WLM Diva Monitor -- Personal Experience?

Hi, I have Diva Monitors with the Diva Control unit in my "SET the Control" system and am perfectly pleased with them.

These are great speakers that deliver a dense and joyful musical experience. Superlative timing with immediate response, very dynamic, very fast and with excellent soundstaging they have high goose-bump potential. I see you have a multi-mode tube amp with healthy output in ultralinear: Perfect for this speaker! With its high sensitivity the triode mode will be sufficient, normally. But this speaker is such fun you may want to let it off the leash now and then. Also, if you insert the Diva Control you give away some db's depending on its setting, so there again the amp's choice of mode will be a blessing. I am using a 2x8W triode design myself but that is enough because I run it at low volume in the bedroom, together with the Diva Control at +4db that ties it all nicely together for the purpose.

Talking about Diva Control: this is a fantastic (tonally clean!) device to make this a real big speaker without having to hide a sub somewhere. If it's in your budget, consider it seriously. If not, you can always add it later.

One word of warning: the Diva's very hard suspended paper drivers really need break-in time, please consider that if you hear brand new ones.

For the last three years, one of my "must hear" places at the Munich High End has been WLM: they never cease to amaze, the Scala is another magnificent case in point!

Hi Kclone, good to see you on this thread! Not a surprise though, as with our other Sacred Beasts with WLM it's the music that counts!

Enjoy!
Karel

Hi, I have not been able to hear the floorstander in my own system. Nevertheless, my recollection under different circumstances is that the overall characteristics of both models are very much the same, which is probably not a surprise given they have the same coaxial drivers configuration. The "gospel" would suggest that the floor ported design and additional air in the floorstander deliver deeper bass, the larger cabinet on the other hand may store more energy leading to a less fast reponse. I can can put your mind at rest as to both. With the Diva Control unit you can achieve a similar frequency response with the monitor (btw if necessary you can also use the Diva Control with the floorstander). The floorstander IS a fast speaker as well, IF it is less so than the monitor, then I have not been able to distinguish it when I heard it.
Bottom line: if your room is fairly large, go for the floorstanders, they will deliver deeper F3 without need for the Control unit, thus retaining the entire glorious 97dB. Otherwise, I don't think you will find the monitor lacking but you will probably want to use the Diva Control and that will lower the available sensitivity of the speakers. In both cases, you will have a fast (but not nervous), neutral (yes, the Control unit will explicitly not change that) and extremely musical (buzzword, but the best to describe the essence of the sound) performance.

No experience with different stands. Mine are the Diva Stand 1 Exclusives that are pictured with different spikes on the website. I advice to fill them with sand (3/4 up only, I had a definite feeling the sound became sluggish when filled entirely).

As to the amp, I happen to be an “old” Luxman fan myself (the L-410 was a long time companion) and without having heard any combination with WLM speakers, I guess they should match wonderfully (audition if you can, if it were only for the fun of having the Lux a few days in your system). Apart from the tone controls, you may find the integrated phono pre a real treat. Then again, I have to echo Markus’s words, the Divas love tubes. Remember also they come with treble control and then there is the optional Diva Control for the bass. Sorry for adding more complexity to the overall equation there!

Sorry Vin. Anyway, at this point I most surely won't make it any more difficult since you already have Almarro and the new WLM amps on your short list. Imho, no need to look any further! I have heard amps of both manufacturers with various WLM speakers. Both offer terrific value! They are superb in respect of sonics, build quality AND are symbiotic with WLM speakers, crème de la crème, nothing less.
This is as exciting as if I were reconfiguring my own system; I personally would go for the A318B but that is probably because I have this "thing" about NOS tubes, so these old Soviet 6C33C's really float my boat. Would you have a possibility to demo both?
Karel

Vin,
I'm upset to hear about the frustration you're experiencing with the Diva's. Probably not much solace at this very moment, but I reconfirm they are great speakers and wil remain long-term residents in my system. I did not have to deal with the problem you describe since I bought mine used. There was just a matter of bringing them back from "the cold" the first few days. Driven with a 300B SET amp I am enjoying these speakers with music from the likes of Marcus Miller, Charlie Haden, Jack Bruce or John Patitucci, not the kind of thing where you want to compromise on the quality of bass. I do use the Diva Control which is probably helpful but not the make-or-break detail. Hope you'll get the problem fixed soon.
Karel