I Love Wilson Speakers . . . BUT!!!

[AudioNut]

Let me preface this by first saying that I was one of the very first early adopters of Wilson speakers. I bought a pair of the original Wilson Audio Tiny Tots (WATTS), in the mid 80's when they first came out. I bought them from (the) Jim Smith in his extraordinary High End Audio Store in Birmingham, Alabama.

The speakers were wonderful and I fully enjoyed them for several years. Subsequently, I added the "beards" which hung down below the speakers to improve bass response - this was before the advent of the original Puppies.

I sold the WATTS, moving on to Magneplanar Tympani IV-a speakers, and several other fine speakers.

My next Wilson experience was with my purchase of a gorgeous rosewood encased pair of WATT 3, Puppy 2 speakers which proved to be a total disaster for me. Something in the sound of the speakers, probably the tweeter, caused me to have extreme headaches, disorientation, almost hallucinogenic experience. I loved the sound of the speakers but absolutely could not listen to them.

From that point on, every time I even walked into a room where WATTS were playing, I would begin to experience the same phenomenon. Even in well-set-up dealer showrooms, I would begin to almost black-out to the sound of the Wilsons. This continued up through the WATT PUPPY 7 speakers, which was the last iteration that I "tried to listen to".

I might add that I had a similar experience with the Kharma 3.2 FE speakers, which use the same Focal inverted dome titanium tweeter, I think. used, but heavily modified by Wilson in their speakers. So, it is probably the tweeter that causes me such trouble.

Now, fast forward to the introduction of the Wilson Duettes. A couple of years ago, I began in earnest to look for a bookshelf type "monitor" speaker to use in a second system. Because the Duette uses a soft dome tweeter, and not the titanium inverted dome, I began to think seriously about purchasing a pair of those speakers. Everything I read about the speakers seemed to indicate that they might be perfect for my needs.

In doing my research, I went onto the Wilson web-site and wrote a long message to the folks at Wilson, explaining my past experience with the WATTS, and asking if the company would recommend the Duettes. I explained the problems I had encountered with my own, and with dealer owned Watt Puppy speakers.

I had planned to order a pair of the Duettes if Wilson would give me some assurances about their usefulness to me in my listening situation.

Alas, the folks at Wilson never bothered to respond to me or to my query. I mentioned this lack of response to a Wilson dealer/friend and he told me he was going to follow up with Wilson relative to my message to them, but I never heard anything back. NADA!!!

So, I bought a pair of Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento speakers which I use, quite happily, to this day.

I was, and am, very disappointed with Wilson Audio. I have heard of others who experienced severe listener fatigue with their speakers, although not to the extent that I have experienced the same, and I have never read, nor heard any response from Wilson in that regard - so, I guess they just ignore us.

Sorry, Wilson, I do love the sound of your speakers, I just wish I could listen to them, but, at least in my case, your customer service sucks.

[jdandy]

Julian.......I applaud your post. Most people usually do not take the time to express dissatisfaction, so the stories go untold. Thanks for stepping up to the microphone, and telling us of your particular experience. It is unfortunate that Wilson ignored you, as did the dealer.

As for the hallucinogenic experience, that might have some market value.

[-E-]

A lot of people express dissatisfaction, Dan. They just rarely put it so eloquently; it's usually a mix of incoherent babble and emotional rhetoric.

However, Julian's measured and thought-out post has me thinking about WA and the customer service aspect, a rant would have me completely dismiss the topic altogether.

Certainly not good for WA... this one will get read and thought about.

I can say that certain things have happened recently with our other beloved vendor(s), and let's just say I have done nothing to improve the bottom line(s) of said firm(s) since those events took place.

[TMcD]

Something in the sound of the speakers, probably the tweeter, caused me to have extreme headaches, disorientation, almost hallucinogenic experience.

Same thing sometimes happens to me, but it is usually caused by too many rum & cokes or too much wine when listening and the headaches do not start till the next morning.

[Lildebs888]

Julian.... Thank you for your post. I am sorry about the experience you had with Wilson Audio. I am the type of person that will vent my frustration with a company as well. I do not do this to be rude. I personally feel it helps company’s understand where their weaknesses are, and therefore come out being a better company for its customers!

-Debby

[Rilands]

Interesting....as I would like a pair of WA speakers in the near future. Thank You for the heads up Julian. I really dislike poor customer service and it sounds as if WA might have an issue.

[Jerome W]

Julian,
I think you did a very good thing to express your disappointment in such a nice way.
I am sure that Debbie will give this information to the concerned persons at WA.
Your experience with the Wilson sound is interesting indeed.
As we all know, the perfect speaker does not exist.
In my opinion, Wilson have the weaknesses of their qualities : a highly detailed and involving sound. You can't get bored when you listen to them. But, for long listening sessions, that is the same for me : I can feel tired.
On the other side, you can fall asleep with some very sweet speakers...
I have not listened to the Sashas and the Sophia III yet. They are said to be warmer than the previous ones. I will be very curious to listen to them although I don't believe I will fall in love with them... but who knows ?

[daveneumann]

Hi Julian,

I own my first pair of Wilsons. While in the process of researching the speakers, I called the Wilson customer service dept. three separate times and each time was greeted by a passionate and knowledgable technician. I think once it may have been Jared or John and twice was Trent. I asked them very basic questions such as how to clean and care for the speakers all the way to some very long and involved discussions about tube versus solid state amps and what gear they personally use with their speakers.

While I eventually did buy my speakers, they had no way of knowing that when I was talking with them. But they were generous with their time, kept me on the line to ensure all my questions were answered, and seemed genuinely enthusiastic to share their passion and knowledge.

Your situation sounds very unique and I would think to address it properly would require some live discussion. Email is a good medium, but it has its limitations when working through a complex issue such as yours. I would encourage you to call to allow for an in-depth conversation.

However, no response at all to your email is obviously not excusable. They should have written you back and invited you to call them.

By the way, I never particularly liked any iteration of the Watt/Puppy and never "got" the Sophia I or II. But the Sasha is as seamless and coherent as my Quads or Martin Logans, and I have yet to experience any discontinuities or fatigue from the tweeter.

[matthias.menz]

heya

thank you Julian for posting this, this is usually not the place for negative comments and Ive met Trent and talked to Daryl myself, both very very nice, but my experience with these tweeters is about the same im afraid. And there are surely others who would agree with us. I find that its much much harder to make its upper range sound nice and sweet than harsh and cold. be it at home or at dealers.


Im the original owner of a WP 5 and then 6's which I still have and I doubt that the next one is a Wilson for the tweeters reason. Although I love the fit and finish as we all do and the dynamic presentation, this tweeter (or this tuning?) is not what I can take further and risk long term satisfaction -again. burnt child situation maybe.


In the years I sufferered from the tweeter too Julian, its forward tendency draws attention to itself, stands out from the rest, its quite metallic sounding ect. This btw is quite independent of how you align or miss-align the watts angle as I find.

This character is worsened by any component and software that has a slightly cold, analytic character or if you have power line quality problems it can turn unbearable. In my case even the variation in daylie power quality can make it sound from ok to so overly bright at times that I have to turn the system off. I tamed it a bit by changing the resistor in the Watt and now its about 1dB or so down but its not a cure really.


very recently I heard the Sasha in 2 different dealer systems and although its nicer overall, the tweeter still stands out for me. not as harsh as much as being too present, too high in volume and individually separated still. the Maxx3 had the same problem to a slightly lesser extend on Boulder. So it remains difficult to get it just right.


my conclusion must be that Im simply overly sensitive for tweeter integration and artifacts, maybe others are not as sensitive or have found the magic combination. From the speakers Ive heard recently only the Logan SummitX had a real seamless, quite wonderful upper-end integration. Dave, you must own that magic combo, I thought the Logan was quite a bit better in terms of integration and seamlessness in the mid and highs with the same music at the same dealer heard one after the other both with a MAC integrated.


In all these years it must remain wilsons secret as to why they have liked this tweeter so much when, over the decades, so many did not share that opinion or have real long term satisfaction problems as owners. its weakness were clear to many and have been addressed only in baby-steps.


regards
matthias

[Masterlu]

matthias.menz Welcome to AA