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Review: Wilson Audio Grand Slamm Speaker

Category: Speakers

Since this is a site largely based on trading second hand products, I thought it worthwhile to share one man's experience with a sensational speaker that is much, much older...and fortunately much, much depreciated in value when I traded in for it! The theme here is do not bypass much older products just because they are older technology!

First, let me preface that i am not making ANY claims about "best"...only my own conviction abouy how things sound to ME and MY EARS. Now off to the review!

INTRO
The Grand Slamms are 16 years old...wow. (The original owner bought them 1994, listened a bit...then put them in storage when he moved countries...the plastic film on the piano gloss laminate was still on after 16 years when they arrived! The finish is Mint! The feet had never even been attached.)

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
With an ear that prefers my Zanden DAC, CJ pre-amp, Gryphon Antileon and Sonus Faber STradivari sound, you can imagine i like warmth (but also a fair amount of technical capability.)

IMHO, relative to every speaker (save Alexandria) the Wilson Grand Slamm produces the reference sound for my ears.

Capabilities
- Musicality. I will state i have never considered buying any Watt Puppy or Maxx I or II...not my cup of tea. I liked Sasha but still preferred my STrads by a margin.

I never associated them with musicality only accuracy...i have preferred even colored musicality (whatever that means!)

HOW and WHY?
- Effortless, effortless, effortless. Wilson to my ear achieves musicality by creating indefatiguable, inexhaustable, inert obelisques that allow sound to pass through them as if the obelisques were not there. Nothing phases these speakers...it's just sound passing through
- Specifically to date, no sound, no dynamic, no cymbal brush, no whisper, no crash, no reverb seems to pass through with any edits.
- there appears to be no compression of sound
- the Grand Slamm also is able to allow for instrumental separation...not just delineation of instruments into their own space...but also their own rhthym, subtle volume contrasts between notes...each musician is playing separately through the speakers, and the speakers do not confuse any one musician over the other...creating internal musical cues which i'd never even heard before
- Seamless integration across the spectrum...no one area stands out. which means music again just passes through without emphasis of one area or another
- soundstage...lifelike. it is surprising when someone sings live in front of you how "big" they seem when you close your eyes. The Grand Slamm really does approximate this stunningly well even on choral masses, and certainly on good studio recordings of small ensembles, trios, etc
- neutrality...by this i mean sound passing through as it seems to have been recorded (not that i would know but it certainly feels that way based on comparison to live instruments i do know from either having played them for 12 years, etc.)...again, sound is just passing thru

Set up
- Smokes!!!!!!!!!! This is by far, by far, by FAR the most critical thing about these!
- And we are not just talking about scientic "art is science" placement.
- The distributor's top man came with the GM of the Dealership and spent nearly 8 hours in my home
- They even soldered in different resistors (twice!) for the tweeter in order to emphasize/de-emphasize the treble to accommodate the treble dispersion capability of my room. it is that sensitive to set-up.
- But once they finished measuring angles, taking into consideration side wall reflections, the shape of my living room, etc, and then tweaking the resistors...wow. it went from great, to big to impressive...to Smokes!!!!!!!!!!

Conclusion
If you look at the incomplete list of speakers i have had the fortunate opportunity to get know to a greater or lesser extent over 25 years, some are old and some are new. All are very, very good.

To me, the Wilson X-1,Grand Slamm is the reference to my ears.

Finally, i come back to the main point of this Review. In support of what many of us are here for (second hand), i firmly reinforce the notion that much older products can still be references in today's world when done well. In truth, one has to acknowledge that manufacturers are running a business...and they need to get consumers to buy new products, upgrade, etc...and they must therefore market the "newer is better" motto.

In many cases, this is absolutely true...but i think many of us have seen the benefit of the fact that depreciation sometimes is greater than the degradation of quality!!! A product that has depreciated in half is certainly not half as good as a new speaker...and in my own personal experience in this case, this much older speaker is still the greatest speaker i have had the blessing to hear and now own.

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

Associated gear
Oppo 83 Blu-Ray, Upgrade Audio Modded
Zanden DAC
CJ ACT 2
Gryphon Antileon
Transparent Ref IC/SC
PAD Dominus/Ann Contego PC
Transp Ref Conditioner

Similar products
Wilson Alexandria
Rockport Merak/Sheritan
YG Acoustics Anat Prof
Hansen Prince
Martin Logan CLX
Sonus Faber Stradivari
Thiel 7
B&W 800/801/802
Wilson Maxx II, Watt 6,7,8, Sasha
lloydelee21
lloydelee21 OP
1,202 posts
 
Update: after just under 100 hours of listening, the speakers actually seem to be breaking in! Partly, this is because 2 drivers had their foam surrounds replaced...partly could it be that the original owner really did not spend that much time listening to them?

in any event, the lower mids/upper bass (where the new foam surrounds breaking in would be critical), is "warming up and filling out". The rich sound/reverb from the body of the cello is filling in now...in addition to the playing of the strings on the cello.

I stand by my original statement of nearly 3 years ago...the Grand Slamm matches my Sonus Faber Strads for musicality, warmth and delivers greater detail, much greater microdynamics...and significantly greater scale, macrodynamics. i did not think this musicality/warmth that i enjoyed so much with the Strads was possible to hear in these speakers, but having had the benefit of truly expert set-up by Pedro and Arif (Absolute Sounds and KJ West One), it is. Enjoy everyone!!!!!
jfrech's avatar
jfrech
1,816 posts
 
Hi my maxx 3's when new opened up a lot after the 1st 100 hours. then gradually over the next few months. It takes awhile...but they seem to ease and things begin to flow better and better. subtle on the next steps from here i bet for you...
lloydelee21 OP
1,202 posts
 
Hi Jfrech,

Many thanks for that! Good to know. i'll keep listening! Thanks again.

Lloyd
lloydelee21 OP
1,202 posts
 
Hi all,

Roughly 150 hours...i can say the Wilson X1s definitively and unequivocally (to these ears) best my former Sonus Faber Strads in every aspect. Including midrange magic where i simply did not think this was possible.

I am enjoying my music and forgetting the system entirely. and i am rediscovering my music which has in many cases been transformed in unexpected ways. Unique patterns of music, backup vocals, soft cymbals in the back, and enormous micro-dynamic changes in the way Clapton or Nirvana played their guitars on their MTV Unplugged albums...both of which are excellent btw. I think Nirvana's Teen Spirit album is good and i own it...but i think their MTV Unplugged album is sensational.

i guess its a good sign when i spend more of the post talking about music than the system! Enjoy everyone!
lloydelee21 OP
1,202 posts
 
Hi all,

I have stopped counting how many hours of burn-in...the Wilsons are sensational and allowing me to make minor adjustments throughout my system...and hear them immediately. I have tweaked a couple of power cables and ugpraded my tubes in my Zanden DAC PSU to Mullards from the 1950s...thanks to Brent Jessie!...the old ones were getting old and buzzy anyway. Wow! So resolving but ultimately a touch of midrange sweetness in my system! I would never have thought i would be saying that about a pair of big Wilsons...but true.

i suppose it is not the Wilsons so much as the electronics (Zanden/CJ) which are coming thru an exceptional transducer (Wilsons). As Martin Colloms kindly advised me when i emailed him about these speakers, even with the older X-1s. you will continue to explore the depths of these older speakers' capabilities with the improvements in today's modern electronic sources...the music they produce continues to improve with the better electronics...they are that good.
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