OMG Moment


I had spent two days detailing my wife’s new car and just came back from the dog taking me out for a long walk. Wife was out, so I finally had some time to listen to an album that Juan @blisshifi had recommended. I never rest during daylight hours, but as I played Isolde Lasoen’s album “Oh Dear” I was half out. I’ve got a six foot couch as a listening area and slumped down and tilted my head back, closed my eyes and “Douce Melancolie” completely transformed. The soundstage width, depth and height went crazy. It was the most amazing, life like sound that I had ever heard on my system, or any system that I can remember. The whole 180 degrees of the room was filled with music without loss of localization. The speakers usually/mostly disappear with many albums, but they were completely gone. I don’t understand any of this, but I’m just going with it.  I suspect that I just discovered that the Wilson Sabrina X has a very critical vertical dispersion pattern.  I would never have expected this and can imagine someone saving lots of money by changing their vertical seating position.

vonhelmholtz

I would say the smaller Wilson speakers do image quite low. I am fairly short and have a low height listening chair, so while the Wilson Yvette imaged well, vocalists still seemed they were sitting. The speakers I’ve had prior (Legacy Aeris) and after (Scansonic MB-6B, Borresen Z3, Borresen 02) all portray a might taller and more natural soundstage height.The Z3 and 02 are both smaller than the Yvette as well, but Wilson tends to point their tweeters down to blend with the mids as a point source, so that may be why. 

@blisshifi really? in my room the Sabrinas throw an image at around 6ft height for the vocals. I’ve never had a problem with them imagining low. 

@audphile1 

Nice listening room & equipment.  I’ve yet to do so, but I’m guessing that lowering the rear spikes will help to positively modify the sound in my room.

I went back to look at some Sabrina X reviews and came upon this one:

Part-Time Audiophile Review of Sabrina X

First thing that I noticed was the level of difficulty of setting-up these speakers.

Lastly, at the very end of the article there is a picture from the listeners point of view, looking back at the speakers and guess what…. Yup, the listeners is slumped down in his chair in exactly the same fashion as myself.  The only difference is that I don’t have a cat.

 

@audphile1 Maybe that’s one improvement with the Sabrinas. If you look at the design of some of the higher up models, the tweeters are angled downwards. It doesn’t seem to be the case with the Sabrinas. I might have gotten 6ft on some tracks, but it’s not the same as many of my other speakers which image higher as if they were on some sort of elevated stage, even just a few feet up. The difference in the soundstage size was easily notable even upon auditioning the Wilson Yvette in multiple rooms. I thought it would be something I could live with, but ultimately I missed the grander presence other speakers brought. 

@vonhelmholtz thanks for the compliment!!! Your room looks amazing! Love that turntable!

@blisshifi definitely possible. But I consistently have a tall soundstage in my room. I’m working to improve the acoustics so hopefully I won’t mess it all up.