⌈ WILK AUDIO PROJEKT was founded by Mr. Paweł Stefański. For years, it has been mainly, but not only, involved in the design and building of loudspeakers. Most of their activities are custom projects, but the company has recently introduced its first standardized line of speakers called VEGA. We are testing the middle one of the three models currently available, the VEGA 3 floor-standers. ⌋

You may have come across WILK AUDIO PROJEKT at last year's Warsaw Audio Video Show, where you could listen to several of their projects, including the Vega 3 we test. This is an unusual manufacturer in that, until recently, it was actually exclusively involved in developing individual or, as it is often called today, “custom” projects. A client would come to them with their idea for speakers based on certain components, for a room of a certain size, to be used in a certain system, or to satisfy a certain taste.

Wilk Audio Projekt’s (or WAP’s for short) crew, a company owned by Mr. Paweł Stefański and with two headquarters, in Swarzędz and Siemianowice Śląskie, based on the requirements and expectations presented by the client, would develop speakers for him (or her) using the best practices and their extensive knowledge and experience. As Mr. Paweł told me, and as can be seen on the company's website and in videos on YouTube, various design were built in their workshop, from relatively simple and small ones to giants inspired by Focals' Grande Utopias.

As you can read on the aforementioned website, the Wilk Audio Projekt team:

Benefiting from all the knowledge and experience previously gained, it is capable of creating practically any shape, any crossover, calculate the appropriate volume of cabinets, and tune the set so that the sound is unquestionably good. Used high quality components and professional measurement software guarantee reliability for many years.

And further:

Come to us if you want to have speaker set built according to your own idea or design, rebuild your old sets that have been timeworn, refurbish drivers and cabinets, or improve the parameters of your crossovers. You can also supply your old sets for us to source some components out from them, which in turn will be refurbished and built into a new cabinets of your design. We, in turn, will take care of the technical side, calculations and finalizing the project.

Refurbishing, sanding, polishing, building speaker grilles, bases, refurbishing drivers, taping, veneering, painting in any color, high-gloss varnishing, staining, creating virtually any cabinet shape or size, designing, calculating, tuning - these are just some of the things we offer. If you need anything, please call, write or ask on the phone.

My first encounter with Wilk Audio Projekt was an indirect one. This company was responsible for the technical aspects of the GP-Reblade Blade Harmony Premium speakers that I tested last month; more → HERE. As a reminder, their cabinets are made of recycled large wind turbine blades, whose properties have proven to be perfectly suited for loudspeaker cabinets, and their shape has determined the original form of this model.

If you have read that review, you know that I truly liked those “blades” both in terms of their visual appearance and excellent performance. We had already discussed the review of the Wilk Audio Projekt products even before I started listening to the Blade Harmony, but if I needed any extra encouragement, those speakers were definitely it, confirming that the people behind them know what they are doing.

Of course, it would be pointless to test the Wilk Audio Projekt proposal at a time when only custom models were available, because each pair of speakers was unique. However, as I mentioned before, the company decided to launch the Vega series with, at least for the time being, three standard models.

After all, not everyone can come up with their own idea for speakers, and the knowledge and experience gained over the years have allowed the Wilk Audio Projekt team to develop models that they believe can satisfy those looking for ready-made solutions. They are labeled with consecutive numbers that de facto indicate the number of drivers used in them, namely: 2, 3 and 4, of which the first one is a stand-mounted model, the tested Vega 3 is the smaller floor-standing model, and there is also a second, larger model in the range named Vega 4.

Although, as I wrote, the Polish manufacturer built various, also large and expensive speakers according to the needs of their respective customers, the VEGA line is addressed to demanding, but not ready to spend big bucks lovers of good sound. The smallest model costs 6,900 zlotys per pair (plus stands), the tested one costs around 9,900 zlotys, and the largest 16,900 zlotys. I am not saying that these are “cheap” speakers, but in today's market reality, they can be classified as relatively inexpensive.

▌ Vega 3

ALTHOUGH THE VEGA SERIES IS THE FIRST and so far the only ‘standard’ one in the Wilk Audio Projekt’s lineup, it retains one of the great advantages of custom projects, namely unusually wide range of available finishes. Let's be honest, in the case of relatively inexpensive speakers from most manufacturers, we are usually given a choice of only a few standard options. In the case of Vega speakers, however, the manufacturer declares that the finish is a matter of personal preference – there are dozens of veneers, the entire RAL color palette, matte, or glossy finish, and in most cases, “being picky” does not involve major costs.

Why is this important? Let me explain, although a bit indirectly. On the one hand, no manufacturer, even one offering several finishes will satisfy all tastes and needs. On the other hand, although in theory for the fans of good sound, it is the latter that should be the most important factor when choosing speakers (or any other component), in practice, at a given price level, you can usually find at least a few interesting models that offer the same or very similar level of performance. It is then down to something else that can tip the scales towards one of the competitors.

That „something” may be particular feature or overall functionality, it may be trivial issues such as the available or required space for particular component (particularly speakers), but it may also be a purely aesthetic issue, including the famous WAF (wife acceptance factor). Customized finish can be the last straw that breaks the camel's back and tips the scales in favor of a particular model. Hence, right from the start, Wilk Audio Projekt's speakers have an advantage over most of the competition.

Why did I fixate so much on the custom finish? For the simple and truly rare (in my case) reason of being delighted with the finish of the tested pair. I had nothing to do with the choice of the colors of the VEGA 3 pair delivered for the review, but unlike 90% of the (especially the inexpensive ones!) speakers that I test, the Vega 3 brought smile to my face as they made me stop and enjoy their looks. Of course, circling back to the beginning, it's a matter of taste, and in this case, completely by accident, the Polish manufacturer simply hit the spot for me, although I wouldn't have come up with such a finish myself.

What is the most common finish of (again, inexpensive) speakers? They are either mono-colored, with matte or glossy finish, or veneered. Sometimes two solutions are combined, most often with a black front (or back) combined with veneered sides. Why do so few companies come up with the idea of finishing the front and, in the case of the tested speakers, the base, in a light, cream color (which, on top of that, has sort of rough rather than smooth surface), and the rest of the cabinet in a rather intensely brown-red veneer, perfectly matching the front? I don't know. This combination may be reminiscent of a luxury car interior - cream leather and fairly intense colored wood, right? It looks just as great on speakers! At least, from my point of view, but if I ever order some custom speakers, I already know my choice of custom finish...

AESTHETICS • Okay, enough of my personal awe, although it is partly justified because of the reasonable price of these speakers. Apart from their high-quality finish, the Vega 3 speakers are quite “ordinary”. They are regular cuboid boxes, although the cabinets give the impression that their front edges have been slightly cut.

In fact, a front panel is glued to the cabinet, and it consists of two layers. The inner one is finished in the same way as the side panels, but is slightly narrower than the back of the speaker. Another panel is glued to it, which is (in this case) finished differently and is even slightly narrower. Together, the front of the speaker is 30 mm thick, creating a solid base for the drivers, and the other baffles are made of 18 mm MDF Plus. As one reads on manufacturer’s website, the cabinet material is additionally stabilized for high stability and minimized resonance.

All three drivers are arranged on the front in the classic configuration, with a tweeter at the top and a woofer at the bottom (although the “bottom” is roughly halfway up the speaker). It is a vented-cabinet and the bass reflex port is located near the bottom edge of the front panel. The whole speaker is placed on a plinth, finished in the same way as the front, and it stands on four soft-tipped feet (I guess spikes can be requested as well). On the back panel, recessed into its surface, there is a panel with individual speaker terminals accepting bananas, spades, and bare wires.

To be honest, this is the only component of the tested speakers that I would like to be replaced with another solution. With banana cables or bare wires, there will be no problems, but with spades, there may be. It's a practical matter – if you have speaker cables with rather long spades (as in my Soyatons) and rather stiff endings, make sure that their ends don't touch after you have tightened the nuts in the terminals.

It was the case in my system, because I had to angle the plugs, and when the spades were pushed all the way in, their ends touched each other, which would cause a short circuit between the “+” and “-”. So I had to avoid inserting the spades all way in not to cause a short circuit. This is not a defect of these speakers, but a real life situation resulting from the used ready-made panels with speaker terminals and quite long spades my cables are terminated with. I have discussed this matter with Mr. Paweł and there is a chance that the company will use other terminals in the near future, which will eliminate this problem.

TECHNOLOGY • All three of the aforementioned drivers used in the Vega 3 model are come from a renown manufacturer, SB Acoustics, which (judging by other projects) is one of the Polish manufacturer's favorite choices. As Mr. Paweł told me, they are simply very good drivers available at reasonable prices. For the treble WAP chose a soft, 25 mm fabric dome with a copper pole ring. The mid-range is reproduced by a (ventilated) 122 mm paper cone driver, and the bass woofer is a 176 mm ventilated voice coil unit with fiber-reinforced paper cone.

The cabinet is dampened with 10 mm thick acoustic felt and acoustic wadding. The speakers are equipped with neodymium magnet mounted grilles made of MDF Plus. Interestingly, which is sort of a standard, the manufacturer suggests removing the grilles for each listening session, but in Wilk Audio Projekt speakers, they can simply be placed on the back of the cabinet. The advantage is that they don't take up space in your room and you don't have to look for them after finishing listening - they are always at hand. A small detail, but it turns out quite useful.

The crossovers for this speaker model are not assembled on PCBs but on pieces of plywood. The components are soldered point-to-point with components such as coils positioned in such a way so that there is no magnetic interference between them. The crossover components include high quality Jantzen air core coils, while the bass circuit uses FE core coils and Jantzen Superes double resistors in the driver circuit.

Jantzen Cross-Cap and Jantzen Superior foil capacitors were used for the tweeter section, and Jantzen Silver for the midrange. The internal wiring uses Norstone OFC copper with a cross-section of 2.5 mm2. As you can see, although these are not very expensive speakers, they feature good quality components.

▌ SOUND

HOW WE LISTENED • Wilk Audio Projekt Vega 3 speakers were tested in my reference system, but some additional components also took part in the listening sessions. The primary digital signal source was my custom passive server with the latest version of Roon featuring the top-of-the-line JCAT XE Evo USB card powered by Ferrum Hypsos in the Signature version. The card’s performance was further enhanced by the JCAT Ocxo Clock Upgrade (master clock), which also benefited from an independent brand’s power supply in the form of the Optimo Nano.

The signal was sent to the LampizatOr Pacific 2 D/A converter and, alternatively, to another model of this brand, the balanced Poseidon, via the David Laboga Custom Audio Expression Emerald Mk 2 USB cable and further, in the first case, via the analog Soyaton Benchmark interconnect and, in the second case, using Next Level Tech Ether XLR to the amplifier.

Speakers were driven by my reference 37-watt Class A solid-state integrated GrandiNote Shinai, but at some point I switched it first to the tested Qualiton 300B (2 x 25 W on 300B tubes), and later to SPEC RSA-EX1000, a powerful solid-state integrated amplifier in analog class D; more → HERE. All amplifiers were connected to the speakers using Soyaton Benchmark Mk 2 speaker cables.

As an analog source I used my J.Sikora Standard Max turntable with two tonearms from the same manufacturer, KV12 Max Zirconium Series and KV9. The former was paired with the Air Tight PC3, and the latter with Le Son LS10 MK II, both MC cartridges. The signal from both was amplified by the ESE Labs Nibiru phono preamplifier. The signal then traveled to each integrated amplifier via Bastanis Imperial RCA interconnects.

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THE VEGA 3 SPEAKERS ARE MUCH SMALLER than my MACH 4s. They are really small floor-standing speakers, which means that when they start playing, especially when I turned up the volume, they caught me by surprise with how „big” the sound was with them. Mr. Paweł warned me that the tested pair was relatively new with only around 30 hours on them, so I could expect some changes/improvements in the sound, because according to the manufacturer, the Vega reach their optimal performance after some 150 hours of playing. Theoretically, the beginning of the listening session was not supposed to be part of the evaluation yet, but the practice turned out to be different.

I started my listening sessions, I mean the, in theory, initial, non-critical, ones with the somewhat random album entitled Star Tracks II with some movie music performed by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conducted by Erich Kunzel. To get the aforementioned “big” sound, the volume control knob had to be turned quite up, but when I found the right setting, the sound filled almost the entire room. Almost, because they are not large speakers and they can’t push as much air volume to the room, and it was first of all, a powerful orchestra, and secondly, playing quite specific, “cosmic” or “star” music from Star Trek, Superman, Star Wars, etc. Perhaps even more surprising than the scale of the sound was its clarity and internal organization, or rather the combination of all these features.

Small speakers when playing loud often start to lose composure or ‘suffocate’ because they simply can't cope with that much sound and energy. In contrast, the Vega 3 seemed to play effortlessly and cleanly, as if not bothered by the challenge. The sound of the orchestra was spread out in a wide panorama, and the stage had and impressive depth. What's more, the “cosmic” sounds that appeared from time to time, completely detached from the music itself, actually appeared in different parts of the room, and it was quite impressive, as intended by the authors of this music.

In order for an orchestra to sound authentic (at home, of course, as far as it is even possible), it requires not only proper scale and momentum, but also a sufficiently level of energy and dynamics. Sure, larger speakers demonstrate each of these aspects of presentation even more convincingly. They offer a more powerful bass foundation and a larger, more physically perceptible sound mass, which increases the intensity of the listener's experience. However, it quickly became clear that the Vega 3s, for their size, did an excellent job. It was really good, involving sound, and the multi-layered, orderly presentation was impressive, especially considering the asking price of the tested loudspeakers.

Let me add that when (as a fan of the science fiction genre) I heard Spock's (Leonard Nimoy’s) voice in a track from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, saying one of the versions of the iconic line: “Space: the final frontier. These are continuing voyages of the star ship Enterprise. On it's ongoing mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms, and new civilizations. To boldly go, where no man has gone before...” it gave me goosebumps. Which right from the start of the non-critical listening sessions, made it clear that the midrange was yet another quality of the tested speakers.

The next album on the playlist, which was in a way a result of a recent visit to J. Sikora’s headquarters in Lublin to participate in a presentation of the WOJTEK MAZOLEWSKI QUINTET’s album Beautiful People, which featured Wojtek Mazolewski himself, was the artist's earlier release, Shaman. The Polish speakers, supported of course by my reference system, played this music extremely smoothly and coherently. It was highly musical, open, free playing, encouraging full focus on the not-that-easy music. Vega 3 once again built a large soundstage, although this time it was as wide as the speaker spacing, but it boldly reached deep, far beyond the wall of the room.

The aforementioned album Beautiful People, which sounded excellent on J. Sikora's reference system featuring Doshi Audio tube electronics and superb Joseph Audio speakers (and the very same Soyaton speaker and interconnect cables), was recorded recently, in 2023, and Shaman ten or eleven years earlier. However, even this older album clearly shows that sound quality has always been important to the Polish artist. On both of the aforementioned albums, his instrument was recorded excellently, and although the double bass on Vega 3 is not as big or as powerful as on, say, my Ubiq Model Ones, its tightness, juiciness and timbre, as well as good insight into the texture, once again emphasized the great capabilities of the tested speakers.

And yet, the qualities of the Wilk Audio Projekt floor-standing speakers did not end at the lower end of the band. The cymbals sounded very good as well, pure, but also juicy and resonant with a lot of energy, and the characteristic sound of the trumpet or saxophone was equally well. The thing is that Vega 3 positively surprised me with the amount and clarity of the information presented, especially considering their price. These are not highly detailed speakers, that's not the point. Details and subtleties are not the highlight of the presentation, there is a lot of them but they smoothly become a part of a larger, richer and more truthful whole - that’s their job.

The differentiation on the micro level compared to the much more expensive speakers is obviously not as good, but objectively speaking, it is still good. So much so that even when listening to well-known recordings, I did not feel any shortcomings that would spoil my listening pleasure. For almost every album and every song I listened to with the tested speakers, coherence and naturalness were the most important, in a sense leading, characteristics of the sound. That's why it was so pleasant to listen to the music with them. And returning for a moment to the spatial aspects of the presentation, I shall add to the advantages of the tested speakers the quite precise placement of large, three-dimensional phantom images.

All these elements combined created a convincing image of a three-dimensional, living, pulsating musical event that required me to focus on it, that was captivating and made me wait curiously, not to say impatiently for what would happen next (even though it wasn't my first time listening to any of those albums). The way Vega 3 play music is so natural and authentic that it stimulates curiosity and encourages extended listening sessions, no matter whether to discovering new recordings or dig into those known by heart, or even some somewhat forgotten ones that waited patiently for their turn on the (actual or virtual) shelf.

It was a really interesting experience because it usually happens when I add to my system some component that is of a higher, even much higher quality than the one I use everyday. This time, however, it was different. Both pairs of my speakers are much more expensive and objectively significantly better performers, but I took my time finishing the listening sessions for this review before returning to the ‘better’ ones. Yes, the Vega 3s were playing in an environment (system) consisting of much more expensive and better performing components, but it allowed them to truly spread their wings. It was clear that their capabilities are great, greater than the price suggests, and on top of that, they are simply beautifully musical components, encouraging long, committed listening sessions. It may seem like not much, but it’s quite a lot if you’re a music lover, and it’s more than most components, even many more expensive ones, have to offer.

After orchestral, movie, and jazz music, I couldn't resist trying some rock out. The tested speakers immediately showed that they may not be able to shake the walls of my room, but they can keep the bass in check and confidently keep up with the tempo and rhythm that drive this music genre. All the more so because, as I’ve mentioned before, the midrange is one of their strong qualities, and thus electric guitars and vocals sound good or simply put, right, with them. Most of this kind of music is built on or around these last two components - guitars and vocals hence speakers capable of conveying their nature... rock!

The guitars were properly „meaty”, with strong kick and power, when needed they sounded sharp and ‘dirty’, but only as much as needed to make them sound real, which many inexpensive speakers are incapable of doing without brightening or hardening the sound. Once they do that, listening to many fantastic rock albums become rather painful, and that’s not what the rock fan are after, are they? With Vega 3, all those rock legends shredding their guitars sounded powerful, engaged, just right! The same goes for the charismatic, expressive vocals, both the truly “rock” ones like Axl Rose’s or Steven Tyler’s, and the no less impressive, although less aggressive ones, such as Gilmour’s or Knopfler’s.

The tested speakers have a tendency to zoom the forefront slightly in, and consequently enlarge the vocalists or band leaders, but this only raises the temperature of the performance, gives these central characters a little more energy and makes the listener feel closer to them. At least for me, this is an advantage, not a disadvantage. It makes even studio recordings sound more like they are being played “here and now” rather than “somewhere, sometime”. It is, of course, a matter of taste, but I suspect that most people will like this close contact with music as much as I did.

▌ Summary

THERE’S NO ACCOUNTING FOR TASTE, so the make and finish of the tested pair of VEGA 3 will not be THE choice of all potential customers, even if it would be mine. However, unlike most manufacturers, when you order them from Wilk Audio Projekt, you can choose almost any other finish, and without any extra charge. The key question is, will you want to order them for yourself? The most important factor should, of course, be the performance. In the case of the speakers tested, it is above all coherent, smooth, natural and musical. There is a looseness and effortlessness in the sound that we rarely expect from small and inexpensive speakers.

Especially since this “looseness” does not mean loosening control over the presentation as a whole, or even over its individual elements. Everything within the presentation is highly organized and in its rightful place, even when listening to a large orchestra. It is obvious that you will not get such a scale and power of sound with Vega 3, or a powerful “slam”, or as deep bass extension as with large speakers. However, in a regular room, i.e. without special acoustic treatment, with an area of between ten and twenty-odd square meters, certain limitations in this respect may prove desirable, as they will allow you to avoid boomy bass or chaos in the presentation. It will rather be clean and precise, but also coherent, smooth and natural.

Wilk Audio Projekt Vega 3, as I see it, are primarily meant for enthusiasts, and quite demanding ones at that, who love emotions and authentic experiences. Not for those who are amazed by a “super-crisp” treble, a forward-pushed midrange or a dominating, wall-crushing bass, but rather those who prefer very competent, coherent and natural-sounding music. Those who want to be drawn into the world of music for hours on end will be delighted, because that is exactly what you can count on with these speakers.

In their price range, Vega 3 are simply great-sounding, highly musical speakers that prove the Polish brand’s knowledge and experience from dozens or hundreds of individual project paid off. Using them they were able to develop great sounding a reasonably priced speakers - a feat that becomes more and more scarce in present day in the audio industry. ●

▌ Technical specification (according to the manufacturer):

Design: 3-Way, vented with front B-R
Sensitivity: 88 dB (1 W/1 m)
Frequency range: 32 Hz – 23 kHz
Crossover frequencies: 500 / 2900 Hz
Crossover filters: 12 / 12 / 18 dB / oct.
Nominal impedance: 8 Ω
Power handling (RMS) 70 W
Dimensions (WxHxD): 210 x 930 x 300 mm
Weight: 25 kg/pc.

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THIS TEST HAS BEEN DESIGNED ACCORDING TO THE GUIDELINES adopted by the Association of International Audiophile Publications, an international audio press association concerned with ethical and professional standards in our industry, of which HIGH FIDELITY is a founding member. More about the association and its constituent titles → HERE.

→ www.AIAP-online.org