Has Anyone Owned Or Heard A Pair Of Watkins WE-1?

It just so happens I heard them today. I don't think the stereophile review is too off the mark, but the bass is deep. I was very impressed. I currently own a pair of Hales Revelation 3, but I can get the Watkins for less than I can sell the Hales for. I'm considering it.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of time with the speakers. I bought an Eagle 7a amp from the guy, and it was powering the speakers. One thing that is holding me back is resale - if I ever tried to sell them, who has heard of them? Also, they are huge! 51 1/2 inches high, not including the casters, 32 inches wide, and about 9 inches deep. They move very well on the casters, though. The stereophile review mentioned a verson II - I'm going to call the company and see if an upgrade is available.

I was a dealer for them for a short time back in the 1983 time frame.
As I recall they had the Watkins Dual coil (used by Infinity), drivers. Made in Tennessee, by the gentleman who designed that driver.
They are flat, kind thick, maybe six to eight inches thick; overstuffed with acoustic material, with acoustically padded material, (around the drivers) and sounded pretty good for a speaker from that era. Dipole? Dead brain cells are trying to remember this.
I do remember that that I thought them pleasant. Retailed for about $1800 to $2500. at introduction.
Made in limited qantities.
Ahh, memories. Pretty good sounding, and Mr. Watkins was a truly 'good audio guy'.
Good luck.
Larry

I owned a pair of Watkins WE-1's for 18 years and then upgraded them to the WE-1A after buying the parts and schematic from Mr. Watkins for two more years. They never let me down and I finally had to sell them when I moved to PR for several years for my job (they would not have survived the trip by boat in a container to PR). I really did not notice a big change in the bass when I upgraded. the Tweeter range was extended down to 1500hz from 2500hz and the mid's were cut off a 100hz instead of running full range. The 40hz crossover to the sub was removed and all three 8" drivers covered the same frequency.

The other issue I had was replacing the bexetrene 5" mid's when their surrounds rotted out after many years. I will advise you that you need a "BIG" room for them to sound their best. I had them in a 16'x13'x8' room for many years about 4' from the rear wall and 3' from the side wall and they imaged deasantly. However, I will never forget when I had to move them to the garage while my wife got the carpets cleaned. I set them an played them there and and the bass almost knocked the garage door openers off the ceiling. They will play incredibaly loud without strain so watch your ears and keep them away from teenagers trying to impress their friends. They also need a LOT OF POWER since they are acoutstic suspension type speakers--no ports to boost the sounds--so give them about 200watts a side-8ohms but they are more like 4 ohm speakers. I saw a pair on audiogon and I might buy them just for the nostalgia and do the WE-1A upgrade. Good luck, dave

The Watkins speakers and Eagle 7A amp are a very good match. I knew a fellow years ago who had that setup. He also had some ARC amps, I think M300s, that sounded good with them, too, but the Eagle was no slouch. Both companies are long gone, although http://www.eagle-audio.com offers service and upgrades. My memory of the sound is distant at best, and they may not hold up to comparison with some of today's offerings. But if the price is right and you really like them, you might consider buying the speakers. Be aware that replacement drivers may not be available, however. Resale value might not be much.

Long ago, when I worked in the mid to high end audio world from 1988 to 1995, a co-worker and friend had a pair of WE-1's. His name is Rick Walker, and he worked for Watkins back in the day. He was also worked on their design. So outside of Mr. Watkins himself, you might say that Rick was a pretty good authority on them. Rick is an actual engineer and on occasion has designed and built amps and preamps for clients. When we worked together, I was the head of custom installation and he was the head of the repair department for a certain retail store in Charlotte, NC. Rick's system consisted of the Watkins WE-1 speakers, Mark Levinson ML-2 mono amplifiers, Nakamichi CA-5 preamp, Oracle Delphi MK IV turntable, a Rowland modified Sony 707ES CD player, and a mass of MIT cables. I had listened to Rick's system on several occasions and was always blown away by the sound quality. He really knew what worked with those speakers. I have listened to many systems throughout my time in the business, many of them being cost-is-no-object, and still Rick's system ranks at or near the top. Of course Rick had in his closet of spare equipment something I wish I'd bought from him back then- an Infinity Hybrid Class A amplifier. He let me take it home for a couple of months to use. I loved the sound of that amp on my KEF's. I'd pay real money to have it now... oh, well.