The Silence between the Notes
A conversation with violinist David Abel during the recording of one of the Wilson Audio discs led to Dave Wilson’s second great “aha!” moment. The question was posed: what distinguishes one musician’s performance of a classical piece from another? Abel explained that, assuming comparable skill, each musician is playing the same notes—at tempos and with dynamic markings all more or less dictated by the composer. “What makes my performance unique,” Abel proposed, “is the way I play the silence between the notes.” He then complimented Dave Wilson, saying that what made his speakers so good was the way they reveal the silent background against which music emerged. This insight led Dave to his next era of loudspeaker design. He understood the key to unlocking the emotional power of recorded music lay in eliminating grain and distortion; in other words, getting rid of all the electrical and mechanical colorations that obscured “the silence between the notes.” |
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University training and a career in science had taught Dave the rigor of the scientific method. His restless and omnivorous intellect allowed him to follow unusual paths in his quest for audio perfection, but in a field where the tyranny of a priori beliefs often trumps rigid science, Dave determined not to become a "true believer." instead, his approach to speaker design would be founded on decades of unprecedented materials research, in conjunction with investigations of everything from solder composition in the crossovers to the number of wire twists in the internal speaker cabling. |
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Two things are common to every Wilson Audio loudspeaker:
In each instance, as designs move from the theoretical to the realm of the physical, they undergo a process involving the collective skills and unique abilities of every member of the Wilson team. What typically begins in Dave Wilson’s brain—and is first manifest as a sketch or a clay model—evolves through a process of sustained interplay between idea and experiment, hypothesis and execution. And the successful execution depends on a group of people who take pride of ownership in both the process and the product. |
A Message from Dave Wilson • Passion • A Vision • Teamwork • Materials • Drivers • Crossovers & Cables • The WilsonGloss Finish • From Our Place to Yours |
