Wilson Speakers & Reviewers

Well, I'm sitting in front of Wilsons right now, and for about the last 8 years.  Sophia model 2's.  Prior to buying the Sophias, I was always a B&W guy - many pairs, several I still have - and the Sophias replaced 802 S3s in my main listening room (802s still in my home office after my DM1600's died).  I've never been impressed with the various iterations of the W/P (until Sasha - which I do love) as they, while very detailed, have a hollow sounding midrange to my ears, and are finicky to set up correctly.  Ditto with the Max lines, so I never considered Wilson until I demo'd the Sophias.  Loved them immediately - and couldn't afford the Sashas...sigh.  The strengths with all Wilsons are dynamics, imaging, and ability to play at very high SPLs without any congestion at all.  Not the best speaker for low volume (quiet) listening IMO, they need a bit of power to open up.

I've always run them on Meridian amplification, as I did the B&W 802s.  First with bridged 557s, then one in stereo when one died, and now with a G55 bridged after the other died.  I did try a number of Class D amps before the G55 and found some harshness / hardness in the vocals at higher SPLs that didn't manifest with the same amps and the 802s.  Not the easiest impedance curve.

I did not like the "Wilson sound" at all up to and including the Watt Puppy 6. They sounded hollow in the midrange as kiethahughes says above. But I loved the change in sound first appearing in the Sophia (which were my first Wilsons) which was warmer and more natural than the WP6. The WP7 (my second Wilsons) also had the newer, more natural, but still reasonably transparent  sound (although not the very last word in transparency), followed by the Sashas (my third) and now Sasha2 and Alexia2 (my fourth). I think the Alexia v2 was a big step up the transparency ladder but is unmistakably Wilson--natural, front stage yet dimensional and dynamic. Wilson makes a great product WHEN SET UP CORRECTLY. Set them up in a random fashion--and lose at least 60 percent of the characteristics that make them so popular.

It’s a great question.  

They are undoubtedly great speakers.   No question.  
 
But we have to be open to the idea in any industry that there is a symbiotic relationship between ‘influencers’ and manufacturers’ marketing departments.   A friend of mine works in the music industry.  He has a pair of £10k speakers and an £8k record deck, both donated to him.    And he isn’t even a prolific blogger.    

I work in marketing.  If I was marketing a known great product that I knew significant influencers wanted to own I would sure as hell ensure they owned it.   

Because of reputation, looks, and people believing that they have to sound good due to their price.

I’ve talked to many people who demoed their lineup, and all said they much prefer the KEF Blades and Revel Salon2/Studio2, and the measurements back that up. 

Fred;

“why do do people( reviewers) prefer Wilson?”

Yes, that is even a better question 

The thing I noticed is all the reviewers (appeared to ME) went thru a boat load of speakers , before ending up with Wilson

Wilson appears to be an end game....

there have been been a lot of good comments......

jeff