Wilson Luxury Home Theatre Speakers

Yet none of that connotes the apparent quality of a Wilson loudspeaker, which is considerable. The Sophia's drivers are remarkably serious-looking, made with seemingly great precision and held in place with machine screws of austenitic (nonmagnetic) stainless steel. Austenitic pins hold the grilles in place, too, with a snug and altogether perfect fit that calls to mind the oil-filter housing of a BMW motor. The cylinders within that same car's brake calipers are surely honed with no greater precision than are the Sophia's aluminum reflex ports. The precisely cut sheets of foam and even wool are as flat and perfect as panes of glass. The paint is flawless and smooth, as if the whole of the thing were frozen from a drop of mercury.

With the Sasha W/P, David Wilson and his crew have done something that is nearly impossible. They have replaced a longstanding legend with something that is not merely a worthy successor to its fabled forerunner, but one that is better in every way. The Sasha speaks as one from top to bottom. It plays an extraordinary dynamic range with no discernable effort and has a tonal balance that manages to replicate my perception of live music as closely as the limits of technology allow.

I noted that my attitude toward flaws had again changed. I no longer luxuriated in the full sound and presence of the orchestral bass drum—or the solidity of the full recording space, or the rightness of the timbres, or, most of all, the flow and momentum and drama of every musical line. Rather, I expected them, as one would expect, without thinking, the same in a concert hall. By the end of February, the Wilson Sashas were no longer a luxury: I was taking them for granted, and had surrendered to them in full ignorance of the consequences of the discomfort of sending them back.
Now that's my idea of a great speaker.

The MAXX 3 did everything well—I mean everything. It correctly—or as correctly as I've heard any speaker manage—reproduced the harmonic and textural structure of every instrument and voice I can think of; it expressed soundstage height, width, and depth as few speakers can; it plumbed the depths of low bass as deeply and cleanly as do all but the monster speakers that go into the subsonic region; it produced unrivaled dynamics at both ends of the scale; and was as transparent as any moving-coil speaker I've heard.