[adamaley]

I know Red Wine Audio is the exclusive American dealer for these speakers. I have scoured the web looking for reviews and have only come up with a few on the Diva monitor (6moons). Am I to understand the monitor and floorstander versions are similar in most regards? What about low frequency? Should I consider the monitor review as a exact reflection on the floorstander? I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction for an online or printed review. Also, I will be grateful for any user impressions here as well. Thanks in advance.

Etor

[donreitz]

Etor:
I posted a review of the La Scala floorstander here awhile back. I can't find the link, so the review is inserted below. Ralph Werner reviewed the floorstander for 6moons. Google "La Scala 6moons" and you'll get it. As a follow up to my review, I have to say that I'm more impressed than ever with the sound put out by these relatively small speakers. As I said, the boxes just seem to disappear and the sound takes over. La Scalas aren't cheap, but Vinnie sells a good product and provides excellent service. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better speaker for the money especially if you have tube equipment.

Hope this helps.
Don

Late last year I took a flyer and purchased a pair of La Scala floorstanders sight unseen and sound unheard. It took effort on Vinnie’s part as I’d never purchased audio equipment over the internet and I wasn’t about to part with $5,400 without some serious hand holding.

Well, between Vinnie, a positive review by Ralph Werner, and a favorable disposition toward WLM products at 6moons, I did, in fact, part with the money. So how’s it working out? While I’m certainly in no position to write knowledgably about loudspeakers, there are a few observations I can make.

Presence
By far the most impressive characteristic of the La Scalas is something I can only define as “presence.” It’s a quality where the source of the sound appears to be in the room itself rather than coming from a box in the room. No other speaker I’m familiar with so removes itself from the music. I assume this quality is mostly due to the La Scalas’ midrange competency since it’s most obvious with pianos, horns, and voices, but it’s striking at the upper and lower registers as well. It’s quite a revelation to listen to music rather than to loudspeakers making music.

Bass Performance
In his review, Ralph Werner mentioned the outstanding bass performance of the speakers. It took me awhile to get it, but now I understand what he was saying. My own taste in bass developed through listening mostly to a pair of JBL L200s from the 1970s. These made big sound and the monster 15 inchers could dig oh so deep. What I got used to was a meaty, dark, wet bass. Needless to say, with an 8 inch mid/bass driver, the La Scala’s bass performance isn’t going to be the same. At first this bothered me, but after playing with spike heights and port donuts, I am no longer disappointed. The La Scalas definitely put out a different kind of bass than the big JBLs. Compared to the JBLs, La Scala bass is tighter, dryer, and more detailed. The 8 inchers deliver less punch but you can hear deeper into the bass (for example, you can hear bass strings clearly being plucked and the woodiness of a cello comes through). What you lose in absolute bass thump you gain in detail. It’s a fair trade and no less satisfying.

Treble Performance
I’m kind of a back-to-basics guy so an old-fashioned paper cone tweeter appeals to me. I run a tube amp and preamp and had some concern that perhaps these in combination with a low tech tweeter would result in muddy sound. That’s not the case. While the La Scalas don’t knock you over with treble that can shatter glass (at least with my system), they do provide treble that is realistic and satisfying. I don’t notice anything missing from the top end, but my preference is for a warmer rather than a hyper-detailed treble anyway. If you’re a detail junky you might want to power the La Scalas with a transistor amp (or at least boost the speakers’ treble output via the rear-mounted control—a very handy device). Given this situation, it’s surprising to me that the La Scalas are quite revealing when it comes to CD sizzle or graininess. Clearly the tweeter, old tech paper cone notwithstanding, is a capable device.

Placement
Finding the best placement of the La Scalas was straightforward. I followed WLM’s suggestion in the users’ manual for distance from side and rear walls, and took Vinnie’s suggestion to toe the speakers in so as to aim them about three feet behind my listening position. The distance between my listening position and the plane of the speakers is equal to the distance between the speakers themselves. No amount of adjusting improved the sound. I did experiment with George Cardas’s “Golden Cuboid” method of speaker location but it didn’t work for me. It just put the speakers too far out into the room and turned the bass boomy.

Build Quality/Aesthetics
To my way of thinking La Scalas exhibit the quintessential qualities of German engineering and design (actually Austrian, but close enough). You might think of them as the Audis of the speaker world: rock-solid build quality, high-performance for the money, and attractive not in a sexy Ferrari sense, but in a simple, visually pleasing, purpose-built sense. La Scalas aren’t cheap, but you very much get your money’s worth.

[Vinnie R.]

I know Red Wine Audio is the exclusive American dealer for these speakers. I have scoured the web looking for reviews and have only come up with a few on the Diva monitor (6moons).

Hi Etor,

The Diva's have received quite a few reviews in Europe.  For example, here is one from a German review magazine: http://www.redwineaudio.com/documents/Stereo_DivaMonitor.pdf
(but it has not been translated). 

For an English review, here is the one from 6moons:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/wlm/divamonitor.html

Am I to understand the monitor and floorstander versions are similar in most regards? What about low frequency? Should I consider the monitor review as a exact reflection on the floorstander? I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction for an online or printed review. Also, I will be grateful for any user impressions here as well. Thanks in advance.

Yes, they share the same coaxial driver and crossover, and same footprint.  However, the Diva Monitor is front-ported, and the Diva Floorstanders are bottom-ported (which allows for additional bass adjustment by raising and lowering the height of the speaker spikes - thus raising and lowering the distance between the bass port and the floor).

The larger cabinet of the Diva Floorstander allows them to go a little deeper, but they do have the same sonic flavor because they use the same driver and crossover.

Etor:
I posted a review of the La Scala floorstander here awhile back. I can't find the link, so the review is inserted below. Ralph Werner reviewed the floorstander for 6moons. Google "La Scala 6moons" and you'll get it. As a follow up to my review, I have to say that I'm more impressed than ever with the sound put out by these relatively small speakers. As I said, the boxes just seem to disappear and the sound takes over. La Scalas aren't cheap, but Vinnie sells a good product and provides excellent service. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better speaker for the money especially if you have tube equipment.

Hope this helps.
Don

Hi Don,

Thank you for your post.  You are speaking about the La Scalas, but Etor's questions are about the Divas. 

Glad you are enjoying your La Scalas!  They have certainly been our best selling WLM speaker.  Throughout 2010, we will mainly be stocking the La Scalas and the new, smaller version of the La Scala - The Stella: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=68204.0

In fact, in the next week or two, expect to see updates to the WLM North America site (which is linked from our RWA server) and a new page that features the Stellas.  Finally!  Sorry for all the delay on updating the WLM North America site - we actually have quite a few more updates to follow soon as well (including some really fantastic tube amps from WLM Acoustics - The Minueta and The Sonata!). 

Etor, I know this was a long post, but hopefully you found it at least somewhat helpful 

Vinnie

[adamaley]

Very helpful indeed. Thanks for clarifying, Vinnie. I did find the 6moons review. I felt it was pretty lengthy and wasn't sure if it applied to the floorstanders. Thanks for the effort, Don. I may look into the La Scalas as well.

[SteveParsons]

Hi,

There is also this review.

http://www.innerearmag.com/reviews/speakers/wlm_divas.shtml

I recently bought a secondhand pair of WLM Diva's in the UK.  I still haven't had time to set them up properly but I'm pretty pleased with them.  There is a sense of clarity and tone that feels spot on to me (I'm running them with 70.2's).

My previous speakers were Focal Mini utopias so the presentation is very different.  I'm not really the right person to comment on the bass performance as the utopias didn't go that low (plus I haven't set them up properly).  I think they are pretty room tolerant from what I am seeing though - and the tuning options are good.

The finish is abolutely A1.  They even got the wife vote - and thats rare.

So sorry to not be more precise - but I am not regretting the purchase decision.

Cheers,

Steve

[Vinnie R.]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your post and that link - I forgot about that one! 

Glad you are enjoying your Divas!

Vinnie

[adamaley]

Thanks for that link, Steve. I missed that one in my search.

[rlabarre]

In fact, in the next week or two, expect to see updates to the WLM North America site (which is linked from our RWA server) and a new page that features the Stellas.  Finally!  Sorry for all the delay on updating the WLM North America site - we actually have quite a few more updates to follow soon as well (including some really fantastic tube amps from WLM Acoustics - The Minueta and The Sonata!). 

Vinnie

Vinnie, now sounds like not the best time to ask, since you're so busy moving and setting up in new quarters, but when can we expect site updates and more commentary on the WLM tube amps? I've been waiting "patiently" since first mention in, what, September?

[Vinnie R.]

Vinnie, now sounds like not the best time to ask, since you're so busy moving and setting up in new quarters, but when can we expect site updates and more commentary on the WLM tube amps? I've been waiting "patiently" since first mention in, what, September?

Hi rlabarre,

We're just about finished with the updates to the Stella, La Scala, and Diva pages (as well as a "product overview" page) and this should be live in the next few days.

Next will be the addition of the WLM Minueta (EL84) and Sonata (EL34) amplifiers - but this is going to take a bit more time.  However, in the meantime, definitely check out the new WLM Acoustics website: http://www.wlm-acoustics.com/

Click "English" and then click on the link to the products.  From there, you'll find details, specification, pictures, etc.   As you will see, that site is not completely finished, but it is getting there! 

We'll be using information and pictures from this site and also linking to it when we add to our WLM North America site.

If you have any questions, feel free to email or call me (my new phone number is listed on the RWA website now). 

Best regards,

Vinnie

[Vinnie R.]

We're just about finished with the updates to the Stella, La Scala, and Diva pages (as well as a "product overview" page) and this should be live in the next few days.

Done!

http://www.redwineaudio.com/wlm/products/

Minueta EL84 and Sonata EL34 pages will be added soon. 

Best regard,

Vinnie