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Everything Wilson Audio knows about loudspeaker design is now contained in our flagship product, the Alexandria. |
Formally known as the Grosse Saal der Gesselschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, the concert hall, which today is home to the Vienna Philharmonic, opened in 1870. It is essentially a rectangular box, and by today’s standards, a fairly intimate hall, seating only 1,680 people. Among the factors that contribute to its acoustic signature is irregularity of the side walls, which contain over forth high windows, twenty doors above the balcony, and 32 gilded statues of buxom females. Most of the solid surfaces are plaster over brick; the only wood is found in the doors, some stage paneling and trim. The famed conductor Bruno Walter said of the Musikverein: “This is certainly the finest hall in the world. It has beauty of sound and power. The first time I conducted here was an unforgettable experience. I had not realized that music could be so beautiful.” In the Spring of 2006, Dave and Sheryl Lee Wilson were fortunate enough to attend a rehearsal of the Mahler Symphony #2 (The Resurrection). In the second movement there’s a passage dominated by massed pizzicato strings, and Dave was suddenly struck by what he was hearing. The music was not fortissimo, but it seemed to leap from the stage with alacrity. All the dynamic shadings of attack and decay were palpable. He could hear the resonant fullness of the wood of the cellos and double basses. As it did for Bruno Walter, the moment proffered him a revelation of how beautiful music could be. He turned to Sheryl Lee and said, “That’s what the new Alexandria needs to sound like.”
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