Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Michael, another good review and great piece of writing! Thank you! No way I can buy these toys but interesting reading, nonetheless.

In the same vein of "I've been married almost 33 years, and I have always found that things go well for me when I listen to my wife.", if you haven't already, I recommend you watch a few reruns of an old BBC production called "Rumpole of the Bailey", starring Leo McKern. Great actor who showed his talent for the witty as Clang, the native chief or shaman in the 1965 Beatles movie, "Help!". I'm confident you'll enjoy it and appreciate the humor.

This speaker need something double down to 1 ohm easily like Luxman amplifier

I can think of far better amps to ignore those types of loads, than
"MF's darTZeel's"

EG: D'Agostino/Gryphon Antillion etc.

Cheers George

Both amplifiers are not current kings IMO , the Luxman for sure would not be a step forward for MF ..

Regards

"Even though the Falcons correctly positioned the acoustic objects in the soundstage, the presentation was so much smaller-scale than it had been on the big Wilsons that I had to chuckle."

PS Audio's Paul McGowan suggests that large-sized speakers are not necessary to achieve a large-scale soundstage, but it does require full frequency range reproduction, as might be realized by using relatively smaller speakers along with a subwoofer.

Has JA1 tried using the Falcon LS3/5a speakers with a subwoofer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhWj-puaxx8

any wife who doesn't point out how ugly, expensive and ridiculous these speakers are is definitely a keeper.

"A second Mk5 tweeter is mounted atop the upper-midrange enclosure."

On their site, Wilson calls it a 'rear firing tweeter.'

How do they time align that baby?

There are several speakers with aspirations at the highest of high end, Wilson, MBL, others, who seem to feel their products need an 'ambience tweeter.'

Like in Portlandia, "Want your speakers to sound better? But a bird on them!"

Have any of the manufacturers even discussed the non-time aligned ambience drivers?

Most importantly, where is the "Add a rear firing tweeter" after market product niche?

I use the Aperion ribbon behind my main speakers. So, maybe it already exists but doesn't get mentioned.

This topic might be coming up more now that so many high enders are doing it!

The Magic M9 does not, but the Wilsons, including the Chronosonic Master does! Their brochure: "The rear-firing module is optimized for ceiling heights normally found in domestic environments and increases spatial retrieval and overall resolution."

Not time aligned, yet "adding spatial retrieval and adding resoultion?"

MBL's Radialstrahler mbl 101 X-treme has a tweeter stuck on top, too.

JA1, MF, or JA2, are you noticing a trend?

I have no doubt they are amazing in any large listening area, I've heard the other Wilsons and they've always amazed me. Love the part where Mr. Fremer's wife thought he should get them. Wondering if my wife will be as forgiving if I purchase a 1200G?

Thank you for the effort that you are putting into these measurements and the associated comments.

You have mentioned EPDR here and in some earlier articles, but are not including a curve showing EPDR in your measurements pages. It would be better if you would include an EPDR curve with the curves for electrical impedance and associated phase, all three curves with respect to frequency on the same graphic.

This suggestion is intended for improvements, and is not a negative criticism of the useful and interesting measurements and associated comments that you are already providing.

One can't help but be impressed by MF's and JA's comments. They should forestall any carping about "audio jewelry" or that these are only for those with "silly money."

Obviously, this speaker is like the proverbial yacht: if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it. I'm wondering whether, in a house with a typical suspended wood floor, some reinforcement might be necessary to support this much weight. I gather MF's listening room is in his basement, I assume with a poured concrete floor which eliminates this concern. (although I would not volunteer to be part of the crew that has to remove them).

The degree of precision in the available adjustment of the midranges and tweeters suggests that proper setup of these speakers will take quite some time to get "perfect" -- that it's not just a matter of positioning.

Although these are reasonably beyond my financial reach (I do have to ask the price), I appreciate this review, which gives us a glimpse of what is possible with nearly unlimited resources. Well done, all!

Your wife will love the new Ayon Audio Black Crane speakers...

If I owned Wilson Audio, and my engineers came to me with an anechoic response for that speaker like that, I'd say, "what the hell are we doing? Fix it." If I was a music producer and engineered music with that boost at 50hz, and that cut at 200hz, I'd be thrown off the project. I believe it has a kick ass image. I like that. Wilson audio can come back when they figure out how to even out the response - as measured, in a well known anechoic chamber. Transparency. What a concept.

The sheer nurturance and will to commit to turntables is not for sissies. I originally posted the below in the Loudspeakers Forum.

The Road To Olympus

I begrudge no one their largesse or experience. Whether that experience is derived from the hard work of reviewers or the frequent ability of others to change and buy new STUFF. It gives others at various tiers standards to strive for as we all continually try to learn more and be better. I recently helped a close friend audition an array of speakers and like to think I provided meaningful contributions. I thought “a ship would come in” for me later but no such luck. Doing the next best thing produced surprising results. Better speaker wire, new speaker positioning, quieting of my room’s resonance all significantly totaled a smile producing result. A new Marantz CD6006 CD player didn’t hurt either as this player punches far above it’s weight class. If fortunes change, I know exactly what I would do and why. Until then, as Kurt Vonnegut would say “And so it goes.”

At some point in your 50’s (just yesterday, right?) you come to terms with who you are, why you ended up as you did, and are good with the outcome. Sometimes your career chooses you, as helping the disabled thrive was not my most lucrative talent but it just needed doing. The road to Olympus might start with “if I had $5-10,000 what would I do for a single component or pieces and why would I do it?” A good example of this is the vision quest of TZ50. From there people might ratchet that up to the carefully considered (and outstanding) choices of stalwarts such as Kal Rubinson, Jason Victor Serinus, John Atkinson, Thomas J Norton and a pantheon of others across a number of publications.

Well past the summit of Olympus lies a cosmic entity that puts all comic book powerhouses to shame. Thy name is Mikey Fremer. No mortal mind can contemplate a creature in the multiverse that can approach, never mind surpass him. Aside from singlehandedly saving the turntable, he is his own standard when people say someone has “gone all Mikey Fremer.”

Mikey has outdone himself as a standard I doubt anyone will ever approach: It has almost nothing to do with wealth. For most of the rest of us we might get a “these sound very nice” and a once a decade pity approval of the wife to get something new.
I never thought I would hear stories of a woman born of woman say not one but 2 things: That 1) experiencing a component was “better then sex” and 2) “you have to get these speakers.” Thanks, Mikey. No small feat making Olympus look bad by ALSO having a goddess for a wife. That’s being just plain greedy.