Yes, when he was young he learned much from James Brown, a fact he always admitted, but from there Prince certainly created his own very powerful and influential body of pop/rock/funk, that will undoubtedly stand the test of time and is almost incalculably influential. While albums like Sign ‘O’ the Times, Dirty Mind, 1999, Purple Rain and Crystal Ball rank as essential and he often thought of himself as an album…
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Unreal. Forget about the year punk broke, or the day the music died, 2016 is shaping up to be an annus horribilis for musicians. Prince dead at age 57? It simply cannot be true.
I first encountered the work of Dave Wilson in the late 1970s. He was then a recording engineer responsible for some great-sounding records, including pianist Mark P. Wetch's Ragtime Razzmatazz (LP, Wilson Audio W-808), which quickly became one of my favorite system-demo records.
Then Wilson turned his attention to designing loudspeakers. His first model was the Wilson Audio Modular Monitor, reviewed for Stereophile by its then-publisher, Larry Archibald, in August 1983, who described it as "the most enjoyable speaker system I've listened to, and significantly valuable as a diagnostic…
The Sabrina comes with a deluxe three-ring binder that includes detailed unpacking and setup instructions, but Wilson Audio strongly advises that you leave these tasks to an authorized dealer "trained in the art and science of the Wilson Audio Setup Procedure." In my case, this involved the Toronto area's Wilson dealer, Audio Excellence, and the setup expertise of Wilson's director of sales, Peter McGrath. Given McGrath's long experience in setting up Wilson speakers, I was content to leave the Sabrinas' initial setup to him—with input from me. Like me, McGrath likes to set up speakers to…
Having recently upgraded my phono system, I've been playing LPs more frequently. As a kind of tribute, one of the first recordings I played through the Sabrinas was Concert, Dave Wilson's first recording of a pipe organ (Wilson H-1-77). I started with Johann Gottfried Walter's Concerto 3, played by James Welch on a tracker-action organ. There was a great sense of space, the sound of the organ filling the venue in a manner both powerful and delicate. I think of the pipe organ as a "slow" instrument, with no real transients—compared to, say, a piano—but with this recording played through the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25.4mm) doped-silk dome tweeter, 5.7" (146.1mm) paper–pulp-cone midrange unit, 7.9" (203.2mm) paper–pulp-cone woofer. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 2.53 ohms minimum at 139Hz. Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m at 1kHz. Frequency response: 31Hz–21kHz, ±3dB, Room Average Response. Minimum amplification: 50Wpc.
Dimensions: 37.6" (964.8mm) H (38.9"/998mm H with spikes) by 11.9" (304.8mm) W by 15" (385.5mm) D. Weight: 93.8 lbs (42.64kg) net each; 221.5 lbs (100.7kg) shipping per pair.
Finishes: Desert…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Source: PS Audio PerfectWave Memory CD transport & DirectStream DAC.
Analog Source: Acoustic Signature WOW XXL turntable & TA-1000 tonearm, Soundsmith MIMC cartridge.
Preamplifier: Convergent Audio Technology SL1 Renaissance Black Path Edition.
Power Amplifiers: McIntosh Laboratories MC275LE (stereo), Theta Digital Prometheus (monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: Avantgarde Uno Nano.
Cables: Interconnect, Speaker, AC: Nordost Valhalla 2.
Accessories: PS Audio PerfectWave P5 Power Plant power supply; Nordost QB8 AC power-outlet…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Wilson Sabrina's frequency response in the farfield; for the nearfield frequency responses, I used an Earthworks QTC-40, which has a ¼" capsule and thus presents no significant obstacle to the sound. For logistical reasons, I measured a different sample (serial no.0485) from those auditioned by Robert Deutsch (0375 and 0376). For the measurements, I hoisted this surprisingly heavy speaker onto my Outline speaker turntable—oh, my achin' back—and to avoid the possibility of damaging…
Tomorrow, Saturday April 23, from 4–10pm, JS Audio (4919 St. Elmo Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814) is hosting a Wilson/dCS/Dan D'Agostino/Audio Research/Nordost event. Wilson's Peter McGrath will be introducing the new Alexx loudspeaker; Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems President of Sales, Bill Mckiegan, will be showing the iconic company's new amplifiers; John Quick of dCS will be discussing the latest developments in their Vivaldi (2.0), Rossini, and Debussy ranges; Dave Gordon will be present the new Reference 6 and Reference Phono 3 preamplifiers, along with the New Ref 150 SE amplifier;…
I vividly remember a conversation with Richard Vandersteen at the turn of the century, when he predicted that the only audio companies that would flourish in the 21st century would be those that made products offering greater performance than the customer expected for their prices. Historically, the Vandersteen brand typified that paradigm, with the Model 2, in all its various guises, remaining a best-selling speaker since its launch in 1977. (Between 1977 and 1993, 80,000 pairs were sold.) I was surprised, therefore, by the appearance of Vandersteen's Model Seven, which sold for $45,000/…
These review samples were much-traveled, having been used at last fall's Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, and in subsequent photography sessions and dealer demos. "We have very recently discovered that this failure is related to an issue with the crating/packaging that the amplifiers ship in," Richard Vandersteen e-mailed me. "While they are packed sturdily and rigidly fastened to the crates, they are too rigidly held to withstand the constant shaking of shipping over a period of days as shipping invariably requires."
At the time of writing, the repaired amplifiers have been continually…