anyone care to comment re: WP-8?


the recent review in stereophile seems (to me) to be "fair and balanced". while it gives high praise to the "reference" level of quality the speaker represents, it also raises some recurrent problems with the design and the sound. looking for the best tweeter, or the most rigid cabinet, or even the best material for the puppy-port on the back, dave wilson forgets, IMHO, that the sum of the parts has to exceed the values of the individual components. the dynaudio speaker the reviewer uses as a comparison seems to integrate everything together although it doesn't have the degree of transparency that the wilson has- virtually nothing i've seen or heard out there does. this reminds me of the issue of approaching a goal line by coming 1/2 of the way closer on each move forward. you would have to take infinite steps to arrive there; the WP8 discloses its own shortcomings like an almost flawless lens with one tiny chip in it- unfortunately not towards the edge but distractingly always in view. so what you have here is a speaker that gets closer and closer to an "ideal transducer" but the design, the "painting", is never quite finished. still, i have to envy anyone who owns one of these speakers. a rolex is a rolex, and a watt-puppy is small but uniquely elegant (unless of course you own a pair of kharma exquisites...)
french_fries

Showing 2 responses by tvad

Reviews are an interesting starting point, but they have little bearing on what each listener prefers in his or her own system.

Frankly, reading reviews is often a detriment because they highlight flaws that are forevermore in the mind of the listener, regardless of how exceptional the speaker sounds.
05-25-07: Jaybo
can anyone name a speaker for half the wp's price that does not show it up?...sonically
Is this what you mean?

Or, did you mean, "Can anyone name a speaker for half the wp's price that DOES show it up sonically?"

I can honestly say the Von Schweikert VR4 Gen III HSE come very, very close to the sound of the WP7, IMO. No, they are not as good, but at their original retail price of $5995, it'd be damn hard to choose to spend an additional $15k on the WP7.

Also, Egggleston Andra II are excellent competitors to the WP8. In fact, I can easily imagine some listeners preferring the Andra II in a blind listening session.

That said, the WP8 are truly outstanding speakers, and probably worth their asking price for those who have the scratch.