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Wilson Audio's New Sound?

So, I did a search on "Wilson Audio" here on Agon to determine if this would be a redundant thread, and I could not quickly determine that, so if this is old news or a recent rehash, then I apologize in advance.

I attended a recent open house at an audio dealer in the Seattle area and two of the display rooms featured Wilson Audio speakers. From my experience at this and other dealers around the country, this was the last room I had any interest in visiting. My general opinion of Wilson Audio speakers was that they were impeccably crafted, large, heavy, accurate, a bit on the bright side, Silver, very expensive, and they generally failed to connect with me emotionally regardless of the equipment or material driving them.

So imagine my pleasant surprise when at this recent open house, the two different sets of Wilson's (Sophia 2 and Sasha) were my favorite speakers. The electronics ahead of the Wilson's were from Audio Research in both cases. I mean, these speakers REALLY sounded good.

A few days later I was reading the latest copy of Stereophile, and low and behold in his column Art Dudley was waxing poetic about his new found love for Wilson Audio Sophia 2's. He, like me, apparently has recently found Wilson religion. Unlike me, he has access to Dave Wilson for an interview and Peter McGrath for a visit to his home to personally set their speakers up for his long term demo - at least one of the perks of a monthly deadline. But, also like me, he apparently really didn't much care for the sound of Wilson's prior to his recent encounter with the Sophia's. Anyway, for a bighorn and planner guy like Dudley to go over the top for a (albeit super sexy epoxy painted, exotic material, custom driver) boxy speaker is news.

Why? Without plagiarizing Dudley completely, he is convinced the current crop of Wilson's are not your rich brother's Wilson's of a few years ago. According to Mr. Wilson himself (secondhand via Mr. Dudley) the company has a new tuning method for their new model speakers based on more "real world" listening conditions. Huh. All I can say is, whatever they are doing it is working. Big Time.

This also makes me think about your rich brother and his slightly older Wilson's tuned for listening in an anechoic chamber but placed in his plush and acoustically imperfect Italianate Manse. Has Mr. Wilson deposited brother Rich at the doorstep of obsolescence? Just wondering, because if I had the old Wilson's, I would be wanting the new ones, like yesterday. Also wondering if there is an "upgrade" path for their older speakers in terms of crossover parts or settings that can "soften" their delivery to be more "real world" friendly.

Anyway, perhaps I am just looking for the dark side to radically improving your product. For an unapologetic bottom fisherman who trolls for yesterday's (more like the last century's) high end gems, like my European sedan that was first purchased by someone else about eight jobs and two degrees ago, I will have to wait quite a while for the current crop of Wilson's to hit my price point. And I really can hardly wait.
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knownothing OP
1,542 posts
 
Stringreen,

I am not insulted by your comments, but I do happen to disagree with you.

Sometimes live acoustics sound like crap to me, to point where I am distracted from enjoying the content of the performance. In many cases because of the control provided by the recording studio, or the effects intended by the artists and the engineers, recorded music should not sound like a live venue or performance, it should sound "better", or at least different. Not sure I expect hi fi to sound like "live" music in every case, but I do expect it to sound good, as if I am getting the essence of what the artist and engineer intended, if not a close facsimile of a recording studio, bar, concert hall or stadium environment recreated in my living room. Do the instruments and voices have pitch, texture and pace that is convincing? If yes, then good enough for me.

Generally, most of us admit that hi fi is fraught with compromises. To me, really good high end systems exhibit fewer obvious compromises, and can convincingly recreate a broader range of recorded settings and instruments, and many of those recordings were never intended to sound live, with added room coloration, crowd noise, etc. Some people love Ohm speakers because they claim they sound more like "natural" or "live" music to them. To me, they make everything sound like "live music", and sometimes that is just downright confusing. Some people love Maggies and Quads because they have "life-like" midrange you can cut with a knife. I can see where they are coming from, but then they disappear when amplified bass enters the room, and I don't mean in a good way. I had always felt Wilson's quest for accuracy lacked soul, but they could always do a convincing bass guitar and leading edge thwack of a snare drum. In my mind, the "best" speakers (amps, sources and wires too) are capable of doing everything better than average, and maybe a few things really, really well. The Wilson's I've heard recently now have a bit of midrange richness and presence added to their repertoire, and I heartily applaud the effort.
elberoth2's avatar
elberoth2
1,223 posts
 
I was one Wilson hater myslef. That was before I heard the Maxx, and then the Sophia 1 and X-2, whcih to my ears represent the 'new sound' era for Wilson Audio.

Right now I own ... Sophia II and I'm in love with them. So much in fact that I have ordered Sasha. My previous speaker was Avalon Eidolon Vision.
beerdraft
198 posts
 
I to was one who didn't care for older Wilson speakers until I heard a set that Peter Mcgrath set up and it was very nice and surprised me and these were older Wilson Sophia I believe. I recently went to Illinois on business and went into a hi-end shop and auditioned the Wilson Sasha along with BAT electronics and I now have sold my entire system and nearly duplicated what I heard there. I love the Sasha!!! I have a friend who is a retired musician and he has always been about Wilson and now owns the Maxx 3. He went to CES this year and said the 4 best rooms he heard all had Sasha in them. As far as the live performance comment, I think it was off base as well. A live performance can be mis-leading to, they all go through some type of amplifying system and have to be properly set up to or it just isn't enjoyable other than just the atmosphere of being at a performance. Also at a live performance there is better seating than others for listening. I can enjoy a performance at the Fox Theater in the best seats much more than in any other seats. I like to say that my system puts me in-touch with the mic feed, forget about the feed getting amplified though something that can screw it up. I am able to forget about the recording and the gear playing it. That is what I heard in Illinois and is why I sold my entire system and bought a new one. Nothing in my system was here 7 months ago. The music is now unbelievable and I love it for sure.
rhyno's avatar
rhyno
649 posts
 
i own WP6s and despite their well known strengths, i hated the sound stock---too bright, etched, disjointed, aggressive.

adding the DIY equivalent of Walker HDLs to the Watt changed that (numerous visitors to my rig all corroborated my findings). anyone who owns older versions of Wilson speakers really should give this tweak a try.

have not heard the Sasha's or Maxx3s, but felt the 8s were quite good, and a considerable jump from the stock performance of my speakers, though a small improvement over the tweaked WP6s.
jpspock
14 posts
 
Has anyone heard Sasha's with Pass Labs XA??
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