Wilson Audio Haters

I am a fan of Wilson speakers having owned Sophias, Watt puppy 7s, Sashas and next up, Alexias. The Yvettes and Sabrinas are fairly  forgiving and partner well with a wide range of electronics. As for the upper ranks of Wilson speakers (Sasha, Alexia, Alexx, Alexandria), unless they are set up properly with synergistic partnering equipment, they can sound cavernous, shallow and/or shrill. But with the right equipment and proper setup, they can be sublime in all respects.

Bdp24
I must say that if you have heard the Watt Puppy series in a way that shortened the height of images, you did not hear them properly set up.  I  too am very sensitive to speakers that foreshorten image height. (I know that for some listeners image height is a nonissue).
Indeed, that very problem prevented me from trading up last year to a $50,000 pair of speakers from a competing well known manufacturer which exceeded the performance of Sashas in other important respects. I stood up and the sound was almost completely below me. I agree that this can destroy the suspension of disbelief.  Certainly line source speakers are the best at image height and, of course, nothing beats the placement of drivers in a tall speaker. But for a speaker under 4 feet tall, the Watt Puppys and Sashas project image height as well or better than most.
 Of course, my definition of proper image height may be different than yours if you believe the singers voice should be 5' from the floor in you listening room. 

dlcockrum:
No offense taken.To put the matter in better context, as I listened to them from at least 15 feet away in a seated position, the sound from the speakers seemed to be noticeably even with and below me. This caused me to not feel enveloped by the sound, a feeling one should feel with any high end floor standing speakers. In many years of shows, visits with dealers, etc.in which I have heard hundreds if not thousands of speakers, I had never felt this sensation before. In fact, I had never considered image height as an element of the sound field prior to this although I was aware of its salutary presence when listening to line source or other large (6 ft+) speakers.
In any event, I stood up merely to confirm for myself that the sensation was not an illusion. It clearly was not as it sounded as if the music was stuck underneath a shelf. I have never judged a speaker before or since by standing up as I have never felt that sensation again and I don’t listen to music in a standing position.
bdp24:
You are absolutely correct--the speakers in question were the Vandy 7s. It seems you may be attuned to this sensation. I can say that I’ve heard of Brooks Berdan’s shop and it is universally held in high regard. Nevertheless, I have not heard this problem with any WP or Sasha and certainly haven’t heard it at Innovative Audio in NYC or in my listening room where WP 7s and then Sashas have been in residence for a combined 14 years. That being said, if you favor line source and some planars, I could see why the Sashas (and probably quite a few others) don’t work for you in that regard.
I wish all a happy, healthy etc.

The respect that Wilson receives from the audio press is clearly a conspiracy between writers at Stereophile, The Absolute Sound, HiFi+, HiFi News and Record Review, Analogplanet, The Audio Beat and others. I think the editors of those publications all get together at a remote location and agree that Wilson speakers of all stripes have to consistently win awards, or one of them might be "left out" and lose its audiophile publication club status.
Don’t they know that the alleged composite x and s material that Dave uses are gimmicks so that he can put Ferrari paint on the enclosure and sell cheap paper (pulp composite) drivers and silk dome tweeters for outrageous prices? Doesn’t Dave know that to be considered a bespoke speaker company one has to use ceramic or aluminum drivers, beryllium tweeters or diamond encrusted versions (oh, he tested both types but they did not work for him) to be deemed great speakers? After all, those are all faster drivers with no downside. (No knock on companies that employ exotic materials in their drivers. Some of those indeed are great speakers.) But a great loudspeaker consists of infinitely more than that. It’s all in the implementation.
The most important product produced by the speaker is the sound it generates. Is it natural? Is it accurate? Does it produce real sounding dynamic contrasts? etc. Many manufacturers still believe that, on balance, some of the more traditional materials still work better together than exotics. Some are bespoke speaker companies. Wilson is one of them.
I believe Wilson will always be a perfect target for those who think they know how to design a great sounding speaker. (You’ve got to be kidding me, the midrange in inverted acoustic polarity and the woofer in positive?-- this just can’t be done well.) But for those of us who agree with the likes of John Atkinson who wrote that if he could retire tomorrow, he would purchase a pair of Alexias to listen to for the rest of his years --well, we just don’t understand.
But Bo knows. But that’s only Bo Jackson.

Bo should meet Audiotroy who works for Audio Doctor from Jersey City NJ. I call that shop the king of audio hyperbole. Whatever they are selling at any time (and that changes like the wind) is the best ever based upon the best engineering and is, simply, well undeniably the best there is at 3x, 5x or whatever the cost. Audiotroy pollutes threads with claims of superior knowledge and superior experience and then spouts pure unadulterated salesmanship. Audiotroy is pushing the new Paradigm speakers which I have heard and are worthy of some praise.  
 Bo does the same thing as he relentlessly pushes Monitor speakers which I can also attest are excellent speakers for the $ throughout the line. Bo is the king of a kind of vague, meandering, audio verbosity.
 BUT......
Many of us have auditioned many speakers with many combinations of electronics before making our choice. Many of us have selected speakers which we believe (as do many others) are superior to Paradigm's or Monitor's latest.
So----Wouldn't it be great if Audiogon limited Audiotroy's and Bo's membership to a special thread in which only they could participate. There they would be condemned forever to speak and sell only to each other. It would be sad and hilarious. But at least we would be entertained by them instead of bothered by them. 
I used to engage in threads with many of the members who are here for the right reasons---to share their joy, love and experience in this wonderful hobby which revolves around the love of music and how we hear it. But lately, I've come to feel like a bit of a hall monitor calling out the bad guys because I am so sick of blatantly close minded members who claim to have superior knowledge and spend their time lecturing others as to why their favorite brands are scientifically and factually superior to any other. They are not engineers and indeed often simply repeat the promotional highlights that are available to us on their brand's website. I hold in especially low regard audio salesmen who do this as they do not belong here.
Can I get a witness?  

As soon as Bo stops posting here, this thread will mercifully end. 

Quiz for all on this thread:
If a man is standing in the corner muttering to himself, do you engage him or walk away?