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Wilson Audio Duette / Custom Crossover Upgrade

 

Stereophile review from 2012:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/wilson-audio-specialties-duette-loudspeaker

Specifications: Two-way, reflex-loaded bookshelf loudspeaker with separate crossover enclosure. 
Drive-units: 8" cone woofer, 1" silk-dome tweeter. 
Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m/kHz. (Note: Look at this spec compared to the measurements below from Danny at GR-Research)
Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum impedance: 3.96 ohms at 3.1kHz. 
Recommended amplifier power: >20W.
Dimensions: 18.4" H by 9.4" W by 13.75" D. Weight: 39 lbs.
Finish: Automotive paints in non-metallic black, Diamond Black, Dark Titanium, Desert Silver, and Argento Silver Twelve.
Price: $13,900/pair plus $1795/pair for matching stands. Approximate number of dealers: 50.
Manufacturer: Wilson Audio Specialties, 2233 Mountain Vista Lane, Provo, UT 84606. Tel: (801) 377-2233. Fax: (801) 377-2282. 
Web: www.wilsonaudio.com. 

"Overall, however, the Wilson Audio Duettes produced a sound that allowed all the music I listened to during my visit to communicate very effectively.—John Atkinson"

===================


I own a pair of Wilson Audio Duette speakers. I found a pair after hearing them at a buddy’s home, who also owns a pair of Wilson Audio Alexia. I thought they were different, cool... sounded BIG. I like 2-way speakers... why not?

Living with them... the Duette are extremely "resolving"... so much "resolution" that I found I needed to listen to them way off axis... speakers spread far apart / pointed straight ahead. With it being a 2-way with 8" woofer, it’s unique. It plays BIG, and is well made... except for the crossover, and the fact that it wants to melt my face.

So, what to do? Well, I sent one of them to Danny Richie at GR-Research. I’ve dealt with Danny before and it’s been a pleasure. One thing Danny will do is measure the speaker you send him, tell you what’s wrong with it, and design a new crossover for it - for Free. There’s no fee for that... you just buy the parts from him and you get a schematic. Fair deal, no doubt.

What Danny found with the Duette is eye opening. The reason the speaker sounds so forward is because the crossover was designed with no baffle step compensation. See the measurements below and the big variance between the low end up thru the midrange volume / highs and explains why they sound so FORWARD and IN YOUR FACE.

So, a new crossover was designed... here is how that has turned out, so far. One issue with the front baffle of the speaker is actually the foam on the front, that is meant to "help". The circular cutout for the foam (not the felt around the tweeter) is contributing to some diffraction / unevenness. I’m going to play with building up the area around the tweeter to smooth that "step" on the front baffle. I’ll measure the difference and see if it helps.

New Measurements for the crossover designed by Danny Richie:

Old Vs New Crossover Measurement

 

New Crossover Driver Response

Spectral Decay

 

Issue with the foam around the tweeter...

Another "Interesting" thing... there are 2 different umbilical cords for attaching the external Novel crossover to the Duette. The manual states the following about their use, and threatens warranty coverage if not used properly:

 

Umbilicals in Question... one for use with "Free Space" resistors and the other for use with "Near Wall" resistors. Different resistors are provided to adjust tweeter output.

So, Danny measured the 2 different umbilicals, to see whether there was a difference. Well, at least in terms of sound... there was ZERO difference.

The language in the manual and this measurement was disappointing, to be kind.

So, on to new crossovers. They are currently being built. I am going to make a custom enclosure for them as they will remain external from the Duette enclosure, like the original design. There will be significant differences in how they connect to the Duette, their orientation, etc. Here is the progress:

 

jim2
pwerahera
107 posts
 

I don't think stereophile review of this speaker is great. Summary says Sophia 3 is better value. Whenever the reviewer bring another model into the summary, the model reviewed is pretty much a dead duck. And your own experience says very much the same.

I don't know if I want to spend over $10k for a speaker and then have to redesign the crossover.  For its size, it has a 3dB bandwidth of 30 Hz to 25kHz. I know some big floor standing speakers which doesn't go as low as 30 Hz. It is unfortunate that it sounds in you face or too forward. I don't like that kind of sound for the type of music I enjoy.

I hope your new crossover gets the job done.

jim2 OP
153 posts
 

 

@audioman58

IHave been doing speaker Xovers for years ,the resistor brand ,and type of capacitor has a lot to sayin it’s voicing , path audio make one of my 2 favorite resistors $30 each vs the cheap $5 ceramic type in many speakers also the capacitor will make the biggest change in voicing the sound .

Thanks for sharing. Danny definitely promotes using good parts. I don't have experience with swapping different parts in and out, so I'll play with that here and there.  (This isn't the only speaker I'm playing with) One of his guys has been playing with more exotic parts in their NX-Studio speaker he has. You mention the Path resistors so this may be of interest to you. Well, he picked up some of those and found they have steel caps on the end that enjoy magnetism. Danny has had good luck with the resistors I’m using, and I don’t expect I’ll be buying any Path Audio resistors.

Picture Link: Path Audio Resistor / Magnet

 

do you have a Soft dome tweeter ,or metal dome .

You can read about the speaker in the Stereophile article, Wilson site, etc. They are Scan-Speak soft dome tweeters with Scan-Speak 8" woofer.

jim2 OP
153 posts
 

@pwerahera 

I don't think stereophile review of this speaker is great. Summary says Sophia 3 is better value. Whenever the reviewer bring another model into the summary, the model reviewed is pretty much a dead duck. And your own experience says very much the same.

I don't know if I want to spend over $10k for a speaker and then have to redesign the crossover.  For its size, it has a 3dB bandwidth of 30 Hz to 25kHz. I know some big floor standing speakers which doesn't go as low as 30 Hz. It is unfortunate that it sounds in you face or too forward. I don't like that kind of sound for the type of music I enjoy.

I hope your new crossover gets the job done.

Thanks for your feedback.  Fortunately, I bought these used.  They have a lot of good qualities.  I like the drivers, the cabinet is well made (needs some tweak around the foam on baffle), etc.  They just need some better balance and I think they will be exceptional.  Very cool and "different" for what a normal stand mount speaker with routine 6.5" woofer.  I'm optimistic they are going to turn out very nice. 

jim2 OP
153 posts
 

@hilde45 

Yeah --it's not scoffing. You don't really understand Fritz. He's a master speaker maker and has been doing it 40 years. He's a boutique maker and has very high standards. Others here who know Fritz will testify to the dis-analogy between Fritz and most companies, especially those trading (to some degree) on bling. 

Thanks for your feedback.  I'm glad you like his speakers, and I mean that. 

waytoomuchstuff's avatar
waytoomuchstuff
1,008 posts
 

What!!!!??  Take a perfectly good expensive speaker and "mess" with it!!??  This is like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa!

Oh, the humanity!!

I like to use marine grade 1/4" epoxy for our custom crossover boards.  After performing speaker/crossover mods, I look forward to the moment when we sit the customer down for the big reveal.  To borrow a line from Doc Brown (Back to the Future): "When this baby hits 88 decibels, you're going to hear some serious s---!!"

Have fun. 

 

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