AUDIO ELEMENT FIFTH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

[Ron Resnick]

In celebration of the fifth anniversary of the establishment of Audio Element in Pasadena, California, Proprietor Brian Berdan debuted the brand new Wilson Audio Sasha DAW, and hosted two days of festivities, demonstrations and live musical performances for industry manufacturers, reviewers, clients and fans on November 2 and 3, 2018.







Brian has been well-known and extremely highly-regarded in the high-end audio industry for many, many years. He is as genuinely knowledgable, experienced, friendly and charming as anyone I have ever known in this industry!

Audio Element is a large, beautiful audio salon with smaller systems in the front of the store and a large, purpose-built listening room toward the back. This is where Brian introduced the Sasha DAW, the newest iteration of the Sasha. This Sasha DAW was designed by Daryl Wilson, son of David A. Wilson, in whose honor the loudspeaker in named. Brian is widely known in the industry as being an excellent set-up man, and although the Sasha DAWs arrived just three days before the event, Brian’s system was already sounding great.

 

[Ron Resnick]

The Sasha DAW enjoys numerous improvements over the prior model, including a redesigned woofer module, a new upper module, improved cabinet materials, the same exact tweeter and midrange driver which are utilized in the top-of-the-line Master Chronosonic, a new group-delay mechanism user interface and new binding posts. The Sasha DAW is basically a brand new loudspeaker. Think of it as a smaller version of the Alexia Series 2.







Listeners in attendance suggested that the new Sasha DAW sounded very close to the sound quality of the Alexia Series 2, and represented a particularly good value point in the Wilson Audio line-up.

 

[Ron Resnick]

For sources Brian could select from a dCS Bartok DAC for digital and two vinyl playback systems: an AMG Giro SE 5th Anniversary turntable with AMG 9WT tonearm and Koetsu Black cartridge, and a Grand Prix Audio Parabolica turntable with AMG 9WT tonearm and Lyra Delos cartridge. The electronics chain consisted of the VTL TL-6.5 Signature phono stage, the TL-7.5 Series III line stage preamplifier and VTL MB-450 Series III monoblock amplifiers. VTL Siegfried Series IIs hulked in the background.









We played on the Grand Prix system "Bird on a Wire" by Jennifer Warnes, Famous Blue Raincoat (Rock the House Records/Classic Records). (I know this is a digital recording.) The sound was detailed and transparent, but I heard a tizziness or brightness on the triangle and a thinness in Jennifer’s voice.

When the track ended I asked to what cartridge were we listening, and I was told it was the Lyra on the Grand Prix set-up. A-ha! Except for the Etna SL my ears have found Lyras a touch bright and a little bit thin-sounding in every one of over a dozen systems in which I have heard them. The Lyras have wonderful sonic attributes of drive, energy, detail, transparency and dynamics, but they are not my cup of tea.







Next we listened to my “Pictures at an Exhibition” on The Power of the Orchestra, Rene Leibowitz, RPO, Chesky RC30, with the Koetsu on the AMG. That combination is my preference! “Pictures” sounded fantastic, with great transparency and natural detail and dynamics. Soundstaging was excellent as always in this listening room. The audience was very happy to sit and listen. Several people commented on how great the Chesky version of this recording sounded.

 

[Ron Resnick]

 

[Ron Resnick]

During the event I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Peugh of Wilson Audio and Angela Cardas of Cardas Audio. My favorite conventional box speakers are D'Appolito (midrange - tweeter - midrange) arrays: Evolution Acoustics MM7, Rockport Technologies Arrakis, Von Schweikert Audio Ultra 11. I took the opportunity to ask Bill a question I have always wanted to ask Wilson Audio: Why doesn't Wilson Audio make a D'Appolito array loudspeaker so the low frequencies are not generated only from the bottom of the box? Why not make an Alexx with another Alexx inverted on top of the first one?

Bill said that doubling up the number of drivers whose positions would have to be time-aligned would not allow the signal to be time-aligned properly for a particular listening position. Honestly, I think I did not understand this answer. If one can time-align the three adjustable drivers in the Alexx, why couldn't one time-align six adjustable drivers in middle of a giant concave array?








On Saturday night Brian entertained his guests with two live musical performances! All participants had a wonderful time helping Brian celebrate this fifth anniversary!















If you are visiting Southern California you must visit Audio Element and meet Brian and his wonderful wife, Jennifer! They even are local Pasadena celebrities!







Contact:
Brian Berdan
Audio Element
117 East Union Street
Pasadena, CA 91103
626–793-7229
sales@audio-element.com

 

[Ron Resnick]

Drivers

Woofers: Two – 8 inch (20.32 cm)

Midrange: One – 7 inch (17.78 cm)

Tweeter: One – 1 inch, Dome (2.54 cm)



Measurements

Sensitivity: 91 dB (one watt at one meter at 1kHz)

Impedance: 4 ohms / minimum 2.48 ohms @ 85 Hz Minimum Amplifier Power: 25 watts per channel

Frequency Response: 20 Hz –30 kHz +/- 3 dB room average response



Overall Dimensions

Height: 44 3/4 inches (113.67 cm)

Width: 14 1/2 inches (36.83 cm)

Depth: 22 15/16 inches (58.26 cm)



Overall Weight

Weight Per Channel 236 lbs. (107.05 kg)

System Shipping Weight (approx.): 710 lbs. (322.05 kg)

 

[cjfrbw]

The cosmetics on the VTL MB-450 have certainly improved over the original models (that I owned for many years).

 

[Ron Resnick]

I agree, cjfrbw!

 

[GSOphile]

IMHO the Sasha DAW is a much cleaner and appealing design than previous Sasha models.

 

[metaphacts]

..During the event I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Peugh of Wilson Audio and Angela Cardas of Cardas Audio. My favorite conventional box speakers are D'Appolito (midrange - tweeter - midrange) arrays: Evolution Acoustics MM7, Rockport Technologies Arrakis, Von Schweikert Audio Ultra 11. I took the opportunity to ask Bill a question I have always wanted to ask Wilson Audio: Why doesn't Wilson Audio make a D'Appolito array loudspeaker so the low frequencies are not generated only from the bottom of the box? Why not make an Alexx with another Alexx inverted on top of the first one?

Bill said that doubling up the number of drivers whose positions would have to be time-aligned would not allow the signal to be time-aligned properly for a particular listening position. Honestly, I think I did not understand this answer. If one can time-align the three adjustable drivers in the Alexx, why couldn't one time-align six adjustable drivers in middle of a giant concave array?..

Hi Ron,

It was a pleasure to meet you at Audio Element. I think I understand your confusion. The question I thought I answered was why Wilson Audio does not use a D'Appolito Array (with the exception of the Cub some years ago). I didn't realize you were asking about the Alexx specifically. Let me try to clarify on both counts.

First let's make sure we are talking about the same thing. The D'Appolito array is defined as a (physically) symmetrical arrangement on the vertical axis, of identical midranges around a tweeter. While this term is often used interchangeably with midrange - tweeter - midrange or MTM, that is not correct. D'Appolito Arrays are MTM's. No all MTM's are D'Appolito. One only need look at the original WAMM (early 80's) to see an adjustable, hence not D'Appolito, MTM.

So why no D'Appolito for Wilson? Dave spent his life pursuing the proper alignment in time of the full signal's arrival at the listening position. His pursuit has been measured and documented since Dave experimented with adjustable drivers mounted above his speakers some 50+ years ago. It has really been in the last 15 years, since academic studies bore out just how easily people hear time arrival differences and just how short those audible intervals are coupled with the WAMM Master Chronosonic project with the extensive research it entailed that Wilson designs began to take those intervals down close to, and in the case of the WAMM, below the audible threshold of the typical person. However, to accomplish this precision, the drivers must be capable of being pulse aligned at a given listening position (distance and ear height). But once the drivers move from a physically symmetrical array on the vertical axis, they cannot be termed D'Appolito by definition.

I completely misunderstood what you were asking about Alexx. So let's revisit that too. I assume you meant by doubling up, you did not mean tweeters. Is that correct? You meant add in two additional and identical mid drivers.

The Alexx configuration above the woofer is a 3 way. The lower 7" mid driver mounted below the tweeter operates at the bottom octaves of the midrange. The upper 5-3/4" mid mounted above the tweeter operates at the top octaves of the midrange. To double up drivers would mean adding a 7" mid driver above the physically upper mid and an upper 5-3/4" midrange driver above the physically lower mid driver. But even were we to do it, the drivers must remain adjustable for proper time alignment at the listening position, so no D'Appolito configuration by definition. You could certainly do this, though the complexity and cost would go up dramatically. The WAMM Master Chronosonic is a similar configuration taken to a far more precise level in every parameter.

I hope answers more questions than it causes Ron. I apologize for causing any confusion.

Bill

 

[Ron Resnick]

Dear Bill,

It was a pleasure to meet you!

Thank you for your patient and detailed unraveling of my confused question! It is I who caused the confusion!

Thank you, also, for explaining the difference between M-T-M and D'Appolito.

 

[DaveyF]

Ron, funny that you mention that the Lyra Delos is not your cup of tea...
Mounted on a Grand Prix Parabolica and with an AMG 9WT Arm, that doesn’t surpise me too much...since you were listening to a digital recording that is known to have a hard digital edge, which would be immediately revealed by the resolution of the Delos.
I have to ask you a question, how can the Lyra sound include the attributes you describe, drive, energy, dynamics, transparency and detail...and yet sound tizzy and bright on the triangle, unless maybe something else in the system was being revealed as adding those less than favorable attributes to the overall sonic picture?
Perhaps the cabling, perhaps the room acoustics, perhaps the tonearm to cartridge synergy or any number of other issues. I know you don’t like the Lyra sound, but IMO compared to the big warm, veiled and colored sound of a Koetsu Black...(and yes, I like this cartridge too, but I easily hear its shortcomings) well,I guess YMMV.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Davey, please stop conjuring up excuses. I have heard that "Bird on a Wire" track literally hundreds of times on literally dozens of different systems. I have a very clear understanding of the composite sound of that track averaged over all of those data points. The tizziness stood out to me right away yesterday on the Lyra.

Why is it difficult for you to accept that not everybody agrees with you? I truly am happy for you that you are happy with your Lyra. You should not need anyone -- let alone everyone -- to agree with you to justify your decision.

 

[Folsom]

I have to entirely agree with Ron on that carteidge. And saying digital recordings on vinyl have to sound bad is fooey.

 

[DaveyF]

Ron, I think you are totally missing my point. My point, in a nut shell, is simply this...you continue to lump all of the various models together and jump to a conclusion based on your exposure to a few examples. Instead of listening to these various pieces in your own system, I think you like to get other people’s opinion and then conclude that this is the way the piece is going to sound in all instances. I don’t happen to think that this is correct when you come up with statements that are all encompassing, like you have a want to do. Sorry, but that’s IMO.

 

[DaveyF]

I have to entirely agree with Ron on that carteidge. And saying digital recordings on vinyl have to sound bad is fooey.

Where did I say All digital recordings sound bad on vinyl? Personally, I don’t see any reason to acquire a digital recording on vinyl, you might as we’ll get it on digital...and call it a day. Not saying they all sound terrible on vinyl, but compared to great analog recordings on vinyl...

 

[lordcloud]

I'm always puzzled by Wilson Audio's claim of time coherence.

I've yet to see a measurement that proves that their speakers are time coherent. I've looked at JA's step response measurements, and I'm not seeing it. Nor does it make sense to me based on their crossover and wiring schemes. Their drivers are not all wired in phase and the signal doesn't seem to sum at the listening position, or at any point.

I love the level of love and detail put into their speakers, and I know they're beloved by many. But I'm not sure why they say they're coherent in time.

More on topic: I've yet to hear the Daws, but I'm eager to. Especially knowing they have some of the drivers from the Chronosonic.

 

[metaphacts]

I'm always puzzled by Wilson Audio's claim of time coherence.

I've yet to see a measurement that proves that their speakers are time coherent. I've looked at JA's step response measurements, and I'm not seeing it. Nor does it make sense to me based on their crossover and wiring schemes. Their drivers are not all wired in phase and the signal doesn't seem to sum at the listening position, or at any point.

I love the level of love and detail put into their speakers, and I know they're beloved by many. But I'm not sure why they say they're coherent in time.

More on topic: I've yet to hear the Daws, but I'm eager to. Especially knowing they have some of the drivers from the Chronosonic.

With each new Wilson design, those sonic parameters that one would (could only?) ascribe to a more precise time signature at the listening position continue to improve. Quite measurable, predictable, and repeatable.

When you do listen to DAW, ask the dealer to "break" the proper setting by moving the midrange spike one step away from the proper setting (roughly 1/8") and hear what happens.

 

[tima]

I'm always puzzled by Wilson Audio's claim of time coherence.

I've yet to see a measurement that proves that their speakers are time coherent. I've looked at JA's step response measurements, and I'm not seeing it. Nor does it make sense to me based on their crossover and wiring schemes. Their drivers are not all wired in phase and the signal doesn't seem to sum at the listening position, or at any point.

I love the level of love and detail put into their speakers, and I know they're beloved by many. But I'm not sure why they say they're coherent in time.

More on topic: I've yet to hear the Daws, but I'm eager to. Especially knowing they have some of the drivers from the Chronosonic.

Bill is right. Listening speaks louder than measurement.

One key to hearing just how coherent are the newest Wilson's is signal from a time accurate source.

Of the Alexia Series 2:
"The Series 2 brings significant refinement to sonic characteristics related to wave launch and timing along with genuinely improved coherence. Perhaps you think of coherence as a lack of disjointedness between the lows, mids, and highs, or as alignment of the acoustic centers of the drivers. What I experienced was a heightened sense of temporal resolution that impacted positively across all frequencies and not by a small amount—speed, dynamics, transient performance, clarity, tonality, dimensionality, and soundstage height, width, and depth. When timing is right, when our sub-conscious is no longer caused to compensate for timing irregularities or driver disjunction, then reproduction moves closer to reality, music comes alive, and with it heightened listener engagement and immersive joy. "
more HERE.

 

[Folsom]

Where did I say All digital recordings sound bad on vinyl? Personally, I don’t see any reason to acquire a digital recording on vinyl, you might as we’ll get it on digital...and call it a day. Not saying they all sound terrible on vinyl, but compared to great analog recordings on vinyl...

When the digital is converted to analog to make an LP, that conversion is mechanical. When you're DAC does it, it's electrical. I don't find most DACs can be as good as the mechanical conversion.