I Love Wilson Speakers . . . BUT!!!

[AudioNut]

Originally Posted by daveneumann

Hi Julian,

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.

Actually, I was not being particularly critical of the Wilson speakers, nor of their tweeter. I think the entire Wilson line is beautiful to behold, incredible in sonics, and represents a near epitome of the speaker builder's art.

Because of the immense popularity of the whole Wilson line, and the almost universal acceptance of the titanium inverted dome tweeter that Wilson has used in many of its models for many years, I must assume that the problem lies with me and some anomaly of my aural anatomy and hearing apparatus. Ergo, the problem must be mine, and I must have some unusual sensitivity to certain high frequency sound that the Wilson tweeter exacerbates.

My particular approach to Wilson was not asking for assistance in enduring their tweeter, but rather was to inquire if the soft dome tweeter used in the Duette might be sufficiently different from the titanium inverted dome, that it might be suitable to my particular situation, might be smoother and less irritating, and less likely to cause me grief.

A simple e-mailed answer would have been appropriate and would certainly have been appreciated. I can only assume that for some reason, they let my inquiry slip by them.

I'm not angry with Wilson Audio, and I do love their speakers. I just wish I could listen to them, and based on DaveNeumann's report on the Sasha:

"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"

It appears that Wilson may have now gotten it right. I hope so.

[matthias.menz]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

matthias.menz Welcome to AA

ohh, well, thanks !



Julian, if the majority has no problems with them, yea sure, must be our particular hearing ..its a possibility. ha,ha, loved this one "was not asking for assistance in enduring their tweeter"..

overall I feel the same though, love the fit and finish, have issues with the tweeter I wish I wouldnt have. although, I met quite a few who share the same hearing issues with me ..


regards
M

[AudioNut]

Originally Posted by matthias.menz

ohh, well, thanks !



Julian, if the majority has no problems with them, yea sure, must be our particular hearing ..its a possibility. ha,ha, loved this one "was not asking for assistance in enduring their tweeter"..

overall I feel the same though, love the fit and finish, have issues with the tweeter I wish I wouldnt have. although, I met quite a few who share the same hearing issues with me ..


regards
M

Me too. . . . Glad I'm not the only one. :
:confused-13::confused-5:

Julian

[Lildebs888]

Originally Posted by 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.

I would agree with Dave. I have personally worked with John, Trent, and Jerron for several years. They have always been very good about taking calls from customers (Wilson and non Wilson). I do have to say it is a little suprising that they would have let a customer question fall between the cracks. Is there a possiblity that they never recieved your email? Just a thought.

I personally would encourage you to contact Jerron at Wilson Audio either via phone at (801) 377-2233 or his email there at Wilson Audio which is jerron@wilsonaudio.com. He really is wonderful to talk with, and I am sure between the 2 of you that you guys can figure out where it all went wrong. And of course you know that if you ever had a question, that I would always be more then happy to pass on a message to them myself!

-Debby

[TommyC]

I didn't know what WATT stands for until today, thanks!

I got a chance to listen to the Sophia 3 in the summer. I didn't experience any headache or anything in the ~1hr demo. My ears/head are also quite sensitive to tweeters. I had a headache listening to new 803Di and the old 802D, and this was only for about 30 minutes.

The Guarneri Memento never gave me this problem, that's why I purchased it!

[Alberto]

Not all speakers are for all people (or ears). I experienced very similar responses to Wilson (and B&W speakers for that matter.) They sounded great, but I could not take more than a few minutes. Like you, I believe that hard-dome tweeters might be the culprit.

My SF Guarneri Homage don't reproduce brass (to name one type of sound where I was very impressed with Wilson) with the same level of realism, but they do an amazing job with vocals (and most midrange) and I can listen to them for hours on end.

I have the same respect for Wilson that I have to Sonus Faber, but we all have different sensitivity when it comes to sound and the Wilson sound and my ears just don't get along.

Alberto

[soundslikemusic]

the wilson sophia 3s are warmer than the previous watt puppy, sasha

[1KW]

A lot of good points were made. The fact is that people do hear differently so it is not surprising that some may not like the way a certain speaker sounds particularly in the high frequencies where we usually start to lose are hearing sensitivity first as we age. The brain then trys to compensate by a phenonomenon called "recruitment" which makes some people much more sensitive to high frequencies. Julian if you like the silk dome tweeters in your SF speakers just sit back and enjoy. Thanks for posting your opinion. David

[Masterlu]

Always good to have the bio-med interpretation.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by 1KW

The brain then trys to compensate by a phenonomenon called "recruitment" which makes some people much more sensitive..........

David.......Thank goodness, now I have a name for it. Recruitment Phenonomenon. It was driving me crazy. I thought there was something wrong with me.