I know this goes against the grain but as beautifuly made as Wilson speakers are they just don't sound like real music. If anyone ever saw Dave Wilson make his presentation at CES you would be convinced that there is nothing better, his presentations were masterful. I would make the argument that they are the ultimate marketing company in audio & for that I respect them. I don't question the price as he pointed out it is a custom made bespoke product & if you're successful enough to afford them & you get pleasure from owning them then its no one's business how you spend your money. All I can say to the newer guys in the hobby is you don't have to spend anyware near this kind of money to get world class sound & don't let what these reviewer's have to say by working on your insecurities influence you, most of them can't hear any better then you can.
You are correct Scott. In addition, those who spend the most on advertising (see back of hifi magazine) will get the reviews and ONLY good ones. The days of a truly critical and truthful hifi press are over.
@@alext2933 Sadly you are right Alex, I wish I could tell you all a story of one year I was at CES sitting with a reviewer & he missed the fact that they were out of phase. What is so terrible about the whole thing is many of them either don't realize or worse yet don't care how much responsibility they have to people that make very expensive decisions based on their words. It's such a shame that there are so many company's that make fantastic sounding gear that will never get recognition because they don't have the hugh budgets to spend on advertising & put all their money into over the top cosmetics. And I guarantee you there is a lot more money that goes into cosmetic's then the things that really make a difference in how it sounds.
@@512bb I have contacts in the industry and know with dwindling sales numbers, the advertising revenue becomes more and more important. This is never a good thing for the reader looking for objective, inside-information, like the old days where bad reviews were everywhere..... No longer.
@@alext2933 I know what you mean. One of our dealers in town had a presentation one evening, it was about a million dollar system, YG Acoustics & the new D'Agastino super amp & my buddy who specializes in crossover design for the industry, well we lasted 5 minutes until we ran out of the room, Alex it was so bad, I just have to shake my head as much of the equipment today is a work of art yet much of it sounds mediocre at best. At 350,000 dollars I don't think their building them for guys like us anyway. In the end the new Wilson's probably won't sound much different then the old one's
Don't know why so many people raging about the price, it's not for casual consumer. The flagships are not really intended to be sold at volume and make profit from, more like showcasing their technologies and driving new development which later on will be passing down the to normal consumer line like the SabrinaX they just rolled out.
I'm doing some overtime tomorrrow..... won't pay for a pair of these HOWEVER, the thought of these speakers will help me through the shift. Many thanks for sharing.
What kind of Marketing Gimmick is this ?. The components used in this speaker are Scan-Speak 32W/4878T11 Revelator Woofer + Scan-Speak 28W/4878T-01 Revelator Woofer + Scan-Speak 18M/4631T Revelator 7" Midrange + Scanspeak Illuminator 12MU/8731T-00, 4" Midrange + Scanspeak Revelator Tweeter . Just cant believe someone pays $330,000 for this marketing gimmick . You could rather look into companies like Vivid audio , B&W Nautilus , ATC , Rockport , Magico ... who design and manufacture their own drivers and everything else and the sound speaks for itself . Thats why you can see even in this manufacturers own youtube channel they have disabled comments .
Sometimes I get the idea that a lot of criticism of audio products at this, or even quite a bit less, price range, comes from a place of 'sour grapes' from the criticizer. While Wilson is definitely not my favorite high end speaker brand, I had several chances to hear these correctly set up, and they are pretty f'n impressive. We listened to a wide variety of music, and they reproduced all quite well. From reproducing a full orchestra, with seemingly correct scale, in a huge (3D) soundstage. To being able to reproduce the sound of a triangle, properly placed in back of the orchestra, with proper attack / decay, even when the orchestra is playing fortissimo. Then to hear a lone singer playing a guitar, with the voice coming from the correct height, placed at center stage and correct distance from the mic. Where even though the speakers are 6' tall, they completely disappeared in the room, and all that was there was a guitar and voice coming from between the speakers, and nothing sounding like it was coming from the speakers. Then to hear a jazz quartet, where you can hear every breath into the sax and the sound of the sax keys. Or the sound of the drum stick actually hitting the cymbal and not just the sound of the cymbal istelf, or the pianist muttering to themself while playing. I attend (or at least I did before Covid-19) classical, jazz and rock concerts in all size venues on a pretty regular basis. I grew up in a musical family (my uncle was a jazz pianist who played with Harry James. People like Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson, Rosemary Clooney were always at his house hanging out). So, I think I have a pretty good idea what real music sounds like. And these top level Wilsons due a pretty good job at creating a facsimile of real music. I've also had a chance to hear some of the best professional speakers at one of the best studios in Southern California, and while they can do some things incredibly well, they just can't reproduce the huge soundstage and 3D image that high end speakers can .
The people who can afford these speakers and will buy them will enjoy listening to music through them and won't at all be concerned by the bitter comments. I'll probably get these to review. It would be fun to invite one of you to my listening room to hear them and post a video of your reaction.
I think it's strange how if this were a video of a super car, people would be going on about how awsome it is, and the power of it etc.... But in this hobby for some reason people complain about what you get for the money? A super car has a painted body, and working internal parts and will go 200mph easy and can cost the same as these speakers. But where do you use it at its full potential? An airport maybe? At least with audio, if you want to invest in a system that is at this caliber, you can sit and relax and enjoy the full potential of it within the comfort or your mansion 😄. But none the less, the same thing applies. Like a supercar, these have a beautifully painted cabinet (body) and they house moving parts that cause a desired outcome for the consumer. It all comes down to what you are into and what you are willing and able to pay. Rant over!!!
I would love to take you up on this also having never heard a pair of Wilson speakers. Though I may be wowed more than your typical audiophile as I have never been to a audio show. To be fair, I could never afford these but still appreciate well made speakers such as these. Not in the same league as my older matrix 802 I'm sure. Thank you Michael and keep up the videos!
Great video! The wilson designer needs to size his omega speedmaster moon watch a bit better and take out a link. It might create less microphonics when listening! Besides this is awesome stuff!
I notice the 4 inch mid is a Scan-Speak illuminator driver, from their flagship range. BUT, unfortunately, the lower mid driver (above woofer assembly) and upper mid (on top) are only from Scan-Speak's Revelator range. They are good drivers but for OVER $300K would you not think Illuminators all round would be in the customers best interest???????? I know they have done work on the magnet structure but for $1/3 Million dollars they could have started with Scan-Speak's best product. I see the new Larsen 9 (by way of one example) manages to use all Illuminator drivers (4 x woofers) for under $15k, just to give an idea of how penny pinching you know who are being. I am astounded,...... flabbergasted in fact.
Wrong. Scanspeak Revelators are better at lower mid than the Illuminators. Not to mention that their driver has an expensive alnico motor and is probably custom in other ways for higher sensitivity (as the speaker has a midbass driver already).
@@eug3nius Just because you say I am wrong does not make it so. I mention they had additionally worked on the motor structure in my original message, so climb down off your high horse. I am correct. Check their website. Get better informed. Plus for $300+k, they should be making their own driver cones. FACT. See virtually every other player at this level. I work as a freelance contractor in this very industry and have A/B'd these very drivers, amongst others. Their performance is WHY the Illuminator is their HIGHER range. I also said in my original post that the Revelator is a good driver, so feel you are very combative for no good reason. This is supposed to be friendly discussion. Do you think these Wilson's offer good value?????
@Alex Tomlins What I was trying to say is don't poo-poo the revelator because it is a bit cheaper - more expensive is not always better for a particular application. We'll agree to disagree on what is the better stock driver for lower mid. They're not using a stock driver anyway - and they likely chose the revelator because it's a good base for the modifications they wanted - unlike the illuminator. If I had that kind of money for speakers I wouldn't buy a Wilson either but as long as their business works they can make their own drivers or not, I have no problem with it. As for you demanding "good value" from ultra high end audio - chuckle! I don't know what to tell you man except stop being so emotional.
@@eug3nius I say again I did NOT shit on the Revelator (second time I have had to confirm this point to you because you did not read my first post corectly). Read my initial message. You cannot even be bothered to understand my point. If you cannot see why Wilson should not use Scan Speak's best drivers to start their development from, on a €300k+ speaker, is beyond me. You are defending them. Inexcusable. Simple as that. You are the one getting emotional, not me. I am trying to get points over to you which you do not seem to have read, and/or understood. Frustration in you is what you can pick up on. What do you do by the way to be so argumentative on this subject ? I ask as these strong opinions you argue are not based on knowledge or facts.
I agree, Alex. All Scan Speak drivers are really very good but for this kind of money, I'd expect WA to manufacture their own line of proprietary drivers. I'm listening right now to my JBL M2/dual SUB18 system and all of these drivers are unique to JBL and offer many, many innovations not available through Scan Speak, Vifa or any other off the shelf brand but that isn't to say that off the shelf scan speak drivers are bad, but when the WA system costs more than the rental property I bought today it makes you really scratch your head and it'll pay me $1500/month for as long as I want to own it.
Two questions and then my analysis. The WAMM Master Chronosonic has a rear-firing midrange, will this XVX also have that? The WAMM comes with 2 Master Subsonic subwoofers as part of a packaged system, will this XVX have a similar subwoofer package? I'm only being honest when I say that I find the market positioning of this product to be awkward. If we look at Wilson's product line, 4 products exceed the 6-figure price mark, qualifying in my mind as end-game reference: WAMM Master Chronosonic, Chronosonic XVX, Alexandria XLF, and Alexx. The XLF used to be the be-all end-all flagship, until Michael Fremer shat on it in the Alexx review. So we can safely rule out the XLF now; the Alexx is cheaper and better. Then why not just go with the Alexx and be done with it? Because Alexx is Daryl Wilson's project, and as talented and well-mentored as he is, Daryl Wilson is no Dave Wilson. Dave Wilson's name itself has gravitas associated with it. So if the WAMM Master Chronosonic represents Dave Wilson's last ditch effort at assaulting the state of the art, the final project he oversaw and placed his stamp of approval on, that goes a long way in justifying its existence and price. Alexx of course, was developed alongside the WAMM, during a time Dave Wilson was still alive and able to give feedback, criticism, and praise. The Chronosonic XVX was not able to enjoy this developmental process because of Dave Wilson's untimely demise. So basically the XVX is a cutdown boot-legged version of the WAMM Master Chronosonic. But isn't that Alexx's role? A cutdown, shorter, less expensive product that had the benefit of be co-developed alongside the WAMM itself, father and son. Oh, I know! The XVX represents the son learning from the father's finished WAMM (because if you remember, the WAMM took too long and the Alexx was released first), and now he can bring a more refined version of the Alexx incorporating more elements of the WAMM. Great story, but does it fulfill that role? Nope. 109k and 329k is simply too big of a price disparity. 145k probably should've been the price of this supposed Alexx Series 2. The XVX is in no man's land. Listen, I wish Wilson Audio all the best, I truly do. But look at what happened to Thiel Audio after Thiel died. Look at what happened to Bohlender Graebener when its founders died. I really don't want Wilson Audio to follow that trend, and I'm rooting for Daryl, John, Peter, Vern, and the whole gang. But Michael Fremer is going to have to write one hell of a piece in the XVX review to preserve the Wilson product line and prestige. Being slightly better than Alexx and slightly worse than WAMM is simply not good enough. People buy stories, not features. Anybody seriously considering the XVX can most likely afford the WAMM. We're not talking W-2 employees here, we're talking high-rollers who don't bat an eye at 7 figure furniture. The WAMM being a 6 figure furniture that also happens to produce state of the art music? That's an easy sell. I don't know how much of Dave Wilson's technical knowledge, fanaticism, and passion passed down to Daryl. Hopefully a lot. But one aspect of the business Daryl absolutely needs to work on is Marketing and Positioning. Good luck again! - Leo
$329,000? I'm laughing so hard I almost peed my pants. "Above 350 is too stratospheric." Bwahahaha. But $329k is just right! This is comedy gold. And to top it all off, they're completely hideous!
The people that buy this are definitely not your typical audio enthusiast (i.e. the people who watch these videos). They only need to sell 50 pairs to make this a success. Who are we to judge how multi-millionaires and billionaires spend their money? Although I do wish high end audio was more affordable. Usually huge sacrifices are made in material, driver and crossover components until you reach past 20 thousand dollars. Most under 10K speakers have a BOM of less than a grand. Pretty sad how crazy the markup is.
@@amirjubran1845 I'm not sure who is the "typical audio enthusiast." I've never met that person. You clearly don't understand how business works or how prices are determined. Parts cost is a modest fraction of what determines cost. If you can't figure out the rest I'd be happy to clue you in. You are clueless, you know..
@@AnalogPlanet My family has been in the woodworking industry for nearly 40 years. It's highly competitive and are often times lucky to hold onto 10 or 20 percent of the total project cost by the end. Material markup is very modest yet raw materials do make up quite a significant portion of the project cost (easily a third). I don't think it's fair to assume I know nothing about business and manufacturing. Obviously marketing costs play a big role in speaker markup and we don't have to worry about that in our business. I'm not against products like this. The BOM on my 5K bookshelves is probably under 500 dollars. I just wish the average audio hobbyist got more for their 5 or 10 grand spent. It's no insignificant sum for most of us.
Amir Jubran The specialty audio business is relatively small, list price generally is 5X parts cost but don’t compare this to woodworking! Wilson for instance stocks 45 years worth of parts for every model they have ever sold. Every driver, screw, capacitor, resistor, etc. 45 years in business tells you a great deal about the company and how consumers relate to the products brand and value added. They pay their employees well, including 401Ks and health care etc. and have them for decades.... just saying...
@@AnalogPlanet It did sound like the people at the capacitor plant lost their jobs. They bought the machines and he talked about the R&D, but I didn't hear him say that they retained the staff. I could be wrong, but I'm just making the statement based on what was said.
Wow! Absolutely stunningly beautiful speakers. I see the XVX speakers as the acme, the zenith, and the pinnacle (did I forget any?) of speaker design. They’re winding their own caps now too? Every single set of spkrs will be extremely tightly matched as I know they are of course anyway, but now with caps most likely within 1%, if not 0.5%, if not even tighter tolerance. I assume they bought the machining from Jensen, as I know they stopped their production of caps as of recently? Anyway, those are definitely some of the most amazing speakers I have ever seen. Thank you very much for the vid, Michael! Always much appreciated. 🎶🔊🙂
There is no maximum price high, what ever it cost you will always find someone with more money to spend. Does it really sound better? no, but if you have spent that much money you will convince yourself it's better. Gotta be. Silly price for silly people with toooo much money. Don't forget to add lights, that makes all the difference!! If only it could make coffee as well? Ohhh no, that's next years up date.
Sorry for my ignorance, but the contrast between the supercar-like body and the traditional look of tweeter, midrange and woofer hits me. I mean, you can buy million dollar watches, but if your priority is to know what time is it few bucks are enough. If your priority is music quality you surely appreciate a nice dress, but you prefer spend less money with the same "musical" components or the same money with higher quality "musical" components. There are companies that found the way to tilt and direct their cabinets' parts in a more traditional and cheaper way (Vienna Acoustics Klimt the Music for example) with a great result. As a music lover, I don't need a structure made of high technology materials able to cross the tracks and the skies cause this strucure just have to stay a long time in the same place in my listening room.
As a designer of major studios and critical monitoring systems, I am continuously stunned to speechless on the nonsense from the consumer electronics industry. Yes indeed, these speakers have an impeccable finish together with glorious mechanical engineering. Visually, this is what people see, of course...and given the gallons of ink spread across the pages of glossy Hi-Fi magazines, and of course - we all believe what we read -(!) the speakers sound "visually" acceptable to the ears. The eye tricks the ears. Interesting to hear comments on phase and time alignment. All vitally important issues, and rather is more important than ruler flat line frequency response curves, that once highly accurate time alignment is achieved, this will contribute to accuracy in frequency response...but to include the SUM of the two speaker arrays in a L - R stereo array. At $300,000 USD +, this pair is in dangerous territory. For those in the know, it has serious competition in the highly elite world of professional systems that find their way into the ultimate studios of the world. $ 300,000, more or less, will purchase a pair of speakers, each with a weight in the range of 450 Lbs / 205 Kg. But, the story does not end there. These systems will be mounted within the truly massive “boundary layer” wall mounting system that is mechanically isolated from the studio control room. Think here in terms of 5 to 7 Tons, 10,000 Lbs / 4545 Kgs. Mechanically we now have an acoustical system with a mass of: 450 x 2 = 900 Lbs / 410 Kgs + the Boundary Layer iso wall system at 10,000 Lbs / 4545 for a total of: 10,900 Lbs / 4945 KGS. Next the electronics. Unlike the speakers mentioned in this exhaustive video, with its passive Xover weighing in at 45 Lbs / 20.45 Kg, today’s most highly evolved systems will be tri or quad amplified. There is so much that can be accomplished in the digital DSP world that is impossible to achieve in the completely obsolete world of passive crossovers. This company wished to achieve “time alignment” in the physical domain through the physical alignment and offset between the various drivers. The pity is, the entire array of mid and HF pistons are naked dome drivers operating in a vertical column. When one is seated or standing “off axis” the complex and most erratic acoustical combining between the sections in both the vertical and horizontal is most disappointing. This off axis energy has erratic lobing. It is this combined “sloppy” off axis frequency response that contributes to the “room curve” where the on axis power response does not match the overall power response. The better approach is to (i can hear it coming “ouch”) to horn load the mid and HF sections with “wave guides” that optimize (stabilizes) the off-axis power response. Then, with the ability in the digital domain to manipulate and offset the transfer function at the crossover frequency along with the ability to achieve pin perfect phase accuracy at both the crossover frequency while observing and optimizing the “off axis” sum response a truly coherent sum between the two arrays in stereo mode will result in a dimension that is impossible to describe, for it must be experienced. (and as well all know, L/R stereo is far from perfect and is only an illusion) This conversation in the $300,000 range expands into the world of safe power handling. Will the $ 300,000 system in this video operate safely with peaks at or near 135 dB SPL (per enclosure) for over 6 hours? What is the Low Frequency power compression down at 30Hz and below? The real torture specification, that this system would fail, is what is the output in Acoustic Watts for each section on a Long Term Average Basis? Almost no professional maker of speaker systems today discusses Acoustic Watts for it quickly reveals the serious power handling limitations. Even less known, is the performance usually for the woofers, that being “Large Signal” and “Small Signal” power response VS frequency. Visually appealing indeed they are....unique. As for fidelity.... a few years ago, I was in San Francisco with the manager for one of the worlds leading major international music stars. The giant Wilson Audio system was in a large suite. The manager stood at the back of the room for his first demo, approx 25 feet back, with maybe 30 people seated in the room. Mr. X found me in deep conversation with one of the world’s leading studio designers. Mr. X was excited with what he heard. So Mr. X and I returned to the demo suite. This time we sat about 12 feet back from the array in the first row. Within the first 2 to 3 bars, Mr. X turned to me with an astonished (not happy) scowling crunched-up look on his face. “Why did we sit here” he asked. I asked Mr. X, “Where do you sit in the studio’s control room during a recording session”? Mr. X got the message. He kept his check book in his pocket. Later he spent far more with our organization . . . that included our cement mixer (yes there was that 10,000 Lbs / 4545 Kg mounting system) superlative electro-acoustics and speaker systems that created a sound stage that one can only dream about. BTW.... the cost to physically develop the isolation and mounting system for such an elaborate and sophisticated speaker array, runs far less that spending $30K, $40K or more for exotic speaker cables. 2 x mono block $ 100K or so amplifiers to run the speakers shown in this video? Nuts! Active crossovers with sophisticated DSP and 6 or 8 channels of amplifier power will pull less than $ 100K out of your wallet. And how does it sound? Yes...it has “that” . . . that being one does not really talk about the “sound” at all. One talks about the dimensions of music, the spatial depth, the ambience and the feeling one experiences. 20 years later, playing the same recording for the 1000th time, Mr. X still hears and experiences something new on each playback. How much does this cost: “priceless” but over time affordable when professionals are creating the experience based on engineered science, art and a love of music.
Many professional mastering engineers whose names you surely know regularly visit here and listen to my Wilson speakers. They differ with your opinions. Judging speaker performance in a "large suite" at a hotel or wherever it was, is truly idiotic. You are trying to compare what a consumer puts in a home with a studio installation. Another bit of foolishness. And yes, these speakers are designed for sitting in the center or close to it and guess what? Most mastering engineers do likewise. I've been in the major mastering suites in America and I understand why the systems sound as they do. They are that way for a work environment not for listening enjoyment..
All I have to say is there are guys out there ACTUALLY PUTTING their money where their mouth is and BUILDING these things and guys just whining about the cost... KUDOS to WILSON who cares how they market! It’s a RISK it’s what we do !
I bet it is by design. If he is wearing a 500K watch I would feel a little bit ripped off by those prices. Like a real estate agent pulling up in a Ferrari rather than a 3 year old E class
Audio Jewelry. Yes they sound amazing, But you can have equally amazing or very nearly as amazing for one tenth or MUCH less of the price. Magico to me represents state of the art. While their top models are incredible, there middle range sits at the sweetspot for price and state of the art performance. I have felt for some time that the financially privileged “High-end” brigade have lost the plot. This industry has lost reason to a bit much greed. They still don’t get why their industry has shrunk so much. It’s because so few people can afford this fantasy Island stuff and see through the marketing. It does not take a Sheik’s fortune to have great sound. Its up to the reviewers at Stereophile and Absolute Sound to focus a lot more attention on real world solutions that sound amazing. I love Michael Fremer. He is funny, witty, and highly intelligent. He is very musically inclined and has a great ear. I also love Jon Valin’s insights. I have great respect for John Atkinson. We look to these guys to find the surprisingly awesome sound at surprisingly affordable prices.
Exactly, nothing more than grubby grabbing 'bragging' rights for the lonely audiophile sucking his thumb off in a corner. 400 dollars gets you two excellent bookshelves for 99% of modern, well produced music then a sub. 4,000 gets you the last pair of speakers you'd really ever need compared to these car-salesman paperweights.
The industry has not shrunk. It's actually doing very well right now! This pandemic year especially. Business at all levels is off the charts. You repeat a myth. Yes, it's changed and retail is challenged but that's true in every industry. It does not take a Sheik's fortune to get good sound but I've got these speakers here now and they are absolutely spectacular. Magico makes great speakers too but they don't move me.I respect what they do, but I am not emotionally moved by them. And really the "audio jewelry" thing is a yawn. You can do better....
@@mitsuracer87 There are fundamental design flaws with their "architecture" but that's the "look" that they've carved out for themselves.... I think they spend more on the paint job then the drivers+crossovers ;-)
I am pretty sure that people who buy them are likely not concerned about the comments indeed. But I am also pretty sure that they represent the exception rather than the rule of the general public who would like to enjoy a good audio experience. It's like saying: you can't afford a Ferrari? Well sorry, a good driving experience is not for you.
@@brandonburr4900 exactly 😄. I don't want offend anyone here. I am trying to say that telling me that a Bugatti would blow my mind doesn't really help me a lot to orient the purchase of my next car....😄 However: that said I obviously appreciate the channel and I follow its contents with interest. 🙂
Something I'll never get to experience...like the lifestyle of a 1 percenter. Beautiful work, albeit for those that can purchase it. Yes, let's keep it under $350K, more than that is just too expensive.
I was going to buy a set of these, but then he said the price. Anything under $500,000 is for peasants. How can I possibly listen to something that costs less than a half a million dollars? j/k LOL :-D
Wilson Audio bought their own capacitor farm. Your marketing department would be laughed out of MIT but they would take your money. They took it from Jeffrey.
Yeah I am not sure you guys even understand underhung vs overhung. Lets be honest you didn't develop this scan speak did... Yes they are amazing but you only bought the drivers.
Without the use first order crossovers or DSP you can't get perfect time coherence by driver alignment alone. The real question is does it matter? Is the human ear sensitive to time alignment? I say no except a possible image focus enhancement. But angels dancing on the heads of pins has never been that important to my idea of sonic realism.
If they dumped the VTL amps and preamp with the Chinese made mother boards and used gear like Pass Labs or Bryston or truly great tube gear like Air Tight, the system would sound a hundred times better. The thick white envelope gets the air time and political thumbs up in the audio world. Just look at stereophile or the absolute sound method of operation.
You don’t know anything about how Stereophile operates. You have your fantasies, for sure. I’ll tell you how it operates for me: I review what I want and say what I want. No one edits or censors me. I don’t pull punches or speak in code either... sorry to disappoint you...
Chinese VTL ! LOL I use Audio Power Labs 833 and 572 made in Columbus ! Airtight, Kondo and Nagra used by my Three year old Grandson are so nice ,too! He uses his own Audio Power Labs 20 TNT the only one in the world !😀❤️🌺
6:24 is this the worst sales pitch ever?! Someone is apparently willing to give USD330,000+ to get it shipped to Asia but not having a flat or house tall enough for these beasts?! LOL Once I heard a one of the biggest yacht dealers in Monaco saying that when considering purchasing a yacht, one should never go over 10% its net worth meaning that potential owner of 5mil yacht should have at least 50mil in a bank (not including stocks, bonds, real estate etc.). Such jacht can be chartered over the year when owner is not using it and after paying all expenses and annual maintenance, owner still may eventually get some money back before deciding to sell it to someone else (or die). Thinking from the same perspective, it would be reasonable to say that for the hi-end audio gear, such percentage should be rather half of that, around 5%. Considering these speakers price and given that is just one component in someones audio chain, a prospect customer should be at least USD10mil+ well-off in cash to get them in his/her home without doubt of being utterly insane! But since this is completely insane industry with even more insane customers - such calculations should be dropped at the very beginning.
Come on guys! It simply HAS to be said. This is ridiculous, as is the WAMM. At the end of the day these are still just cones-in-a-box. At the end of the day half of the frequency range comes down to one overworked dome tweeter. If you want expansive, realistic reproduction of music in your home, you need line-source planars. Rebuilt Apogees, SoundLabs or Magneplanars, if on a budget. Cones-in-a-box, no matter how many silly tweaks are made, no matter how much they cost, cannot compete with big planars. There I said it. It was my duty. Flame on.
That is your opinion. All speaker designs have technological compromises. I've owned planar magnetic speakers too. Line source speakers have plenty or problems. Ribbon have many issues. SoundLabs have many issues too. Cones in a box can easily compete with anything when properly designed as these are. It's possible to prefer one technology over another without getting all pissy about it. Try it! You'll like it.
Analog Planet, Well of course it’s my opinion; just as this is yours. I believe (and so do a lot of other long-time audiophiles) that the correct way to recreate the musical event is to launch it into the room from a line source, not a point source. All speakers have compromises and issues. I never said otherwise. But a point source can never do what a good line source can. This needs to be understood. Having an opinion, strongly stated, that is contrary to yours, is not being pissy, any more than you are pissy when you express your strongly felt points of view. I just get tired of ever more complex and expensive cones-in-a-box that cannot come close to producing a proper wavefront. These Wilson’s cannot, for example, make correct square waves or triangle waves; thus not the complex waveforms of music. There is a cynicism to companies who foist these hyper-expensive monstrosities onto a gushing audio press. $329K? Hah! The joke is on the buyer. I can’t blame the Wilsons for pushing this stuff; it’s a good business for them. But the audio press can be more critical and less sychophantic, frankly. I’m just kickin’ back at you all. It’s my duty!
You video usefully captured the enthralled audio press lapping up every detail of these things. You even captured competitor Bob Harley looking positively mesmerized by the details behind the grill cloths. I’ll bet he’s already forming neural pathways on their way to proclaiming these the BEST ever in a subsequent review. He might delegate that to Valin, but either way the latest Wilson products will get rave reviews. It’s predictable.
ya planars are nice for certain types of music, and other types of music...not so much. there's a very good reason many a music enthusiast, myself included, just can't live with planars. I've owned 2 pairs of Maggies in my main system, and they sound great. but lets be real, their dynamic range is pretty crappy. and when its time to rock, they just don't have it in them. I think one could successfully argue they are some sweet sounding speakers, they just don't have any balls
@@AnalogPlanet I'm not envious and I'm not going to plead with wealthy people to send their riches to some far off land filled with starving people. That being said, sticker shock is a definite problem in high-end audio equipment. I think it's less about a need to price as high as they do and more about the fact that someone is always going to pay for it. It's still not nearly as silly as the art world. People spend tens of millions of dollars for some of the silliest looking art pieces, which they likely never look at. At least the speakers do something!
Total snake oil. No speaker system is worth over $100,000 - not even close. Diminishing returns sets in at about $10k. I can guarantee you a pair of B&W 803 D3s would sound just as good as these.
I wouldn't rate the B&W gear very highly, but yes, the point of diminishing returns kicks-in ( ...somewhere & will vary dramatically from person to person ) - the Paradigm Persona should be good enough for most people & if you're willing to roll-up your sleeves, there are refined DIY speakers that would give these premadonnas a run for their money... ( you can spend $10-20K on parts for a pair of speakers, but you're better off starting small... )
You are right . This is more of a marketing gimmick. Based on sound quality , the Vivid Giyas , ATCs , B&W 801 , Rockprorts are much better and completely form following function products . These are just for people who just want to burn cash for a marketing gimmick , You can see that the midrange drivers they use is scanspeak.
@@cemmany there are also the "darling" brands in different parts of the 🌎 & here we have an example of such...there is so much competition in the sub $5k range $ $10-15 gets you Kii audio & 20 other names i coyld mention.. It's bragging rights by a factor of 10 over sound quality.. Look at what Troels Gravesen is doing with the ellipticor scanspeak drivers...
You are making a bet based on ignorance. There's no snake oil involved. Any more than there is in your Focals. The founder of Focal was good friends with David Wilson. They are/were both gentlemen. Something you clearly are not.
Whilst the Aria is a good speaker (I'm a former owner), you obviously have never heard a Wilson product. And have very little insight into how people (other than yourself) perceive sound. It doesn't matter what the price point or feature set is, it wasn't built for you.
@@AnalogPlanet I had an interesting meeting with Martin Colloms, who had a pair of Wilson Watt + Puppy as one of his reference speakers BUT Martin replaced the Focal tweeter with a large diameter dome - the Focal's had a nasty resonance peak @ 19kHz & always sounded harsh & hard & un-natural to me - just like I can't get why so many reviews gave the KEF LS50's the thumbs-up ( the hf are way over-emphasized )
Focal speakers are one of the worst measuring in industry. Their beryllium inverted dome tweeter compared to every beryllium tweeter from scan speak, seas, sb acoustic, masured the worst. Also by design aria 926 is really bad, it uses one 6" woofer for mids and two of the same 6" woofers for base... so it has neither good lower midrange, neither good upper midrange, and bass extension would probably end at 100hz if not for the bass reflex design... an on top of that the drivers itself measure horribly. Focals are trully one heck of a disaster speakers
I know this goes against the grain but as beautifuly made as Wilson speakers are they just don't sound like real music. If anyone ever saw Dave Wilson make his presentation at CES you would be convinced that there is nothing better, his presentations were masterful. I would make the argument that they are the ultimate marketing company in audio & for that I respect them. I don't question the price as he pointed out it is a custom made bespoke product & if you're successful enough to afford them & you get pleasure from owning them then its no one's business how you spend your money. All I can say to the newer guys in the hobby is you don't have to spend anyware near this kind of money to get world class sound & don't let what these reviewer's have to say by working on your insecurities influence you, most of them can't hear any better then you can.
I'ed say the Troels Gravesen Ellipticor DIY model would be in the same league sonically
You are correct Scott. In addition, those who spend the most on advertising (see back of hifi magazine) will get the reviews and ONLY good ones. The days of a truly critical and truthful hifi press are over.
@@alext2933 Sadly you are right Alex, I wish I could tell you all a story of one year I was at CES sitting with a reviewer & he missed the fact that they were out of phase. What is so terrible about the whole thing is many of them either don't realize or worse yet don't care how much responsibility they have to people that make very expensive decisions based on their words. It's such a shame that there are so many company's that make fantastic sounding gear that will never get recognition because they don't have the hugh budgets to spend on advertising & put all their money into over the top cosmetics. And I guarantee you there is a lot more money that goes into cosmetic's then the things that really make a difference in how it sounds.
@@512bb I have contacts in the industry and know with dwindling sales numbers, the advertising revenue becomes more and more important. This is never a good thing for the reader looking for objective, inside-information, like the old days where bad reviews were everywhere..... No longer.
@@alext2933 I know what you mean. One of our dealers in town had a presentation one evening, it was about a million dollar system, YG Acoustics & the new D'Agastino super amp & my buddy who specializes in crossover design for the industry, well we lasted 5 minutes until we ran out of the room, Alex it was so bad, I just have to shake my head as much of the equipment today is a work of art yet much of it sounds mediocre at best. At 350,000 dollars I don't think their building them for guys like us anyway. In the end the new Wilson's probably won't sound much different then the old one's
A work of art. Absolutely beautiful speaker. The passion just bleeds through.
"A triumph of technology over reason"
Don't know why so many people raging about the price, it's not for casual consumer. The flagships are not really intended to be sold at volume and make profit from, more like showcasing their technologies and driving new development which later on will be passing down the to normal consumer line like the SabrinaX they just rolled out.
I'm doing some overtime tomorrrow..... won't pay for a pair of these HOWEVER, the thought of these speakers will help me through the shift. Many thanks for sharing.
Jesus, for $329 thousands i can hire a band to my living room and watch a live concert.
When Miles Davis comes over to play, I'll be there.
owning these is gods way of saying you have too much money give some to the poor and buy a nice $30,000 pair instead lol
329000 dollars? Did I understand well?
No, It is 32.9000 dollars
Yes. The WAMMs are $680K.
he said, 'if it were $350k, it would have priced itself out......"
relative to my experience, i had to laugh
For $329 they are going to sell a ton of these. Wish I hadn't bought my Panasonics. I'd be all over this.
How can know that Wilson Audio Specialties have gone crazy? When they make speakers that even Michael Fremer himself cannot afford :)
afford? Fremer praises so he will get a MAS DISCOUNT.
My consumer dream product.
WELL I am glad it’s only $329k because as he said, $350k would have been way too much...
329,000 is not stratospheric?????
@@retiredsparky526 I think you missed the sarcasm...
@@aaronphillips1210 I understood what you said.
For that price, it better have auto-adjust for things like humidity, temperature, air pressure, and AC power fluctuations.
What kind of Marketing Gimmick is this ?. The components used in this speaker are Scan-Speak 32W/4878T11 Revelator Woofer + Scan-Speak 28W/4878T-01 Revelator Woofer + Scan-Speak 18M/4631T Revelator 7" Midrange + Scanspeak Illuminator 12MU/8731T-00, 4" Midrange + Scanspeak Revelator Tweeter . Just cant believe someone pays $330,000 for this marketing gimmick . You could rather look into companies like Vivid audio , B&W Nautilus , ATC , Rockport , Magico ... who design and manufacture their own drivers and everything else and the sound speaks for itself . Thats why you can see even in this manufacturers own youtube channel they have disabled comments .
Is the bass drivers a dipole configuration the carbon fibre box he said was for the crossover so I can't see them not being dipole
What are the resell values? 25% after a year or two?
Sometimes I get the idea that a lot of criticism of audio products at this, or even quite a bit less, price range, comes from a place of 'sour grapes' from the criticizer.
While Wilson is definitely not my favorite high end speaker brand, I had several chances to hear these correctly set up, and they are pretty f'n impressive.
We listened to a wide variety of music, and they reproduced all quite well. From reproducing a full orchestra, with seemingly correct scale, in a huge (3D) soundstage. To being able to reproduce the sound of a triangle, properly placed in back of the orchestra, with proper attack / decay, even when the orchestra is playing fortissimo.
Then to hear a lone singer playing a guitar, with the voice coming from the correct height, placed at center stage and correct distance from the mic. Where even though the speakers are 6' tall, they completely disappeared in the room, and all that was there was a guitar and voice coming from between the speakers, and nothing sounding like it was coming from the speakers.
Then to hear a jazz quartet, where you can hear every breath into the sax and the sound of the sax keys. Or the sound of the drum stick actually hitting the cymbal and not just the sound of the cymbal istelf, or the pianist muttering to themself while playing.
I attend (or at least I did before Covid-19) classical, jazz and rock concerts in all size venues on a pretty regular basis. I grew up in a musical family (my uncle was a jazz pianist who played with Harry James. People like Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson, Rosemary Clooney were always at his house hanging out). So, I think I have a pretty good idea what real music sounds like. And these top level Wilsons due a pretty good job at creating a facsimile of real music.
I've also had a chance to hear some of the best professional speakers at one of the best studios in Southern California, and while they can do some things incredibly well, they just can't reproduce the huge soundstage and 3D image that high end speakers can .
The people who can afford these speakers and will buy them will enjoy listening to music through them and won't at all be concerned by the bitter comments. I'll probably get these to review. It would be fun to invite one of you to my listening room to hear them and post a video of your reaction.
I’d love to take you up on that! I’d pay my way there from the west coast to enjoy the experience. Heck I could never afford even one of the drivers!
James Reed well stay in touch then on AnalogPlanet some time in November....
@@AnalogPlanet Sounds perfect!
I think it's strange how if this were a video of a super car, people would be going on about how awsome it is, and the power of it etc.... But in this hobby for some reason people complain about what you get for the money? A super car has a painted body, and working internal parts and will go 200mph easy and can cost the same as these speakers. But where do you use it at its full potential? An airport maybe? At least with audio, if you want to invest in a system that is at this caliber, you can sit and relax and enjoy the full potential of it within the comfort or your mansion 😄. But none the less, the same thing applies. Like a supercar, these have a beautifully painted cabinet (body) and they house moving parts that cause a desired outcome for the consumer. It all comes down to what you are into and what you are willing and able to pay. Rant over!!!
I would love to take you up on this also having never heard a pair of Wilson speakers. Though I may be wowed more than your typical audiophile as I have never been to a audio show. To be fair, I could never afford these but still appreciate well made speakers such as these. Not in the same league as my older matrix 802 I'm sure. Thank you Michael and keep up the videos!
Great video! The wilson designer needs to size his omega speedmaster moon watch a bit better and take out a link. It might create less microphonics when listening! Besides this is awesome stuff!
I notice the 4 inch mid is a Scan-Speak illuminator driver, from their flagship range. BUT, unfortunately, the lower mid driver (above woofer assembly) and upper mid (on top) are only from Scan-Speak's Revelator range. They are good drivers but for OVER $300K would you not think Illuminators all round would be in the customers best interest???????? I know they have done work on the magnet structure but for $1/3 Million dollars they could have started with Scan-Speak's best product. I see the new Larsen 9 (by way of one example) manages to use all Illuminator drivers (4 x woofers) for under $15k, just to give an idea of how penny pinching you know who are being. I am astounded,...... flabbergasted in fact.
Wrong. Scanspeak Revelators are better at lower mid than the Illuminators. Not to mention that their driver has an expensive alnico motor and is probably custom in other ways for higher sensitivity (as the speaker has a midbass driver already).
@@eug3nius Just because you say I am wrong does not make it so. I mention they had additionally worked on the motor structure in my original message, so climb down off your high horse. I am correct. Check their website. Get better informed. Plus for $300+k, they should be making their own driver cones. FACT. See virtually every other player at this level. I work as a freelance contractor in this very industry and have A/B'd these very drivers, amongst others. Their performance is WHY the Illuminator is their HIGHER range. I also said in my original post that the Revelator is a good driver, so feel you are very combative for no good reason. This is supposed to be friendly discussion. Do you think these Wilson's offer good value?????
@Alex Tomlins What I was trying to say is don't poo-poo the revelator because it is a bit cheaper - more expensive is not always better for a particular application. We'll agree to disagree on what is the better stock driver for lower mid. They're not using a stock driver anyway - and they likely chose the revelator because it's a good base for the modifications they wanted - unlike the illuminator. If I had that kind of money for speakers I wouldn't buy a Wilson either but as long as their business works they can make their own drivers or not, I have no problem with it. As for you demanding "good value" from ultra high end audio - chuckle! I don't know what to tell you man except stop being so emotional.
@@eug3nius I say again I did NOT shit on the Revelator (second time I have had to confirm this point to you because you did not read my first post corectly). Read my initial message. You cannot even be bothered to understand my point. If you cannot see why Wilson should not use Scan Speak's best drivers to start their development from, on a €300k+ speaker, is beyond me. You are defending them. Inexcusable. Simple as that. You are the one getting emotional, not me. I am trying to get points over to you which you do not seem to have read, and/or understood. Frustration in you is what you can pick up on. What do you do by the way to be so argumentative on this subject ? I ask as these strong opinions you argue are not based on knowledge or facts.
I agree, Alex. All Scan Speak drivers are really very good but for this kind of money, I'd expect WA to manufacture their own line of proprietary drivers. I'm listening right now to my JBL M2/dual SUB18 system and all of these drivers are unique to JBL and offer many, many innovations not available through Scan Speak, Vifa or any other off the shelf brand but that isn't to say that off the shelf scan speak drivers are bad, but when the WA system costs more than the rental property I bought today it makes you really scratch your head and it'll pay me $1500/month for as long as I want to own it.
Two questions and then my analysis. The WAMM Master Chronosonic has a rear-firing midrange, will this XVX also have that? The WAMM comes with 2 Master Subsonic subwoofers as part of a packaged system, will this XVX have a similar subwoofer package?
I'm only being honest when I say that I find the market positioning of this product to be awkward. If we look at Wilson's product line, 4 products exceed the 6-figure price mark, qualifying in my mind as end-game reference: WAMM Master Chronosonic, Chronosonic XVX, Alexandria XLF, and Alexx.
The XLF used to be the be-all end-all flagship, until Michael Fremer shat on it in the Alexx review. So we can safely rule out the XLF now; the Alexx is cheaper and better. Then why not just go with the Alexx and be done with it? Because Alexx is Daryl Wilson's project, and as talented and well-mentored as he is, Daryl Wilson is no Dave Wilson. Dave Wilson's name itself has gravitas associated with it. So if the WAMM Master Chronosonic represents Dave Wilson's last ditch effort at assaulting the state of the art, the final project he oversaw and placed his stamp of approval on, that goes a long way in justifying its existence and price. Alexx of course, was developed alongside the WAMM, during a time Dave Wilson was still alive and able to give feedback, criticism, and praise. The Chronosonic XVX was not able to enjoy this developmental process because of Dave Wilson's untimely demise. So basically the XVX is a cutdown boot-legged version of the WAMM Master Chronosonic. But isn't that Alexx's role? A cutdown, shorter, less expensive product that had the benefit of be co-developed alongside the WAMM itself, father and son. Oh, I know! The XVX represents the son learning from the father's finished WAMM (because if you remember, the WAMM took too long and the Alexx was released first), and now he can bring a more refined version of the Alexx incorporating more elements of the WAMM. Great story, but does it fulfill that role? Nope. 109k and 329k is simply too big of a price disparity. 145k probably should've been the price of this supposed Alexx Series 2. The XVX is in no man's land.
Listen, I wish Wilson Audio all the best, I truly do. But look at what happened to Thiel Audio after Thiel died. Look at what happened to Bohlender Graebener when its founders died. I really don't want Wilson Audio to follow that trend, and I'm rooting for Daryl, John, Peter, Vern, and the whole gang. But Michael Fremer is going to have to write one hell of a piece in the XVX review to preserve the Wilson product line and prestige. Being slightly better than Alexx and slightly worse than WAMM is simply not good enough. People buy stories, not features. Anybody seriously considering the XVX can most likely afford the WAMM. We're not talking W-2 employees here, we're talking high-rollers who don't bat an eye at 7 figure furniture. The WAMM being a 6 figure furniture that also happens to produce state of the art music? That's an easy sell.
I don't know how much of Dave Wilson's technical knowledge, fanaticism, and passion passed down to Daryl. Hopefully a lot. But one aspect of the business Daryl absolutely needs to work on is Marketing and Positioning.
Good luck again!
- Leo
These have a near top firing adjustable tweeter. The subs are optional on these...
$329,000? I'm laughing so hard I almost peed my pants. "Above 350 is too stratospheric." Bwahahaha. But $329k is just right! This is comedy gold. And to top it all off, they're completely hideous!
The people that buy this are definitely not your typical audio enthusiast (i.e. the people who watch these videos). They only need to sell 50 pairs to make this a success. Who are we to judge how multi-millionaires and billionaires spend their money? Although I do wish high end audio was more affordable. Usually huge sacrifices are made in material, driver and crossover components until you reach past 20 thousand dollars. Most under 10K speakers have a BOM of less than a grand. Pretty sad how crazy the markup is.
@@amirjubran1845 I'm not sure who is the "typical audio enthusiast." I've never met that person. You clearly don't understand how business works or how prices are determined. Parts cost is a modest fraction of what determines cost. If you can't figure out the rest I'd be happy to clue you in. You are clueless, you know..
@@AnalogPlanet My family has been in the woodworking industry for nearly 40 years. It's highly competitive and are often times lucky to hold onto 10 or 20 percent of the total project cost by the end. Material markup is very modest yet raw materials do make up quite a significant portion of the project cost (easily a third). I don't think it's fair to assume I know nothing about business and manufacturing. Obviously marketing costs play a big role in speaker markup and we don't have to worry about that in our business.
I'm not against products like this. The BOM on my 5K bookshelves is probably under 500 dollars. I just wish the average audio hobbyist got more for their 5 or 10 grand spent. It's no insignificant sum for most of us.
Amir Jubran The specialty audio business is relatively small, list price generally is 5X parts cost but don’t compare this to woodworking! Wilson for instance stocks 45 years worth of parts for every model they have ever sold. Every driver, screw, capacitor, resistor, etc. 45 years in business tells you a great deal about the company and how consumers relate to the products brand and value added. They pay their employees well, including 401Ks and health care etc. and have them for decades.... just saying...
@@AnalogPlanet It did sound like the people at the capacitor plant lost their jobs. They bought the machines and he talked about the R&D, but I didn't hear him say that they retained the staff. I could be wrong, but I'm just making the statement based on what was said.
Wow! Absolutely stunningly beautiful speakers. I see the XVX speakers as the acme, the zenith, and the pinnacle (did I forget any?) of speaker design. They’re winding their own caps now too? Every single set of spkrs will be extremely tightly matched as I know they are of course anyway, but now with caps most likely within 1%, if not 0.5%, if not even tighter tolerance. I assume they bought the machining from Jensen, as I know they stopped their production of caps as of recently? Anyway, those are definitely some of the most amazing speakers I have ever seen.
Thank you very much for the vid, Michael! Always much appreciated. 🎶🔊🙂
Scale aside, I wonder how different is the XVX's presentation with its new alnico midrange drivers compared to the WAMM
how bout making a cheaper speaker, instead of more and more expensive stuff
Plenty of manufacturers to suit you. Im not going to ask Ferrari to make me a base Civic just so I can have the logo.
There is no maximum price high, what ever it cost you will always find someone with more money to spend. Does it really sound better? no, but if you have spent that much money you will convince yourself it's better. Gotta be. Silly price for silly people with toooo much money. Don't forget to add lights, that makes all the difference!! If only it could make coffee as well? Ohhh no, that's next years up date.
@@Audfile I drive BMW, and it is a lot better than Civic. totally different league. but this expensive speaker is not better than cheaper speaker.
@@ayc868 bmw isnt a Ferrari my friend, it's far more akin to a Civic than an exotic.
@@Audfile I never driven Ferrari, I use BMW as example
Gorgeousness! Sadly you could buy 2 of my houses for 330k. Out of my league but to those that can afford it I applaud you!
I do like the smaller systems they make!
Sorry for my ignorance, but the contrast between the supercar-like body and the traditional look of tweeter, midrange and woofer hits me. I mean, you can buy million dollar watches, but if your priority is to know what time is it few bucks are enough. If your priority is music quality you surely appreciate a nice dress, but you prefer spend less money with the same "musical" components or the same money with higher quality "musical" components.
There are companies that found the way to tilt and direct their cabinets' parts in a more traditional and cheaper way (Vienna Acoustics Klimt the Music for example) with a great result. As a music lover, I don't need a structure made of high technology materials able to cross the tracks and the skies cause this strucure just have to stay a long time in the same place in my listening room.
magnepan 1.7i paired with kef Q150 works for me
Drivers look like Scanspeak and SB Acoustics.
They are. Probably worth 5k$ in parts, and ofc the most expensive thing here by orders of magnitude would be the case
@@Tacet137 Check out these Gorgeous DIY Wilson Watt Puppy speakers.
www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/messages/35/356566.html
As a designer of major studios and critical monitoring systems, I am continuously stunned to speechless on the nonsense from the consumer electronics industry. Yes indeed, these speakers have an impeccable finish together with glorious mechanical engineering. Visually, this is what people see, of course...and given the gallons of ink spread across the pages of glossy Hi-Fi magazines, and of course - we all believe what we read -(!) the speakers sound "visually" acceptable to the ears. The eye tricks the ears.
Interesting to hear comments on phase and time alignment. All vitally important issues, and rather is more important than ruler flat line frequency response curves, that once highly accurate time alignment is achieved, this will contribute to accuracy in frequency response...but to include the SUM of the two speaker arrays in a L - R stereo array.
At $300,000 USD +, this pair is in dangerous territory. For those in the know, it has serious competition in the highly elite world of professional systems that find their way into the ultimate studios of the world. $ 300,000, more or less, will purchase a pair of speakers, each with a weight in the range of 450 Lbs / 205 Kg. But, the story does not end there. These systems will be mounted within the truly massive “boundary layer” wall mounting system that is mechanically isolated from the studio control room. Think here in terms of 5 to 7 Tons, 10,000 Lbs / 4545 Kgs. Mechanically we now have an acoustical system with a mass of: 450 x 2 = 900 Lbs / 410 Kgs + the Boundary Layer iso wall system at 10,000 Lbs / 4545 for a total of: 10,900 Lbs / 4945 KGS. Next the electronics. Unlike the speakers mentioned in this exhaustive video, with its passive Xover weighing in at 45 Lbs / 20.45 Kg, today’s most highly evolved systems will be tri or quad amplified. There is so much that can be accomplished in the digital DSP world that is impossible to achieve in the completely obsolete world of passive crossovers. This company wished to achieve “time alignment” in the physical domain through the physical alignment and offset between the various drivers.
The pity is, the entire array of mid and HF pistons are naked dome drivers operating in a vertical column. When one is seated or standing “off axis” the complex and most erratic acoustical combining between the sections in both the vertical and horizontal is most disappointing. This off axis energy has erratic lobing. It is this combined “sloppy” off axis frequency response that contributes to the “room curve” where the on axis power response does not match the overall power response.
The better approach is to (i can hear it coming “ouch”) to horn load the mid and HF sections with “wave guides” that optimize (stabilizes) the off-axis power response. Then, with the ability in the digital domain to manipulate and offset the transfer function at the crossover frequency along with the ability to achieve pin perfect phase accuracy at both the crossover frequency while observing and optimizing the “off axis” sum response a truly coherent sum between the two arrays in stereo mode will result in a dimension that is impossible to describe, for it must be experienced. (and as well all know, L/R stereo is far from perfect and is only an illusion)
This conversation in the $300,000 range expands into the world of safe power handling. Will the $ 300,000 system in this video operate safely with peaks at or near 135 dB SPL (per enclosure) for over 6 hours? What is the Low Frequency power compression down at 30Hz and below?
The real torture specification, that this system would fail, is what is the output in Acoustic Watts for each section on a Long Term Average Basis?
Almost no professional maker of speaker systems today discusses Acoustic Watts for it quickly reveals the serious power handling limitations. Even less known, is the performance usually for the woofers, that being “Large Signal” and “Small Signal” power response VS frequency.
Visually appealing indeed they are....unique. As for fidelity.... a few years ago, I was in San Francisco with the manager for one of the worlds leading major
international music stars.
The giant Wilson Audio system was in a large suite. The manager stood at the back of the room for his first demo, approx 25 feet back, with maybe 30 people seated in the room. Mr. X found me in deep conversation with one of the world’s leading studio designers. Mr. X was excited with what he heard. So Mr. X and I returned to the demo suite. This time we sat about 12 feet back from the array in the first row. Within the first 2 to 3 bars, Mr. X turned to me with an astonished (not happy) scowling crunched-up look on his face. “Why did we sit here” he asked. I asked Mr. X, “Where do you sit in the studio’s control room during a recording session”? Mr. X got the message. He kept his check book in his pocket. Later he spent far more with our organization . . . that included our cement mixer (yes there was that 10,000 Lbs / 4545 Kg mounting system) superlative electro-acoustics and speaker systems that created a sound stage that one can only dream about.
BTW.... the cost to physically develop the isolation and mounting system for such an elaborate and sophisticated speaker array, runs far less that spending $30K, $40K or more for exotic speaker cables. 2 x mono block $ 100K or so amplifiers to run the speakers shown in this video? Nuts! Active crossovers with sophisticated DSP and 6 or 8 channels of amplifier power will pull less than $ 100K out of your wallet.
And how does it sound? Yes...it has “that” . . . that being one does not really talk about the “sound” at all. One talks about the dimensions of music, the spatial depth, the ambience and the feeling one experiences. 20 years later, playing the same recording for the 1000th time, Mr. X still hears and experiences something new on each playback.
How much does this cost: “priceless” but over time affordable when professionals are creating the experience based on engineered science, art and a love of music.
Many professional mastering engineers whose names you surely know regularly visit here and listen to my Wilson speakers. They differ with your opinions. Judging speaker performance in a "large suite" at a hotel or wherever it was, is truly idiotic. You are trying to compare what a consumer puts in a home with a studio installation. Another bit of foolishness. And yes, these speakers are designed for sitting in the center or close to it and guess what? Most mastering engineers do likewise. I've been in the major mastering suites in America and I understand why the systems sound as they do. They are that way for a work environment not for listening enjoyment..
All I have to say is there are guys out there ACTUALLY PUTTING their money where their mouth is and BUILDING these things and guys just whining about the cost... KUDOS to WILSON who cares how they market! It’s a RISK it’s what we do !
The covers look like this threatening turret guns.
I have no one in my life but I have my turntable its their for me
My favorite watch, the Omega Moon. Shows he is not a snob, wearing a $2000 watch instead of a $500k tourbion. lol Love to audition those speakers.
I bet it is by design. If he is wearing a 500K watch I would feel a little bit ripped off by those prices. Like a real estate agent pulling up in a Ferrari rather than a 3 year old E class
Very true, maybe he should be wearing a tourbion as these speakers are aimed at multi millionaires, not the average audiophile. lol
Crazy.... Even if I won a million dollars my Harbeth’s aren’t going anywhere. 😎
If you like the Harberth, you may like these even more - hifipig.com/serhan-swift-brigadier-mu-2-loudspeakers/
Adrian from Audio Excellence!
I find the ambition of this great company quite overwhelming.
$150.00 for the book the Wilson way!
Audio Jewelry. Yes they sound amazing, But you can have equally amazing or very nearly as amazing for one tenth or MUCH less of the price. Magico to me represents state of the art. While their top models are incredible, there middle range sits at the sweetspot for price and state of the art performance. I have felt for some time that the financially privileged “High-end” brigade have lost the plot. This industry has lost reason to a bit much greed. They still don’t get why their industry has shrunk so much. It’s because so few people can afford this fantasy Island stuff and see through the marketing. It does not take a Sheik’s fortune to have great sound. Its up to the reviewers at Stereophile and Absolute Sound to focus a lot more attention on real world solutions that sound amazing. I love Michael Fremer. He is funny, witty, and highly intelligent. He is very musically inclined and has a great ear. I also love Jon Valin’s insights. I have great respect for John Atkinson. We look to these guys to find the surprisingly awesome sound at surprisingly affordable prices.
Exactly, nothing more than grubby grabbing 'bragging' rights for the lonely audiophile sucking his thumb off in a corner. 400 dollars gets you two excellent bookshelves for 99% of modern, well produced music then a sub. 4,000 gets you the last pair of speakers you'd really ever need compared to these car-salesman paperweights.
@@FeeLtheHertZ your jealousy drips off the page.
The industry has not shrunk. It's actually doing very well right now! This pandemic year especially. Business at all levels is off the charts. You repeat a myth. Yes, it's changed and retail is challenged but that's true in every industry. It does not take a Sheik's fortune to get good sound but I've got these speakers here now and they are absolutely spectacular. Magico makes great speakers too but they don't move me.I respect what they do, but I am not emotionally moved by them. And really the "audio jewelry" thing is a yawn. You can do better....
Those isolation platforms are IKEA $20
all this effort then forget to use sealed cabinet, no sound engineer ever said that ports did not come with compromises.
I see ScanSpeak drivers there. I guess you can make something similar, if you are veeery experimented in woodwork and acoustics.
Yep, I have the 18Ws in my car doors 😄. All the money is in the engineering of the cabinets
@@mitsuracer87 There are fundamental design flaws with their "architecture" but that's the "look" that they've carved out for themselves.... I think they spend more on the paint job then the drivers+crossovers ;-)
@@BogdanWeiss totally agreed!
I am pretty sure that people who buy them are likely not concerned about the comments indeed. But I am also pretty sure that they represent the exception rather than the rule of the general public who would like to enjoy a good audio experience. It's like saying: you can't afford a Ferrari? Well sorry, a good driving experience is not for you.
There are plenty of great affordable driving experiences just not that great. Same with audio.
These are same as exotic cars. If you have to ask how much you can't afford it😀
@@brandonburr4900 exactly 😄. I don't want offend anyone here. I am trying to say that telling me that a Bugatti would blow my mind doesn't really help me a lot to orient the purchase of my next car....😄 However: that said I obviously appreciate the channel and I follow its contents with interest. 🙂
Something I'll never get to experience...like the lifestyle of a 1 percenter. Beautiful work, albeit for those that can purchase it. Yes, let's keep it under $350K, more than that is just too expensive.
Their $15,000 speakers are great too.. and the company will be there to service their products too if needed...
@@AnalogPlanet I would say a bit pretentious, but I don't think they are.
check out the DIY options by Troels Gravesen
I was going to buy a set of these, but then he said the price. Anything under $500,000 is for peasants. How can I possibly listen to something that costs less than a half a million dollars? j/k LOL :-D
@@sbrazenor2 LOL so true....
Is that per pair?
No pleb, thats per speaker. Then you need the special 10K cables that are designed with the electroresonant coupling for each speaker.
He sure likes to say the word “iterate.” “Design” or “create” would probably be more appropriate in the context.
Wilson Audio bought their own capacitor farm. Your marketing department would be laughed out of MIT but they would take your money. They took it from Jeffrey.
Give Epstein a "break" & give MOSSAD credit where credit is due ;-)
Yeah I am not sure you guys even understand underhung vs overhung. Lets be honest you didn't develop this scan speak did... Yes they are amazing but you only bought the drivers.
$329,000... and he says it with a straight face?! 😂😂🤣
Audiofools...
a lifestyle piece
Monster of a design. No taste whatsoever. Surely they can learn something from an Italian design perspective. Star Wars come into mind.
Without the use first order crossovers or DSP you can't get perfect time coherence by driver alignment alone. The real question is does it matter? Is the human ear sensitive to time alignment? I say no except a possible image focus enhancement. But angels dancing on the heads of pins has never been that important to my idea of sonic realism.
I'd say you have to listen.
I’ll stick with my watt/puppy 8s and watch subs.
If they dumped the VTL amps and preamp with the Chinese made mother boards and used gear like Pass Labs or Bryston or truly great tube gear like Air Tight, the system would sound a hundred times better. The thick white envelope gets the air time and political thumbs up in the audio world. Just look at stereophile or the absolute sound method of operation.
You don’t know anything about how Stereophile operates. You have your fantasies, for sure. I’ll tell you how it operates for me: I review what I want and say what I want. No one edits or censors me. I don’t pull punches or speak in code either... sorry to disappoint you...
Chinese VTL ! LOL I use Audio Power Labs 833 and 572 made in Columbus ! Airtight, Kondo and Nagra used by my Three year old Grandson are so nice ,too! He uses his own Audio Power Labs 20 TNT the only one in the world !😀❤️🌺
6:24 is this the worst sales pitch ever?! Someone is apparently willing to give USD330,000+ to get it shipped to Asia but not having a flat or house tall enough for these beasts?! LOL
Once I heard a one of the biggest yacht dealers in Monaco saying that when considering purchasing a yacht, one should never go over 10% its net worth meaning that potential owner of 5mil yacht should have at least 50mil in a bank (not including stocks, bonds, real estate etc.). Such jacht can be chartered over the year when owner is not using it and after paying all expenses and annual maintenance, owner still may eventually get some money back before deciding to sell it to someone else (or die).
Thinking from the same perspective, it would be reasonable to say that for the hi-end audio gear, such percentage should be rather half of that, around 5%. Considering these speakers price and given that is just one component in someones audio chain, a prospect customer should be at least USD10mil+ well-off in cash to get them in his/her home without doubt of being utterly insane!
But since this is completely insane industry with even more insane customers - such calculations should be dropped at the very beginning.
I just heard these in my opinion they are over price over designed and it sounds like the guys who build these things don’t listen to live music! IMO
Actually that's 100% wrong in every way, and I doubt you heard these a year ago.
Come on guys! It simply HAS to be said. This is ridiculous, as is the WAMM. At the end of the day these are still just cones-in-a-box. At the end of the day half of the frequency range comes down to one overworked dome tweeter. If you want expansive, realistic reproduction of music in your home, you need line-source planars. Rebuilt Apogees, SoundLabs or Magneplanars, if on a budget. Cones-in-a-box, no matter how many silly tweaks are made, no matter how much they cost, cannot compete with big planars. There I said it. It was my duty. Flame on.
That is your opinion. All speaker designs have technological compromises. I've owned planar magnetic speakers too. Line source speakers have plenty or problems. Ribbon have many issues. SoundLabs have many issues too. Cones in a box can easily compete with anything when properly designed as these are. It's possible to prefer one technology over another without getting all pissy about it. Try it! You'll like it.
Analog Planet, Well of course it’s my opinion; just as this is yours. I believe (and so do a lot of other long-time audiophiles) that the correct way to recreate the musical event is to launch it into the room from a line source, not a point source. All speakers have compromises and issues. I never said otherwise. But a point source can never do what a good line source can. This needs to be understood. Having an opinion, strongly stated, that is contrary to yours, is not being pissy, any more than you are pissy when you express your strongly felt points of view. I just get tired of ever more complex and expensive cones-in-a-box that cannot come close to producing a proper wavefront. These Wilson’s cannot, for example, make correct square waves or triangle waves; thus not the complex waveforms of music. There is a cynicism to companies who foist these hyper-expensive monstrosities onto a gushing audio press. $329K? Hah! The joke is on the buyer. I can’t blame the Wilsons for pushing this stuff; it’s a good business for them. But the audio press can be more critical and less sychophantic, frankly. I’m just kickin’ back at you all. It’s my duty!
You video usefully captured the enthralled audio press lapping up every detail of these things. You even captured competitor Bob Harley looking positively mesmerized by the details behind the grill cloths. I’ll bet he’s already forming neural pathways on their way to proclaiming these the BEST ever in a subsequent review. He might delegate that to Valin, but either way the latest Wilson products will get rave reviews. It’s predictable.
Magnepan 1.7i paired w/jamo concert series c 91 ii w/mAMP's DAC2v2se, Pioneer XC-HM86 modified by EJ
ya planars are nice for certain types of music, and other types of music...not so much. there's a very good reason many a music enthusiast, myself included, just can't live with planars. I've owned 2 pairs of Maggies in my main system, and they sound great. but lets be real, their dynamic range is pretty crappy. and when its time to rock, they just don't have it in them. I think one could successfully argue they are some sweet sounding speakers, they just don't have any balls
for the happy few, 392000 really!
Still not worth the money the price is ridiculous you guys are a joke in my opinion
The people who own such products are not laughing at you because they can afford to be charitable. Your reaction is built upon envy.
@@AnalogPlanet I'm not envious and I'm not going to plead with wealthy people to send their riches to some far off land filled with starving people. That being said, sticker shock is a definite problem in high-end audio equipment. I think it's less about a need to price as high as they do and more about the fact that someone is always going to pay for it.
It's still not nearly as silly as the art world. People spend tens of millions of dollars for some of the silliest looking art pieces, which they likely never look at. At least the speakers do something!
speakers is too ugly lol I wouldnt have them even if i could afford them, I'd find something cheaper thats less than $30K for the whole system lol.
money cant buy style or good taste. and ugly is ugly and in this case butt ugly...
Cuanto humo
I'd rather have Bose than these
That's your serious problem.
Genelec makes better speakers.
not true at all.
They are not attractive speakers.
Total snake oil. No speaker system is worth over $100,000 - not even close. Diminishing returns sets in at about $10k. I can guarantee you a pair of B&W 803 D3s would sound just as good as these.
I wouldn't rate the B&W gear very highly, but yes, the point of diminishing returns kicks-in ( ...somewhere & will vary dramatically from person to person ) - the Paradigm Persona should be good enough for most people & if you're willing to roll-up your sleeves, there are refined DIY speakers that would give these premadonnas a run for their money... ( you can spend $10-20K on parts for a pair of speakers, but you're better off starting small... )
You are right . This is more of a marketing gimmick. Based on sound quality , the Vivid Giyas , ATCs , B&W 801 , Rockprorts are much better and completely form following function products . These are just for people who just want to burn cash for a marketing gimmick , You can see that the midrange drivers they use is scanspeak.
@@cemmany there are also the "darling" brands in different parts of the 🌎 & here we have an example of such...there is so much competition in the sub $5k range $ $10-15 gets you Kii audio & 20 other names i coyld mention.. It's bragging rights by a factor of 10 over sound quality.. Look at what Troels Gravesen is doing with the ellipticor scanspeak drivers...
I guarantee you, you are wrong.
The world's first snake oil speaker... I bet my Focal Aria 926 will sound much better than this ugly beast...
There's no snake oil. They are different.
You are making a bet based on ignorance. There's no snake oil involved. Any more than there is in your Focals. The founder of Focal was good friends with David Wilson. They are/were both gentlemen. Something you clearly are not.
Whilst the Aria is a good speaker (I'm a former owner), you obviously have never heard a Wilson product. And have very little insight into how people (other than yourself) perceive sound. It doesn't matter what the price point or feature set is, it wasn't built for you.
@@AnalogPlanet I had an interesting meeting with Martin Colloms, who had a pair of Wilson Watt + Puppy as one of his reference speakers BUT Martin replaced the Focal tweeter with a large diameter dome - the Focal's had a nasty resonance peak @ 19kHz & always sounded harsh & hard & un-natural to me - just like I can't get why so many reviews gave the KEF LS50's the thumbs-up ( the hf are way over-emphasized )
Focal speakers are one of the worst measuring in industry. Their beryllium inverted dome tweeter compared to every beryllium tweeter from scan speak, seas, sb acoustic, masured the worst. Also by design aria 926 is really bad, it uses one 6" woofer for mids and two of the same 6" woofers for base... so it has neither good lower midrange, neither good upper midrange, and bass extension would probably end at 100hz if not for the bass reflex design... an on top of that the drivers itself measure horribly. Focals are trully one heck of a disaster speakers