Home Entertainment Show in Los Angeles

I think at 30k you need a sense of scale that only larger speakers can give you. While the monitor/sub combo has matured with the 8, and its a great speaker, at some point value has to come in. The low end, while good on the 8s isn't close to say the Maxx. I do think the 8s are smoother top to bottom than the 7s.

There are many speakers at 30k that I would look at while considering purchase of the 8s. Dynaudio, JM Lab, Peak Consult, Von Schweikert etc. just to name a few. The new 5SEs looked and sounded tasty at HE2006.

btw, i own Sophias, so am pro-Wilson. The 7s at 23k are pushing the limit in my view---30k is just over the top to me for what you get. It's a great, small speaker which is what they designed it for. I could say the same thing about several Kharmas as well.

btw, the new grill covers are 10x better than the velcro of old like I have.

KeithR

Thanks, KeithR. I was curious as to the context of your comment, and this helps.

Was at the show on Friday only and saw it all 3 or 4 times.Best of show ? Close but I'll give it to the Joseph & Moscode room with 2nd place to Channel Island and VSA. Most unusual ? The Zu room. These speakers do some things marvelously and other things not so well but for all that I sat there totally involved in the music (and they had big variety) for an hour. Another odd speaker Studio Electric was a must hear.

Macrojack makes some very good points IMHO. He probably forgets that Wilson caters to the buyer who makes $1 Million a year or more. So $30K is pretty much chump change to these guys. Not sure why they are only $30K for the 8's and $135K for the Alexandria's. Probably could charge $200K for the 8's and $500K for the Alexandria's. OOps that's for the 12's and the Alexandria version X next year.

I'm surprised no one has pointed out the big difference between the $1500 my hypothetical Honda dealer makes on the Accord versus the more than $10,000 the Wilson dealer brings down for selling W/P 8's. That is, of course the biggest difference between the comparative pricing structures and I think it argues strongly for the factory direct marketing model. If you were to buy those $30,000 Wilsons wholesale, they might cost you $18,000 and that's less than 4 times what they are worth.