Posted by Mr Vinyl [ 74.225.191.150 ] on January 22, 2009 at 11:15:55:
Hi all,
Hoping that someone here would have an educated opinion on this. I have a pair of Wilson X1 Grand Slamms that I got for an unbelievable price. I recently found out that the previous owner had replaced the Wilson custom Focal Tweeters with a readily available (at the time) standard Focal Tweeter. In other words, Wilson is supposed to customize the same model Focal tweeter (details below from Stereophile review) as the replacement, for use in the X1.
Wilson wants $1200 for a pair of new tweeters. This is a bit out of the range I would be willing to spend if the difference is not going to be significant. The speakers sound fine as they are but being the neurotic audiophile that I am, I am thinking they could sound much better with the correct tweeters. So here is my question:
Do you think replacing these tweeters with the Wilson custom drivers of the same model would "significantly" (read worth $1200) increase sound quality? Or would it probably be just a little smoother etc. Of course I suspect Wilson will say it's worth it. What's your opinion?
Thanks for your help. Info follows below.
Mr Vinyl
"Much development has gone into the new 1" tweeter built by Focal for Wilson Audio. It has a double magnet to raise its sensitivity to an all-time high for a direct-radiator type of 96dB. While the WATT 3 used a fiberglass material for its distinctive inverted dome (not Kevlar, as is commonly stated), the new version of this tweeter uses titanium. This metal's great stiffness helps push the primary resonance up to 23kHz from the 16kHz of the earlier fiberglass type. Now the intrinsic response is essentially flat to 20kHz at the greatly increased sensitivity.
The new, highly stable synthetic suspension is fitted with a small half-roll termination to control sub-harmonic rocking. Wilson has also fine-tuned the viscosity of the ferrofluid cooling medium in the gap, as well as the size and treatment of the air volume behind the dome. A tapered hollow pole leads to a sealed rear chamber within the ferrite magnet rings."
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