To protect the WilsonGloss finish, a thin, adhesive-backed layer of vinyl is applied to every painted surface. This will remain in place until the dealer unpacks and installs the speakers in your home.

Every Friday is ship-out day for that week’s production run. The loudspeakers are wrapped in heavy plastic. Korbin Vaughn, Director of Manufacturing often helps load products into their custom wooden crates.

It’s a last chance to be “hands on” with the objects that he’s supervised during the cycle of weeks—from raw materials to finished product—that it takes to build a Wilson loudspeaker.

Inside the crates, the speakers are cradled in a special foam product that remains pliant under pressure (unlike Styrofoam which deforms and turns brittle when compressed).

The wooden crates, which cost hundreds of dollars to build, are a necessity dictated by the sheer weight of Wilson loudspeakers. Each Alexandria weighs 750 lbs, and even the diminutive Duette tips the scale at 40 lbs a side. From the factory to dealer/distributor and finally to the customer: the goal is simple—protect the products in a perilous world of trucks and cargo containers and forklifts until they safely reach their new home.

Each Wilson dealer is trained in a unique set-up procedure devised by Dave Wilson himself. It involves a process of vocalization to determine the outer boundaries of the zone of neutrality. The resulting space (usually less than two feet square) is taped off into a workable grid.

Then, using a familiar vocal recording, the installer will systematically move the speakers within the grid until everything coalesces—the voice sounds timbrely accurate, spatially focused, and coherent. The final placement involves adjusting the speakers in increments as small as ¼ inch! Usually with very little need for additional room treatment, the deleterious effects of the listening space have been effectively neutralized.