I believe they tried to correct the ringing on the WP 8 - something to do with damping the back wave. However what is disconcerting is that the tweeter clearly shows significant audio compression at a mere 95 db SPL (this is a difference plot of response at 70 db versus 95 db SPL form Soundstage, which use NRC labs). Of course most home speakers suffer this kind of problem, but a speaker of this calibre really ought to be able to play cleanly at much higher levels, IMHO. |
I agree the Wilson "sound" is excellent, right up there with the best I've heard. I agree. FWIW: Rigid Metal or Ceramic woofers are often used in high end systems and people love them and buy them (lightweight "piston" operation means small low cost motors, such as 1 inch voice coils, can be used and they are efficient and very linear in response). However these designs ALL have ringing problems! Why else do manufacurers use sharp Q notch filters to dampen ringing and why else do some use two rubber dampers on the edges of the driver cone. Why else do paper/pulp/polypropelene and woven and doped kevlar designs exist...these less stiff designs offer better internal damping - less ringing - even if they are less ideal "pistonic" (and generally require an expensive larger voice coil for better diaphragm support)! Speaker design is often a compromise...thats all. However, I'd be wary of this particular tweet - note that it is used extensively in another highly regarded manufacurers speakers ...so perhaps the other manufacturer deals with the ringing problem more effectively in their crossover design. |
