Stereophile review of Escalante Fremont


Has anyone read Stereophile review (Feb '08) of Escalante Design Fremont spkrs ?
Reviewed by Larry Greenhill & measured by Jon Atkinson .

How come they make a review of the spkrs without proper setup :
- LG didn't attached the stand spikes because of his new wood floor & put some bad comments (nasal / coloured tonal).
- JA measured the spkrs with above condition .
- No information if the spkrs burned-in

In my experience , result could be very sensitive for full range spkrs setup ( freq. resp : 18 hz - 50 khz ) .

How can such a great magazine editor allow to publish review with above condition ?

Really different with Positive-Feedback (by Greg Weaver) & Stereo Times (by Dave Thomas & Greg Petan) reviews .
This three reviewers has bought Fremont after made the review .

Seems our international respectable Stereophile magazine has a lot of degradation in their quality .
Is there politics inside this magazine ?
What a waste review ... i think ...
riwin_h
Shadorne,

No one is questioning that the problem can exist. I am questioning that anyone has heard it on the W/P8. If you have heard it on the W/P8, please provide the material you heard it with (album, song and time). Also, make sure to list the amp that was used as well, because audible transient intermodulation distortion (TIM) is sometimes caused by amplifiers.

It isn't a lot to ask for people who claim to have heard something to give some practical evidence that can be validated by other people who are using the speaker in question. The hearsay in this hobby gets old quick.

Having some audible proof would also help me to decide on which speaker to keep. I don't want to be using a speaker that might be ringing or exhibiting "grunge" from ringing occasionally, but so far I haven't run into it in my listening experiences. I don't feel like it is a lot to ask. In fact, I really wish someone would help me out with this...

I've thought of possible solutions to my Salon2 HT positioning dilemma, but it would require expensive custom built sliding stands that could slide to a position beside the screen for HT, and then out to the best listening position when being used for music. So having the proof I'm asking for would be quite meaningful in my current situation.
I am questioning that anyone has heard it on the W/P8.

The WP8 uses technologies from the MAXX - my understanding is that Wilson has improved on the problem of "grain" or "etched" sound from Titanium drivers (to me the need for "improvement" is admission that Focal had resonance problems with these drivers).

I don't have enough experience with WP8's to know which music or tracks may show it up best. FWIW - silk domes have issues too...just different issues...they tend to break up and roll-off early (albeit in a fairly benign manner). Personally I don't mind this lack of linearity and I favor the smoothness that they give to sound. So you pick your poison - nothing is perfect - silk domes with lower distortion but poor bandwidth or metal with amazing bandwidth but poor internal damping...neither is better than the other - but assuredly "rigid" metal rings whilst soft domes break up!!
Beryllium tweeters have breakups too. Quite nasty ones but at a much higher frequency then Titanium. BTW, the Focal TLR, which was used in the latest Utopias before the Be series, was a much better Titanium implemented design then the ones Wilson is using.
Jkalman,

You should really listen to a good implementation of a ring radiator. I Just read on avguide that you may be getting a Mini in. You should use your time with the Mini to, if nothing else, hear a truly linear, low distortion, design. And as I told you before, the Mini actually goes lower in freq. then the W/P. And maybe, just maybe, you will see the lightÂ…