Introduction
Are you insane for investing $6,590 for a center speaker and speaker stand? The unenlightened might say "yes," but now more than ever, a timbre-matched center speaker is of the highest importance. You've likely heard that that as much as 80 percent of a movie's dialogue comes from the center speaker. That's great, but does it require a $6,500 investment? It depends on your system and how you use it, of course. If you've got Wilson MAXX or Grand SLAMM loudspeakers and/or a very serious big-gun video system, then the answer could be "yes."

Realistically, most Wilson clients, current and potential, are looking at investing in Wilson CUB IIs or WATT Puppies v6.0s for front speakers, which are priced between $10,000 and $20,000 per pair. How can these clients justify building up their system with WATCH peripheral loudspeakers for center and/or rear channels? These are the requirements of DVD-Audio. While Wilson loudspeakers have long been used in mastering Academy Award-winning film soundtracks, the majority of Wilson clients, present and past, are music enthusiasts first and film enthusiasts second. Staring November 7, 2000, high-resolution audio will be commercially available on a DVD-A disc, which will enable record companies to release not just 24-bit two-channel remasters of their catalogue records, but also to add in a 20- or 24-bit 5.1 mix for music. If you haven't heard 24-bit 5.1 yet, you may not be with me on this argument, but take my word for it. You won’t want to listen to just two channels any more – you certainly won’t settle for 16-bit two-channel sound.

About the WATCH Center speaker
The WATCH series of speakers from Wilson is designed to be a real solution for music and film playback in surround. The WATCH center speaker is a formidable product with many trickle-down technologies from Wilson super-expensive products. The WATCH center speaker is 12.5 inches tall, 20 inches wide and 16 inches deep, weighing a hefty 70 pounds without a stand. The WATCH is a four ohm speaker with a 94 dB efficiency and a frequency response of 55 Hz up to 22 kHz.

The WATCH center speaker is made of a phenolic resin product that, unlike MDF (a plywood-like product that is found in nearly all high-end loudspeakers), is extremely dense and inert all the way through the cabinet. MDF is somewhat hard on the surface, but it is not nearly as dense beneath as the WATCH’s poured resin. The difference has sonic importance, because when a cabinet is made of extremely dense material, the cabinet itself has very little effect on the overall timbre of the speaker. The designers call the sound the cabinet gives a speaker its "cabinet signature." The WATCH Center speaker does everything possible to reduce its cabinet signature, thus allowing you to hear more music and film soundtrack and less speaker coloration.