Like a Proud Parent

Q.C. engineer Jeff Huntamer loves testing his drivers. Kind of like a proud parent showing off his children. In this case, they're the electro-mechanical heart of a loudspeaker. Each of his drivers—whether custom built to Wilson's specifications or modified by Jeff himself—is tested and matched, both to the other drive units in the speaker and to the other channel. Although it would be cheaper to use the same driver across multiple platforms, Wilson drivers, like children, possess unique personalities. A MAXX tweeter is modified to perform differently than a WATT/Puppy tweeter.

It takes a confident engineer to subject his work to the most stringent tests he can devise: no simple frequency sweeps allowed. In fact, Wilson Audio engineers have spent a lot of time formulating tests of both frequency and time domain that actually provide accurate indices of how the loudspeaker sounds. Each assembled unit is finally measured against the reference. The acceptable range of deviation from the reference is plus or minus .5%. But Jeff can't help himself. Smiling, he says, "I like to go for .2%."