Wilson speakers

[AnotherJohnson]

Aren't the speakers moved around with coasters? I figured that is the reason why Wilson loves to use coasters.

Not many people know about the slider/coaster option. I wonder if admin meant casters and Otto Korrekt thwarted him?

The official slider kit is cheaper than I thought. It’s only one grand.

https://parts.wilsonaudio.com/wilson-audio-slider-set/

In Wilson World, it looks like a true bargain.

[admin]

Having the setup on the ground floor is a major advantage. I have my listening room upstairs so it would definitely be a challenge to get heavy equipment up there. Even when I am transporting 100 lbs amps, it's a two person job.

Yes, I did mean casters. Not sure why I said coasters...

[AnotherJohnson]

https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/a- ... -fi-legend

[admin]

Fun look at the factory. Top notch.

[Big Dog RJ]

Ah! That's more like it.

I knew I've seen those amplifiers somewhere before... the Dan D's monoblocks and of course those wonderful VTL Siegfrieds, nothing quite like them. That single stereo amp is interesting, I'm wondering what's that for. Is it driving the dual Thor Hammers? (I'm thinking, a Constellation stereo version, or something like that).

Also thinking on the config; Dan D's amps are driving the bass units, and the VTL's are driving the mids & highs, so that single stereo amp must be driving the subs.
AJ mate, any idea on the config here?

One thing for sure is, those amplifiers plus speakers are over a million bucks! A cool mil just for speakers and amps, I would probably add another 500grand the least, for front-end and source gear, plus accessories another 500grand easy. That should be close to 2mil, not bad at all.
Must show the wifey this and tell her to stop complaining!

The W-A facility is truly tops! They go into such great lengths and make sure every detail is covered, as they ought to at this level. There are no compromises. Note: I referred to Wilson Audio as W-A, hence if I said WA... most Aussies reading my post may think Western Australia, like Pops! He's from WA, and WA is tops!

Cheers to W-A!
Woof! RJ

[AnotherJohnson]

AJ mate, any idea on the config here?

No.

It does look like Transparent wire though.

They use Transparent wire internal to the speakers, so maybe they use it external too.

Next month I am going to be in a small group where Dan D’Agostino, Daryl Wilson and other high muckity mucks will be included. If I think of it, I’ll ask.

I’m not in the market for Thor’s Hammers, but I am going to audition the Wilson Audio Loke with Sasha DAWs using some Cathedral Organ music soon. The Loke has its own built in amp. I would have thought the Thor’s Hammers might too, though I’ve not studied them.

[AnotherJohnson]

I guess those are not Thor’s Hammers, but Subsonics.

https://wilsonaudio.com/products/wilson ... onic/specs

In any case neither is actively powered. I guess at this level they want to let you pick your own amp.

[AnotherJohnson]

Here is a LoKe unboxing video

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OFJYuUAeumo

LoKe is apparently Wilson’s only powered subwoofer.

The amp is said by others to be an off the shelf $300 plate amp from Dayton Audio. Wilson is silent about the origin.

This does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. A careful audition would seem to be in order.

Nevertheless the reviews have been positive.

[AnotherJohnson]

Also thinking on the config; Dan D's amps are driving the bass units, and the VTL's are driving the mids & highs, so that single stereo amp must be driving the subs.
AJ mate, any idea on the config here?

Since Wilson is anti biamping in the rest of their product line, I’m thinking the configuration is probably more likely to be the D’Agostino’s driving the Subsonics and the VTL driving the Master Chronosonics. The box in the middle may be the external crossover to match the Subsonics to the Chronosonics. I’ll dig further if I have a chance.

Edit: it doesn’t look like the external controller, so I may just have to ask at the upcoming party … or maybe I’ll shoot Jerron an email right now.

[AnotherJohnson]

In less than 3 hours, this was the response from Jerron.
********
Great questions and glad you are enjoying the Sasha DAWs….
 
So…all the amps you see allow us to demonstrate options with the Main Master Chronosonic towers.  The Sub amp is not pictured and is in an equipment room to the left and back of the room, we use a Dagostino S-250 stereo amp to drive both subs in the corners….
 
We have a pair of VTL Siegfried’s for vacuum tubes.
 
The Dagostino Relentless mono block amps for solid state
 
And then the Constellation Hercules stereo amp for high power stereo amp use (middle amp).
 
We use the ActivX stereo subwoofer crossover/controller as well which allows us to send about 38 Hertz to the subs and properly phase align them with the main towers…..
https://www.wilsonaudio.com/products/activ/activxo
 

[Big Dog RJ]

Thanks for the update mate.

In fact, I had a feeling that these amplifiers were used separately as a choice for different flavours, rather than in tri-amp versions, and end up like a Gelati stand with all sorts of flavours.

Back in the day, when the more input terminals speakers had, were thought to be superior due to bi-amp / tri-amp config, now all that's proven to add far more colorations plus other problems in amp-gain-input sensitivity matching, and then crossover design. It usually ended up like scramble edges but most people thought it sounded great!

I'm very glad to learn that Wilson chose these particular amplifiers to use as separate configs. I can certainly recommend the Constellation amp Hercules, that one is even better than the mighty Boulder amps in my opinion. More musical sounding rather than just raw muscle.

Another top choice would make those Chronosonics take off would be the Dartzeel monoblocks (the new version 2). I'm auditioning these on both the Botichelli-X and CLX's in July. Will report once I get through rehab!

Cheers, RJ

[AnotherJohnson]

To say nothing of getting a detailed customer service response the same afternoon!

[Big Dog RJ]

Yeah, that's outstanding response time. Most companies would certainly like to adhere to these standards but only a handful really do. It's truly reassuring that this level of service & customer support is there, plus they back every statement in their quality standards and what they stand for. So, it's not just the price factor, there's much more that goes into the mix, and one thing for certain is, Daryl Wilson makes sure everyone gets looked after.
They must be doing a lot of things right at Wilson, good on them. You simply can't fault that!

Cheers, RJ

[AnotherJohnson]

Greg at ARC is often even faster. But both are excellent BECAUSE IT’S THEIR FULL TIME JOB. The bosses (Daryl Wilson at Wilson and Trent Suggs at ARC) know their guys and openly communicate with them. It’s not free to dedicate an employee to the customer service task.

[AnotherJohnson]

Although HiFi Buys Atlanta is no longer a Wilson dealer, they had an interesting piece of Wilson history on display … the XL subwoofer.

David Wilson designed this with the express purpose of fully replicating the sound and vibration associated with the rocket launching in the Apollo 13 movie. He had not intended to sell them. It was a personal project he undertook for this particular movie.

People wanted to buy them, so he built them to order.

Many years ago (due to some work we had with NASA) we were invited to the Banana Creek Viewing Area to watch a shuttle launch.

https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/laun ... ket-launch

I remember the sonic and infrasonic pressure vibrations of that huge rocket used to launch the space shuttle. I’ve never had a chance to audition the Apollo 13 movie with the XLs, but reports from those who’ve had that experience and have also been present at a real launch say that it is a good replication of the live feeling.

[AnotherJohnson]

Although HiFi Buys Atlanta is no longer a Wilson dealer, they had an interesting piece of Wilson history on display … the XL subwoofer.

XS, not XL.

XS was a play on “excess.”

[admin]

Interestng sub design for sure. It had a 10 year run apparently.

https://www.wilsonaudio.com/products/xs ... -subwoofer

[AnotherJohnson]

They weigh 950 pounds each and are over 7’ tall.

I guess the current gigantic subs are the Master Subsonic, Subsonic, and Thor’s Hammers.

I think the shear unwieldy weight of the single unit construction makes every XS installation a job for riggers and structural engineers.

The salesman told me that one of his customers owned four of them, installed in his elaborate no holds barred HT.

[AnotherJohnson]

I mentioned to Bill Peugh of Wilson that I’d experienced a blossoming of the sound after three days of play with both the Sabrinas and the Sasha D-A-Ws.

He said that the drivers were already broken in on delivery, but that the caps would improve with play, and he thought this was what I’d noticed.

[AnotherJohnson]

Also had discussion with Bill Peugh about LoKe subwoofer and Sasha D A Ws, in the context of both sound and cost.

In round numbers

Sasha D A Ws are about $43k right now.

LoKes are about $10 k.

So speakers only $43k, speakers plus one sub $53k, speakers plus 2 subs $63k. And a pair of Alexia Vs with no subs is maybe $70k.

His take on it is that if you’re going to strive for the best sound in a two channel system, you need two subs. One works fine if you’re just trying to get movie effects in your HT. If you really want musical time alignment and phase coherence, you need a sub for each channel.

In MY opinion, this puts the LoKe idea much more firmly in the HT domain.

If you buy SabrinaXs and a pair of LoKes, you might as well have bought a pair of Sasha D A Ws. If you buy Sasha D A Ws and a pair of LoKes, you might as well have bought a pair of Alexia Vs.

Back to Bill, my ears tell me that as great as the Sasha D A Ws are, the Alexia Vs are an upgrade. I wondered if listening to them, and also a pair of Chronosonic XVXs so much would make it hard to go back to my Sasha D A Ws. He said “Keep in mind that your speakers are still going to sound as they did when you fell in love with them.” He was right.

But the more I listen to the properly set up higher level Wilsons, the clearer the high end becomes.

Some may notice that I’ve been separating the letters D, A, and W. It is because I asked Darryl if his intent was to hear it as his Dad’s initials, and he confirmed. So I’m putting in some separation as I write it.