The Obstinate Carolers
As a young teenager in Glendale, California, Dave Wilson lay in bed one Christmas Eve listening to carolers in the street below. Baffled when the singers apparently refused to move on, he got up to investigate. Thereupon he discovered the source of the music: a Klipsch loudspeaker set on a neighbor’s front porch.
It was the “aha!” moment common to every audiophile—the realization that reproduced sound could fool one, however fleetingly, into believing it was the real thing.
Dave was so energized by the experience, he determined to learn everything he could about audio. He moved quickly from the enthusiast magazines to primary tomes like Sound Reproduction by Gilbert A. Briggs, founder of Britain’s Wharfedale. From his study, Dave understood very early the importance of non-resonant enclosures; one of his first experiments involved mounting drivers in a “cabinet” made of rubber tires. He dabbled in electronics and eventually began making his own recordings. Dave was impelled by a single aim: coaxing the emotional experience of live music out of boxes filled with wires, cones, and magnets. |
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 The Schoeps microphone favored by Dave for his audiophile recordings |
The transformation from obsession to career didn’t follow a straight path. Dave’s passion for music and audio remained a potent hobby for many years while he went on to earn a living designing protocols for testing drugs and medical devices. Those were the golden years of the nascent high-end audio industry, when the community was small enough that most of its members still knew (and often liked!) each other. Dave began producing a series of highly regarded audiophile recordings of classical organ and chamber music under the label Wilson Audiophile. During the same time, he wrote equipment reviews for The Absolute Sound. Inspired by the work of John Dahlquist and others, Dave determined to create his own “statement” loudspeaker, incorporating everything he understood about loudspeaker design. The legendary WAMM (Wilson Audio Modular Monitor) incorporated many industry firsts, such as Adjustable Propagation Delay. With the full support and participation of his wife, Sheryl Lee, Dave Wilson began selling the WAMM alongside his records, and a new loudspeaker company was born. |
A Message from Dave Wilson • Passion • A Vision • Teamwork • Materials • Drivers • Crossovers & Cables • The WilsonGloss Finish • From Our Place to Yours |
