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Sasha in Aston Orange
Given that Dave Wilson's animating passion is the musical truth of his loudspeakers, he could be forgiven if
he was less obsessive about how they looked. But for him, the well-made thing allows no division between form
and function.
Wilson loudspeakers display a level of fit and finish uncommon in the audio industry. Our WilsonGloss™ paint
was inspired by the finishes on the world's finest automobiles. Every Wilson product comes in a choice of four
standard colors: Desert Silver, Mercedes Silver, Dark Titanium, and Diamond Black.
Twelve more colors comprise the Upgrade Palette. Your choices don't end there. Wilson offers the option of color
matched-to-sample custom paint from samples submitted by the customer; the possibilities are therefore nearly
limitless.
Paint technicians first apply a white viscous gel-coat (the same material used to protect boat hulls from
seawater) to every exposed surface. This not only adds another layer of damping, it provides a perfectly smooth
under-layer for the WilsonGloss paint.
The gel-coat is allowed another three days to cure, and then sanded. The enclosure moves to the Paint Room where
three color primer coats are added. Subsequently, the cabinet receives eight more coats of WilsonGloss finish.
Built to the highest OSHA and "clean room" standards, the Paint Room utilizes positive pressure in custom
built "down draft" booths. Special filters keep out any contaminants larger than 2 microns (.00008 of
an inch).
Wilson cures each painted cabinet in a humidity and temperature-controlled environment for seven days before
further finishing. "Time-curing" (as the name implies) takes a lot longer than the "flash-curing"
found on auto assembly lines (where the paint is baked on). Our tests have found, however, that flash-curing
introduces tiny imperfections into the paint surface.
The painted enclosure is wet-sanded and buffed to a high sheen. Paint inspection takes place under a magnifier,
such as Robert Stiffler is using. The kinds of flaws that would send an enclosure back for repainting aren't
necessarily visible to the naked eye. What one can see—it should be evident by now—is not the measure
of what passes muster at Wilson Audio. By the way, the paint standard is uniform across the product line; there
isn't one standard of quality for Duette and another for Alexandria.
Wilson Audio's Paint Booths
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