OMG Moment
I had spent two days detailing my wife’s new car and just came back from the dog taking me out for a long walk. Wife was out, so I finally had some time to listen to an album that Juan @blisshifi had recommended. I never rest during daylight hours, but as I played Isolde Lasoen’s album “Oh Dear” I was half out. I’ve got a six foot couch as a listening area and slumped down and tilted my head back, closed my eyes and “Douce Melancolie” completely transformed. The soundstage width, depth and height went crazy. It was the most amazing, life like sound that I had ever heard on my system, or any system that I can remember. The whole 180 degrees of the room was filled with music without loss of localization. The speakers usually/mostly disappear with many albums, but they were completely gone. I don’t understand any of this, but I’m just going with it. I suspect that I just discovered that the Wilson Sabrina X has a very critical vertical dispersion pattern. I would never have expected this and can imagine someone saving lots of money by changing their vertical seating position.
@vonhelmholtz That album is also quite psychadelic with the soundstage, which is why I shared it. :) But slumping down so your head is on the couch will, yes, result in changes in the dispersion, but also potentially introduce reflections coming from the couch to your ears. This is especially true if your couch is made of leather. Happy to hear of the discovery, though and hope you can adjust your speakers or listening position to deliver that level of performance consistently! |
This is true, the Sabrina’s tweeter is fairly low, as was my Yvette’s when I owned Wilsons. I believe in the manual Wilson provides some guidance on setting tweeter height by adjusting the spikes, but that may change how the whole speaker sounds all the way down to bass response in the room. If you’re using stock spikes, definitely consider trying some isolation solutions regardless just to minimize resonance in the speakers and improve imaging. I’ve used Isoacoustics Gaia footers which tend to raise the total height of the speakers by 1-3” compared to the spikes any speaker may have had prior. That might be just enough to make the difference you are seeking vs full out isolation platforms. |
I would say the smaller Wilson speakers do image quite low. I am fairly short and have a low height listening chair, so while the Wilson Yvette imaged well, vocalists still seemed they were sitting. The speakers I’ve had prior (Legacy Aeris) and after (Scansonic MB-6B, Borresen Z3, Borresen 02) all portray a might taller and more natural soundstage height.The Z3 and 02 are both smaller than the Yvette as well, but Wilson tends to point their tweeters down to blend with the mids as a point source, so that may be why. |
@audphile1 Maybe that’s one improvement with the Sabrinas. If you look at the design of some of the higher up models, the tweeters are angled downwards. It doesn’t seem to be the case with the Sabrinas. I might have gotten 6ft on some tracks, but it’s not the same as many of my other speakers which image higher as if they were on some sort of elevated stage, even just a few feet up. The difference in the soundstage size was easily notable even upon auditioning the Wilson Yvette in multiple rooms. I thought it would be something I could live with, but ultimately I missed the grander presence other speakers brought. |
