The Worst Speaker you have ever heard.

This is funny to me....of all my years in retail audio, It never ceases to amaze me how people can BRIEFLY go listen to some SYSTEM set up somewhere, and make comments on WHAT THE SPEAKERS SOUNDED LIKE!!!!
I think most everyone here is making references to having heard some speaker at one time, and thus made judgements.
I've heard some potentially world class speakers, time and time again, set up very very poorly, with very missmatched gear!!! My point is that I think too many people make judgements on CRITICALLY BALANCED gear, which is pushed in a wrong sonoic dirrection one way or another, and they blam ONE PARTICULAR COMPONENT(in this case, the speakers) as being sonically underachieving!!! I mean I"m hearing some very nice equipment mentioned in some very poor light by some people. and I know that a lot of those pieces, set up right, in the right system and hands can sound fantastic!
I can't tell you how many times I've heard people "poo poo" speakers because somehow the rest of the system WAS FLAWED!
...It's kinda like people judging the Pressident, when really the congress, senate, and even Judiciary are influencing things as much or more!

Wilson Watt puppy 5.1.

I agree with Fattparrot the avantgards are yukee!Jim Smith
needs an ear transplant.

As far as Wilsons go yuppie all the way!

Shahinian Obelisk.

Driven by Musical Fidelity preamp and Class A monoblocks with Levinson CD gear. The most unengaging, squashed image, pseudo high end system I have ever heard.

What's with the fuss and cult following. I dont get it.

I thought the wilsons were setup wrong myself, but the dealer told me dave wilson came and personnaly set them up himself--and if the designer can't setup his own speakers right then he probably can't design them right either. Regardless it makes no sense to me why a dealer would display and drive thier $70k speakers with inferior gear (incidentally they were running off an SS audio research amp/MIT cables/and Theta gear upstream)--but I thought the whole point of selling the product in an audition was to set it up properly so people can actually hear what its capable of. I think the dealers are more to blame than some of us posting (assuming these products are better than we heard). All in all, I don't think its tough to ouperform a Wilson though. After the x-1 was "product of the year" in '95 with stereophile, in next months issue the reviewer auditioned the JMlabs Grande Utopia against the wilson and stated he liked the Utopia more--one month and the $70k speaker is obseleted by a better looking and sounding speaker at $5k less in thier own pages--all from the golden eared reviewers. The TAD model 1 at $40k would outperform the x-1 and the Maxx. http://www.tadaudio.com/home/model-1.html