Speakers and the genius of the lamp

[LL21]

Hi Steve W Oneobgyn - I presume you must be on the short list of people Wilson would like to hear the Alexandria XLF. Have you? Will you? I really think having spent more time setting up my Velodyne DD18 properly with the Auralex underneath...i cannot express how surprised i am that the Wilson X1/Grand Slamms...as good as they are...are extremely improved by the addition of the sub. Kick drums actually hit you in the stomach the way they do in real life...even on Haydn organ suites...really different in areas i would never have guessed. Whole segements of musical passages in John Legend...

I have to wonder if the XLF can really match an X2 Series II with 2 Gothams...or an XLF with a Thor...presumably that was their benchmark? Generally, Wilson does not do things by halves.

Any feedback or insights (from anyone...BFlowers, Jeff Fritz, Caesar, Microstrip, etc...) is appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BFlowers]

I can't imagine much better bass than alexandrias being driven by 600W per side of pristine solid state, augmented by a pair of JL F113's in an acoustically treated 24x17x11 room. It's concussive, yet clean and articulate. A larger room might demand Gothams. A less well treated room might demand the new Alexandrias (but I haven't heard them so maybe there is more to them than I am aware of). CES here we come. Maybe we will get a sample of Wilson's finest.

 

[bwraudio]

A system that will knock your socks off

Martin Logan Summits along side of Magneplanar Tympani IV bass panels
and the unbeatable TRW-17 Rotary Subwoofer. Total integration, sound-stage
that is immense, low level detail, imaging, and bass that is stunning. Nothing
can provide this kind of bass reproduction like this combo. Huge pipe organs with
response down to 16 hz and some as low as 8 hz and sound effects to below 5 hz
are reproduced with authority and must be heard to be believed.

 

[Steve Williams]

I've heard the Thigpen Rotary woofer as demoed by Bruce Thigpen himself several years ago at a fellow audiophile's home. Keith Yates and Mark Seaton were also present.

I remember watching scenes from Captain and Commander as I stood at the rear corner of the room. I had motion sickness for hours afterwards

 

[mauidan]

Why 2 center channel speakers???

I think they'd work better than the six tall Wilsons in my room.

DW doesn't think they're just center channel speakers.

 

[Steve Williams]

DW doesn't think they just center channel speakers

Indeed

http://wilsonaudio.com/product_pola_lowprofile.shtml

 

[LenWhite]

Imagine you find a old lamp, rub it unleashing the Genie. The Genie reveals that since you are an audiophile, member of WBF, you will be granted only one immediate wish - a pair of loudspeakers on your choice, irrespective of price. But there is one condition - you have to use these speakers in your current listening space, and provide yourself the remaining part of the system - no extra wishes!

Which speakers would you choose, assuming you have no time to poll for the opinions of WBF members, read reviews or look for measurements?

BTW, the Genie warns you that if you try to ask for an expensive speaker in order to sell it, it you will be sentenced to listen to MP3 for the rest of your life ...

Marten Momento's please.................

 

[NorthStar]

I've heard the Thigpen Rotary woofer as demoed by Bruce Thigpen himself several years ago at a fellow audiophile's home. Keith Yates and Mark Seaton were also present.

I remember watching scenes from Captain and Commander as I stood at the rear corner of the room. I had motion sickness for hours afterwards

That doesn't sound healthy at all Steve!

 

[LL21]

OTOH, i am VERY curious about this TW Rotary sub...OTOH, i am aware that people have used these low frequency machines to torture people because at high volumes, they can churn your insides...scary...and i would hate to do something to my dog or a little child by accident (or myself) because i inadvertantly cranked 6hz bass while someone was standing next to the thing...

16hz is cool...waaay cool...but 8hz? Really? 8?

 

[LL21]

I can't imagine much better bass than alexandrias being driven by 600W per side of pristine solid state, augmented by a pair of JL F113's in an acoustically treated 24x17x11 room. It's concussive, yet clean and articulate. A larger room might demand Gothams. A less well treated room might demand the new Alexandrias (but I haven't heard them so maybe there is more to them than I am aware of). CES here we come. Maybe we will get a sample of Wilson's finest.

i have to admit...after putting the Auralex bass isolation under my Velodyne DD18, the full sound from the combination with the X1/Grand Slamms is remarkable...i can only imagine with dual JLs must do! Enjoy!

 

[bwraudio]

Not necessary to play the rotary at loud levels. I use half its output and organ music is just plain realistic, along with special effects. After 3 years, I have never had any discomfort or ill effects or has anyone at my home with this
superb subwoofer. Have heard live pipe organs and this rotary subwoofer comes very close to the real thing! So many audiophiles listen at unrealistically loud levels.

 

[LL21]

Not necessary to play the rotary at loud levels. I use half its output and organ music is just plain realistic, along with special effects. After 3 years, I have never had any discomfort or ill effects or has anyone at my home with this
superb subwoofer. Have heard live pipe organs and this rotary subwoofer comes very close to the real thing! So many audiophiles listen at unrealistically loud levels.

I have to agree based on my last 3-4 weeks of listening to my system with the recent changes and settling it in. with endless reserves of Class A SS power and now the Velodyne being properly settled in...i find myself listening at MUCH lower volume levels on the preamp...and feeling extremely satisfied at the bass wallop, fullness of scale...i did not think this was possible.

...but it is possible...to your point about 'realistic and unrealistically loud levels.' In the end, for me, i feel sure it was the bass being in adequate, because when the bass disappeared after first installing the bass isolation platform under my sub...i found myself turning the volume louder and louder (which i remember doing when i was still installing my sub years ago)...because i was left unsatisfied with the fullnesss...and ended up turning it louder to temporarily satisfy my desire for full sound.

Once the sub got properly dialed in again with the new isolation platform...took 3-4 solid days...i am back down to very low volume levels and being extremely satisfied. To give you an example, i used to listen at 45-53....with new sub it initially went down to 35+. With sub properly dialed in, it went down to 30. Now that i have isolation platform under sub, i listen 15-25...but am happy to turn it down to below 8 at midnite and still feel the bass rumble steadily and solidly thru the living room and hear the entire orchestra top to bottom.

(though i still like to turn it up on Sat nites!)

 

[fas42]

.i find myself listening at MUCH lower volume levels on the preamp...and feeling extremely satisfied at the bass wallop, fullness of scale...i did not think this was possible.

...but it is possible...to your point about 'realistic and unrealistically loud levels.' In the end, for me, i feel sure it was the bass being in adequate, because when the bass disappeared after first installing the bass isolation platform under my sub...i found myself turning the volume louder and louder (which i remember doing when i was still installing my sub years ago)...because i was left unsatisfied with the fullnesss...and ended up turning it louder to temporarily satisfy my desire for full sound.

All good signs, Lloyd, of a system getting into finer and finer "tune". The more you can have a system running at any volume level and it makes no difference to the enjoyment, the better state it's in. The bass wallop comes from the midrange and treble doing their share of adding the harmonics correctly, less "distortion" upsetting your ability to pick up the musical lines. When you get to the point of being able to go from an almost inaudible whisper to overwhelming loudness without apparent changes in tonality then you're a long way down the "good" road ...

So congrats from me,
Frank

 

[LL21]

Thanks, Frank. I will say, that Auralex (for $60) was a very, very, very good buy. To add to your point about mids/treble, I am extremely impressed by how much of the midrange/lower treble detail has improved by sticking an isolation platform under the sub, along with all the obvious elements in the bass when the sub got re-dialed in properly. Guess the floor vibrations were interfering even more than i guessed...mids really were exceptionally clear...its just even clearer now.

 

[NorthStar]

OTOH, i am VERY curious about this TW Rotary sub...OTOH, i am aware that people have used these low frequency machines to torture people because at high volumes, they can churn your insides...scary...and i would hate to do something to my dog or a little child by accident (or myself) because i inadvertantly cranked 6hz bass while someone was standing next to the thing...

16hz is cool...waaay cool...but 8hz? Really? 8?

Yup, some Telarc recordings have 4-5Hz low extension content in them! ...Contentment? :b

 

[LL21]

Whoa...and to think i just finished re-dialing in my sub with the Auralex isolation platform underneath...and as part of the adjustments, i decided to rolloff the signal from 18hz and below, so i am mainly playing 19hz to 44hz thru sub. there was just so much vibration it was causing the music to get cloudy...perhaps my room is not up for it.

 

[fas42]

there was just so much vibration it was causing the music to get cloudy...perhaps my room is not up for it.

There is another possibility, Lloyd, that the vibration was of a nature that it was impacting the playback components, the electronics in their boxes, AND/or the cables. When a system is at a high standard these elements can become crucial, as an example, my setup was out of sorts a couple of days ago, and this turned out to be a vibration issue: the subwoofer was "rattling" some cable excessively, and this was enough to severely unbalance, disturb the sound.

Frank

 

[bwraudio]

Isolation

Isolation plays a big part in getting great very low bass and a room that is properly
designed to handle that bass is paramount. All my equipment is mounted in
sand filled cabinets that are resting on a separate concrete foundation. The
lower one's sub goes the greater the need for isolation.
Getting the entire bass range balanced is the key to great bass definition and
that requires a room that has many bass traps. My room has many ASC bass
traps and the entire ceiling is a membrane absorber that handles the very low
bass. The rotary subwoofer requires all this to achieve stunning bass
quality and realism (this sub is truly a well designed product and there is no going
back for me to conventional subs.)

 

[LL21]

Very cool! Enjoy!

 

[MylesBAstor]

Martin Logan Summits along side of Magneplanar Tympani IV bass panels
and the unbeatable TRW-17 Rotary Subwoofer. Total integration, sound-stage
that is immense, low level detail, imaging, and bass that is stunning. Nothing
can provide this kind of bass reproduction like this combo. Huge pipe organs with
response down to 16 hz and some as low as 8 hz and sound effects to below 5 hz
are reproduced with authority and must be heard to be believed.

I've always wondered about that combo of Maggie bass panels and ML Mids. Now all you need is the Maggie tweeter!