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WAMM Master Chronosonic by Wilson Audio

TitaniumTroy

TitaniumTroy

Well-Known Member
http://www.audiosalon.com/brands/wilson-audio/wamm-master-chronosonic/

Well I don't know about the sound, but definitely not the most graceful looking speaker out there by any means. Talk about your large Transformer looking robots, this has to be their leader. The name even matches the speakers looks as in big and clunky.

Also, I've never been a fan of the large Wilson's sound. Or their design, lots of sharp angles, those vibrating wing's, non chamfered bass ports, boomy bass, etc...
At the audio shows Dave likes his speakers spaced pretty wide (try 11'), trying to get that big concert hall effect he likes. Such as when he goes to visit this place https://www.musikverein.at I thought I liked a big sound with my Magnepan's, but dang.
 
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If only their speakers sounded and looked as lovely as their bespoke commercials. They really push the luxury lifestyle in some of them, which makes sense. Since who else could afford some of their high end models.
 
So a 5 way speaker design... i'm assuming the speakers are postioned to be time aligned.
But, with regards to the "curved" MmtmM speaker drivers, is that done to improve imaging for a specific spot? maybe at the expense of a wider less precise image?
 
This is using analog physics (placement) to perfectly align all the drivers so the impulse response and group delay is as perfect as possible without digital processing. The result, if done properly, is more life-like reproduction of life-like recordings, and for non-realism recordings it means you hear what is on the original recordings more accurately. Any time you use multiple drivers (super-tweeter, tweeters, midranges, woofers, subwoofers, etc.) with a crossover, the time alignment is the one of the biggest limitations left, after you get frequency, general crossover phase, and dispersion all worked out. I chose to solve this problem (and others) with a digital crossover incorporating a digital delay on the nearest driver so the sound coming from it arrives at exactly the same time as the furthest driver in the multiway system. But, if you are avoiding all things digital (which many people prefer to do), the alternative is to do it acoustically and position the drivers such that their acoustic center points are all aligned the same distance from the listener's two ears. The Altec VOTT design does this with the woofer and horn driver (any super-tweeter add-on will have to be moved to the back of the cabinet, or the issue not addressed).

In real life, research has shown that in nearly all cases time alignment is not really noticeable in the lower bass or highest highs. So, the importance of addressing time alignment is prioritized to the critical midrange and lower priority can be applied as you move lower or higher in response coverage. So, most mainstream manufacturers only attempt to address it with the midrange and tweeter and not so much with the woofers or any super-tweeters (if present). But, in a perfect, idealist, world, one would want to have perfect time alignment across the performance spectrum. I did it with my setup - but using digital tools to perfect it.

In concept, the WAMM design is very good and should give one the opportunity to get incredible performance. My complaints on Wilson Audio speakers has always been one of tuning (they tend to sound bright & harsh to me, and lack the smoothness of soul I prefer in a system). I blame the sound in Wilson Audio speaker on both taste and the design choice to make complex crossovers which passively address every issue in the acoustic system. I think that leads to a loss of soul through over processing in the passive, high-power domain. But, that is my opinion. I would love to take the WAMM and tune it perfectly and remove the passive crossovers and use one of the several ultra high end digital DSP systems to provide crossover and any other filtering necessary to get the best performance. Then I could tune it to my ears.
 
These new WAMM speakers allow the owner some freedom in placement so they don't have to design their listening rooms entirely around the speakers. With some other great speakers which address time alignment in similar fashions, like the amazing Dunlavy speakers from Australia (I believe the company is now defunct), were fixed and as such to get the best performance the speakers had to be a specific distance from the listener's ears and the height of the listener's ears had to be exactly right. For a speaker this expensive, that added flexibility makes sense so you can make the room what you need it to be.
 
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