like the rest of the speaker´s performance, but this bass is definitely not easy to rival.

Makes sense. I have a playlist full of these types of tracks. My house feels like a high end night club sometimes lol.

 

[Lsc]

So, instead of Wilson Chronosonic XVX, what would be - based on pure quality alone - the top 3 or so competitors for full range towers for a large residential room?

No subs, no EQ, no compromise. Regardless of luxury status or not.

This would be a good question for Jay’s audio labs. I don’t shop in this altitude but there are several of these speakers at Axpona. It’s why I go there - it’s a day to chill out and listen to expensive speakers that I cannot afford for $25. I used to go to the high end stores back in the day but these stores are mostly gone now.

Von Schweikert Ultra 11 was at Axpona a few years back. Focal Grande Utopia is another. Sonus Faber came out with a top of the line that cost like $750k - it’s absurd. These speakers are huge (way bigger than my salons) and weigh 500+ lbs each. That’s why I’m trying to combine my towers and subs to try to get close to the scale of those giant full range ultra high end speakers.

 

[Audionaut]

what would be - based on pure quality alone - the top 3 or so competitors for full range towers for a large residential room? No subs, no EQ, no compromise. Regardless of luxury status or not.

Backes & Müller BM Line 60

Backes & Müller GmbH | Saarbrücken | BM Line 60

Unikate der BM line 60 Lautsprecher bieten in der Varianz an Farben und Oberflächen kaum Grenzen. Hier mehr erfahren!

xn--backesmller-zhb.de

About 75.000 Euro

Or B&M Line 80

About 125.000 Euro

Beolab 90

Beolab 90 – Ultimativer High-End 8.200 W Lautsprecher | B&O

Der vielleicht fortschrittlichste digitale Lautsprecher weltweit. Das Flaggschiff der Stereolautsprecher von Bang & Olufsen fügt sich perfekt in Ihren Wohnraum ein.

www.bang-olufsen.com

About 160.000 Euro

 

[Lsc]

The use of subs is not a compromise as the uber expensive speakers when they demo them are starting to use subs more and more and others have powered subs built in the speaker.

The old schools of thought are no longer the principles by all the speaker manufacturers anymore. Lots of innovation for speakers that largely sound the same still. Human hearing is only so good .

 

[Heinrich]

No subs, no EQ, no compromise.

What is it? First you ask what may fancy people about the (in)famous Wilson Audio Company and their proverbial non-professional 'speakers'. Now you got the remaining critics to talk in subjectivist language. Daft Punk was taken for reference. Von Schweikert - I know him from his beginnings, as an alternative.

The endless list of fallacies built into the Wilson's was entirely ignored. Now you top that with the notion that no subs / no e/q can be had w/o compromise (silently taking the Wilson Chronosonic XVX,as a reference for success, maybe).

Could we please optimize the Wilson Chronosonic XVX - what a pompous name really, by keeping it in cryo-liquid nitrogenium for another century? I BET there will be a supersonic improvement in timing (sic!). Let's do it as a scientific experiment, quick.

 

[MediumRare]

What is it? First you ask what may fancy people about the (in)famous Wilson Audio Company and their proverbial non-professional 'speakers'. Now you got the remaining critics to talk in subjectivist language. Daft Punk was taken for reference. Von Schweikert - I know him from his beginnings, as an alternative.

The endless list of fallacies built into the Wilson's was entirely ignored. Now you top that with the notion that no subs / no e/q can be had w/o compromise (silently taking the Wilson Chronosonic XVX,as a reference for success, maybe).

Could we please optimize the Wilson Chronosonic XVX - what a pompous name really, by keeping it in cryo-liquid nitrogenium for another century? I BET there will be a supersonic improvement in timing (sic!). Let's do it as a scientific experiment, quick.

Sorry but I don’t recognize your criticisms in my posts. Please don’t distort what I write.

 

[MediumRare]

The use of subs is not a compromise as the uber expensive speakers when they demo them are starting to use subs more and more and others have powered subs built in the speaker.

The old schools of thought are no longer the principles by all the speaker manufacturers anymore. Lots of innovation for speakers that largely sound the same still. Human hearing is only so good .

I agree about subs, especially in rooms where modes are a problem. But I’m curious what our community thinks are end-game full range speakers.

 

[boxerfan88]

Vivid Moya?
Giant Magicos?

 

[Arindal]

But I’m curious what our community thinks are end-game full range speakers.

Does this include digital, active speakers with built-in EQ and subwoofer? Your initial question hinted to an exclusion of such possibilities, which would make sense if the idea behind it was to ´understand the motivation of a WA buyer´.

What people like about WA speakers according to my observation, might be much easier to achieve with such concepts.

 

[Pearljam5000]

I agree about subs, especially in rooms where modes are a problem. But I’m curious what our community thinks are end-game full range speakers.

 

[Heinrich]

I agree about subs, especially in rooms where modes are a problem. But I’m curious what our community thinks are end-game full range speakers.

Sorry but I don’t recognize your criticisms in my posts. Please don’t distort what I write.

That's why, I was just curious, what you are aiming for. Objectively the thread ran curious ways.

Let's simply forget about the Wilson.

"End game" speakers are those that you like. And different than the objectivist camp, I would allow the style to be part of the equation for sure. But style doesn't make the performance, which would be cargo cult. As it is about your personal preference, what are you longing for?

The KEF Blade would be a strong statement for me. Style, immaculate performance - needless to say, reasonably pricef for what is offered, supplemented with two sub to cope with room modes. As you say. What else could you ask for?