OP…. If you are confused by a hifi review maybe hifi is not a good use of your time and $
Stereophile review of the new Wilson Watt/Puppy
I received my copy of the latest Stereophile yesterday and was curious to see what Martin Collums had to say about them, even though I would take it with a grain of salt, knowing that he had owned them in the past. He's still one of the reviewers that I consider to be most technically informed and balanced in his reviews.
I'm starting this thread because I want to know if others found his conclusions as confusing as I did. He says that the speakers have deep powerful bass, great detail, wonderful dynamic range, and are able to play very loud without breakup.
However, after all of that, he concludes that they are better for jazz and orchestral and perhaps a bit reticent for pop and rock. This made no sense to me, especially for a $40.000 speaker. I am curious about the opinions of anyone else who has read the review.
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I've said it before; most of us buy with our eyes and not with our hearts. You would think we were Hollywood celebs at the Academy Awards complete with tuxes/gowns and repeat plastic surgery. The Jamie Curtises of the world are few and far between. This is particularly true of loudspeakers. We are all guilty of it, myself included. Who wants to live with something-within our control- that is esthetically unpleasing? The Wilsons look like ugly refrigerators to some, but to many they appear to be technical marvels. This has been the calling card for the most prominent speaker brands since the 70's when Playboy's adoption of high-end audio as a worldly man's pursuit emerged. These days it's the likes of Magico, Estelon, YG, and Acora. Not so long ago it was B&W, Avalon, Sonus Faber, and Wilson. The false premise is that technology is the critical factor when it comes to transducers-that cutting edge drivers, crossovers, and enclosures are the answer to all we are presently missing and searching for. After 45 years in this hobby I have grown increasingly disgusted with Stereophile and its "house favorite brands". There was a time when if Krell came out with a new product it had to be reviewed, same with Atkinson's dear buddy Anthony Michaelson's Musical Fidelity products and.....anything Wilson. To my knowledge Wilson has graced the cover of Stereophile no less than ten times. And as someone else remarked already, 98% of Stereophile's reviews proclaim the product to be the best thing ever, much like their rival publications. Atkinson is a broken record when it comes to any tube amp and his proclamations that "it remains unknown if the reviewer loved this amp despite it's high distortion or because of it" and his sycophantic predisposition in favor of accelerometer-approved inert cabinets. He is at once an incredibly intelligent engineer and a dumbass as to the aspects of sound that can not be measured. Is there a point here? Probably not, other than "same old song and dance". |
You are so right about that @fsonicsmith , and I have been guilty of it as well. I clearly recall buying a mint set of JBL Array 1400 speakers that I thought I would like sonically (I couldn't hear them before buying) They had been well reviewed by Larry Greenhill and measured well, and I liked horns too, so it seemed like a good fit. On top of that, I loved the looks. When I received them, they were good, but to my ears not as good as my Klipsch Epic CF4's. I did sell them, but I kept them for a couple of months longer because of the way they looked. |
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