[Crossoverless]

Has anyone heard these speakers yet?

These Watkins Generation Four bookshelf speakers will not be sold at the Direct price of $1995 much longer because they will be going to Dealers soon! When the Dealers get them, the price will go up to $2995



http://www.watkinsaudio.com

[FullRangeMan]

Not for me, its a monopole mini speaker, just 24 pounds, it emit sound only to front, the soundstage is faraway from an OB or planar.
Also it need a muscular amp(no SET tube amp:
Sensitivity:  Above average at 88 dB at one meter with 1 watt input
Last chance is if its low priced($500/pair);

[srb]

ONE of the WORST WEBSITES on the INTERNET!   

(Where do you come up with this stuff?)

[Folsom]

That FR is crazy if true. Ya, bad website, and ditto.

No info given about the box, or price?

[FullRangeMan]

A positive point is it dont have xover, just a cap

[Crossoverless]

ONE of the WORST WEBSITES on the INTERNET!   

(Where do you come up with this stuff?)

I found it here...post number #330 on this page below...The guy that owns a pair of these Watkins bookshelf speakers on the AudioHolics forum said "he was SOLD when he first listened to them!"

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/which-brand-makes-the-best-quality-loudspeakers.74416/page-17

[OzarkTom]

Take it with a grain of salt if Gordon Holt said it was great. Gordon had very bad hearing. That was well known in the audio industry.

[poseidonsvoice]

That FR is crazy if true. Ya, bad website, and ditto.

No info given about the box, or price?

It looks crazy good because it's only an ON AXIS response, with probably a large degree of smoothing (i.e. it's just MARKETING).  The reverberant field is over 90% percent of what you hear. Without serial off axis measurements every 5 degrees (up to 45 degrees) both vertically and horizontally you know absolutely NOTHING about the way this speaker sounds. Although having listened to enough of these types of two-ways, I have a pretty good guess.

I think CrossoverLess posts this stuff just to get people talking, since a lot of AC is really a male dominated soap opera

Best,
Anand.

[Folsom]

Good points.

What I don't get is how no baffle speakers could go crossover deficient... they may have good attributes but the baffle needs to be large enough or you'll get massive roll off in midbass and heightened highs.

[Crossoverless]

I was looking around and found out that the guy that makes these bookshelf speakers is Bill Watkins!...the guy that made some of the speaker drivers for Infinity back in the good old days! Some say some of these Infinity speakers are still some of the best speakers money can buy.. even today!!

http://iccbrabant.tripod.com/icc/id1.html

Here's more info here on the groups.google.com thread there...

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/bill-watkins-thoughts-about-watkins-woofers-and-infinity.392847/

[Folsom]

Find out what they cost, order a pair, and let us know. If you're really into them maybe do a short tour?

[glynnw]

I sat in on a couple of listening sessions in Atlanta on a prototype WE-1 around 1980 (?).  They were very nice sounding speakers and quite large, nothing like the speakers in the current ad.
But Mr Watkins is a legitimate innovator and well known designer, so these might be nice speakers.

[Crossoverless]

I just got my Email back from Watkins Audio and they said they would not be selling their speakers Direct very much longer because they will be going to Dealers soon. The Direct price for these bookshelf speakers for a very short time is $1995 a pair...when the Dealers start selling them, the price will go up to $2995 a pair.

[Folsom]

Sounds like you need to purchase ASAP and tell us what's what.

Is the driver made by them, exclusively?

[Crossoverless]

Sounds like you need to purchase ASAP and tell us what's what.

Is the driver made by them, exclusively?

The woofers are made by Watkins but I don't know if the tweeters are made by Watkins

[Folsom]

Probably not. The fact he makes the woofers to me means there's a possibility to validate the speaker.

[S Clark]

The woofers are made by Watkins but I don't know if the tweeters are made by Watkins

It's highly unlikely that he makes his own woofers- much more likely that he has them made to his specs.  I think the last company besides Eminence to make woofers in the US was Gefco, and they closed shop over 10 years ago.  Does anyone know of any other actual manufacturing plants for traditional cone woofers?

[Crossoverless]

It's highly unlikely that he makes his own woofers- much more likely that he has them made to his specs.  I think the last company besides Eminence to make woofers in the US was Gefco, and they closed shop over 10 years ago.  Does anyone know of any other actual manufacturing plants for traditional cone woofers?

Sorry but you are wrong....Watkins makes their own woofers!

[dB Cooper]

Take it with a grain of salt if Gordon Holt said it was great. Gordon had very bad hearing. That was well known in the audio industry.

I've been following audio (including Stereophile) for 45 years and never heard that. Care to name any names?

[S Clark]

C-Less, I may be wrong, but I will find out and report back.  So you think he is stamping his own baskets or casting them, winding his own voice coils, making his cones....
I'll give the good folks at Eminence a call and let you know what they say.  Then we can say for certain.