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Wilson Audio Specialties optimistically rates the WITT's sensitivity at a fairly high 90dB/W/m. In practice, I measured 87.5dB, which is about the industry average. I was able to A/B a Wilson WATT/Puppy 5 with a WITT in mono: I verified both the higher 91dB specification for the '5 and the easily-calibrated 4dB or so drop to the WITT. Both are sufficiently neutral transducers to allow this calibration to be made on music program as well.

You might logically expect, therefore, a given amplifier to play louder through the System 5 than through the WITT. That…

Every time we assemble "Recommended Components," there are loose ends that bother us, bother the readers more, and bother the manufacturers most of all. Where to put the $8888/pair Wilson WITT speakers in the April listing was a case in point. Tom Norton's January review (Vol.19 No.1, p.177) was almost uniformly positive, but when I asked him if the speaker should go into Class A, along with the similarly priced B&W Silver Signature and Thiel CS7, he shook his head. "It doesn't do quite enough for me," he explained.…

Just two years after being reviewed by Thomas J. Norton and me in the January 1996 Stereophile (Vol.19 No.1), Wilson's WITT loudspeaker has been improved to Series II status. Though often in such cases the changes are minor, occasionally more radical revision are needed. In the case of the WITT, unforeseen problems in the paint finish when exposed to high humidity and large swings in temperature forced designer David Wilson to undertake a costly rethinking of how the speaker should be built and finished.

I found the WITT's sensitivity unchanged at 88dB/W/m (an average reading), aided by the good impedance characteristic defining it as an undemanding amplifier load. For example, the Cary CAD-805C single-ended triode amplifier partnered the Series IIs surprisingly well. As with the Series I, using the larger PAW feet gave a cleaner, faster bass, and improved the speaker's appearance.

Over the past two years I have found both the WATT 5/Puppy and the WITT to be comfortable in the company of stereo systems [front-ends?] priced up to $50,000, and have…

I forget now what he played me—a hi-rez recording of Cantus or Attention Screen, I'm fairly certain—but I remember what he played it through: the KEF Reference 207/2 loudspeakers he was reviewing for the February 2008 Stereophile. "Holy cow!" I said. "I've always admired KEF speakers, but this is a speaker I could actually be passionate about."

"Yes," agreed JA. "They are rather well sorted…

The KEF was ready to deliver a lot more sound than my 9' by 15' by 7.5' listening room could handle—room…

Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, magnetically shielded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: Uni-Q coincident 1" (25mm) titanium-dome tweeter and 6.5" (165mm) polypropylene copolymer-cone midrange unit; 6.5" (1650mm) fiber-reinforced paper-cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 145Hz, 2.5kHz; 24dB/octave acoustic slopes. Frequency response: 55Hz–60kHz, ±3dB, 15° off horizontal axis. Bass extension: 44Hz, –6dB. Sensitivity: 86dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms (4.2 ohms minimum). Recommended power: 50–150Wpc. Maximum output level: 110dB.
Dimensions:…

Digital Source: Ayre C-5xe universal player; McIntosh MS750 music server; Bel Canto e.One CD2 CD player & e.One DAC3 D/A converter.
Preamplifiers: Ayre K-1xe, Conrad-Johnson ACT2.
Power Amplifiers: Ayre V5, Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300.
Integrated Amplifiers: Ayre AX-7e, Portal Panache.
Loudspeakers: A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/508ush">Usher Be-718.
Cables: Digital: Stereovox XV2. Interconnect: Shunyata Research Aries & Antares, Stereovox Colibri. Speaker: Shunyata Research Lyra, Stereovox Firebird.
…

The KEF Reference 201/2 is a little below average in sensitivity. My estimate of the speaker's voltage sensitivity on its tweeter axis was 85.5dB(B)/2.83V/m, slightly but inconsequentially less than the specified 86dB. Although its minimum impedance is a moderate 4.2 ohms, as specified, the electrical phase angle is occasionally high, which will make the speaker harder to drive than might be thought from a first glance at its impedance plot (fig.1). The combination of 5.5 ohms and –42° capacitive phase angle at 107Hz, a frequency where music can have high energy,…