A brutal review of the Wilson Maxx

Not defending Hardesty (he's perfectly capable of doing that himself) but several things are being lost here. 1. His magazine is not online, it is by subscrption and a right costly one at that. 2) While all are posturing on his "Watchdog", he is not the one who posted it in this forum. He writes these for his subscribers who, having read his other "Journals" have a complete understanding where he is coming from.
He has gone to great lengths in his journals to explain himself and to validate his points. He has explained the "Watchdogs" in length which are not reviews as everyone seemed to think.
All I've gotten from this thread is some people think the Wilson's sound good and therefore justify their hefty price tag. I have not read one person defend the engineering of the speakers nor refute the accusations that the drivers are off the shelf stuff(which to me says Wilson put a lot into looks.)
If you have the money and want to spend it on these speakers, it's fine with me. Personally, I would like to know a little more about the design of these speakers.
I also have to admit that my bias says that a "Midrange" out of phase to the woofer and tweeter is audible. But that's just me.
As I said before, I guess engineering doesn't matter. As long as it sounds good, right? It's also funny that for a speaker to be noticed as "The best", it has to have a high price tag.
I suppose we could spend days refuting each other. If you own the speakers, yea, I guess you would be testy to criticism.
And just for information, Ayre, Aesthetix and others use the Vandersteen 3a Sigs in their soundrooms---
Jim White, Steve McCormack and others use these same speakers personally. My point being, you don't have to spend a fortune for a well designed "Reference" speaker. These guys use them because they let them hear what they need to hear. Reference can mean a lot.

Man this is like watching "Clash of the Titans"

boy with rooms and gear like you guys have you would think you would be too busy enjoying it to post here, let alone get a bent about silly little comments....both of you close you eyes and imagine you have my gear...ok now when you are done laughing go have fun!

I understand both Mike's and Oneobgyn's responses. Mike's preferences are beyond reproach, incredible room, electronics and speakers that "do it" for him (I'm a secret admirer). Same holds true for Oneobgyn. THAT is what this is all about, shared passion, experience, and a commitment to what one believes to be the most accurate reproduction attainable--for them. Very few if any consumers buy based on "cache" or "status". Most of us buy speakers (especially) because we dig them. People that opine otherwise are plain insulting.

Opinions are cheap, everyone has one. When it comes to press or commercial opinion, however, in my opinion, a greater standard applies.

Stereophile, TAS and SoundStage all have consistent procedure. SP and SoundStage often include objective measurement alongside subjective opinion. All of these mags qualify their opinion by referencing their system, room, context, background, and often a direct or subjective comparison, This context informs their opinion and gives the reader more than superficial insight into how their opinions were formed. Thus, a reader can accept or discount a writers opinion with comparative ease. In addition, almost anyone who has read Michael Fremer, Marc Mickelson, Jeff Fritz or Robert Harley (all who praised the MAXX 2's and or X2's) has a frame of reference for their opinion because they are _accountable_ for their opinions. Any reader can judge what they write accordingly. Say what you will, but all those writers, IMO, have exemplary track records for if nothing else, consistency and shared context. These ideals are sorely lacking in Richard's article.

In Hardesty's case, he has no direct experience, except listening at "shows" and one dealer. He did not reference how he knows the Wilson design is essentially a "kit design" with "off the shelf" drivers and parts-- which I know to be false. He conducted exactly ZERO tests, parts inventory, special crossover exams or controlled listening evaluations, yet people treat him as a great "truth teller"? I'm sorry, but this really surprises me.

I'm a full supporter of a Hardesty trip to Wilson, as John offered, even though the outcome would be pre-determined, I'd feel better knowing an antagonist had rational context for his extreme opinions. And I would have NO problem with that.

"Dave Wilson at the pinnacle of his game"? ... are you sure? ... that he won't put out an X-3? ... c'mon OB, let's be frank about it.

We all love DIFFERENT gear ... now can we all at least agree on that and just end this slander.

It's so silly.

Why do people get sooo worked up .... take a break .... and go listen to some music .... and return nice and relaxed!

WHEW

Well to tell you the truth anyone that spends 45,000 on any speaker especially of Conventional design would be kidding themselves if they do not believe buying 2 or Even 4 of the Top subwoofers built today at 3-5000.00 a piece matched with many pairs of your choice full range tower speakers at 10,000-15,000 a pair or even cheaper could not compete with match or completly beat these wilson speakers or any like this, at least if they were 20 driver line arrays or something I could agree closer on the cost, that is the only real point I see of the whole Watchdog article. I mean truly you could BUILD an entire wing on your house designed as a near perfect acoustic environment and still have your choice of multiples of combinations or straight tower speakers that could rival the limits of standard dynamic drivers at 7" and 13" I'm sorry, but its fact I don't care what they make the cabinet out of. But again maybe the magic these create in a more compact package and Aesthetic features are what some people are looking for.