$27,500 for whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???

The paint job on my vpi aries 1 ,says it all about what paint might cost .

WILSON makes some very expensive speakers, they advertise them as a cost-no-object product, and one of the best manufacturers in the world.
I'm sure the paint job involves many hours of prep work and their employees (in Utah) make a very good wage. For me, the contradiction comes from their stating how well the present line performs, while they are already working on re-designing them at the factory for the next upgrade. The availability of "newer technology", or some new cabinet material is already in the works, and so you're "obligated" to come by after 3-4 years and audition the V-2, then the 3, and so on. This all happens way too quickly while other companies stick by their designs for much longer intervals. You may want to know what was so wrong with the original SOTA speaker you paid so much for. As for the Chronosonic, I would have put the bass-speakers in a separate inclosure and re-work the Tower-of-Pizza design so it looks like it "might" look half-as-good as the original WAMM did.

Think positively, it could be worse, it could be $27,000 paint upgrade charge per speaker, rather than per pair.  It is per pair, right?

I just remembered something that kinda put things into prospective.  My elderly neighbor had her entire house painted 2 years ago both inside and out, as well as her garage.  The house is around 1800 sq. ft., 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths and the garage is a standard 2 car structure.  She paid the painters $12,000.
I would've done it for half.  And Wilson wants $27,500 to paint 2 boxes. 

@french_fries , "For me, the contradiction comes from their stating how well the present line performs, while they are already working on re-designing them at the factory for the next upgrade. The availability of "newer technology", or some new cabinet material is already in the works, and so you’re "obligated" to come by after 3-4 years and audition the V-2, then the 3, and so on. This all happens way too quickly while other companies stick by their designs for much longer intervals. You may want to know what was so wrong with the original SOTA speaker you paid so much for."



Great point, valid today as it ever has been.

Some might say that the whole of audio is nothing more than a unhealthy mixture of the Emperor’s New Clothes regularly doused in very rare and precious snake oil. Nothing more - nothing less.

Do today’s Wilson speakers sound any better than yesterday’s? Does anything sound better than the original 1959 Quads? Is the LS3/5 still the best bookshelf speaker ever built? Are box speakers (monkey coffins) now caught in the leaping frog puzzle syndrome where only increasingly minuscule forward leaps are possible?

Are Harbeth the only company willing to admit their designs today are only marginally better than those from the 1990s?

Are we all being suckered onto a never-ending merry go round ride? Eventually arriving to find we are hardly any further along than when we started.

Perhaps the lucky ones were those who had assembled a system they could enjoy and then forgot about the quagmire infested world of audio. Perhaps they found when they returned to have a new look a few years later that nothing much ever changes.

Here’s Daryl Wilson talking about where he’s coming from. My take is that he sounds more like he’s Tim Cook than Steve Jobs. Not sure what deodorant he’s using, but nice suit and tie, nevertheless.

Should keep the shareholders happy.

https://youtu.be/JTnaSrIIW2s