A brutal review of the Wilson Maxx

The source of lot of useless audiogon back & forth is when motives are questioned. All is conjecture at best, though one can never know. The same thing can said for most professions whose value add is supposed to be consultancy, advice etc...especially where there is no standard data to be benchmarked up against. So why don't we just drop the whole discussion altogether and just stick to the MAxx2 itself? Obviously there are differing opinions and the more discussion on the sound quality or character there is, the more other may be able to gain value from it, whether they agree or disagree. Let's stick to the subject.

This never ends does it? Although my experience is limited to the Sophias and WP7s, and unlike Fremer or Oneobgyn they were definitely NOT my cup of tea, I do not agree with the quasi claim that if a speaker does not use exotic expensive materials nor has some new cutting edge propierty technology, it cannot be considered as Reference product. What baloney. This does not just pertain to speaker, or even audio products. Materials, technology, etc are a means to an end, not the end and thus cannot define it. Just look at the stock market for example: some companies may have the best technolgy etc...but does that make them blue chips or perform well? Not if it does not translate into earnings power which is what matters. Likewise, discussion on materials or tech are indeed useful and interesting but in terms of finding out how particular speaker, for example, has certain sound attributes. Nothing more, nothing less.

Instead if Hardesty first really auditioned the speakers, listening to them, found them problematic somewhow to him, then investigated the contruction of the speaker, and tried to explain how perhaps certain design rules or parts etc would have contributed to his unsatisfactory exp with the MAXX2s, the commentary would have been far more relevant and credible...even if you disagreed.

Wow just read it. Very interesting. Never heard the Maxx2 but did audition the Sophias and WP7s before settling on my Kharmas. The Wilsons were driven by Spectral amps at the time. At the time my impressions were largely in tune of what the reviewer is saying: I came away thinking incredibly good at transient attack but less so on decay, and mid range was somehow "bare" sounding. I was unsure whether it was really an issue of a poor match with the amps but the dealer obviously thought it was good match and they have been matched as at various trade shows in the past. I did think that one RH's conclusions when reviewed the Sophias rung true: they would be better served with tube amplification to get that mid range better.