Stereophile - Sabrina 5


Hate to rag on Sterophile again, but one of two things are true.  One, the Sabrina speakers they reviewed were wired incorrectly or Wilson is now shipping with inverted midranges. 

All that work to reduce distortion to vanishing levels only to totally ahem, add custom flavor to the frequency response.  

Honestly if I was reviewing this speaker I'd have stopped to reach out to them before publishing, just to be sure this speaker shipped as intended. 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/wilson-audio-specialties-sabrina-v-loudspeaker-measurements

erik_squires

lol!  That’s rich.  Some who suggest that experienced audiophiles on this site do not have the right to criticize the designs of professionals are the first to criticize the designs of professionals, as long as they do not own those designs.  Of course the professionals are gonna get criticized on a forum dedicated to a specific hobby.  It’s axiomatic, and impossible to imagine, for example, car enthusiasts not criticizing certain choices made by Porsche, Audi or BNW on certain models.  But none of those enthusiasts has to be a manufacturer to do so.  I’m also allowed to go to Nobu and criticize a dish I’m served if I don’t like it.  That’s just silly.  Grow up, my friends.

We are allowed to criticize and express our opinions but…
Constructive criticism vs. hatred (raging or passive aggressive).
No one says you’re not allowed to criticize. Re-read the thread @mdalton 

There’s a combination of bad information in the original post stemming from lack of  knowledge and desire to deliberately bash a product, followed by more responses compounding this with more bad data expressed in a sarcastic fashion. Add to this a mentally distressed actor who’s rage was fueled just by a mere mention of the brand. 

There are many ways to criticize and discuss things. Having a complete dataset to be able to lay out your arguments with supporting details as constructive criticism is  not what’s being done here. 

Take care. 

Yes, have a 60/60 sh60 danley, bought used. I’ve gotten to know some pro guys who tell me about these things....currently running it with a 21 inch tekton sub.

I also have one of the Pioneer subs. It’s not some extension king, but, the ’quality’ of bass is high. I’ve been meaning to copy something along the lines of Pioneer and also what borresen did recently, diy a larger one.....It’s all sitting in a semi unfinished cabin/barn (sleep on the floor, whatever you wanna call it), no waf issues.

 

(I assume you are referring to these from the netherlands? will need to talk to someone there, thanks...https://stageaccompany.com/products/performer/performer.html)

Have you seen this Japanese guy’s channels, he has two of them, a lot of enthusiasts over there, it seems. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qis_pz8rUrA

 

@phusis  wrote

Would love to listen to those Pioneer horns at some point - I bet they’re great and that the engineering pedigree here is something to behold. You got Synergy horns also? I’m using a pair of DIY tapped horns - a Danley patent - and they have similar tuning and driver size compared to the TH50’s (~23Hz, which is a nice compromise in regards to the lower knee, upper extension, sensitivity (97dB’s) and size (20 cf.)). 

I’m a horn guy as well, though I’ve been using horn-hybrid main speakers for over 5 years now (truncated all-horns 5 years prior to that). Using proper horn loading from the central bass to lower midrange is fantastic, but from my chair it requires of the horn to be non-truncated here for the best results (meaning: big size), and VERY few people do that. My Uccello all-horns (that I sold off some 5 years ago) had truncated bass horns, and it lead to colorations in the upper bass area while keeping them from hitting their full sensitivity potential as well (i.e.: ~101 vs. ~105dB’s).

Non-truncated front loaded horn subs from ~25Hz on up will be quite massive in size, which is why I opted for tapped horns vs. truncated FLH’s to wring out the most of that +25 lbs. 15" B&C woofer, essentially being a high order bandpass design taking advantage of both the front and back wave of the cone.

Only a fraction of audiophiles use a variation of a horn-loaded sub design, but what you pay for in size is rewarded with effortless, smooth bass reproduction that fills the room with low frequency pressurization in ways that is different to (and dare I say more natural than) both low and higher eff. direct radiating sub designs. 

Back to the main speakers I recently converted from one horn-hybrid design (EV cinema speakers) to another, active one from Stage Accompany, and which uses a high sensitivity, horn-loaded 20 lbs. planar magnetic driver from 1kHz on up and a 24 lbs. 15" woofer/mid below (with built-in 2x300W class A/B amp channels connected directly to each driver, in addition to analogue active crossovers). "Hi-Fi PA" for sure, and that planar magnetic driver does things a compression driver or dome tweeter for that matter can’t replicate. Good stuff, and at a price level (while not cheap per se) that makes it all the more fun. 

Nope.  The original post contained a link to the measurements section of the Stereophile review, with some questions about whether something may have been wrong with the speaker, given that enthusiast’s extensive experience measuring and building speakers.  That enthusiast had an obvious opinion of Wilson, but it’s based on his vast experience.  That has to be allowed and even encouraged by all of us, even those of us who feel like our personal purchase decisions are under attack.  Adulthood requires the ability to take criticism without making it personal. 

 

FWIW, I’ve been impressed by the Wilsons I’ve heard in my very limited experience, but I will also confess that I expected to be blown away by the Sasha V with 2 Loke subs that I listened to, and I wasn’t.  But it doesn’t matter.  I have AN-Es, and there are so many criticisms by enthusiasts of Audio Note, and they don’t in any way diminish me or make me angry. My ego is just not that fragile.  So my advice to you?  Chill, man.

May be you’re dehydrated or oxygen deprived.
If you deemed reading a review a vast experience I have nothing further to discuss with you. I don’t take the criticism of these speakers personally. I own and enjoy my Wilson Sabrinas almost every day whenever time permits. I also don’t criticize a dish by reading a review of it. That would be stupid. Which is what the original post is.

We have a difference of opinion on how this was presented. You obviously don’t agree with my take. That’s fine. It’s how this world works. Present factual arguments. Don’t try to describe how something sounds based on your interpretation of a review with a flavor of misinformation sprinkled on it.