Is Wilson losing their marketing edge?

caesar said:

Agree with you on the S5 v2. However, one has to really mind the amplification. Other manufacturers, like Wilson, design the speaker to make it easier for the consumer to mate speakers and amps. And Raidho makes their own amplification.

A few years ago, magico tried to introduce their own amps, but their efforts got shouted down by the elites, in favor of Soulution. I wonder if Magico can hire a talented amp designer, and just sell an all magico system.

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andromedaaudio said:

(...) My favourite magico is probably still the V3 with the ultra smooth/ never hard on the ear ringradiator tweeter ( mini has a ringradiator as well but not as much membranesurface ) (...)

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andromedaaudio said:

I heard it on zanden 9600 3000 1200 phono and tw acoustic with koetsu coral , so probably 100 K on amps , one of the best demos ever , the zanden i think 90 watts drove them perfect imo .
we also did a comparison with several cd s on the zanden double box front end , the diff wasnt that much.

I thought the LAT was using a vifa ringradiator but i might be wrong

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PeterA said:

Magico is pretty good at marketing too. The company is just ten years old. Yes, perhaps Magico has the reputation of being an "accurate" speaker, true to the source, the recording. But they promote a photograph of Wolf playing his guitar. They don't show a bunch of measurements the way YG does.

From your post, I get the sense that you think a person who owns Magico is not interested in a system which reminds him of a live musical event, but rather wants a speaker that does not stand in the way of the recording. I don't think it is that simple, or black and white. The people I know who own, or what to own, Magico speakers, listen to lots of live music, use it as a reference, and may also want a speaker that does not stand in the way of the recording.

Ok, back to Wilson.

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caesar said:

Peter, a few thoughts:
- I agree with you - valin likes them a lot. He also likes the fact that they "improve" (or make different sounding) speakers every few years. After all, it's hard to fake love over a long period of time. He has bought into the magico brand story and has embellished it over the years...
- Let's also not forget that it was Harry Pearson who first discovered the magico mini for TAS... To many folks the q1 is nothing like the mini, to others it's an improvement. And taste-wise, Harry Pearson would never pair magico and soulution...
- I am not convinced Harley is a Wilson guy. Surprisingly, he was invited to David Wilson's house to listen to the WAMM. Before that, he dissed the Alexandria xlf for having a silk tweeter in favor of some exotic metal tweeter magico used in q7 v1. He also still uses the magico q7 as his reference. But let's also remember that this guy couldn't tell any weaknesses in q7, such as no beitzim in the bass and a spotlighting of the upper midrange / lower treble in the q7 - until only after the q7 v2 came out! This sonic signature of the q series was obvious to every listener since q series came out, even to valin eventually. Who can respect Harley after that debacle? Amazing that Tom Martin, who owns TAS, has abdicated his leadership to him...But hey, this is a business, so maybe David Wilson bit his lip and will now let Harley have the WAMM so that he dump magico???
- As for marketing influence technique, I have read that in some cultures, particularly Asian cultures which are less individualist and more collectivist, people do not trust themselves as much as people do in the west, so they seek out authority figures and base their decisions disproportionally on those. For the rest of us, there are multiple influence techniques at play beyond appeal to authority, including seeking attention using exotic materials, social proof of large amount of people packing rooms at shows, scarcity, hearing emotionally-laden stories, etc. The combination of these methods is much more potent than just a single technique...

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slcaudiophile said:

i dont understand this. you do understand that at least 51% of all high-end produced is sold to Asian markets, yes? if Asia doesn't accept a product it is not build. full stop.

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PeterA said:

Are you saying that all high end products are first tested for acceptance in Asia before being built? I realize that the Asian market is important, but had no idea it was this influential. Do Nick Doshi and Joel Durand test their designs in Asia first and then decide to build them and sell them in the US? How were you able to verify this claim? Just curious.

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slcaudiophile said:

i dont understand this. you do understand that at least 51% of all high-end produced is sold to Asian markets, yes? if Asia doesn't accept a product it is not build. full stop.

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caesar said:

With Wilson elevating Daryl to head the company, I wonder what marketing changes the company will make to eventually replace the aging Peter McGrath. Wilson has always had McGrath play many of his excellent, high-resolution recordings at shows and events to help them stand out. McGrath's professorial look and sophisticated speech patterns always created the aura that Wilson was a serious brand for classical musical fans.

But McGrath is no longer a spring chicken. I wonder who they have in their bullpen or farm system... I also wonder if they thought of this...

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cannata said:

I don't think so. Just look on-line and see the numbers (In fact, one can argue that Magico used prices are higher). Regardless, most of the comments here are heavily biased. Caesar keeps bashing poor Vain, never once stopping to consider that he matters very little around the world where Magico may be just as popular and maybe even more so than in the US. No one here cares about Raidho, (or Rockport) a brand that valin promote as well. He also ignores the fact that all over the world reviewers are switching to Magico as their reference, some were big Wilson's fan (like MC of HiFi critics). Magico is succeeding because of their superior performance only, nothing else. Not cleaver marketing or bigger discount to dealers (actually, you can get better deals on Wilson), or one reviewer drumbeat, and people are changing sides, and the ones that I know all go the same way (Even the distributor here, who represents both, listen to Magico at his house not Wilson).

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Elberoth said:

+1

Some very good points.

Very few audiophiles read TAS in Europe. Valin's influence over here is close to zero. Not sure about Asia, but I would be surprised if it was any different. And yet, Magico enjoys a streak of rave reviews all over european press.

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microstrip said:

...Currently almost all products get rave reviews.

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cannata said:

But I thought that you are good in reading between the lines...

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FrantzM said:

I think you're conservative. Above 60% would be closer to the truth.

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