Wilson Audio has just launched their new Sabrina loudspeaker. The Sabrina rides on the heritage of the Wilson WATT/Puppy as well as the Alexandria XLF. The WATT/Puppy was developed to be compact, yet outperform much larger state-of-the-art designs – the new Sabrina is about the same size as the original 1980 WATT/Puppy. On the other hand, the Wilson Alexandria XLF is the pinnacle of Wilson’s attempt to bring the live unamplified experience to recorded reproduction. Where the XLF is built around complex and precise time-alignment capability, custom-designed drivers, and adjustable cabinet modules – the Sabrina delivers its capabilities through a simple, compact and accessible form factor.
Sabrina’s cabinet is hand-assembled, glued with proprietary adhesives, hand-sanded, gel coated, painted with multiple layers of automotive-grade paint, inspected, then polished and buffed to the same exacting standard as every other Wilson loudspeaker. The front baffle and bottom panels are built from Wilson proprietary composite, X-Material.
When the drivers in a loudspeaker array are aligned so that the leading edge of transients from each driver arrives at the listener’s ear at the same time, the result is a profound improvement in dynamics, harmonic detail, transparency—and in other important areas of sonic performance – simply making things sound “real”. In Wilson’s larger loudspeakers, adjustable drivers allow precise adjustment of time-alignment for almost any listening space – the Sabrina, driver array is time optimized for the “typical” listening room, using a sloping front baffle.
Every Sabrina crossover is a solitary work of art, built individually to match the reference crossover. Wilson mandates tolerances as stringent as plus-or-minus point-two percent (+/- 0.2%)—much more exacting than even the best individual crossover components typically achieve. Other high-end manufacturers accept this lack of precision as fait accompli. At Wilson, every crossover component is meticulously measured and cataloged with its actual value (which is always different from its rated value). Each Sabrina crossover is a unique admixture of mathematically complimentary components such that its final value precisely matches the reference loudspeaker’s crossover. Wilson believes that the owner of any of its products should hear precisely what Dave and the engineers heard when they signed off on the final prototype.
In Sabrina, an agile and dynamic 5.75” midrange driver is used. Its midrange beauty and dynamic alacrity extends into the lower treble (it is linear to beyond 3.5kHz). To capitalize on this driver’s seamless musicality in this area of the bandwidth, the tweeter is crossed over at a higher frequency than in other Wilson designs. The higher crossover results in an even higher power handling capability for this rugged yet musically expressive tweeter. Sabrina’s eight-inch woofer was first used in the Alexia, and was modified for its use in this smaller, single-driver enclosure. These drivers represent “trickle-down” technology at its best.
Measurements:
Nominal Impedance: 4 ohms / 2.53 ohms minimum @ 139 Hz
Sensitivity: 87 dB @ 1W @ 1m @ 1 kHz
Frequency Response: 31 Hz – 21 kHz: +/- 3 dB: Room Average Response [RAR]
Minimum Amplification Power Recommended: 50 watts/channel
Drivers:
Woofer: 8 inch drivers (20.32 cm) Cone Material: Paper Composite
Midrange: 5 3/4 inches (14.61 cm) Cone Material: Paper Composite
Tweeter: 1 inch, Dome (2.54 cm) Dome Material: Doped Silk Fabric
Dimensions:
Height—38 inches (96.52 cm) W/spikes: 39 5/16 inches (99.80 cm)
Width—12 inches (30.48cm)
Depth—15 3/16 inches (38.55 cm)
Enclosure Type (Rear Ported) X-Material Front Baffle and Bottom Panel
Weight
Weight Per Channel Uncrated: 94 lbs (42.64 kg)
Total Approximate System Shipping Weight: 222 lbs (100.70 kg)
The new Sabrina loudspeaker is available in three standard “Wilsongloss” colors—Desert Silver, Galaxy Gray, and Obsidian Black. Two upgrade colors, Biarritz White and Titan Red, are also available for an additional charge. First shipments are scheduled for late March 2015 on currently submitted orders. Current MSRP is: $15,900 U.S. Look for more details on the Sabrina at: http://www.wilsonaudio.com.
About the Author: George de Sa
