A brutal review of the Wilson Maxx

I'm of the school that appreciates hearing about what another person hears from a product. I am always interested in knowing the context of that experience; which includes time and circumstances with the product, ancilary gear, and previous writings and perspectives. I may consistently disagree with the judgement of a particular writer/poster/reviewer but i get value from that source if i can understand their perspective.

In the case of this thread, i have a major problem with Mr. Hardesty's viewpoint since he tells me nothing about the circumstances of his experience with the MAXX2. Forgetting about his many unfortunate personal attacks on the reviewers; i can't tell from his 'rant' what other factors may have influenced his judgements.

Did Mr. Hardesty have occasion to compare the MAXX2 in a system where he had listened to another comparable speaker? Room issues? Amp differences?

Mr. Hardesty seems to be a lazy guy that wants to draw attention without really doing the work. If he would have approached the MAXX2's with an open mind and some objectivity, explained his methodology and what he heard; and even came to the same conclusions; i would be appeciative and comfortable with his perspective.

I'm a subjectivist that while appreciating the why of things; somewhat resents being told that this or that design cannot sound good. I also don't like an 'all-knowing' tone......explain don't dictate.

Tell me what you hear and the context of that experience.

BTW, i have found that in some cases i have not had the same conclusions that Fremer has had from his speaker reviews; but i have found that his perspectives have been consistent and there have always been enough information to make sense of cause and effect of what he did write. He does the work.

I find conspiracy theorists to be simply 'full of it' and saying more about themselves than their intended targets.

The Wilson MAXX2? i have heard it 10 or so times; 2 friends have them; i have heard them at shows and dealers. I have heard them sound marginal and very good. They are not exactly my cup of tea but none-the-less are pretty good speakers. Were i to be tempted to go further than that i would need to spend considerable time with them in a familiar system. I do think that they perform fine in their general price range.

Fsarc; i did miss the perspective of Hardesty's Watchdog articles. He does not represent them as reviews.

my opinion is that his whole 'Watchdog' premise is very wrong-minded. Being the self-appointed 'audio police' without doing the in-depth listening work to support his conclusions is self-delusional at best; and mis-leading to the reader...which is worse.

If Hardesty wants to judge the factual content of review comments without in-depth documented listening then he should stick to making theoretical conclusions; and not confuse the reader with references to his listening experiences; which are not documented. Either his comments are actual reviews; or they are factual critiques.....but not both unless he wants to DO THE WORK OF A COMPLETE REVIEW including a description of his listening context.

He should have a disclaimer on his Watchdog articles which explains exactly his experience or lack thereof with the particular product.

when you make yourself judge and jury the price for credibility is high. no self-respecting magazine would make such strong statements without doing considerable homework and providing appropriate support for their conclusions.

although i'm not a Wilson zealot; i think Mr. Giolas has it about right. Mr. Hardesty's writing says more about Mr. Hardesty than about the products he describes.....and thanks to Mr. Hardesty for showing us Mr. Giolas's letter.

If Mr. Hardesty truely is after truth......and not just attention....he should accept Mr. Giolas's offer; visit Wilson; do the damn work......and write about what he sees and hears.....what a novel approach that would be for Mr. Hardesty.

OB, "To me the Maxx ll blows away the VR 9 at less money"

where did that come from? is it somehow directed at me? maybe you are simply trying to make a point about costs but your approach hits close to home and i just wonder what your intent is.

if you have read my posts here i have been firmly against Hardesty's rant as improper and unfair. i know that Kharma and Von Schweikert are not your favorite....as Wilson is not mine...but 'blow away'?

how about "it's not my cup of tea"....or...."i've only heard it at a show but it didn't float my boat".

what about the famous OB perspective of 'to each their own according to their tastes'?

to me this thread is about proper methodology; not personal taste. brutal comments (from self-appointed experts--i'm specifically NOT referring to you here) require considerable effort to justify! have you spent sufficient time with the VR9 to feel justified with that comment or is this like Hardesty?

we can start another thread regarding the MAXX II verses the VR9 if you like. i've heard the VR9's sound like crap and the MAXX II's sound very good.....and visa versa.

BTW, i love ya anyway.

;^)

a few years ago my brother-in-law and his friend visited my home. my brother-in-law is a fairly good amatuer trumpet player and his friend is a professional jazz trumpeter. they brought their trumpets.

after dinner we retired to my dedicated 2-channel system room and proceeded to have them accompany Miles Davis on the 45rpm vinyl of Kind Of Blue.

it was great fun and an unforgetable evening.

the vinyl held it's own. i'm not saying that the live instruments did not have advantages but they were not staggering. the guys were able to play 'with' the recorded music; not over the top of it.

my system and especially my vinyl is much better now. i wonder how it would sound. BTW, this is actually somewhat on-topic....as my system then (5 years ago) included Wilson Watt/Puppy 6.0's with Levinson #33 amps.

the great thing about the trumpet is that the scale of the instrument works in a typical listening room.