Chronosonic XVX.

[Aussienut]

Thanks!

Hi LL21, the latest from the prior XLF owner is the USA trip and visit to WA did occurred. The final vote was for the XVX, which will be ordered in due course.

 

[LL21]

Hi LL21, the latest from the prior XLF owner is the USA trip and visit to WA did occurred. The final vote was for the XVX, which will be ordered in due course.

Great! What did he say about the XVX (particularly in comparison with XLF or Kodo)? What were the key drivers for XVX over Kodo...was it purely sound or also size, etc, etc?

 

[caesar]

There's a report on this speaker on the TAS site. It is a surprisingly honest report: This is a very, very detailed speaker. "Bad recordings sounded bad". (Emphasis is from the author, Matthew Clott.)

High end audio is a very subjective hobby. Some guys like that type of "honest, super-detailed" sound, that sounds good on pristine vinyl or on 600 audiophile CDs that exist in the world.

But for those who want to enjoy normal music that they want to listen to, such as via streaming, instead of obscure audiophile titles, this speaker is NOT for you. Instead, I would like to recommend Zu Audio loudspeakers. https://www.zuaudio.com/loudspeakers

With Zu speakers, normal music, including pop and poorly recorded rock convey emotion of music like most people have never experienced before. Zu is also easy to drive and can be used with SET amps, such as Audion.

Zu speakers start only at $999 and top model runs at $9,999.

At these prices, you can have both!

And no, I don't work for Zu. This is just a public service announcement. I am trying to guide the guy who doesn't participate in this hobby regularly, and who buys these $330,000 Wilson speakers expecting the world, but then can't enjoy their favorite music.

 

[PeterA]

And no, I don't work for Zu. This is just a public service announcement. I am trying to guide the guy who doesn't participate in this hobby regularly, and who buys these $330,000 Wilson speakers expecting the world, but then can't enjoy their favorite music.

Caesar, you bash Stereophile, TAS, the reviewers, Magico, Wilson et al, and much of the industry, and then you hope to persuade the guy who owns these speakers to also buy a pair of Zus which he has probably never heard of? What makes you think he is listening to your opinion? What are you trying to achieve? I'm curious.

 

[ALF]

There's a report on this speaker on the TAS site. It is a surprisingly honest report: This is a very, very detailed speaker. "Bad recordings sounded bad". (Emphasis is from the author, Matthew Clott.)

High end audio is a very subjective hobby. Some guys like that type of "honest, super-detailed" sound, that sounds good on pristine vinyl or on 600 audiophile CDs that exist in the world.

But for those who want to enjoy normal music that they want to listen to, such as via streaming, instead of obscure audiophile titles, this speaker is NOT for you. Instead, I would like to recommend Zu Audio loudspeakers. https://www.zuaudio.com/loudspeakers

With Zu speakers, normal music, including pop and poorly recorded rock convey emotion of music like most people have never experienced before. Zu is also easy to drive and can be used with SET amps, such as Audion.

Zu speakers start only at $999 and top model runs at $9,999.

At these prices, you can have both!

And no, I don't work for Zu. This is just a public service announcement. I am trying to guide the guy who doesn't participate in this hobby regularly, and who buys these $330,000 Wilson speakers expecting the world, but then can't enjoy their favorite music.

This confirms it; again, marc is ahead of the game !!

 

[caesar]

Caesar, you bash Stereophile, TAS, the reviewers, Magico, Wilson et al, and much of the industry, and then you hope to persuade the guy who owns these speakers to also buy a pair of Zus which he has probably never heard of? What makes you think he is listening to your opinion? What are you trying to achieve? I'm curious.

Hi Peter,

The TAS reviewer himself has admitted that bad recordings sound bad.

Can you imagine the disappointment of someone not engaged in this hobby, spending $330K, and expecting realism ,hearing bad recordings sound like crap?

Yes, as I mentioned, I consider my post as a public service announcement.

 

[caesar]

Kind of surprised that guys are okay with a a $330K speaker that you can't use to sit back and stream normal music. No wonder the hobby is dying.

 

[sbo6]

There's a report on this speaker on the TAS site. It is a surprisingly honest report: This is a very, very detailed speaker. "Bad recordings sounded bad". (Emphasis is from the author, Matthew Clott.)

High end audio is a very subjective hobby. Some guys like that type of "honest, super-detailed" sound, that sounds good on pristine vinyl or on 600 audiophile CDs that exist in the world.

But for those who want to enjoy normal music that they want to listen to, such as via streaming, instead of obscure audiophile titles, this speaker is NOT for you. Instead, I would like to recommend Zu Audio loudspeakers. https://www.zuaudio.com/loudspeakers

With Zu speakers, normal music, including pop and poorly recorded rock convey emotion of music like most people have never experienced before. Zu is also easy to drive and can be used with SET amps, such as Audion.

Zu speakers start only at $999 and top model runs at $9,999.

At these prices, you can have both!

And no, I don't work for Zu. This is just a public service announcement. I am trying to guide the guy who doesn't participate in this hobby regularly, and who buys these $330,000 Wilson speakers expecting the world, but then can't enjoy their favorite music.

WRT Zu audio speakers, a good friend bought a pair some years back to replace Tektons (which I felt sounded quite good). We compared and the Zus were, to be frank, horrible. A few years later I heard the Zus at RMAF which reconfirmed what I had previously heard. There are many much better alternatives - Elac, Kef, Focal to name a few.

 

[bonzo75]

thank you for the kind words.

yes; a 'top' room does help, but there is much wisdom in the details of your post. especially the part where you say 'a speaker is just a building block'. my perspective is to find a speaker that is not limiting for your room. which means if you have a big room you need a speaker system that (1) can move a lot of air, (2) is adjustable in the bass; the more adjustable the better, and (3) where the speaker's output does match the room to a certain degree so it can 'hook up'.

then it took me 10 years to figure out what to do (where i was going) with a good speaker system in my 'top room', and another 2-3 years to actually do it.

i think if we were to choose 10 'uber' dynamic cone speaker systems at the top of the food chain including the big Wilson Master Chronosonic, the room, system and room tweaking would be much the dominant factor in what our ears hear. and i think that the separator would come down to amplifier naturalness and headroom, and the mid bass and seamless coherence. every 'uber' speaker system does mids and highs sufficiently. this (mid bass and seamless coherence) would be what would determine how far the system could go in terms of scale and ease.......if you close your eyes. open your eyes and all bets are off. biases (equating performance with brands and $$$) and agendas come front and center.

speakers are just tools. big expensive eye dominating tools.

getting back to these XVX speakers in these smallish rooms. i think we need to give anyone the benefit of the doubt and not to pre-judge what we have not heard. 19 years ago i had 550 pound Kharma Exquisite 1D's in my 12' x 18' room. they sounded fantastic when i kept the music small scale or lower SPL's. these were speakers with a big sound. visitors were just astonished. were there limitations? yes. but the sound was very fine and i got my money's worth. of course; at the end of the day i sold my home and moved to my new place with a barn to remove limits from the music. but that was a great sounding small room and system. so i will never criticize a big sounding speaker in a small room.

"mid bass and seamless coherence. every 'uber' speaker system does mids and highs sufficiently. this (mid bass and seamless coherence) would be what would determine how far the system could go in terms of scale and ease."

Midbass and seamless coherence is where dual woofer FLH exceed every speaker I have heard substantially

 

[microstrip]

There's a report on this speaker on the TAS site. (...)

This isolated quote, forgetting to copy the link to the original http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/a-wilson-audio-tasting-at-nycs-innovative-audio/?page=3 is particularly unfair and boorish. I quote the sentences above and bellow the excerpt you referred:

"This was the first time I had ever felt like I was sitting in the Sands listening to Sinatra and Basie’s band, experiencing a moment lost in history. I was actually transported back in time as if I was there. The experience was almost unsettling it was so vivid. Thank you Daryl! The entire encounter was like sitting in a tiny, personal music hall and having different bands come in to perform. I’m King of the World. (Wow, I really do use a lot of movie references.)

Stream of consciousness scribblings: “Bad recordings sounded bad. Felt like they wanted a bigger room. Easy speaker to review, and hardest speaker ever to review. If you have the money and the space, it’s a no-brainer! But you need both, not one or the other....”

Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it can buy you these! I think the XVX ruined me! I’m not sure if I will ever again experience such a transcendental moment. But I’m glad I had it just once. "

Fortunately our members will be able to read the whole article and make their conclusions.

In the several WAMM sessions in Lisbon we did not listen to audiophile recordings, just common recordings of good music, some brought by the Wilson people, others by the attendees - surely I carried my selection of AliaVox and Harmonia Mundi CDs and SACDs.

BTW, one of the reasons I enjoy the XLFs is that they sound fabulous with digital sources, I do not need to rely on a custom vinyl diet to enjoy great music.

 

[LL21]

You beat me to it Micro...this was a spectacularly positive review for the XVX.

 

[caesar]

This isolated quote, forgetting to copy the link to the original http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/a-wilson-audio-tasting-at-nycs-innovative-audio/?page=3 is particularly unfair and boorish. I quote the sentences above and bellow the excerpt you referred:

"This was the first time I had ever felt like I was sitting in the Sands listening to Sinatra and Basie’s band, experiencing a moment lost in history. I was actually transported back in time as if I was there. The experience was almost unsettling it was so vivid. Thank you Daryl! The entire encounter was like sitting in a tiny, personal music hall and having different bands come in to perform. I’m King of the World. (Wow, I really do use a lot of movie references.)

Stream of consciousness scribblings: “Bad recordings sounded bad. Felt like they wanted a bigger room. Easy speaker to review, and hardest speaker ever to review. If you have the money and the space, it’s a no-brainer! But you need both, not one or the other....”

Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it can buy you these! I think the XVX ruined me! I’m not sure if I will ever again experience such a transcendental moment. But I’m glad I had it just once. "

Fortunately our members will be able to read the whole article and make their conclusions.

In the several WAMM sessions in Lisbon we did not listen to audiophile recordings, just common recordings of good music, some brought by the Wilson people, others by the attendees - surely I carried my selection of AliaVox and Harmonia Mundi CDs and SACDs.

BTW, one of the reasons I enjoy the XLFs is that they sound fabulous with digital sources, I do not need to rely on a custom vinyl diet to enjoy great music.

The guy is a new reviewer. And his boss is reviewing this speaker. (He is going to call it the Best ever - a predictable pattern with The absolute Sound reviewers.) Let's keep this in perspective!

And, as I mentioned, the items I quoted are the ones I find most important to discuss. How many guys want to listen to "Sinatra at the Sands" for the 100th time rather than streaming their favorite music?

 

[bonzo75]

The best I heard Sinatra at the sands, original LP was tannoy 15 inch gold

 

[microstrip]

Kind of surprised that guys are okay with a a $330K speaker that you can't use to sit back and stream normal music. No wonder the hobby is dying.

No Caesar. The guys who pay $330K for a speaker is so dumb that he expects that at this price the musicians seat and play inside the speaker and the music must go out through the bass reflex hole. It is surely why Wilson sells more top speakers than Magico, they guys do not see the holes in the Magico's ...

 

[microstrip]

(...)
And, as I mentioned, the items I quoted are the ones I find most important to discuss. How many guys want to listen to "Sinatra at the Sands" for the 100th time rather than streaming their favorite music?

Nice, you admit that a guy considering $330K speakers has favorite music. Now I believe that this hobby has a future!

 

[caesar]

Seems like the Wilson fans have been hurt by someone stating the truth. I am sorry your feelings have been hurt.

But the truth is the truth: for those who listen to music, not only audiophile recordings, this speaker is not the best option

 

[Al M.]

Seems like the Wilson fans have been hurt by someone stating the truth. I am sorry your feelings have been hurt.

But the truth is the truth: for those who listen to music, not only audiophile recordings, this speaker is not the best option

How do you know, have you heard it?

 

[caesar]

How do you know, have you heard it?

This has been my problem with all modern, hyped-up box speakers, excepting Vivid Spirit with CAT and Von Schweikert with VAC.

I have been saying that for a while. And now a TAS reviewer has admitted it. Have you seen the quote? B"ad recordings sounded bad. "

 

[PeterA]

Seems like the Wilson fans have been hurt by someone stating the truth. I am sorry your feelings have been hurt.

But the truth is the truth: for those who listen to music, not only audiophile recordings, this speaker is not the best option

There is no single best option. We buy particular speakers based on our individual budget our preference and our experience or exposure leading up to the purchase. Others may know better.

 

[Bobvin]

I don't get you Ceasar. You don't care for the speaker, OK, move along. Do you suppose someone auditioning the XVX is going to only listen to the XVX? Certainly not if they are a visitor to this forum. Or maybe they are a longtime Wilson owner moving up the food chain, in which case they'll be delighted with the XVX. Personally I liked it better than the WAMM, but that is only based on a single listening event with each speaker in a dealer's showroom that is way, way less than optimal. To your point, I think there are several terrific options that would cost less, but damn, if I could spend that kind of $$ on a luxury item like speakers, and those are the speakers I wanted, I wouldn't be listening to the likes of you.

And many reviewers, in many context, and with multiple pieces of kit, have said "Bad recordings sound bad". What kind of quality kit will put lipstick on a pig? Damn, if its a pig, I expect the system to manifest PIG, not swan.