why are wilson speakers so highly regaurded.

thanks everyone for the responses. as for cornfedboy i have jm lab utopias. so i am not bashing wilson, just trying to figure out why the maxxes for instence are 40k and utopias 30k. why are the mezzos 14k and the 6.0s 20k. in all truth everything in high end is overpriced, but the reason i choose to talk about wilson is because i could not understand what is the big deal. lets take for instince , the second time i heard the grand slamms was in a store in miami. they were using top notch levinson all the way through. i first thought hey nice depth, lots of bass. something did not sound right. i got up walked around the room and found the surrond sound speakers to be playing. the sound stage collasped. then i found a sunfire sub playing. the bass was gone. now for 75k i better get a full range speaker. i would love to hear the x1s set up properly in a 2 channel system so i could give my opinon on what they can do. any body want to invite me over? i would love to be proven wrong.

I had owned B&W801 MatrixIII for years, but then bought Wilson Watt/Puppies 5.1 four years ago because the sound stage, imaging, dynamics ate B&W's lunch. The only thing they miss is the lowest octave of bass. However the bass produced is clean, articulate and detailed...very satisfying. Two weeks ago I upgraded to the MAXX, (fortunately due to the recession I got a screaming deal on a demo pair) and absolutely love them. Neutral, detailed VERY Dynamic from top to bottom, with all the bass I need. A superb speaker. I have heard the Grand Utopia's and Utopia's at shows and think they are fine, however, they were driven with tube equipment (I use solid state) and not it the best of rooms, so I can't give an honest opinion. However, the Wilson's cabinet material really does eliminate the cabinet sound other speakers suffer from and as a result really are neutral. Another commenter had it right. You must give Wilsons the finest eletronics possible because they will reveal all the flaws of your cabling, amps, preamp and source. Most people on this thread have probably never heard 'Wilson's setup right because when they are with the right components they are incredible. If you don't like the price, buy them used. As for why so many for sale, Wilson sells more than the others.

The dealer set up in Miami is criminal. And what you described is exactly my point. Wilson demands extreme care in setup and component matching.

I listen to Wilson speakers a lot. They are awesome speakers. Very focused and transparent. I own Piega's which are a different sound.It will depend on your room and your tastes. Check out the 6's and you may not buy another speaker. I also agree with a following post of eating the B&W's lunch

One more comment on a strength of Wilson speakers. They sound fantastic at every volume level. What is so amazing is when you turn them down low and you're still able to hear the full spectrum of sound. Try that the next time you demo them. No other speaker gets this part right. Other manufacturers require you to turn them up to get decent sound,at lower volumes the detail on top and bottom disappear.