Well, the Lord did not build me with enough talent to become a professional drummer. I am grateful for the gifts I did receive and among them is a deep love and appreciation for music of various genres; jazz, rock, classical. The way that I have relaxed, de-compressed after a difficult week through the years is to disappear into my music room, close the door, and loose myself in the music's message. I often must get up and play along on my drum kit. This is my drug of choice.
When we moved to Texas in October of 1995, I began a relationship with a local dealer, Dallas Audio Concepts, who are Wilson Dealers. In 2007, my system consisted of ProAc D38s and I was looking to upgrade. I set up a listening session on a Saturday interested in hearing the Wilson Sophia-2. The system I listened to consisted of ARC Reference gear (Ref 3, 210s, CD7). My listening notes from that day, March 27, 2007 includes this closing note:
NET: this speaker lies just on the “warm” side of neutral. It has great depth of presentation, not a bit of glare, and GREAT bass. I could live with this speaker for a long time. Better than the ProAc D38 but like a relative.
After a break for lunch, I returned to Audio Concepts where Mark and team had set-up another pair of Wilson speakers, The Watt / Puppy 8. Here is what I wrote in my listening notes:
After a break, I returned to listen to the WP8. Could be one of the best speakers I’ve ever heard. Everything had more detail than on the Sophia-2. Bass was OUTSTANDING. Depth was incredible. I listened to a few minutes of every disc. Unbelievable. Great. The WP8 is more efficient than the other two by quite a large margin. I had to keep turning the volume DOWN. Incredible speaker. Incredible PRICE. Big problem. I would buy this speaker in a heart beat if not for the price
I ended up buying the Sophia-2 in gloss black. Here is what the room looked like at the time:
I really enjoyed my system for the next few years with the Sophia-2. It's a very coherent speaker and just sounded great in my room. However, I remembered how much better I thought the Watt/Puppy 8 sounded and had set my sights set on an upgrade. Finally, in 2009, I upgraded to the Watt / Puppy 8. Here is a look at my listening room then:
Several electronics upgrades occurred over the next few years and I was very happy with the results achieved in my listening room. The combination of ARC Reference gear and Watt/Puppy 8 with minimal room treatments was yielding excellent results. I travel in my job and had the opportunity to hear the Wilson XLF two different times: at Innovative Audio, NYC; and at Music Lovers, SF. I was truly amazed at how good the XLF sounded. The speaker presented vocals more life-like than I had ever heard, bass definition and extension were as good as I had ever heard, and placement of instruments in a 3-D soundstage was magical. At Innovative Audio, I was able to take the disc that I had just heard on the XLF and take it to the listening room next door to hear it on Sasha-1 that was closest to my Watt/Puppy 8. Even though all electronics were different (mine, the XLF system, the Sasha-1 system) there was a huge difference in presentation. There should be for $200K! Both of these dealers are top rate and were very helpful in providing their perspective on what the next upgrade might be. In January 2013, I got my first chance to hear the Wilson Alexia at Audio Concepts. It was love at first listen. Here is the summary from the listening notes I wrote from that day:
Deep soundstage, placement of instruments is stunning. Solid defined bass, MUCH better treble presentation than the W/P 8. I like the new tweeter. It's not the XLF but certainly a close relative.
I ended up waiting until November 2013 to place my order. I placed the order at the Wilson event held at Audio Concepts that month. Here is a picture of me with John Giolas, Wilson Audio, the night I placed my order:
The Alexia were delivered in January 2014. The results I'm getting now in my listening room are very much to my liking. The Alexia sound magnificent in my room. Great bass definition, a warm resolving treble, and as much depth of soundstage that is possible in my room given the set-up. The Alexia sounds very coherent to me. On really good recordings they do "disappear" in the room as we say. Here is a picture of my current set-up:
What's next? XLF? I don't know. I'm very happy for now and enjoying my system more than ever.
When we moved to Texas in October of 1995, I began a relationship with a local dealer, Dallas Audio Concepts, who are Wilson Dealers. In 2007, my system consisted of ProAc D38s and I was looking to upgrade. I set up a listening session on a Saturday interested in hearing the Wilson Sophia-2. The system I listened to consisted of ARC Reference gear (Ref 3, 210s, CD7). My listening notes from that day, March 27, 2007 includes this closing note:
NET: this speaker lies just on the “warm” side of neutral. It has great depth of presentation, not a bit of glare, and GREAT bass. I could live with this speaker for a long time. Better than the ProAc D38 but like a relative.
After a break for lunch, I returned to Audio Concepts where Mark and team had set-up another pair of Wilson speakers, The Watt / Puppy 8. Here is what I wrote in my listening notes:
After a break, I returned to listen to the WP8. Could be one of the best speakers I’ve ever heard. Everything had more detail than on the Sophia-2. Bass was OUTSTANDING. Depth was incredible. I listened to a few minutes of every disc. Unbelievable. Great. The WP8 is more efficient than the other two by quite a large margin. I had to keep turning the volume DOWN. Incredible speaker. Incredible PRICE. Big problem. I would buy this speaker in a heart beat if not for the price
I ended up buying the Sophia-2 in gloss black. Here is what the room looked like at the time:
I really enjoyed my system for the next few years with the Sophia-2. It's a very coherent speaker and just sounded great in my room. However, I remembered how much better I thought the Watt/Puppy 8 sounded and had set my sights set on an upgrade. Finally, in 2009, I upgraded to the Watt / Puppy 8. Here is a look at my listening room then:
Several electronics upgrades occurred over the next few years and I was very happy with the results achieved in my listening room. The combination of ARC Reference gear and Watt/Puppy 8 with minimal room treatments was yielding excellent results. I travel in my job and had the opportunity to hear the Wilson XLF two different times: at Innovative Audio, NYC; and at Music Lovers, SF. I was truly amazed at how good the XLF sounded. The speaker presented vocals more life-like than I had ever heard, bass definition and extension were as good as I had ever heard, and placement of instruments in a 3-D soundstage was magical. At Innovative Audio, I was able to take the disc that I had just heard on the XLF and take it to the listening room next door to hear it on Sasha-1 that was closest to my Watt/Puppy 8. Even though all electronics were different (mine, the XLF system, the Sasha-1 system) there was a huge difference in presentation. There should be for $200K! Both of these dealers are top rate and were very helpful in providing their perspective on what the next upgrade might be. In January 2013, I got my first chance to hear the Wilson Alexia at Audio Concepts. It was love at first listen. Here is the summary from the listening notes I wrote from that day:
Deep soundstage, placement of instruments is stunning. Solid defined bass, MUCH better treble presentation than the W/P 8. I like the new tweeter. It's not the XLF but certainly a close relative.
I ended up waiting until November 2013 to place my order. I placed the order at the Wilson event held at Audio Concepts that month. Here is a picture of me with John Giolas, Wilson Audio, the night I placed my order:
The Alexia were delivered in January 2014. The results I'm getting now in my listening room are very much to my liking. The Alexia sound magnificent in my room. Great bass definition, a warm resolving treble, and as much depth of soundstage that is possible in my room given the set-up. The Alexia sounds very coherent to me. On really good recordings they do "disappear" in the room as we say. Here is a picture of my current set-up:
What's next? XLF? I don't know. I'm very happy for now and enjoying my system more than ever.
