Wilson X-1 Grand Slamm

With regard to the pricing issue, you sell things for what people will pay for them. If that's 10 times what it costs to make them, then great. If it's twice what it costs, then that's not too bad. If it's less, you don't bother.

Of course, there's always the issue of whether you'd sell enough extra at a lower price that you'd make more money overall, but then there's the question of whether you can meet that demand at the same standard of quality, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc

IMO, it's just a matter of how good something is at the price. I expect that the grand slamms are amazing, but so is the price.

And those Blue Heron 2s look mighty fine....

 

You're right Isaac, although the distributors want a 25%-30% margin and dealers want 40%-50%. Shipping costs and whatever tax and duties the government sees fit must also be included. If a manufacturer doesn't sell for over 5x cost, he probably won't be in business long. I sell for less but try to deal directly with the public.

 

gary,
further to robbo's reply i can confirm at the recent hi-fi show i heard and handled what is perhaps the epitome of american hi-fi, the mark levinson 360s cd player.
soundwise it was exactly what i was expecting, a bit boring and very safe... heft wise the buttons felt like plastic and the draw was laughable when compared to a cd5 or cdx. hmmm must be my naimie prejudices for quality kit comming through

as for price, wilson have probably got it about right as, if i recall correctly, they've sold then next 2 years production for alexandrias.

cheers


julian

 

Yes, Id agree there is a lot of US bashing by some Naim enthusiasts.

I suppose it must come from a different sonic/aesthetic/tecnhnological design criteria.

Meadowlark, VPI... martin logan...wadia....california audio labs....red rose...magnaplanar...canary audio....audio research...conrad johnson

(hope they were all US, I think so )....

but anyway, how can anyone maintain a point of view that US kit isnt great with names to conjour with like those?

 

Actually Gary I don't see it that way at all. I sadly have yet to hear any British kit that approaches what the yanks and canadians are producing (with the exception of Border Patrol, Living Voice, EAR and possibly dCS)

I don't have a single bit of Brit Pap, and IMO the gear I am listening to is better built, better looking,better value and better sounding

At least with US kit, you can usually see where your money went, rather than having to believe the hype in the domestic press to justify the unjustifiable. And it's not that US gear is super huge. It's just that UK living rooms are super small

 

I think Garyi, was mildly surprised at what correct synergised Yank components can do with a few small adjustments

 

Tony, I agree your system sounded good. With regards to your 'adjustments' though...

Did you not mention that Teac for instance were dog boring before mods? If wadia is the be all and end all of everything, why the modifications? (I am guessing neither is americanm but related no?)

I liked the medowlarks though, no argument there.

Merlin, sorry didn't realise you ran american kit, would explain the need for the tact no doubt

 

I have 50% European, speakers, subwoofers and source, 50% American, processor and powers... :MILD:

Not including cables and tweaks, mostly European, and TV (European too)...

The Wilson Watt/Puppies 7 can sound fantastic, but wouldn't fit in my budget or room...

 

Gary, the reason for the Tact is to get full range reproduction in my typically insubstantial British listening room.

Some manufacturers closer to home choose to tailor their setups for these conditions, by, for example, designing speakers for use against a wall and giving them no bass whatsoever.

Sadly not an option for someone interested in the proper stuff, although very tasty from an interior designer's standpoint

 

I'd expect quite a lot of X-1s on the market as owners want to upgrade to the X-2 Alexandria. The X-1 was a real product; even at $80k, Wilson sold several hundred.

It changed the market for superspeakers overnight. No manufacturer could be serious about his top speakers if they didn't also cost $80k. Unfortunately, few manufacturers had the know-how, and the resources, to actually produce speakers that might conceivably be worth $80k ...

I used to be very down on Wislon speakers. Earlier incarnations of the Watt/Puppy in particular didn't do it for me. But I have heard an excellent demo of the Sophia, which sounded really rather good, and said at the time that Wilson was going to have to upgrade the W/P soon. Reportedly, the W/P 7 is now better than the Sophia and has re-established the pecking order in the Wilson stable.

 

Generally on the casework and the machined from something daft remote control, as far as the electronics go.

I run all UK kit apart from the tuner. EAR, Michell, ATC, Sonneteer. All exceptionally built, unpretentious, and great sounding. I would say "musical" but that's obviously a no-no.

-- Ian

 

See Roy Gregory's comments in this month's HIFI+ for full text

Really people looking at journalism need to learn to think for themselves rather than simply paraphrase others. Unless of course Markus really is RG's internet persona, in which case, who gave that nutter JH a job

 

Might be a case of two great minds thinking alike ...

Seriously, though, my comments above came from a discussion I had about two weeks ago with a German speaker designer about how the Alexandria was changing the market place at the very top end, again. And while I do have a subsciption to Hifi +, I can't remember reading anything like that from RG (who is most definitely not my alter ego).

Interesting, though, that you seem to learn Hifi + text by heart, Merlin.

 

Sorry Markus, it's from an interview with Neil Patel, and your precied version was just so close, and I have a decent memory

You must admit it's an amazing coincidence

 

Will have to read that interview ...

Either the speaker designer (Manfred Diestertich of audio physic) had read the hifi+ issue, which is unlikely, or it's an insight that's less original than I thought and has been obvious to more than one person active in those market strata.

I'll have to admit, though, that the wording is pretty damn close, at least the opening sentences, so I can see how your suspicions were roused. Oh well, I'll retract my statement.

 

Markus, I've heard Wilson's on a couple of occations, and quite frankly they we no more than average (watt Puppies 5/6), even when accopanied with quilty gear, I feel the biggest factor with these monsters is the room period, so either you have a spare victorian manision kicking about, or your just in to extreme near-field monitorisum I'd pass for sure, but then for those who must have the biggest etc, it's a 'Must have purchase' Wm

 

No argument. I don't think it's fair, though, to use past performance as a stick to beat up on manufacturers' current gear. Everybody should be given the benefit of the doubt, who knows, they may have come up with a spectacular bargain (it may even happen to Omiga Audio one day ).

For the record, I liked the Sophia, but I wouldn't call it particularly good value for money.

 

You never Know it may happen , but they are designed for Yank rooms, and they are some what 'large than our smallish UK equilvent, give them room and I'm sure they'll sing damn well Wm

 

Agree, my remote could easily be classified as an offensive weapon.

But at least I've got two so it would be a fair fight.

 

Im not picking on you Gary, honest.

Really though, I cant think of any hifi product that can't be altered with modification. I thought companies like Avondale were famous for modding Naim kit - isnt that just the same? Changing the sound in a way that some people will prefer?

Whether Tone's modifications are improvements or not are for the individual to decide - maybe the folks at Wadia and other customers may/may not agree... - but so what - they arent listening to it !

All Im saying is that all equipment can have its sound modified by alteration - and I dont think anything that Tone ever owns will escape his soldering iron, because IMHO he likes to experiment with mods to see which ones he will prefer.

Im getting that way too in my old age , and its quite good fun to take products apart and changing components where a higher quality ordifferent sounding bit may make a change.


All the best
Chris