How can Wilson Audio speakers sound that good if they are using OEM drivers?

Aerial Acoustics has never produced their "own" driver either and yet has managed to create some amazing speakers. 

never mind any of those box speakers, the answer is that they do NOT sound that good, imhop, a box is a box! 

The new AkG  Klipshorn from Klipsch for 14k will fill a room with music like a live venue, and according to the guys selling 300k horn loaded systems at the Munich Show, they "are the best kept secret" in hi end and give you 80-90 per cent of  the sound of those systems..It is like a cross between best planar and best box speakers, but much better bass and dynamics, and emotional engagement with the music..btw, at 105 db, you can drive them with a clock radio! I have been at this audio thing for 40 years, they just kill everything out there!  

Sure soundwise if all you want is volume and are not interested in an image they are fabulous. Sixty years ago the most powerful amplifier made was 70-75 watts/ch and you needed something like the K horn if you wanted to attain realistic levels.

Having spent the last 5 years upgrading my system it seems I’ve gone full circle using stereophile recommendations I immediately noticed the amount of added detail from these all metal/ ceramic speakers and thought upgrading was going to be easy.  I now believe implementation is more important than raw materials.

It’s the cabinet.  They use excellent drivers but the cabinet makes a massive difference.  By having such a well damped cabinet, they deliver an amazing sound.  The molds for those cabinets are pricey which is why Wilson’s are soo expensive.  

Without the cabinet, any DIY speaker will sound inferior.  You could build a Baltic Birch cabinet to the exact dimensions of a Wilson Speaker, take the drivers and crossover out of a pair of Wilson’s and put them in your cabinet and it won’t sound the same.  Very simply, MDF, Baltic Birch or Hardwoods will not dampen sound even remotely as well as cast phenolic resin.

i have personally not done testing with cast phenolic resin, but I have tested 6 different cabinet materials and each has a decidedly different sonic character.  My test was to build the same cabinet internal spec with the same drivers, crossover, port, polyfill etc.  and the end result was a radically different sound profile.  

I tested MDF, Baltic Birch Plywood, Laminated Bamboo, Carbon Fiber Reinforced ABS, Fiberglass over a nomex core and Carbon Fiber over a nomex core.  not shockingly the ultra rigid and well damped composites significantly outperformed the wood products.  Plastic (ABS) even with Carbon Fiber reinforcement was significantly worse.