Thanks for sharing a great conversation between two well-informed individuals who don't descend into the usual vacuous marketing speak. Whether or not you agree with him, Daryl Wilson is a knowledgeable and articulate CEO. Far better than many in this industry.
I am delighted that you liked the interview! Thank you for the kind words! Daryl is extremely impressive. It is wonderful and unique that the CEO is the company's most talented designer, as well as its most articulate spokesman!
Superb questions, Ron. Keep these interviews coming. My 2 cents about Wilson: 1) why so many mastering studios, incl Bob Katz are using Lipinski monitors not Wilsons? Side note, Mr Lipinski was recognized by US National Bureau of Standards to have unique hearing capabilites. 2) Field coil open baffle models by OMA, Treehaus, Wolf von Langa, Songer- science is brutal here- they must be more realistic than non-field coil drivers in a box, and it does not matter how good the box is. 3) Bass reflex port used in all Wilson models - thats a can of worms. Show me any scientific proofs that it is superior to either dipole or closed box. Perhaps the most creative bass section was designed by Stavros from Aries Cerat, array of four 15 inchers in an open cube. It seems to me, that Wilson is closed to either old tech (field coil) or new ones (AMTs, ribbons, active crossovers). But ok, looks like this particular niche is successful , business-wise. Final note, acoustic time alignment is also done by both Lipinski and wolf von langa.
Regarding Ribbon tweeters: "as soon as you take that microphone off-axis even 1 to 2 degrees you start getting very extreme roll-offs." I'm curious of an example this in measurement? I"m aware of a number of current speakers with ribbon tweeters where the measurements show that this "extreme roll off" is certainly not the case. I own a pair of Wilson Audio speakers and I love soft dome tweeters; however, this comment about ribbon tweeters is puzzling, to say the least.
Hello Jimmy, I think you raise a fair question. Perhaps Daryl slightly overstated the point? I personally believe that implementation trumps theory. Even if some ribbon tweeters exhibit extreme off-axis roll-off I suspect that not all ribbon tweeters exhibit extreme off-axis roll-off. For example, I suspect that Damon and Leif's ribbon tweeters in the Von Schweikert loudspeakers, and Oliver's ribbon tweeters in the Gobel Divin line, do not exhibit extreme off-axis roll-off. I think panel loudspeakers with line array ribbon tweeters such Magnepan, and loudspeakers with full range ribbon drivers such as my Pendragon, and electrostatic panels such as MartinLogan, tend to be more prone to "head in the vise" issues. But Gary Koh specifically designs his big Genesis Technologies panel loudspeakers for good off-axis response so a room full of people can enjoy the music. Ultimately, I return to my view that implementation trumps theory.
