Wolf von Langa (WVL) Chicago Speakers - Dream Speakers

[Moladiego]

I recent acquired a pair of Wolf von Langa (WVL) Chicago speakers. Without having auditioned them or any other WVL speakers. Purely based on gut feelings that they would be special. Special because of the presence of two features: (1) open-baffle and (2) field coil. The bet has turned out beautifully: Chicago is one of the two best things that have happened to my audio system (more so than any other component). I have found my dream speaker and cannot imagine using any other speaker.

The smaller WVL SON has been reviewed and universally acclaimed. The more expensive WVL Audio Frame series, London, Chicago and Berlin, have not been reviewed in the English language. Of Chicago, I could find only two reviews back in 2017, one in German and one in Russian. There has been very little user feedback on the Audio Frame series in the English language. I was told that Chicago is a bigger and more refined SON.

Chicago is a 4-way speaker: a cabinet (made of aluminum frames) contains two 15” woofer modules, stacked on top of each other, fastened via screws (which makes assembly and disassembly very easy for installation). A crossover board is placed between the 2 woofer modules. On the top shelf of the cabinet sits the mid-range driver and the AMT tweeter. The mid-driver and the tweeter have two different configurations (each configuration is set by the manufacturer and cannot be changed post-manufacturing): the mid and the tweeter are embedded side by side in an acrylic panel, or the mid driver is placed in its own open-back box with the tweeter sitting on top of the mid-driver box. The crossover board divides audio signal stream into 4 stratums, T, M, WM (upper woofer) and WB (lower woofer). The back panel of each driver or driver box is open, making them dipole – sound waves project both forward and backward with practically equal force. The dipole structure creates a spacious surround-sound effect.

Of the two features, it must be the field coil technology, more than the open-baffle feature, that makes the WVL speakers so special. The mid and the two woofers have no permanent magnets attached to them. An external power supply (PSU, 2 rows of triple outputs) sends DC to each of the 3 drivers of each speaker, magnetizing the drivers as long as the PSU is on. There are 3 knobs and associated biasing meters on the front panel of the PSU, whereby you can adjust the DC current output for each of the Mid and woofer drivers to suit the acoustics of your room and your taste. The sound created by the field coil technology is exceptionally organic, natural and transparent, much more like live music. Before Chicago (around $64K), I had Revel Salon2 ($24K) and Magico S7 (>$58k). I also auditioned Wilson Alexx V (>$135K) and Von Schweikert Ultra 7 (>$180K). While the bigger Alexx and Von Schweikert 7 have bigger scales, Chicago sounds much more musical for the organic and natural sound. I have not heard SON (around $18K) but can understand why many listeners who attended the audio shows regard SON as the best speaker system they heard in the shows regardless of prices. What makes SON so special must also be the field coil technology that is applied to its bass-midrange driver.

Chicago is rated 95db in efficiency with 8-ohm nominal impedance. 10W-30W SE amp could drive them very well. I use a premium-quality integrated solid-state amp outputting 320W into 8 ohm (and 460W into 4). The result is wonderful. Chicago can play at much louder volume without diminishing musicality or introducing fatigue (which was the case with Salon2 or Magico7; at the same loud volume they became unlistenable with distortion) – the effect is thrilling and exhilarating concert hall level sound in terms of width and depth.

The WVL speakers are for music lovers who frequently listen to live music. As experienced in live music, bass from double-basses and cellos of an orchestra is taut, clearly defined in body and fast. The bass from live music does not have the boom-box exaggerated effect many rock music listeners crave for. I have been to some of the world's greatest concert halls in Europe and the U.S. and listen to chamber music regularly. To my ears, the WVL sound is closest to live music, much more so than other speaker I have heard to date.

Fellow users of the WVL Audio Frame series: please kindly share your experience.

 

[heihei]

Kudos for taking the brave pill and am glad it is working out. I've heard WVL speakers at Munich and been impressed every time. Look forward to hearing your thoughts as your experience grows.

 

[pjwd]

I recent acquired a pair of Wolf von Langa (WVL) Chicago speakers. Without having auditioned them or any other WVL speakers. Purely based on gut feelings that they would be special. Special because of the presence of two features: (1) open-baffle and (2) field coil. The bet has turned out beautifully: Chicago is one of the two best things that have happened to my audio system (more so than any other component). I have found my dream speaker and cannot imagine using any other speaker.

The smaller WVL SON has been reviewed and universally acclaimed. The more expensive WVL Audio Frame series, London, Chicago and Berlin, have not been reviewed in the English language. Of Chicago, I could find only two reviews back in 2017, one in German and one in Russian. There has been very little user feedback on the Audio Frame series in the English language. I was told that Chicago is a bigger and more refined SON.

Chicago is a 4-way speaker: a cabinet (made of aluminum frames) contains two 15” woofer modules, stacked on top of each other, fastened via screws (which makes assembly and disassembly very easy for installation). A crossover board is placed between the 2 woofer modules. On the top shelf of the cabinet sits the mid-range driver and the AMT tweeter. The mid-driver and the tweeter have two different configurations (each configuration is set by the manufacturer and cannot be changed post-manufacturing): the mid and the tweeter are embedded side by side in an acrylic panel, or the mid driver is placed in its own open-back box with the tweeter sitting on top of the mid-driver box. The crossover board divides audio signal stream into 4 stratums, T, M, WM (upper woofer) and WB (lower woofer). The back panel of each driver or driver box is open, making them dipole – sound waves project both forward and backward with practically equal force. The dipole structure creates a spacious surround-sound effect.

Of the two features, it must be the field coil technology, more than the open-baffle feature, that makes the WVL speakers so special. The mid and the two woofers have no permanent magnets attached to them. An external power supply (PSU, 2 rows of triple outputs) sends DC to each of the 3 drivers of each speaker, magnetizing the drivers as long as the PSU is on. There are 3 knobs and associated biasing meters on the front panel of the PSU, whereby you can adjust the DC current output for each of the Mid and woofer drivers to suit the acoustics of your room and your taste. The sound created by the field coil technology is exceptionally organic, natural and transparent, much more like live music. Before Chicago (around $64K), I had Revel Salon2 ($24K) and Magico S7 (>$58k). I also auditioned Wilson Alexx V (>$135K) and Von Schweikert Ultra 7 (>$180K). While the bigger Alexx and Von Schweikert 7 have bigger scales, Chicago sounds much more musical for the organic and natural sound. I have not heard SON (around $18K) but can understand why many listeners who attended the audio shows regard SON as the best speaker system they heard in the shows regardless of prices. What makes SON so special must also be the field coil technology that is applied to its bass-midrange driver.

Chicago is rated 95db in efficiency with 8-ohm nominal impedance. 10W-30W SE amp could drive them very well. I use a premium-quality integrated solid-state amp outputting 320W into 8 ohm (and 460W into 4). The result is wonderful. Chicago can play at much louder volume without diminishing musicality or introducing fatigue (which was the case with Salon2 or Magico7; at the same loud volume they became unlistenable with distortion) – the effect is thrilling and exhilarating concert hall level sound in terms of width and depth.

The WVL speakers are for music lovers who frequently listen to live music. As experienced in live music, bass from double-bass and cellos of an orchestra is taut, clearly defined in body and fast. The bass from live music does not have the boom-box exaggerated effect many rock music listeners crave for. I have been to some of the world's greatest concert halls in Europe and the U.S. and listen to chamber music regularly. To my ears, the WVL sound is closest to live music, much more so than other speaker I have heard to date.

Fellow users of the WVL Audio Frame series: please kindly share your experience.

View attachment 114631 View attachment 114632

Congrats AM
A buddy has these and they are a great speaker.
Lots of adjustability with the PSU which can be a challenge. I would get the best speaker location first before playing with the voltage. He is driving them with a class A AG solid state amp and Aeres Cerat pre which works well. Have you had dipoles previously... In my local group all 5 of us now have dipoles

Cheers
Phil

 

[gestalt]

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

 

[LL21]

Congratulations and fascinating. I am reading out of curiosity about those who are enthralled by horns (done well). Largely about how they deliver both nuance and scale...and of course because horn designs often trace roots far back in time...when field coil drivers were also more prevalent, it is also interesting to hear about these as well.

I was just reading the WVL website. The Berlin you mention is a Wilson XLF-sized speaker...big! Have you heard it by any chance?

 

[gleeds]

My experience with the Sons would indicate that the Chicago's are really special. I have not listened to them yet but hope to visit Colin in Nashville soon to do so. I'm especially keen to hear the WVL flagship with horn drivers and dipole bass model 33221 below. It's fascinating how Wolf combines different technologies throughout the line to achieve his objective which needless to say is very different from the mainstream loudspeaker designers who primarily uses variations on a theme.

In full disclosure I am WVL/Gestalt Audio's new west coast retail partner. I'll update my affiliation now.

 

[Moladiego]

My experience with the Sons would indicate that the Chicago's are really special. I have not listened to them yet but hope to visit Colin in Nashville soon to do so. I'm especially keen to hear the WVL flagship with horn drivers and dipole bass model 33221 below. It's fascinating how Wolf combines different technologies throughout the line to achieve his objective which needless to say is very different from the mainstream loudspeaker designers who primarily uses variations on a theme.

In full disclosure I am WVL/Gestalt Audio's new west coast retail partner. I'll update my affiliation now.

View attachment 115009

Want to correct your statement that Berlin is WVL's "flagship" speaker. WVL has emphasized that there is no correlation between pricing and sound quality among the 3 models of the Audio Frame series. Pricing in the Audio Frame series only reflects the cost of manufacturing. People have different tastes: some people crave for the horn sound (Berlin is for those people) and some people have a special affection for Lowther transducers (London is for those people). I have not heard any other WVL speakers. Those who have heard both SON and Chicago, please share your experience - what do you get for the significant extra cost of Chicago? Experience of comparing between/among the Audio Frame series: London, Chicago and Berlin, driven by the same electronics in the same room ideally.

 

[GeauxAudio]

First post on this site. I wanted to share that I've owned SONs for over a year and have heard all versions of the current WVL lineup. If you enjoy a highly musical, room filling sound that does a beautiful job with all aspects of sound quality and characteristics, these are all outstanding speakers. If you want info on my SONs experience please reach out.

Specifically, the Chicago and SONs are designed with very similar intent. I think the Chicago's are very slightly improved in low to mid resolution and possibly a little larger soundstage but I would need to do an true A/B comparison to validate that.

Horns have not been my preference but of the high end horn speakers I've listened to the Berlins were the best when it comes to limiting the characteristics of horns that I don't appreciate (for me that means more forward, megaphone-like, and tough to listen to for long periods). The WVL Berlins were spectacular on detail, immediacy, and making you feel like the instruments were in the room. If you like horns they are certainly worth auditioning.

The London does exceptionally well all the characteristics typical of a single driver design, but adds the lower range control and detail of WVLs field coil drivers. Very coherent and exceptional in delivering delicate details. If you listen to a lot of jazz and vocals it's fantastic.

Lastly, I have now paired my SONs with the New Audio Frontier 845 Supreme. I am coming from a VTL ST-150 amp running triode mode and thought the change would be minor. It was dramatic with easily noticeable improvement in virtually every characteristic. The largely improved dynamics moving from a 70w/ch (in triode) Amp to 25w in the NAF was drastic and unexpected.

All of this was done with great help from Colin at Gesalt in Nashville. Truly one of the best guys in audio...or any industry. I could go on about working with him but to say you'd be doing yourself a disservice not to connect with him.

 

[gestalt]

First post on this site. I wanted to share that I've owned SONs for over a year and have heard all versions of the current WVL lineup. If you enjoy a highly musical, room filling sound that does a beautiful job with all aspects of sound quality and characteristics, these are all outstanding speakers. If you want info on my SONs experience please reach out.

Specifically, the Chicago and SONs are designed with very similar intent. I think the Chicago's are very slightly improved in low to mid resolution and possibly a little larger soundstage but I would need to do an true A/B comparison to validate that.

Horns have not been my preference but of the high end horn speakers I've listened to the Berlins were the best when it comes to limiting the characteristics of horns that I don't appreciate (for me that means more forward, megaphone-like, and tough to listen to for long periods). The WVL Berlins were spectacular on detail, immediacy, and making you feel like the instruments were in the room. If you like horns they are certainly worth auditioning.

The London does exceptionally well all the characteristics typical of a single driver design, but adds the lower range control and detail of WVLs field coil drivers. Very coherent and exceptional in delivering delicate details. If you listen to a lot of jazz and vocals it's fantastic.

Lastly, I have now paired my SONs with the New Audio Frontier 845 Supreme. I am coming from a VTL ST-150 amp running triode mode and thought the change would be minor. It was dramatic with easily noticeable improvement in virtually every characteristic. The largely improved dynamics moving from a 70w/ch (in triode) Amp to 25w in the NAF was drastic and unexpected.

All of this was done with great help from Colin at Gesalt in Nashville. Truly one of the best guys in audio...or any industry. I could go on about working with him but to say you'd be doing yourself a disservice not to connect with him.

Thanks for the kind words Steve.

 

[Steve Williams]

Truly a great speaker Colin

 

[facten]

All of this was done with great help from Colin at Gesalt in Nashville. Truly one of the best guys in audio...

I'll happily 2nd your sentiment!

 

[Steve Williams]

I'll happily 2nd your sentiment!

Colin has amazing knowledge in setting up speakers and putting together a system. I found myself in his room at THE Show on 4 separate occasions marveling at the sound put out by those small speakers. It was an experience for me as well as being gobsmacked by the price of those speakers. At that price range I saw nothing at THE Show that even came close

 

[infinitely baffled]

I'm very excited about the WVL Audio Frame series: London, Chicago and Berlin.
Being a lover of dipoles I'm drawn towards Chicago, but as a lover of scale and dynamics Berlin is equally intruiging.
Obviously the thing to do is visit Nuremburg and compare, however it's going to take some coordination, and maybe a couple of visits as I'm told by Christine Von Langa that they don't habitually keep all three on demo.

Germany here we come!

 

[Joe Cohen]

Cant wait to hear these at our demo at the CA Audio Show in Emeryville, CA Sept. 22-24
They will be powered and fed by all SW1X Electronics plus PranaWire Cables, Power Conditioning and Master Grounding System
california audio show 2022

 

[Mendel]

Awesome looking speakers! The dipole/field coil technology along with the high sensitivity is really interesting to me. I have been using dipoles for 10 years and could never go back to box speakers. Are the WVL Sons also dipole (for the field coil drivers)?
Just wondering which configuration of midrange/tweeter drivers did you end up getting for your Chicago’s?

 

[GeauxAudio]

Awesome looking speakers! The dipole/field coil technology along with the high sensitivity is really interesting to me. I have been using dipoles for 10 years and could never go back to box speakers. Are the WVL Sons also dipole (for the field coil drivers)?
Just wondering which configuration of midrange/tweeter drivers did you end up getting for your Chicago’s?

Colin at Gestalt Audio can give you a more technical answer but the quick answer is that the SON tweeter is open back so dipole in that a single driver is front and rear firing (ie it doesn't have a separate tweeter that fires backwards). The mid/bass driver is front firing but has a passive radiator that is backwards firing. I have heard all models of the WVLs and the resulting characteristics are similar. I'd also point out I have heard other dipoles that sound very gimmicky, similar to creating sound effects, versus truly creating a deeper, wider, and consuming image of the 2 channel signal.

Hope that helps.

 

[Mendel]

Colin at Gestalt Audio can give you a more technical answer but the quick answer is that the SON tweeter is open back so dipole in that a single driver is front and rear firing (ie it doesn't have a separate tweeter that fires backwards). The mid/bass driver is front firing but has a passive radiator that is backwards firing. I have heard all models of the WVLs and the resulting characteristics are similar. I'd also point out I have heard other dipoles that sound very gimmicky, similar to creating sound effects, versus truly creating a deeper, wider, and consuming image of the 2 channel signal.

Hope that helps.

Thank you for your reply.
Fortunately no gimmicky sound effects with my (modified) Acoustats. Just wish they were a little easier to drive (so I could use single ended amps) and had a little more bass punch. Areas that I imagine the WVL speakers would excel. Otherwise no complaints!

 

[Zeotrope]

Want to correct your statement that Berlin is WVL's "flagship" speaker. WVL has emphasized that there is no correlation between pricing and sound quality among the 3 models of the Audio Frame series. Pricing in the Audio Frame series only reflects the cost of manufacturing. People have different tastes: some people crave for the horn sound (Berlin is for those people) and some people have a special affection for Lowther transducers (London is for those people). I have not heard any other WVL speakers. Those who have heard both SON and Chicago, please share your experience - what do you get for the significant extra cost of Chicago? Experience of comparing between/among the Audio Frame series: London, Chicago and Berlin, driven by the same electronics in the same room ideally.

I understood it differently: of course the more expensive models sound better (better dynamics, wider frequency range, more like live music). WVL pricIng is “cost +” rather than setting a price based on what the market can support.
If there was no correlation between price and sound quality then there would be no need to spend more. The Berlin are in a different league than the rest of the line.

 

[Zeotrope]

I have grounded my WVL field coil PSU to a Shunyata ALTAIRA Signal Hub, AC power to the Denali v2, and vibration support from Taiko and Seismion with amazing results: quieter background, incridible increase in frequency response at both ends. Improved instrument and vocal clarity and localization are also readily audible.
Yes, these cost more than the PSU itself, but as a fraction of total system cost, it was (almost) a rounding error and well worth it.
If you have field coil speakers I highly recommend improving the PSU AC, grounding, and vibration control.

 

[gleeds]

Mendel. The AMT included tweeters included with the WVL Son are indeed run dipole with all the benefits dipoles infer upon the sound. What's masterful is how Wolf integrates the field coil woofer to cover the complete spectrum. I am quite familiar with your Acoustats and this would be a different presentation, one I suspect you may really enjoy. We run our pair with a Trafomatic parallel 300B integrated SE amplifier producing 20 watts.channel with wonderful results. There are now several locations you can experience the Sons in the US, including our location in Newport Beach, CA. Still a big fan of Acoustats!