OK WILSON OWNERS. HERE IS YOUR CHALLENGE

Aldavis,

You have great speakers. No question they are comparable in some ways. As a Wilson owner I have immense respect for your speakers. I just liked the Wilson's better for my priorities.

I listened to the chimera's awhile back and while very musical they were not a full ranges speaker in my opinion. An extremely rolled off bass. If you like the upfront midrange they are the speaker for you. I prefer the top to bottom control of the new von schweikert line.

Hmmm, I don't see this thread as a sign of arrogance at all. It sounds like a fair offer to hear a direct comparison of any two speakers (but why only Wilson?) with another local audiophile. I have done similar listening sessions with local audiophiles on a variety of our components and this can be a lot of fun and quite a learning experience.

A little time has to be spent to try and find the optimal position for each speaker, mark the locations and then move one pair into the location at a time. Sounds like an all-day ordeal but might be of some value. And after such an experiment, there should be some ideas as to the major differences to each.

We can talk of a speaker not being full range or rolled-off bass, but unless everything is constant, including the same room, such statements only reflect the results of the full system ..... that we are most likely not familiar with. We tend to make snap judgements on products without knowing the true cause of "problems" that we have identified.

Last night I dropped in a pair of ASC tube traps behind my SoundLab A1 speakers. From my experience, imaging has not been one of the strongest attributes I have experienced with these speakers. But just the one pair of ASC's made me rethink this as I had clarity and placement that I did not know possible with the A1s. In other words, I had a completely different speaker. I can only imagine what more room treatments will bring in this area .... and perhaps other sonic improvements. Only another speaker evaluated in my system would give me any idea as to whether or not I would have any inkling to change to something else.

So I think this is a great idea. But keep an open mind to try this with any other speakers or sources, electronics, cables, etc. Most of the fun is meeting and befriending other people in this hobby.

John

Why not just meet at the local YMCA for the ultimate penis challenge? You know, full exposure of the drivers, measure the bottom end response, the whole kit and kabooty. Face it, unless you're one of these XXX stars with the deluxe-size pumper enhanced with the use of genital steroids, it's gonna be a lot easier on the back to haul your package to the contest than it is your speakers. Why not, it's the same game anyways, so forget about the Wilsons and just put your Jimmy up against their Johnson. And make sure you follow up here with a report on who has the better gear, with appropriate specs, graphs, who gets the 6 Moon award, etc. Will you do that for us, Jimmy?

"So I think this is a great idea. But keep an open mind to try this with any other speakers or sources, electronics, cables, etc. Most of the fun is meeting and befriending other people in this hobby."

I absolutely agree

"Last night I dropped in a pair of ASC tube traps behind my SoundLab A1 speakers. From my experience, imaging has not been one of the strongest attributes I have experienced with these speakers. But just the one pair of ASC's made me rethink this as I had clarity and placement that I did not know possible with the A1s. In other words, I had a completely different speaker. I can only imagine what more room treatments will bring in this area .... and perhaps other sonic improvements."

I also agree. Many people here have used different forms of room modification. The design in my room was done entirely by the people at ASC. I followed their plans and my room is flat at all frequencies other than a small 60 Hz bass hump which has proved to be inconsequential.