Since its introduction in 1998, the Wilson Audio MAXX has proved a clear success by every measure—in units sold, in glowing reviews, and in the degree to which it has become the reference for many of those leading reviewers. (One writer said the MAXX Series 2 was “the most significant product I’ve written about in my eight years as an audio reviewer.”) Perhaps MAXX’s greatest measure of success is its use by top-tier electronics and cable manufacturers in their reference systems.
The primary objective of this complete redesign was to further improve MAXX’s time-domain performance. The Wilson design team split the single upper module into two discreet units and incorporated Aspherical Propagation Delay.
They added a slightly simplified version of the astonishing new midrange driver developed for Alexandria Series 2. Then, all-new crossovers were designed to capitalize on the performance of the new driver.
Aspherical Propagation Delay, first employed in the flagship Alexandria, allows a far more accurate alignment of the individual drivers in the time and dispersion domains, eliminating a source of distortion otherwise intrinsic to large speaker systems (see the diagrams below).
More On Aspherical Propagation Delay:
In conventional systems, drivers are mounted in a flat baffle such that each driver is positioned at a different distance in relation to the listener. Thus, energy from the tweeter arrives at the listening position in advance of the midrange, which in turn arrives before bass generated by the woofer. The problem of achieving both time-domain coherence and optimal driver dispersion is only exacerbated by larger speaker systems. Most speaker designers simply ignore this measurement. The fact is, misalignment of the drivers by small fractions of an inch will audibly degrade transient performance, soundstage height, width, and depth, as well as introduce tonal anomalies that destroy the otherwise convincing “presence” of an instrument or a singer’s voice.
In conventional systems, drivers are mounted in a flat baffle such that each driver is positioned at a different distance in relation to the listener. Thus, energy from the tweeter arrives at the listening position in advance of the midrange, which in turn arrives before bass generated by the woofer. The problem of achieving both time-domain coherence and optimal driver dispersion is only exacerbated by larger speaker systems. Most speaker designers simply ignore this measurement. The fact is, misalignment of the drivers by small fractions of an inch will audibly degrade transient performance, soundstage height, width, and depth, as well as introduce tonal anomalies that destroy the otherwise convincing “presence” of an instrument or a singer’s voice.
Specifications:
| Enclosure Type Woofer: | Rear Ported |
| Enclosure Type Midrange: | Rear Ported |
| Enclosure Type Tweeter: | Sealed |
| Woofers: | One – 13 inch, (33.02 cm) One – 10.5 inch, (26.67 cm) |
| Midrange: | Two – 7 inch (17.78 cm) |
| Tweeter: | One – 1 inch inverted dome (2.54 cm) |
| Sensitivity: | 91 dB @ 1 watt @ 1m @1 kHz |
| Nominal Impedance: | 4 ohms/minimum 2.9 ohms @ 24 Hz |
| Minimum Amplifier Power: | 20 Watts per channel |
| Frequency Response: | +/-3 dB 20 Hz – 22.5 kHz Room Average Response |
| Overall Dimensions: | Height – 68 inches, (172 cm) with spikes Width – 16 1/4 inches, (41.28 cm) Depth – 24 1/4 inches, (61.60 cm) |
| Approx. System Weight Per Channel: | 420 lbs each (190.5 kg) |
| Total Approx. Shipping Weight: | 1190 lbs (540 kg) |
Manual
MAXX (Series 3) Manual
(PDF – 11.9 MB)
Media Reviews
MAXX (Series 3)
The Audio Beat (CES Best of Show 2010)
Stereophile
Stereophile (Loudspeaker of the Year 2009)
SoundStage!
Home Theater Review
