In the wake of Dave Wilson’s recent passing, his son Daryl has redesigned the Wilson Audio Sasha loudspeaker to honour his father’s achievements, and yet look to the future for an even greater level of performance than was possible when Dave designed the original Sasha.

Daryl decided a fresh look at the Sasha was in order. He approached the Sasha as if it were an all-new loudspeaker, taking the elements that very clearly worked in its design and, at the same time, applying the technologies generated by Wilson’s design team since the advent of the Series 2 nearly five years ago. The result is the largest upgrade in the history of the WATT/Puppy and Sasha platforms.

In recognition for the man who started it all, the Wilson team felt it right to dedicate this new iteration of the Wilson compact loudspeaker to the man who first imagined it thirty years ago. DAW stands for David Andrew Wilson, an homage to the man who started it all.

Led by Vern Credille, the team designed a new woofer for the Sasha. Based on the 8-inch driver found in the Alexia Series-2, the new woofer was redesigned for the specific needs of the Sasha. When Dave designed the original Puppy, speed and dynamic impact were priorities, as well as optimising the bass extension. He found that two smaller drivers allowed him to optimise both. This strategy has been refined over the years. To further augment bass performance, Daryl and his team redesigned the Sasha’s bass enclosure from the ground up. Thicker X-material panels further reduce panel resonances. Enclosure volume was increased by 13.3%. The blades on the top of the module, where its companion midrange/tweeter rests, have been strategically redesigned with openings, which reduces cavity pressure in the space between the upper and lower modules. Finally, a new, ultra-low-turbulence port was used.

For the design of the upper module, Daryl Wilson worked closely with Jarom Lance, one of Wilson mechanical engineers. Thicker panels throughout the module reduce resonance. An all-new pattern is cut into the inside of the enclosure, which mitigate internal reflections. Enclosure volume was increased by 10.2%. The midrange and tweeters are the same units used in the WAMM Master Chronosonic, and an all-new crossover blends the entire recipe together. Vern and Daryl worked to improve the frequency linearity of the platform. The material to which a driver is mounted provides the “launch pad” for cone excursions. Years of empirical listening trials and materials testing, most recently with Wilson’s Laser Vibrometer, have shown that dissimilar materials provide optimum baffles for different drivers. Wilson’s proprietary composite, X-Material, is the ideal material for woofers and tweeters. The research surrounding the original Sasha led to the development of S-Material, designed specifically to increase midrange accuracy.

The Wilson Engineering Team revisited the binding post. The outgoing binding post, designed entirely in house, set the industry standard for sound quality. Daryl Wilson and Blake Schmutz, Wilson’s lead mechanical engineer, found ways to improve the older connector’s performance and ergonomics. The new binding post is easier to tighten by hand, and also features a banana plug option. In the DAW, Wilson has enhanced the user interface of the group-delay mechanism, which now features a knurled knob, enabling the adjustment to be facilitated without tools. Additionally, the woofer baffle is now angled back, which more correctly integrates the bass drivers with the upper module in the time domain. The Resistor Plate Cover is now removable without the aid of tools. It provides easy access to the resistors. The Sasha DAW will begin shipping in November 2018. Price: (U.S. MSRP) is $37,900 per pair in standard colours.

The UK RRP is £39,998 per pair in a range of stunning ‘standard’ colours, with premium WilsonGloss colours available at £41,998 per pair. Custom finishes may also be ordered, colour matched to each customer’s specific requirements, at £43,998 per pair. Distributed by Absolute Sounds.

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