TAS Alexia review (December 2013 issue)

[rbbert]

Yes, I have the new issue of Stereophile with JA's review of the Alexia. Bottom line, he likes them quite a bit. He noted that if were to retire tomorrow the Alexia would be the speaker he would choose for musical accompaniment to that retirement.

Just got Stereophile in the mail today. JA basically sums it up this way...if he were to retire tomorrow, Alexia would be the speaker he would buy.

Sometimes I wonder if people even read others' posts?

 

[mep]

Sometimes I wonder if people even read others' posts?

I just received my new Stereoplile on Saturday and I saw where JA would take the Alexias into retirement.

 

[rockitman]

Sometimes I wonder if people even read others' posts?

yeah, late to the game, guilty as charged !

 

[PeterA]

I just received my new Stereoplile on Saturday and I saw where JA would take the Alexias into retirement.

It begs the question: What would be in the rest of his retirement system? I just got my copy today and have not read the review yet. Perhaps the answer lies within.

I sat in on a panel discussion with JA, Fremer and some other reviewers at the NYC show two years ago. They all said that basically if they did not have to review components for a living, they would all stop with their current systems which universally sounded better than what they could have imagined ten years ago. They were all quite satisfied with the current state of the art. And that was before the Alexia. But progress marches on and the Alexia demonstrates that technology trickles down.

 

[mep]

It begs the question: What would be in the rest of his retirement system? I just got my copy today and have not read the review yet. Perhaps the answer lies within.

I sat in on a panel discussion with JA, Fremer and some other reviewers at the NYC show two years ago. They all said that basically if they did not have to review components for a living, they would all stop with their current systems which universally sounded better than what they could have imagined ten years ago. They were all quite satisfied with the current state of the art. And that was before the Alexia. But progress marches on and the Alexia demonstrates that technology trickles down.

JA doesn't say what else would be in his retirement system.

 

[ack]

Just read the Stereophile review, and to close a loop here, as stereo said in this post http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...S5-s-yesterday&p=230981&viewfull=1#post230981 the woofers are indeed made of paper. I am hoping to listen to this speaker next week, but I can't imagine paper represents the state of the arts, otherwise my speakers are it

 

[ricjor1]

Just read the Stereophile review, and to close a loop here, as stereo said in this post http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...S5-s-yesterday&p=230981&viewfull=1#post230981 the woofers are indeed made of paper. I am hoping to listen to this speaker next week, but I can't imagine paper represents the state of the arts, otherwise my speakers are it

I thought the sound determined what represents state of the art?

 

[mbovaird]

I thought the sound determined what represents state of the art?

+1

 

[microstrip]

Just read the Stereophile review, and to close a loop here, as stereo said in this post http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...S5-s-yesterday&p=230981&viewfull=1#post230981 the woofers are indeed made of paper. I am hoping to listen to this speaker next week, but I can't imagine paper represents the state of the arts, otherwise my speakers are it

It is known that audiophiles should be imaginative, otherwise the illusion of the performance vanishes and they become speaker listeners ...

BTW, do you know about paper transistors? http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?reload=true&arnumber=6578115

Can you imagine how an amplifier using them will sound on our speakers?

 

[ack]

Don't know anything about paper resistors, but do know quite a bit about paper woofers - I hope to find out how these differ next week.

 

[marty]

Well unfortunately they didn't "lock in" with mine. Maybe I should have tried the Ref series.

This is an interesting post Bruce. I think most people understand that Wilson is not only fond of Transparent cables, but that he voices his speakers using them. Therefore it would be very informative to understand why they "didn't lock-in" with you. Can you share, what was it about the sound you heard that are reasons of concern? Were the unfavorable attributes in the area of frequency response such that they effected correct timbre? Distortion products? Speed? Other? Of course, any particularly beneficial aspects would be appropriate for commentary as well. A thoughtful response from an experienced sound engineer would be most welcome, I believe.

 

[Bruce B]

I know how much Wilson is involved with Transparent. That's why I was so enthusiasitc about putting a full set in my system. Not only do they look good, but every time I've heard them, they have have been stellar.

These were show demo's, but Brad and crew did configure them to my equipment list. I briefly heard them for a couple of hours when I first put them in. Then, for the next week they were just playing in the background. I can pick up a lot of things by listening to music in the background and not really paying attention to it. Here's an analogy. When I'm in the OR and listening to the tones/sounds of the monitoring equipment, I can tune it out and if something changes, even the slightest, I can pick it up instantly. If the heart rate changes from 90bpm to 89bpm, I can pick it up instantly. Same thing with the things in the studio. Sometimes I do transfers and get them started and go do something else. I can pick up the slightest thing out of the ordinary. Likewise, I can pick up things that are the slightest bit extraordinary.

Back to the cables. The first thing I noticed was I had to turn the XP-30 up to about "60" for normal listening. Normally I listen to everything at "50". No big deal. Then I noticed everything was more subdued. Notes sounded a little dull, not crisp and crystal clear like I've been used it. They gave a more homigenized sound. It wasn't bad, just not as lively super detailed like I'm used to.

My job in the studio is to pick every nuance apart as if I were working for CSI. Most audiophiles would call this bright, detailed or transparent. I need it for my job. If I adjust 180Hz only .5dB, I have to hear it. With the Opus, I couldn't. It felt as though the notes were closer together. Small nuances were harder to define. The extreme of this would be throwing a wet blanket over the sound stage.

This is as best as I can describe what I was hearing.

 

[mbovaird]

Great response Bruce. Thank you.

 

[jazdoc]

Great response Bruce. Thank you.

+1! It's very difficult to put into words an audible event. Terrific job, I can imagine what you are describing in my mind's ear.

 

[marty]

Thanks for a most thoughtful and terrific set of observations. I've heard Wilson speakers with several good sets of speaker cables (Valhalla, Transparent, Tara Zero and Spectral/MIT). They all work rather well,however, I agree with you about the minimal "padding" effect of the Transparents. Yet its curious that I did not get that sense with Spectral/MITs even though they too are "networked" systems.

 

[MadFloyd]

I know how much Wilson is involved with Transparent. That's why I was so enthusiasitc about putting a full set in my system. Not only do they look good, but every time I've heard them, they have have been stellar.

These were show demo's, but Brad and crew did configure them to my equipment list. I briefly heard them for a couple of hours when I first put them in. Then, for the next week they were just playing in the background. I can pick up a lot of things by listening to music in the background and not really paying attention to it. Here's an analogy. When I'm in the OR and listening to the tones/sounds of the monitoring equipment, I can tune it out and if something changes, even the slightest, I can pick it up instantly. If the heart rate changes from 90bpm to 89bpm, I can pick it up instantly. Same thing with the things in the studio. Sometimes I do transfers and get them started and go do something else. I can pick up the slightest thing out of the ordinary. Likewise, I can pick up things that are the slightest bit extraordinary.

Back to the cables. The first thing I noticed was I had to turn the XP-30 up to about "60" for normal listening. Normally I listen to everything at "50". No big deal. Then I noticed everything was more subdued. Notes sounded a little dull, not crisp and crystal clear like I've been used it. They gave a more homigenized sound. It wasn't bad, just not as lively super detailed like I'm used to.

My job in the studio is to pick every nuance apart as if I were working for CSI. Most audiophiles would call this bright, detailed or transparent. I need it for my job. If I adjust 180Hz only .5dB, I have to hear it. With the Opus, I couldn't. It felt as though the notes were closer together. Small nuances were harder to define. The extreme of this would be throwing a wet blanket over the sound stage.

This is as best as I can describe what I was hearing.

Terrific post, Bruce. Thank you for being candid and detailed. I too noticed the lowering of volume when I auditioned Transparent and raised an eyebrow, wondering what was causing the attenuation. I wonder if there's some form of compression going on. In any case, switching back to the other cables I had at the time (PAD), while drastically different, did nothing but have me yearn for the Transparent.

 

[rbbert]

Perhaps analagous, Wilson almost always shows with VTL but many posters here and elsewhere don't find that pairing as appealing as different ones.

 

[Bruce B]

Perhaps analagous, Wilson almost always shows with VTL but many posters here and elsewhere don't find that pairing as appealing as different ones.

I've heard good and bad VTL setups. The demo at the Hyatt was amazing, but the room at the Marriott was less so.

When I was at Dave's house, I did prefer the Momentums over his Seigfrieds.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Terrific post, Bruce. Thank you for being candid and detailed. I too noticed the lowering of volume when I auditioned Transparent and raised an eyebrow, wondering what was causing the attenuation. I wonder if there's some form of compression going on. In any case, switching back to the other cables I had at the time (PAD), while drastically different, did nothing but have me yearn for the Transparent.

Variations in volume among different cables is quite common, sometimes even extreme. It does make me wonder then what's going on when I have to increase the volume on the GAT some 20 steps.

 

[audioarcher]

Variations in volume among different cables is quite common, sometimes even extreme. It does make me wonder then what's going on when I have to increase the volume on the GAT some 20 steps.

Is it not as simple as more total resistance?