Wilson Audio Haters

@vassils

Agree about the wild claims by Bo. However, there are many here who claim to hear the horns of Valhalla with all manner of ridiculous tweaks. Many claim that audio equipment does NOT work properly until you find the “right” matching cable or “right” fuse or power cord and that the only way to get it close to right is to keep swapping out cables randomly until something takes your fancy. Of course, you can never get the set up completely right as the permutations are endless - so apparently you are just to keep on tweaking forever. The fact that equipment is supposed to be designed to work properly with any suitable cable or fuse and should be expected to work properly if equipment is of high enough quality; these facts are somehow lost on these folks. This allows the virtues to be lauded of all manner of finicky and completely unreliable gear.

Well, I agree with a lot of things said here, even with some of the high-level philosophy of the One and Only God of Audio (OOGA). But a quick fact check showed that the word of the OOGA is to be trusted less than the word of a car salesman. Nothing wrong with car salesmen but they are on the bottom of my trust list. I don’t want to use a dealer or an audio consultant even if he is the OOGA if he cannot be trusted. I don’t want to have anything to do with people who lie. All these promises and claims and at the end of 2017 - nothing! Since it is the end of the year, he would probably start saying the same things about 2018 now.

Some people like tweaking their systems. It’s their hobby. If you take this away from them (by putting the “perfect” components), they may even stop listening to music. Other people like to listen to music and don’t fiddle with their system. Yes, it would be nice to have objective measurements, but claiming that whatever that measurement shows would be better than your personal taste, and there is no such thing as personal taste anymore is a bunch of BS. It’s also a bunch of BS claiming to be the only person on the planet who can do something better than everyone else. It’s a bunch of BS to say that the sound in your shop is much better than any other shop in the world. Only mentally sick people do such claims. But I guess I am not saying anything new here. Sorry for lighting up the fire again. I am not planning to spend any more time on this topic. 

I'm not a Wilson hater but I've always thought they were conspicuous consumption for people with really bad taste.  

I avoid large midranges because they are directional at higher frequencies and are overly placement sensitive.  The 7" midrange in a 3+ way speaker is loony in my opinion.  It's bound to be a pain to get those things sounding right in a room.  I'll take the 3" dome on my ATCs or the 4" coax on my Thiels any day.  Both are also built by the company that makes the speakers rather than just bought from some other driver manufacturer.

..I'll Get Home Pl500ii Next Week !!!! So, there is an evaluation !!

i usually don’t respond to foolish comments in the forums but jon5912 gets an award for one of the worst I’ve seen in a while. He’s not a Wilson hater but rambles on about how loony their designs are while expressing himself to be a man of superior aesthetic sensibilities. 
Two things are obvious. He can’t afford them and he either hasn’t heard them all or doesn’t understand that the sum of all parts is what matters. 
I own a pair of Yvette’s that I find pleasing to look at while admiring their top shelf build.  I am mesmerized daily by their extraordinary musicality. I can’t speak to any other Wilson product but I’ve never considered the Yvette a product for people ‘with really bad taste’.
Your post sir, was in really bad taste and smells of class envy. 

4425,
I've read jon5912's comments and they don't tell me anything about his financial status. Why can't individuals have an opinion about components without "some" of us resorting to personal attacks. When I had Sasha 1's my friend said, "they looked liked garbage cans" and he hated them. He could afford them, he just had different taste and it didn't bother me.

My comment is what I think of the brand.  Of course those who are emotionally involved with Wilson will always claim I'm critical because I can't afford them.  I couldn't care less.  That's the response that fans of preposterously overpriced products will always have.  

A local dealer sells Wilson and I've been in a room with them a number of times but I never asked to listen to them.  They're all the things I avoid.  Ported, with a reputation for bloated bass.  Big midrange with a reputation for difficult placement.  Expensive aesthetics that are not to my taste.  There's just nothing about them that interests me. 

“conspicuous consumption for people with really bad taste”
hmm. I would consider that a personal attack on a ton of people involved in this hobby.
bad taste is relative of course but high end audio reeks of conspicuous consumption. I often feel guilty for what I’ve spent until I turn it on. 

The thread is "Wilson Audio Haters."  If you're offended by criticism of Wilson products and you're here it's because you want to be offended.  You should be thanking me.

Conspicuous consumption isn't what I'm in it for.  I agree that the hobby is full of it.  I look for the best performance for the money.  I don't care what electronics look like at all.  Speakers matter some because they need to be able to be in a living space without being a big eyesore. To me there's just a bare minimum for speakers.  I've never made a decision based off of looks, though. 

Wilson är mycket bra högtalare!!

not offended at all as for my personal desires the Yvette hits the spot. might not for someone else.
no more to say on this topic. 

When shopping for speakers, I had a budget of $15k. I auditioned a number of good, well know brands (not all) including Wilson, B&W, Magnepan, Golden Ear, Martin Logan, Focal, Sonus Faber and others. None of them satisfied me and was a big enough step up from the Sonus Fabers I had already owned. The Sasha 2 immediately caused me to double my budget and to my ears, nothing else would do without blowing the budget even more. It does not mean I felt the other speakers were junk and their owners have bad taste. They just did not stir me enough to motivate a purchase.
As far as build quality of Wilson cabinets, it is obvious that few surpass. Detail and involvement are also hard to beat in many but not all of their price points. Yeah, they may not have the latest "state of the art fad driver" but most of the speakers are very well integrated and you are either a fan or not of the Wilson sound and looks. Most who are, love the speakers and move up the line or stay put. If you have not heard the speakers, (like Jon) how can you pontificate with authority? As with any product, taste is a personal preference. There is no best.Who cares what others think of the sound, cost, esthetics, design or what they surmise what they will sound like without hearing or owning them? Does denigrating another’s choice validate our own or make you feel better in the slightest way? If it does, I am sorry for you. Medications and therapists may help with self esteem issues.
Humans are so... predictable...and sometimes ignorant.

He is just rationalizing. Typical biased opinions. They bad mouth a product and refuse to admit they have never taken the time to listen to it. Not even once as it might change their extreme prejudices against that product. I know a few people that can't admit when you are wrong or being plain stubborn. The funny thing is I used to visit my friend Brooks Berdan's store and could listen to Wilson's anytime I cared to listen. I even "bad mouthed" the Watt Puppy's in front of him once when I owned Martin Logan Odyssey electrostatic speakers. I will admit a lot of it was because I couldn't afford them at that time. After getting divorced fast forward and I listened to them again and was impressed this time. I sold the Martin Logans and used the WP7's for about 7 years. I then moved up to the Maxx 3 speakers. I have been happy ever since.

Hello, my first impression of Pl 500 !!! great sound and good detail! I just wonder how long the recording period they need?You can also play very high without distruktion naturally and very well Pondus the stage

For me personally it’s the combination of high price and the blinding, paralyzing, cancerous, caustic and ungodly level of hideousness. They truly are monstrosities that should be taken hunting and then "accidentally" shot in the face with bird shot at extremely close range.

They truly are the type of speakers that you have to listen to with your eyes closed, not because you are taken away into another dimension by their sound quality but merely to avoid going blind.

These are the type of speakers that you love with the lights off.

Sure there are many "ugly" speakers out there, but Wilson audio the are champions  with complete dominance over the category.

So stooch, you don't like them?

Just kidding.

ozzy

Definitely a taste regarding their looks. There is something intimidating and robot-like in their appearance. I especially dislike the big ones in bright colors like orange or yellow. 

I've had to fix a few and they are a picky speaker too. Watt Puppies. Both times the bass sucked after someone replaced the surrounds. Both times the fix was surrounds from the right guy and then redo the work.. Sounded like they were suppose to.

Wilsons are concept speakers, plain and simple. Few follow the Wilson build ideas just because of the cost. 

They are an eye full. Cylon for sure.

I've never heard Wilson speakers, but it's good to see that McIntosh isn't the only product around here that seems to get a good thrashing! Probably like McIntosh, most have never owned Wilson, so aren't really qualified to say much about them. 

the monitor audio platinum series is much much better than the Wilson anything, more three-dimensional airy spacious layering of the sound everything is much better and unfortunately the Wilsons are ugly as hell. they have not changed the look of the speakers in forever, I sure wouldn't want those ugly things in my room.

The Wilson house sound has simply never appealed to me. Even if it did, IMHO, this line doesn't offer good value which is important to me.

I have heard many different models over the decades. Although the SQ has improved over the years, it's just not for to me.

That's why it's critical that you audition speakers in a decent environment before you buy. We all have different ears and different tastes.

With that said, I wish any US company much success, Wilson included. It is certainly a well run company.

Wilsons have only sounded good to me in the instances where they were being driven by tubes. Of course it wasnt enough power but low levels sounded very good.

I think that Wilsons spend too much time on certain aspects of the design while ignoring others. I dont think as a whole they are not well engineered products.

I also dont like the fact that they are used by so many reviewers. Makes me think that Wilson is very good at playing the game that seems to be increasingly necessary to get positive mentions in the mags.

But in the end it really doesnt mean a thing. If you like Wilsons then Wilsons it should be. 

I don’t hate Wilsons, but maybe one of their dealers... 😂

Seriously though, conventional speakers with high end drivers in very heavy boxes at a serious markup. I don’t mind markups, but damn, Wilson really makes a lot of money on the badge and cabinets.

So you look at these big speakers with big price tags and shake your head going "no one else could charge so much." And then you run into Gobel high end... ooooh boy.

On the other hand Arion Audio, Legacy may be expensive but offer pretty high value.

Stop and shop supermarket has a robot that patrols the isles. It resembles a Magico speaker, fugly.