Products of the Year

1995 Editor's Choice

Wilson Audio Specialties X-1/Grand SLAMM

Usually this space is reserved for components that have stood the test of time, but this year I wanted to pay my own tribute to what may well be the best loudspeaker currently available.

I have now heard the Wilson X-1s at length in four very different systems and rooms. My first time was at Stereophile's 1994 High-End Hi-Fi Show in Miami. Retailer Peter McGrath's Sound Components was running a shuttle bus from the Doral Resort (where the Show was being held) out to his Coral Gables store, where he had the Wilsons set up with Mark Levinson No.20.6 monoblocks, one of the first Levinson No.38S preamplifiers, and a No.31/No.30 CD player. Cabling was all Transparent. And so was the sound. Peter played a digital master tape of his Mahler Symphony 1 recording for Harmonia Mundi (HMU 907118). Yes, like all recording engineers, he played it too loud. But when the orchestra's percussionist hit the big bass drum, the impact of the sound seemed like a pressure wave speeding past my ears, yet without any boom or bloat. And the walls of his big listening room simply disappeared, transporting me to a Row-F seat at Ft. Lauderdale's Broward Center for the Performing Arts. It was the best surround-sound I have ever heard—in stereo!

My next exposure to this consummately musically accurate speaker was in the summer of '94, when I auditioned it at Martin Colloms's place in North London, driven by Audio Research VT150 monoblocks via Transparent cable. Although Martin was still working on the setup in what was then a new listening room, the mid/upper-bass transition still needing some work, CD after CD went into Martin's Krell MD-10 CD transport, LP after LP onto his van den Hul Grasshopper IV/Naim ARO/Lingoed Linn/Mana Reference Table record player. More so than any speaker I've heard, the big Wilsons' sound seemed to be that of the recording, yet without the "ruthlessly revealing" nature of lesser designs that try to achieve the same goal. And again, the awesomely potent nature of the X-1's low frequencies, massively extended yet tightly controlled, riveted me to the listening chair. The thunderous bass guitar riff "Africa I'm Home," from Stanley Clarke's East River Drive album (Epic EK 47489), thundered forth from the speakers' big Focal woofers in a way I had previously experienced only from live rock.

And there things stood, the memories of two technologically impressive and musically superlatively musical experiences still vivid, until, on a trip East for the 99th Audio Engineering Society Convention this past October, I heard two more systems based around the Grand SLAMMs. The first was at the Connecticut home of Dan and Rondi D'Agostino of Krell: sitting in a large, well-proportioned room, the speakers were driven by, naturally, Krell Audio Standard monoblock amplifiers and a Krell Reference 64/DT-10 digital front-end. The speaker cables were experimental, flat Goetz cables, with two pairs of two closely spaced conductors. Yes, the character of the speakers was fundamentally as I had remembered; but now the Wilsons sounded supremely relaxed and comfortable, with a large ambient bloom. Again the bass was deep, tight, and powerful; again the soundstage reached out to envelop the listener; again the depth of detail was delightfully delineated. Again the music flowed from the speakers unimpeded by thoughts of technology.

My final X-1 experience was in the dedicated listening room Madrigal has in its Connecticut facility. Similar in size to the D'Agostinos' living room but with plentiful use made of RPG Diffusors, the Madrigal room is where the company's team of listeners spends most evenings optimizing Mark Levinson and Proceed designs. Here the Grand SLAMMs were driven by the Mark Levinson Reference No.33 monoblocks, a No.38S preamplifier, and No.31/30.5 Reference transport/processor combination. Interconnect was Transparent; speaker cable Kimber 4AG silver.

As might be expected from its daily use, the Wilson system was optimized for the presentation of detail. (Designers need to be able to quickly zero in things the like the effects of passive component changes.) Tiny little things, such as the different distances from the microphones of the various audience shouts and whistles in the "Old Love" track from Clapton's consummate live album 24 Nights (Reprise 26420-2), could be perceived without any feeling of them being pushed forward at the listener. The little intricacies of attack that bassist Nathan East uses in his solo on this cut were almost fetishistically revealed, as was the purr of his deep, low–B-string notes. Unfortunately, so was the brassy upper-midrange coloration that the recording engineers had deemed appropriate to lay over EC's axe. Again, the X-1 appeared to be remaining true to the sound of the recording. But when the recording was up to it, as with the José Carreras Misa Criolla CD (Philips 420 995-2) I also auditioned, you just found yourself floating into the recorded acoustic, virtual-reality style.

Editor's Choice? You betcha! (Other than one small detail: How the heck do I get hold of $67,500?)—John Atkinson