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Are Wilson speakers

I have posted under the Amp thread the fact that my Krell KMA 160s are too "mean, lean and sterile" in my sytem and have blamed everything but the speakers. I am currently deciding between a number of tube amps (Atma-sphere, VTL-450, Wolcott, etc - they must have balanced inputs and fill a 23 X 15 room with high resonance. Then I assembled a baby system in a 12X12 room - Jolida 302B (mod Underwood HiFi) and Totem Sig 1's, Naim CD 5, Nordost interconnects and Poeima! speaker wire) and it sounds magical, musical, engaging and glorious. So I blamed the amp only. Now, after listening again and again, and running upstairs and downstairs, to compare, a horrible thought struck me: Maybe it is the Wilson WP 3:2's that are not musical and engaging, rather than all the associated front end and power.........obviously, this is a reluctant conclusion, given all the positives written everywhere about the Wilson speakers and the expense in getting not only a new amp, but new speakers as well - let alone wife factor. So I will change the amp - since it seems to be a universal consensus that the Krell KMA 160s are "lean and clinical" (every dealer I speak to says so and I must have spoken to dozens this last month)and listen to the Wilsons with an Atma-sphere or VTL-450.
I cannot get a Sound Labs or Quad 989 because of wife factor and need the same/similar footprint as the Wilsons - I have seen the thread of someone looking for a pair of speakers under $15K, so will look at those 4 speakers - or try to hear them.
I dont want to bash Wilsons, as I believe they are a wonderful company (I will tell a Dave Wilson story on another thread that confirms what a great guy he is..........) but need A'goners help/input again to sort out my musical non-bliss with this expensive system so that I get the same musicality, involvement and engagement that I dont feel with it, but do with a baby system, costing a tenth or less, in my main listening room.
Thanks in advance for your comments on attaining musical improvement - this and a warm, engagement with reduction of the clinical, sterile sound is the goal.......

System:
Mark Levinson Ref 32
Esoteric DV-50
Krell KMA 160
WWP 3:2
PAD Dominus, Poiema!, PAD Venustas cables
BMI Shark, Michael Wolf PCs
PS HO/HC
springbok10
downunder
1,329 posts
 
Try listening to Vienna Acoustic Mahler speakers approx 10k new. These are full range speakers with a bit of warmth and very musical sounding.
WAF is very good - these speakers take up a smallish footprint and are furniture quality finish. Should go well with your SS amps.

cheers shane
jfrech's avatar
jfrech
1,816 posts
 
As a Watt/puppy 6 owner, I can say they are a very difficult speaker to get right. Part of the problem is they are so damned revealing of everything. Placement and room treatment being a very big issue. Part of what you are hearing is like resolution in vision. Far away she looks great, up close and umm..revealing, she may give you a different opinion. Your Wilson's are giving you more information than you may want, without proper set up.

A tube amp might help, might change some things, but before you blow a lot of $$'s, really focus on placement and room treatment. Maybe spending some $$'s with Rives Audio or a similar service is your best choice. If you decide the Wilson's are the issue, the room treatment will still benefit what ever you choose...
dog_lover
23 posts
 
You must be willing to spend a lot of time with speaker location experimentation with the 3/2's to make them sound their best. And I mean as little as a 1/8" difference in toe in (comb filtering) or placement of the Watt on the Puppy. FYI, setting the Watt back about 1/8" from the lip of the Puppy for instance (time alignment) can make a big difference in tonal balance and in all areas of musical presentation of the Watt 3 Puppy 2. Also the Transparent 5.1 Puppy tail is a big improvement over the stock MIT Puppy Tail. Likewise, the Puppy Paws upgrade in regards to bass presentation is a big improvement as well. I would exhaust all of these relatively inexpensive options before buying any new components or cables otherwise you will NEVER get this speaker right.
kleech
129 posts
 
I think you have upgradeitis...not that there's anything wrong with that! In fact about 2 1/2 years ago, I felt the exact same thing having lived with WP 2/1's for about ten years. I was using them for the most part with older Rowland electronics and just couldn't get into the sound anymore. My first step was to change the amp...in this case to newer Rowlands. While this ameliorated my symptoms somewhat, a certain uneasiness with the sound persisted and in hindsight I think that move was a small but expensive mistake. To cut to the chase, I changed speakers to the Sophias and have since worked to optimize their performance. Because they present a more benign load, this allowed the use of lower powered, quality, tube amps which I think frankly is what will give you some of what you have in your smaller system without sacrificing the detail, transparency and dynamics that the Wilson's afford. This is simply the path I took and I am happy with it.

BTW, I used the KMA 160's for a short while with an ARC SP15 preamp and Martin Logan CLS II's. While this might appear to be an ear bleeder on print, it actually sounded very nice.
springbok10 OP
711 posts
 
Anybody compared the Verity Parsifals and JM Lab Utopias?
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