I know, center-channel speakers are the bailiwick of our sister magazine
Home Theater. But as Wilson Audio Specialties' Peter McGrath told me when he explained the speaker's technology to me in the Utah company's suite at the Mirage, two Polarises work magically as a stereo pair. (Unfortunately, the speaker was only being shown, not demonstrated.)
Nothing I had read in the press release for the Polaris had prepared me for just how
big the speaker was in the flesh. It has to be low, of course, to fit under a screen, but is wide and deep. Two 10" woofers flank a vertical array of two midrange units and a tweeter, all three of the latter units the same as those introduced in the Series 2 version of Wilson's flagship Alexandria. And like the Alexandria and the MAXX3, the geometry of the upper-frequency units can be adjusted with precision to optimize the sound quality at a given listening position and distance.
The enclosure is fabricated from Wilson's inert and massive epoxy resin-based laminate, X-material, while the midrange baffle is formed from another composite, called S-material. Because the large rectangular port is at the bottom front of the enclosure, the Polaris can be placed against the wall behind it. And because all three low-frequency radiators are adjacent to the floor, boundary reinforcement results in prodigious bass output.
The Polaris will start shippng this quarter. And would you believe I forgot to ask the price? I am sure it will be not inexpensive!
