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Superior Performance
To its credit Wilson Benesch has remained with what is fundamentally the same tweeter
for over a decade whilst our contemporaries have promoted new designs.
In our assessment these designs have all paid a high price to achieve the extra
bandwidth that has been sought after in the form of uncontrolled ultrasonic resonant
energy. Where we differ is in the argument that this energy is perceptible, and its hard,
fatiguing and unnatural character of sound is not acceptable.
In sharp contrast to hard dome solutions, the Wilson Benesch soft dome is highly
controlled, well damped and free of uncontrolled structural resonance. It is common
knowledge that all materials possess a resonant signature. Woven, relatively soft multi
material structures exhibit several orders of magnitude less violent resonant signatures
than hard single material designs. Made from carbon, beryllium or whichever metal, all
these Single material structures resonate in a very uncontrolled way.
The argument that this resonance is above 20,000 Hertz thus beyond the threshold of
hearing and so unimportant is completely erroneous. When ignored the resulting sound
is typically fatiguing and characterised by sounding hard and synthetic. In contrast the
Wilson Benesch tweeter works exceedingly well within its limitations from 5,000 to 20,000
hertz. In contrast to hard domes the signature is often characterised as being sweet,
natural or accurate. So although there might be many devices that provide a few
thousand hertz extension beyond our tweeter we would argue that the price of this is
too high. The distortions and loss of damping are simply unacceptable.
This Ultrasonic Generator is the third element in the journey towards high definition
sound reproduction. It provides the consumer with a real alternative to the one tweeter
does all approach. As with the Sub woofer, Wilson Benesch chose the alternative path
in its research and development to overcome traditionally accept problems. Such
methods take longer to bring to fruition but the result can be justifiably described as
innovative and effective in pursuit of its goals. The Sphere has been designed to
function with the greatest accuracy. It only begins to function at the point where many
would claim that humans cannot perceive sound any longer, at 20,000Hz. It continues
in a controlled way up to 100,000Hz well beyond that of all other tweeters. This band of
sound is clearly perceptible. Like the Torus, it integrates perfectly with the Tactic drive
unit. Like the Torus it opens up a new dimension in sound reproduction.
With these extended bandwidth products Wilson Benesch are proving it isn't solely
what the human body hears but also what it perceives that adds to the listening
pleasure and the experience as a whole.
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