Hailing from the beautiful country of Austria, WLM (Weiner, Lautsprecher, Manufaktur), is three man company that specializes in crafting high end loudspeakers and tube-based electronics. When its founders established the company nearly a decade ago, they set out to achieve one simple goal: To create products that deliver the kind of emotionally engaging sound that will draw the listener into the music time and time again.. So far, WLM has earned high marks across the globe for doing just that.

There’s just one problem. Their speakers aren’t exactly inexpensive. So in an effort to make their products more accessible to the common man, WLM decided to fashion a new, more affordable product line. Currently, the line consists of two loudspeakers, a compact two-way monitor and a compact two-way tower. Today we will take a detailed look at the Stella, the newest and latest floor stander to wear the WLM badge.

Getting to know the Stella

The Stella is a two way bass reflex design that features a number of unconventional parts that are not commonly found in other high end loudspeakers. The first rarity that may catch your attention is the use of a paper cone tweeter. While almost every other high end loudspeaker manufacturer follows the tradition of using 1” domes to handle the top end, WLM decided to venture down the road less traveled by employing a 2.5” paper cone to deliver the high frequency goods. According to WLM, this tweeter was chosen for its tonality, speed, articulation, and high sensitivity.

The fun doesn’t stop there. The Stella’s also feature a minimalist circuit that allows you to attenuate the treble to your liking. It is a simple resistor based network that is set up on a 3db slope. Want a bit more treble? Just crank it up a notch or two. Got a harsh recording and want to soften things down a bit? Turn it the other way. The general theme throughout the Stella is flexibility. WLM has really gone the extra mile towards providing the kind of tools that make it easier to adjust the speakers to your room and tastes.

Matching the tweeter through a high quality point-to-point wired crossover is a custom 5.5” woofer. This woofer shares the same type of cone material that is found in the tweeter, a similarity which helps the two drivers form a very natural and coherent aural bond.  Also included with the Stella are a set of port tuning rings. Since bass accuracy is a big priority for the folks at WLM, they want to ensure that customers will always be able to attain clean and articulate bass from their speakers, even under less than ideal circumstances.

Lastly, the Stella brings forth the kind of handsome aesthetics that one would expect from a set of speakers that were crafted in Austria. The wonderfully textured cherry wood veneer and shiny aluminum gaskets that surround the drivers come together to form a visual coherence that makes the speakers intensely satisfying even when they are not playing music.  

DETAILED PERFORMANCE SUMMARY

 

The Good:  Very handsome aesthetics; Incredibly easy to work with in regards to room placement ; Can handle complex dynamic passages well ; Sports an open and detailed midrange ; Delivers tight and tuneful bass ; Are imaging monsters ; Possess a very lively and musically engaging sound.

 

The Bad: There is a spike in the lower treble / upper midrange that can draw attention to itself ; May sound aggressive when paired with forward  or neutral sounding electronics ;  Bass seems to lack fullness below the 50-55Hz mark

 

The Bottom Line: These Austrian transducers speak with a very distinct voice. On one hand, their lively, agile, and rich tonal character should cater well towards lovers of jazz, classical, vocal, and acoustic styled music. On the other hand, fans of rock, pop, and more bass centric music may find themselves wanting to add a sub to compensate for the Stella’s lack of low end muscle. With that said, the Stella’s beauty, ease of use, and sure footed musical timing should make them a welcome addition into many audiophile stereo systems.

 

Specifications: $2,700 USD (in Cherry, Maple, or Black)

 

Cabinet: MDF composite with real wood veneer.
Tweeter: 2.5 inch paper cone.
Mid-bass driver: 5.5 inch paper cone.
Frequency response: 35 - 25.000Hz ( -/+ 3db point is not advertised )
Sensitivity: 90dB @ 2.83V/m
Impedance: 8 ohms nominal

Cabinet dimensions (H x W x D): 927 x 172 x 273mm (36.5 x 6.75 x 10.75")
Weight (per speaker): 13.6 kg (30lbs)

 

 

General Character:  Despite their warm physical appearance, these speakers are anything but lush and laid back. Instead, the Stella’s are all giving the music an, ‘up close and personal’ type of perspective. They are lively speakers, and place heavy emphasis on treble and midrange articulation. Listeners that tend to prefer the aural illusion of ‘having the musician in the room’ are likely to enjoy how the Stella’s make music.

Treble:  The cool thing about the Stella’s treble is that it’s adjustable, thus allowing you to customize the top end to your taste. Like lots of detail? Just leave the switch in the neutral position (or crank it up) and enjoy.  Have a recording that is a bit over bearing? Turn the switch in the opposite direction.  While this circuit makes it a bit more difficult to designate the top end as being either forward, neutral, or laid back, there is nonetheless a tonal character that imparts itself into the sound regardless of what position the little attenuation knob happens to be on.

In short, the Stella’s treble is highly detail oriented and tends to project itself in a forward manner. The good news is that this voicing yields the kind of detail and air that make for excellent late night listening sessions. You will never have to pump a lot of juice through the Stella’s to enjoy a finely detailed presentation. On the other hand, these speakers, at least when set in the ‘neutral’ position or beyond, can be rather unforgiving of poor recordings. To best tame their edge, I would recommended pairing these speakers with electronics that possess a warm or smooth tonal character.

Midrange:  The midrange on the Stella’s can easily be classified as fast, articulate, and fairly linear. While many manufacturers seek to achieve musicality by giving the midrange an artificial boost, I think that WLM has got the right idea by focusing more on speed and purity. After all, it’s the Stella’s precision and lack of damning tonal colorations that allow them to faithfully convey the immediacy and emotion of a performance. Still, it is worth noting that there is a bit of aural spice sprinkled throughout the lower portion of the midrange. This isn’t a bad thing in my opinion. In fact, one could easily make the argument that this subtle coloration helps put a bit of meat on the Stella’s bones.

Bass:   I really hate it when a manufacturer attempts to extract too much bass from a small woofer. Thankfully, WLM does not fall into that category. While the Stella’s will never deliver the kind of deep pulsating bass that will  rattle your neighbors ribcage, what they will give you is bass that is articulate, accurate, and chalk full of good tone. Just try to trip em' up with complex bass material - it ain't gunna happen. Even at louder volumes. 

Imaging:   The Stella’s ability to throw out an incredibly wide and totally immersive soundstage may be their most salient attribute. When set up right, these things are imaging champs. Not only are the Stella’s wizards at placing content across the soundstage with great precision, they can do so without compromising image width or image depth. So far, I've only heard a handful of other loudspeakers that can do the same thing. Most impressive.

 Dynamics:   Although there is only so much dynamic energy that you should expect to glean from a set of compact towers that rely on a 5.5” driver to handle both midrange and bass duties, the WLM’s are surprisingly competent in this regard. For their size, these things deliver a crap ton of clean, distortion free output. So if you are the sort of listener that likes to crank up the volume, don’t worry, these speakers can take it. While the Stella’s may be pretty on the outside, they’ve got the heart of rocker.

The Wrap Up:   When you get right down to it, the Stella’s are something of a rarity at this price point in that they excel at delivering the musical goods by means of showcasing exceptional speed, clarity, imaging, dynamics, top to bottom articulation, and excellent power handling. I must admit that I wasn’t fully expecting a company to chase musicality via an agile and lively character. Not at this price at least. Color me impressed.

The Caveats

Yet for all of the good things that the Stella’s bring to the table, they aren’t without their flaws.

For starters, there is a slight boost in the lower treble that can draw attention to itself from time to time. This is particularly noticeable whenever the tweeter is left in WLM’s advertised ‘neutral’ position. Thankfully, the built-in tweeter control allows you to subdue a good portion of these artifacts with just a flip of the switch! While I’m on the topic of treble, it is also worth mentioning that the dispersion pattern of the tweeter can cause an unwanted beaming effect whenever the speakers are positioned with the drivers firing directly at (or just outside of) your head. When setting up the Stella’s, I’d suggest using as minimal toe-in as possible.

Lastly, do not expect the Stella’s to showcase much bass solidarity below the 50Hz mark. Though rich in tone, speed, and articulation, they aren’t bass monsters. Like most compact towers, they tend to drop off a bit earlier than their specified -/+3db mark. Suffice to say, I feel like the 34Hz rating is overly optimistic by at least an octave.

Conclusion

Overall, I enjoyed my time with the WLM Stella’s.  Their combination of unique features, flexibility, beautiful aesthetics, and lively sound make for a very enjoyable and well rounded loudspeaker in their price class. I have a feeling that many ears will be struck by how these speakers make music. So if you have the opportunity to give the Stella's a listen, do yourself a favor and check em’ out. You may find yourself smitten by these tiny Austrian beauties. 

 

Sean

 

Addendum:          Though I have owned at least a dozen or so pairs of compact two-way towers through the years, I had none on hand to compare directly to the Stella’s during the review process. So it is with regret that I will have to forgo including a comparison sub section in this review.