Wilson Audio Haters


I've always wondered why there are so many people out there, that more than any other speaker manufacturer, really hate the Wilson line. I own Maxx 2's and also a pair of Watt Puppys. They are IMHO quite wonderful.

Why does Wilson get so much thrashing?

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bo1972,
"By all the research I did I found out that some brands which are not that expensive are able to create it. In 2007 I started to look for products and brands what could create the same kind of excitement as the expensive systems I owned."

Rather than repeating your same message regarding tru-fu and 3d sound for all of 2017, wouldn't it make sense to you to start a new thread where you concisely list the systems and their components that you have found create the sound you describe?  I actually think it would be a great idea to have your own thread, rather than use others.
@bo1972

I note that Monitor Audio use a dampening ring (similar to accuton rubber dots) to help prevent and dampen all the unwanted energy from the ringing of their rigid drivers. My ears are very sensitive to this type of coloration which is why I tend to defend old school pulp paper and damped fabric cones of the type generally preferred by Wilson. An internally damped driver (made of material that is dead and will not vibrate) will not ring like a bell and therefore it will better convey micro detail in music (timbre). So while you are dismissive of decades of engineering and proven track records as outdated, I will continue to enjoy better sound from solid designs using well understood principles that have withstood the test of time.

here is the description of how Monitor Audio reduces unwanted vibration:

"A new innovation in every driver replaces the usual rigid coupling of driver and voice coil with a pliable one. This ‘Dynamic Coupling Filter’ is a nylon ring ingeniously calibrated to be rigid up to the crossover frequency, and to act like a spring above it. In so doing the DCF helps to dampen surplus high frequency energy produced by the driver. It’s also perforated to encourage voice coil cooling and release air pressure from behind the cone for maximum driver efficiency. Result: more natural sound."

Test of time is important. A voice coil runs at over 100 centigrade - how to ensure the consistent elastic properties of that nylon ring as it is "baked" through thousands of heat cycles and also ages? No doubt Monitor have looked at this, however, time will tell. Just like Ferrofluid dries up - how robust and for how many years and how consistently can a chosen design platform perform?
Dear Dave,

I have done thousands of tests, and I understand how 3 dimensional sound works and what you need. The reason why it is difficult, is that  most products and brands are 2 dimensional.

This means when you bring one 2 dimensional product into a system what owns only 3 dimensional products, you go back to an almost 2 dimensional stage.

All the results showed the same outcome, over and over again. This is why audio is shootout. Audio is for me like a big puzzle, and I want to understand everything.

So you need to test over and over again. Hundreds of times each single year. This is how addicted and commited I am to sound. Creating new information. And mann I love it. This is not work, this is a part of who I am since I was a child. It has become my second nature. And I can do it blind.

The funny  thing is that when I tell people I have done thousands of tests in audio they really think; he is making it up. But everything I say is exactly as I wrote and told it.

The good thing about Wilson Audio is that Wilson is a very commited person who wants to create great products. You don't have to like them, based on the fact you don't like the sound. But how stuppid you would be to say: I hate them.

Hate is a word when you dislike these people so much that it makes you angry. So that is why I say: I would use faster materials and tweeters which will better fit to hi res recordings. And will have more grip.

This is only a personal opinion, nothing more nothing less. Why for God sake you use the word hate? I wish each single company in audio the best. When I visit people and I see over and over agian the same limitations. I write it down. And I hope the companies will do it differently the next time. To give their clients the best products.

What is wrong to give this information? Nothing is perfect, neither are we. But when we help eachother more people will have better quality. No one should be excluded.

First listen to the new Platinum series and then give an opinion. I am even prepared to talk to Wilson about the problems people have with their Wilson Audio loudspeakers.

When I say: I never auditioned a loudspeaker what can reveal so many layers of a recoding. It is a personal experience. But I never auditioned this at any client I visited with Wilson Audio loudspeakers.

At the end it is just a personal experience, don't make a big deal of it all the time. 

Same thing when I said: I never could hear the diversity in height of recordings so obvious. This is the truth and each single person I gave a demo experienced it the same way.

With the the Sasha we could hear that all the instruments had the same level in height. This was with the system of my client. It is just based on this system.

The new Platinum drivers are superior in timing, control, dynamics and layering than we had with the Sasha.

I would be even prepared when we get a Wilson Audio loudspeasker to demo it. In 2017 we will start a videoblog as well. Beside our own language we will do it in english as well.

We want to use it to share information about sound&vision. For us audio is all about shootout and what we can hear. At the end it is to give people the highest level in quality.

In 2017 we will audition many new products and when we think it is better than what we have, we will change it. I know it is different, but we are different. Because we believe that this is the best way to give people the highest quality.

I am a perfectionist, in each single thing I buy I do research to find out what is the best. It is inside my system since I was a child. This is how I sell and advice sound&vision.

And all people in audio have the same changes to do it their way. May the best win. And yes I want to become the best in sound&vision in the world. I will never do it for anything less. 

Others in this world have to proof they can do it better. So proof it...


Dear Shadorne,

The Pl-500 is the most relaxt loudspeaker I have auditioned sofar. I also auditioned the Alexandria 2 and this demo was rarther poor. Still it was the setup of the distributer.

My perfectionism is this huge that each single kind of imperfection makes me F. irritated. It needs to be perfect, flawless.

With classical music the Pl-200 could reveal details of instruments which were not auditionable with the Sasha. Beside this the layering in the lowest freq. missed information as well.

When you compare the 100khz AMT tweeter against the 23khz dome tweeter of the Sasha, the differences could not be bigger. The AMT not only reveals more details and information but has so much more authority and grip on the high freq.

The new drivers are in response faster than anything we auditioned sofar. 2 weeks ago a person who’s biggest passion is music an audio. He owns a system far over 50.000 dollar. He said; this is the best low freq I ever auditioned. He called it reference low frequency.

I have to admit that S.A.P. creates a superior timing what never can be created by any kind of old school highend audio. But you still need fast drivers.

The accuton drivers have a coloration what I call: the mjeh sound. You hear it when you compare a violin/cello in real. Played by systems who use accuton drivers a violin sounds a lot more clean and misses the layering in sound a violin can reveal.

The old drivers of the first Platinum series were also made of ceramics with some aluminium. Accuton uses similar construction. I owned the Pl-300 of the first Platinum series. I liked them, but I did not like the mid freq. of this speaker. It was a different coloration compared to accuton drivers. I could not listen to classical music with these speakers.

It needs to sound as in real or I cannot bare it. The Pl-200 which came out in 2010 used new crossovers and with classical music it sounded much more natural.

But the new drivers of the new Platinum series are a lot different. What I said; we never auditioned so many layers in sound than with the new Platinum series.

A voice coil limits the timing of a driver. The technique Monitor Audio uses is superior in timing. And mannnn this makes a huge difference. At low volume it can build so much more dynamics and layering in the lowest freq.

What they changed as well it using carbon fiber on the back of each driver. And this creates a much lower level of distortion. With classical music you get a superior level of realism and layering in sound.

When you own the Pl-500 and you visit clients, shows and other shops it is F. insane at what level of quality and realism they listen to.

When we visit shops, new clients, audio shows and distributers we always go back in time. We listen to systems with many mistakes and parts of Tru-Fi which are missing.

They all have acoustic problems, we do not  have them anymore for many years now. When I see a picture of audio systems in most situation I know that the combination does not make sense at all.

This is based on the properties they connected to eachother. But they use audio by trial and error. They do not  know the properties of each single part. That is why I call it audiogambling.

When I ask the question: can you tell me why the stage and sound is what we hear? And no one can answer it, it stops for me.




Bo1972,

Your testimonial about yourself is impressive. You are not the first to claim you have discovered the holy grail. None of what you have written demonstrates any understanding of loudspeaker construction and design but I guess your enthusiasm for the products you sell more than makes up for that! 

There has always been a "latest and greatest" and like fall fashions they come with great fanfare and promotion and quietly fade away with next years "new and improved". And then there are products that have survived the test of time. I know what I will choose - like my Gibson Les Paul or my Fender Precision bass or Pearl ref drum kit - knowledgeable buyers keep buying well made products that have proven themselves time and time again with countless buyers! IMHO Wilson falls into the category of time proven.