Troy,
I’m sure that’s true about some cases of manufacturer partnering to share equipment, but dig deeper and the Wilson / Audio Research connection seems to run especially tight.
For example, check out the May 21 Soundstage video of Audio Research headquarters
https://audioresearch.com/2019/05/21/soundstage-shorts-audio-researchs-cd6se-and-cd9se-cd-players-2/
and see that ARC uses Wilson as their speaker of choice for their Warren Gehl listening test of every single Audio Research product before it goes out the door.
ARC could choose any speaker they want for that critical application, and arguably their speaker choice for their out-the-door gatekeeper for every single ARC product is the most important speaker choice they can make.
Further, Wilson’s aren’t even in the ARC-member McIntosh Group corporate family like Sonus Faber is, for example (where you’d expect if ARC were to buddy-up with a speaker manufacturer, it’d be Sonus Faber, not an outsider like Wilson).
I’m sure that’s true about some cases of manufacturer partnering to share equipment, but dig deeper and the Wilson / Audio Research connection seems to run especially tight.
For example, check out the May 21 Soundstage video of Audio Research headquarters
https://audioresearch.com/2019/05/21/soundstage-shorts-audio-researchs-cd6se-and-cd9se-cd-players-2/
and see that ARC uses Wilson as their speaker of choice for their Warren Gehl listening test of every single Audio Research product before it goes out the door.
ARC could choose any speaker they want for that critical application, and arguably their speaker choice for their out-the-door gatekeeper for every single ARC product is the most important speaker choice they can make.
Further, Wilson’s aren’t even in the ARC-member McIntosh Group corporate family like Sonus Faber is, for example (where you’d expect if ARC were to buddy-up with a speaker manufacturer, it’d be Sonus Faber, not an outsider like Wilson).