I'm showing my age but those vintage JBL L100 speakers that so many people raved about in the 70's and 80's sounded just awful. A couple friends had them, one of them had a 4 channel quad system, and they were so proud. "Don't these sound great?!" "Uhhhh......"
On the modern end I have heard 4 different models of Wilsons at two audio shows. I just don't get it. They sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. The best sounding of the 4 were the smallest pair, Sashas I think. I can safely say that it wasn't the room because next door to the worst sounding demo (Alexandrias I believe) was an identical room with Sonus Faber Aidas that sounded gorgeous. Please note - I'm not saying that the speakers are bad (OK, maybe overrated) but Wilson must be targeting a particular kind of listener that craves microscopic detail over everything else. In one sense I have to give them credit for taking the characteristic of detail resolution to its logical extreme.
