DIY Wilson Clone Speakers?

Eldragon has built a killer pair of Wilson WATT/Puppy clones. No, I have not heard them, but I hope that one day... From the pictures he sent me, I would say that most people will think he is a bona fide speaker company.

Also wish he posted here more often. Hopefully, he'll chime in with something in this thread. He would be the first person I ask.

http://www.klone-audio.com/

Eldragan probably knows the other link with clones--his are featured.

Advices:

1) You might want to biamp for your low-end. That'll cut you some slack on the xover in different ways. Assuming you're ok with deviating from the clone that much-it would/could be an improvement. marchandelec.com and sound.au.com

2) Wilson X-1's aren't using those big $700 Focal Audiom subs, even though they look the same from the front. Its got a smaller motor--they may be custom made.

3) Don't know for sure, but you may not be able to clone any of them to the driver so you can A) get as close as you can or b) since you know it won't be exact, use "better"/next step up drivers from focal or whoever and just copy the basic enclosure. (Take some liberties of your own) The tweets might be off-the-shelf--I didn't think Wilson spent money on TLR's though on the X-1. I think the earlier x-1's used seas drivers for the mids.

Personnally, I'd clone the puppy/watt things like eldragan did. It looks good, cabinetry not a headache. I think its a better route. I don't like MTM/D'appolito arrays like the X-1 uses. He's got'em pictured on a thread in the archives.

This is from Thorsten Loesch's website:

The great David-Jerico Speaker Project - DIY Speaker inspired by the Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy System

http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/xentar/1179/projects/david/david.htm

Good Luck,
Jim Dombrowski

The Wilsons use good drivers in exceptional cabinets, and it is the cabinets that are hardest to reproduce, especially using MDF.

I'd malso suggest a WATT/Puppy clone and there are several designs listed above. You could do a search for Wilson clones using Google. I've seen WAMM clones I think but I don't recall where.

If I were building a WATT/Puppy clone, I would try to match the original as there are newer, poissibly better drivers and the crossover would be too tough.

I'd look at something like SEAS W26 for the Puppies instead of Dynaudio 21w54 they used. Then the SEAS W18 EX for the midrange instead of the Scanspeak 8545 and either the SEAS Millenium tweeter or the Focal Audiom mentioned above.

As far as cabinets, build them using the thickest MDF you can with good bracing, and I'd seriously consider having the front baffle made out of Corian.

I'm not a crossover expert but if it were me I'd use an active digital crossover like the dbx Driverack PA (www.driverack.com) and triamping.

This way you can measure and tweak to your hearts content.

You could build the above for $1600 for the drivers, $500 for the crossover and the cost of the cabinets. It should sound great done well.

Good luck