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Wilson-Benesch Loudspeakers
The design goal at Wilson benesch has been to build speaker cabinets that would convince listeners that acoustically the cabinet would be invisible. To the engineers at Wilson benesch the solution was clear. Using Carbon Fiber to build cabinets delivered on that promise. With Carbon Fiber as the rear waves hit the inside of the cabinet they are almost instantly absorbed, bouncing around the billions and billions of carbon molecules and quickly transformed to heat. This happens because sound travels through carbon fiber at 18350 meters per second, much faster than wood were the speed is only 3300 meters per second.
The Wilson benesch sound would be characterized as very very fast. These are the most accurate speakers made. They will image with the very best, they will connect you with the music like no other speaker. They do every thing you would expect from the most advanced speakers ever made.
For you folks who are curious I have included other materials aside from wood and aluminum at the bottom of the page.
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 Trinity
The Trinity Speakers represent a very ambitious attempt to produce the highest level of performance. They can easily stand on their own or they can be mated with the Torus for the most linear response available. The Trinity's utilize a newly designed midrange/woofer with no crossover and huge extension, from 40Hz to 5000kHz. The soft dome tweeter picks it up from there and then hands off to the Trinity's amazing super tweeter. This super tweeter actually pulses, almost instantaneously, to extend the frequency all the way to 100 KHz. You will be fully aware of these high frequencies as they are perceived if not heard. The cabinet is made from a sandwich of two layers of carbon fiber for extreme rigidity. The results are amazing. The Trinity's possess the ability to convince the listener they are at a live performance, and allow the listener to relax and connect to the music. Voices and instruments sound completely real and life like. I have not heard a speaker that will image as well plus they completely disappear. They have a rich textured and layering to the sound.
Retail $10,450. Wood finish is extra.
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Torus Subwoofer 
Torus Infrasonic Generator and Torus Amplifier
Wilson benesch is in full production of their Infrasonic Generator. Almost to much technology to discuss here, there is a video on our RMAF page and Craig Milnes explains the design. In a nutshell the 18” diaphragm operates in push pull. Where subwoofers are brought back to the neutral position, after a long excursion, this diaphragm is brought back to neutral electronically, using very powerful magnets. If you understand how electrostatic speakers work and why they are so fast, then you grasp why this speaker has been called "the most accurate subwoofer of all times" by Stereoplay. Not just for use with the Wilson benesch speakers the Torus would be a terrific match with the Maggies or Quad's. Buy a pair of Quads and match it with the Torus and you will have a system with what has been called the best midrange and the best bass. All for less the price of some of the high end speakers out there.
Torus Infrasonic Generator: Retail is $5,950.
Torus 200 Watt Amp/Crossover: Retail is $4,350. |
Jonathan Valin, AV Guide online, comments on the Torus below. Click here to read.
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| Craig Milnes has designed the worlds fastest and most musical infrasonic generator. In the following video clip he talks about the design and evolution of the design. A must-hear for audio fanatics. (aren't we all?)
Craig Milnes Video Trinity Speakers
Click here to view presentation
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The A.C.T.
These speakers should be compared to the most expensive Khama's and Martens' and the Hanson's speakers. Their cabinets are more advance then any of the above; they include multi alloy front baffle, metal bracing an extremely strong and ridged Carbon Fiber shell. Tactic advanced dynamic drive unit technology and Advanced Composite Technology cabinet construction. These speakers are used as a Reference System by the largest audio journal in the UK. Little wonder. The sound will be as good as your electronics.
A quote from the RMAF: "Your room was definitely in the top 3 if not the best room of the show."
Retail price: $ 17,250. Add $1,400 for wood options. |
The Curve
Carbon Fiber is used to produce a low resonant cabinet and allows the music to simply pour out. Quotes from the RMAF 25006 "There are times when you can simply walk in to a room and know the system is great." "The sound floated free of those speakers like most box speakers never do - and the sound was excellent across the whole range."
"My vote for best sound in show was the Wilson Benesch room. the little Curve being driven by SET's were jaw dropping."
Retail price: $9,950. Add $850 for wood options.
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The Arc
The ARC is a stunning product both visually and sonically, fabricated from Carbon Fiber wrapped over metal to achieve strengths greater than steel and much less stored energy that glue filled MDF. What HI FI says: "The very best of Wilson benesch speaker magic in a pint-pot design, the ARC's are truly a stunning achievement. Detail resolution, dynamics, composure: stunning build and finish." Complete with custom stands that allow for the two downward firing silent ports.
Retail price with stands: $5,450 Add $350 for wood options.
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"I think the Torus might be the answer for folks with 'stats or planars'. It is certainly the fastest subwoofer I've ever heard-and I spent 10 years trying, unsuccessfully, to mate subs with bass-shy 'stats. This is something you will have to hear for yourself, of course, but I think it means something when a sub-hater like me gets enthused. (Frankly, I am sick of audio writers recommending subs as cure-alls for fast high-quality speakers that lack really deep end. It sometimes makes me wonder if these reviewers can hear; I just don't think it's possible to miss all that gets traded off when you add a sub to a very fast, very flat, very low-distortion main speaker, even if you do so at a very low crossover point. But...the Torus is different.
As I said in my original post, it combines the flat frequency response, transient speed, and low-distortion of a first-rate small-diameter driver with the air-moving power of a huge-diameter driver.)" Jonathan Valin AV Guide on line.
The speed at which sound travels is defined by the medium through which the waves are passing, and is often quoted as a fundamental property of the material. In general, the speed of sound is proportional to the square root of the ratio of the elastic modulus (stiffness) of the medium to its density.
VELOCITY OF SOUND IN METRES PER SECOND:
RUBBER 40
CORK 400
LEAD 1158
WATER 1433
ACRYLIC 2680
CONCRETE 3200
GOLD 3240
WOOD 3300
BRASS 3475
COPPER 3900
HARDWOOD 3960
GLASS 3962
BRICK 4176
ALUMINIUM 4877
IRON 5130
PYREX 5640
STEEL 6100
DIAMOND 12000
CARBON FIBRE 18350
A Carbon fibre matrix has one of the highest ratios known to man being supremely stiff and of a very low density. This is one of the blocking structures that is disposed either side of the core.The woven carbon can be seen to exhibit small bundles of fabric each containing typically 5,000 fibres. The image below shows A 6 µm diameter carbon filament compared to a human hair. Within one layer of carbon there are billions of boundaries each of which plays its part in converting resonant energy to heat
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