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Wilma Cozart Fine

Wilma Cozart Fine died Monday September 21 at age 82. Together with her husband Bob Fine, Cozart was responsible for producing and engineering Mercury's superb-sounding series of "Living Presence" classical recordings in the 1950s and '60s.

Wilson & dCS in Santa Monica, Wednesday & Thursday

On Wednesday and Thursday, April 6 & 7, 5:30pm–8:30pm, The Audio Salon (Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Avenue, Unit F1, Santa Monica) will present the first public demonstration in California of Wilson Audio's new Alexx loudspeaker. John Quick from dCS will be discussing and demonstrating the new Rossini Player, Rossini Clock, and the Vivaldi 2.0 Playback System. . .

Wilson & MSB Event in San Diego Friday

Friday, January 19, from 5–8pm, Alma Music and Audio (7847 Convoy Ct. #101, San Diego, CA 92111) are hosting an event with guests Peter McGrath of Wilson Audio Specialties and Vince Galbo of MSB. McGrath will be talking about the differences between Wilson's entry-level Sabrina loudspeaker and the more elaborate models, like the Alexia 2, as well as playing his own live recordings. Galbo will be demonstrating MSB's amplifiers and DACs.

Wilson and VTL Dance at Music Lovers

At Montreal's Salon Son et Image earlier this year, Peter McGrath of Wilson Audio (left in photo) found the pairing of the company's Sophia 3 loudspeaker ($18,000/pair) and VTL's MB-185 Series III, EL-34-based monoblocks ($15,000/pair) and VTL TL-5.5 preamp w/phono ($10,500) so felicitous that he proposed that he and VTL's Luke Manley (right in photo) revisit the coupling in the US. The opportunity arose at Music Lovers Audio in Berkeley, California, where a public afternoon demo on June 9, 2012 drew a large group of audiophiles who packed two large showrooms at the prestigious, well-appointed store.

Wilson Audio Dances with Audio Research, Clearaudio, dCS, Transparent, and Critical Mass

Of Morton Grove, IL dealer Quintessence Audio's three rooms at AXPONA, those in the ground floor Knowledge and Perfection showrooms remained. Since it's hard to imagine Perfection without Knowledge, reality cast the die to first cover a superb Knowledge set-up that mated Wilson Audio Alexx V speakers ($135,000/pair, or $151,000/pair in the show pair's special finish) with Audio Research electronics (see below), Clearaudio Master Innovation Wood turntable with TT-MI linear tonearm ($62,000) and Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement MC cartridge ($17,500), dCS's new Vivaldi Apex DAC/Clock/Upsampler system ($90,000), Transparent XL cabling with PWX power ($73,985 total), and Critical Mass Maxxum component stands ($75,000).

Wilson Audio's Ultimate Loudspeaker: the WAMM Master Chronosonic

Photos: Daryl Wilson except where indicated

On December 8, 12 days before an embargo on the news was lifted, I visited Wilson Audio in Utah. The occasion was the launch of the WAMM Master Chronosonic loudspeaker. Given its limited-edition production run (70 pairs), oversized dimensions (approximately 86" H with spikes x 26" W x 36.5" D), and high price ($685,000/pair), Wilson Audio's ultimate speaker is not slated for dealer and audio show demos. Instead, the only way prospective customers, dealers, and select press can experience Dave Wilson's magnum opus—the culmination of well over three decades of loudspeaker development—is to journey to the Wilson residence in Provo.

Wilson Audiophile Recordings Return

Many of David Wilson's highly acclaimed, long out-of-print recordings are poised to make old and new generations of audiophiles very happy. On August 1, the first two of a selected batch of Wilson Audiophile Recordings will return to circulation as high-resolution (176.4kHz/24-bit), CD-quality, and MP3 downloads. Distributed by Naxos via a host of mass-market and hi-res digital music stores, including Chandos' "The Classical Shoppe," eClassical24bit, HDMusic, HDTracks, HiResAudio, Linn Records, Onkyo, and Qobuz24bit, the first titles in the series are Recital, James B. Welch's disc of four centuries of organ music, and Beethoven and Enescu Sonatas, performed by violinist David Abel and pianist Julie Steinberg, this magazine's "Recording of the Month" for February 1984.
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