Wilsons new flagship

A whole lotta nothing...

When you look at the sheer amount of effort that went into design/fab of TAD drivers (for example), one can see why the cost is going up. I was in the TAD factory years ago..that Jay igyagi youtube guy has a more recent video... Even on that note, a pristine sounding TAD E1TX is around 30k. Their flagship is 100k and some change.

Willie bought his drivers for pennies on the dollar from whoosit (spent no money there)....this whole rigamarole about time alignment by mechanically moving his drivers around is such a foolish sales pitch. Every pro audio speaker worth its salt has highly accurate time alignment by implementing highly accurate driver delays through dsp. Willie will somehow mechanically tinkering with a steam engine, (make it better) when a maglev train exists...ART!!

Shoot that material with a XRF gun and it will quickly reveal what non-mystery plastic Willie's using...there's no material X, material Y, material goofball mystery there..

What are they doing that is so ground breaking? Same ole drivers they have been using. Paper scanspeak woofers, soft dome tweeter all wrapped up in a 800lb cabinet. That what I see at least. Maybe there’s something groundbreaking here but I haven’t looked into it. Bunch of fancy names for all their cabinet material. Xyz etc. 

I went to my Wilson dealer to hear them at an unveiling event.  What I can say is without a doubt they represent the state of the art in sound reproduction.  Of course the build quality is on another level.  The price is crazy for sure and there aren’t many things on this planet worth that much money to me.  But that’s irrelevant.  They represent the best that Wilson can make and they are fantastic.   They had already two pairs sold before the event was even announced.  I’m sure Wilson will do just fine selling these. 

Background :

According to US-BLS "The median hourly wage in the United States is approximately $29.99 per hour." (today, in the 'richest country in the wold').

Assuming that median-worker pay's 20% State and Federal taxes (combined) they would need to earn $1,112,500 to have $890,000 to buy these custom-painted speakers.

Relevance:

This custom-painted pair of Wilson speakers equals 17.8 YEARS of the median-worker's labor (remember, 50% of folks make less).  

If most folks in the U.S. work ~ 45 years, it would take 40% of their ENTIRE LIFE'S EARNINGS to pay for this pair of Wilson speakers (assuming inflation = wage increases).

Editorial:

Please do not insult me with 'cutting edge' technology and 'state-of-the-art' design arguments.  Those are sucker-arguments to overcharge the very rich - get over trying to justify this to the average audiophile.  

Great gear can be purchased for much more appropriate prices.  I am willing to NEVER BUY Wilson speakers to send that message.  

If you know him, please inform Darrell.  Do not be surprised if he doesn't listen.

@jbthurston The Wilson is "a statement of the art" from one school. But there are many other approaches, which date back to before WW II and are still actively pursued today with components that require one to assemble and voice a system, typically horn-based with low-powered tube gear—truly a different world.

This is a parallel universe--often referred to as the "underground" that is made up of equipment that people today would likely call "DIY" but which occupies a place that is just as revelatory but is not part of the commercial eco-system that provides the churn for the legacy press. 

You are absolutely correct. There are many ways to skin a cat when it comes to designing speakers or setting up systems.  I’ve had the SET/ high sensitivity speakers set up and it can be very interesting.  Just not for me for the ultimate in sound reproduction.  I’ve been around a long time and heard countless different iterations of systems to move me.  I can say without a doubt hearing the Autobiography speakers driven by Octave Jubilee amps, I’ve never heard anything better.  It truly reflects the best of what can be done in design and delivering an almost overwhelming experience.  But that’s the beauty of this hobby, to each their own.  We all have our own goals as to how we want our music to sound and impact us.