Stereophile: Wilson Audio

Whatever you say about David Wilson, you have to admit he gives great show. Wilson doesn't come to CES with just a new product, he constructs a narrative structure and puts on a show. This is a good thing, since Wilson thinks long and hard about the lesson he wants to teach. He plays fair, too.

Today's demo was designed not to show that Wilson's Duette ($11,000/pair) was better than the competition—in this case B&W 800 Diamonds ($20,000/pair) or Krell LAT-2000s ($14,000/pair)—but rather to demonstrate how they might provide a solution for a common loudspeaker problem, namely where a normal person might put the darn things.

Wilson hypothesized that normal people don't go to an audio store and ask for a big loudspeaker that had to be placed in the center of the room, tethered by hawsers. ("Actually," Wilson quipped, "we are fortunate that some customers do want that, since that describes most of the speakers we sell.") Wilson set up a pair of his Duettes on a bookshelf against a wall, 42" above the floor, while having set up the Krells and B&Ws in their optimal positions, well into the room.

The Krells were driven by a Krell FPB200c power amp and the B&Ws were driven by a Classé CA-2200; the Wilsons were driven by Parasound A21. (The total system costs were therefore dissimilar.) All three systems were mated to Nagra PLP preamplifiers matched to within 0.3dB.

Wlson played tracks he deemed appropriate to a high-quality small monitor (LAT-2000) and large floorstanders (the 800 Diamonds) and then played them back through the Duettes.

Were there differences? Yeah, but they were not so much qualitative as they were minor tonal variations. The Duettes acquitted themselves well—and even back against the wall way above our ear level, they had better off-axis fill and spread than either of the other speakers. They really did blend into the décor on the shelves and they sounded good.

Would this demo convince an audiophile to buy the Duettes rather than the B&Ws or the Krells? Possibly not, but even the most ardent audiophile would admit that they belonged in the comparison. For non-audiophiles looking for domestic tranquility and high-fidelity sound (assuming there are such critters), the Duettes might offer strengths the more traditional designs just don't. I expect JA will offer more technical details on the Duettes when he weighs in, but David Wilson sure impressed the heck out of me.

External Link

< Previous Post | Blog Home | Next Post >

Reader Comments

Posted 1/6/2006 at 18:16 — By Janos

here is yet another case of rediscovering sliced bread and claiming it to be a new idea. Some British speakers like Linn and Naim have been designed to be put right next to the wall behind them and sound their best there. This is the position where those people whose priorities include what the speakers they bought look like in the room will put them, in spite of the fact that they might not sound their best.

Posted 1/6/2006 at 19:53 — By John Atkinson

I don't have much to add, Wes, except to note that by putting the 15 lb crossover in a separate enclosure, Wilson has kept the weight of the Duette to a shelf-safe 43 lbs. The Duette is also notable for a 2-way design in using an 8" woofer, yet to judge from my auditioning there was no sign of the usual "flare" at the base of the tweeter's passband. (Though it is fair to note that the speakers were well from the room's sidewalls.)

Posted 1/7/2006 at 0:59 — By Steven Capps

Wilson speakers are an acquired taste from my experience. Either you like them or you don't and if you do, you're likely to favorably comment on any Wilson speaker demonstration. While it is commendable that David Wilson has decided to manufacture a room-friendly speaker, I don't necessarily give credit to speaker comparisons when he is allowed select and set up his competitor's products. It would be less distasteful to feature his own in-room speakers for comparison to show what, if anything, is lost in terms of sound quality by switching to a bookshelf design. Instead, creating a demonstration of the sort that he did begs competitors to similarly showcase Wilson speakers in a damaging light. Just my thoughts on civility and marketing...

Posted 1/7/2006 at 5:31 — By Donald N.

Good showmanship - I'm game. Wish I could have seen that demo.

Posted 1/7/2006 at 7:52 — By K Mehta

The CES guide I had did not mention a Wilson Audio. In the limited time I had, I checked out many manufacturers and managed to listen to the MAXX in the BAT suite; very impressive. But I would have really liked to hear the Duettes if Wilson had at least been mentioned. Oh well.

Posted 1/7/2006 at 22:101 — By SJ

This is a great concept and I look forward to hearing more about it. A pair of Duettes plus a Watchdog sub could make for quite a system.

Posted 1/7/2006 at 22:49 — By Vasilis Hourmouziadis

xm.... Driving the 800Ds with the Classe CA-2200 is not the best choice if you REALLY want to demo these loudspeakers "properly" with large scale material. Although i am B&W-biased my admiration for Wilson and his products is high

Posted Wed Jan11, 2006, 11:36 PM — By Darius H

The months leading up to this Duette debut had prices pegged around $7-8k. What suddenly caused it to jump to 11k? Although I love how my own bookshelf speakers sound on stands pretty close to the wall, for this kind of dough I wouldn't be looking at bookshelves. As my wife commented, bookshelves with stands take up almost the same footprint as floorstanders, especially ones like the Sophia which are in the same price range. I'd be curious to see how these sell---I think a lot better if they had kept to their initial price point.

Posted Thu Jan12, 2006, 11:01 PM — By Craig H

I witnessed this demonstration and was impressed. But some of the comments here are misguided. The choice of Krell and B&W was not an effort to demean either of these fine loudspeakers but to show the range of the Duette. I heard it and I can verify that it has all the open and airy sound of a quality monitor well placed as well as the deep and tight bass of a full range floor standing speaker. And it does it all while sitting in a relatively harsh environment for any speaker. It is an expensive speaker but, like much of Wilson, fills a unique niche. BTW, David never claimed to have invented anything new. What he did demonstrate was a performance level that no one else with this type of product can approach.

Posted Thu Jan 8, 2009, 10:28 AM — By buy wow gold

http://www.game4power.com/news/][b]buy wow gold[/b][/url]!

Add Comment