The Alexia's are HERE!

[Enatai252]

Lovely setup. Wish I had the breadth of space you have. My room length is substantial enough. Should be interesting to see how my listening environment turns out.

Best wishes on happy listening going forward.

Thanks Steve

I will be in your zip later this month for a round at Olympic...will be third time to play the Lake course over the last year...beautiful

 

[stevebythebay]

Enjoy your visit. Not a golfer myself (avid cyclist). But it's always nice to get out for a nice, long walk; even longer if you're slicing and hooking the little white dimpled beast.

 

[microstrip]

Bruce,

Did you ever listen to the Vivaldi DAC? Reading this report I could not stop thinking we would love to read your opinion about this system in your room: (Alan Sircom in the Stereophile coverage of CES2013)

In the Mirage, the combination of dCS Vivaldi four-box CD on a Stillpoints rack into a pair of D’Agostino Millennium monoblocs to a pair of the new(ish) $48,000/pr Wilson Audio Alexias (all using Transparent cable) was just the best sound I’ve ever heard at any show. Capable of a combination of near-real dynamics and scale, coupled with a sense of musical accuracy and fidelity few systems attain, this sounded more like the real deal than most. “They’re our pair,” beamed David Steven of dCS, pointing to the Alexias, “they’re coming home with me!” And, yes, the turtles seem to be the OpusMM2!
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/ces-2013-ultra-high-end-audio-hi-fi/

 

[Lildebs888]

X5M, huh? Good taste in cars, too I see (I drive an M3 )!

Congrats again on your Alexia's!!

Deb

 

[Bruce B]

Bruce,

Did you ever listen to the Vivaldi DAC? Reading this report I could not stop thinking we would love to read your opinion about this system in your room: (Alan Sircom in the Stereophile coverage of CES2013)

I heard this same setup at RMAF last year and that's what sold me on the Alexia's. I had an older dCS stack in my room a couple years ago. It was really magical, but at the time didn't have the cash to swing the deal after buying speakers as well. Would love to hear the Vivaldi stack in my room.

 

[LL21]

So I heard them...in my local dealers room with equipment i know well...Metronome Kalista, Ref 5 and Krell Evo 900s. Transparent Ref cabling. Observations after 2 different times auditioning:

- Extraordinarily coherent
- Treble extension is extreme
- so is clarity and transparency
- I could not compare with Magico Q5s...i suspect Magicos are more transparent...but i am not sure at this level i care relative to other attributes
- ...like bass which is definitely more powerful than what the Q5 was able to produce with the same front end, Ref 5 and D'Agostinos

- I was particularly surprised at how far beyond the speakers the soundstage extended...more impressive than what i've heard with other big Wilsons. It was not 'its kinda extended beyond'...its 5 feet beyond. that was impressive

The only area where i felt, hey, its not a big speaker was on sheer scale and dynamics. On super-clean audiophile recordings...no problem unless compared shoot-out style with a super-speaker. But on lesser recordings, its ability to scale up without letting a less than perfect recording start to become strident was not the same as the XLFs. Nor should it be...but it certainy was far in excess of the Sashas which were in the same system last week. Far in excess.

Much more a Maxx than a Sasha, and i would not disagree with those who felt it takes coherence, transparency and for sure treble extension to an even further level.

coming home my much older Wilsons, i still like my scale and effortlessness and would not part with it...and with good system matching, the beauty of sound means i dont miss the extreme coherence...but i appreciate what the latest Wilsons can do with better crossovers, superior drivers and generally an extra generation of experience.

in this crazy world of escalating prices, i do consider the Alexia attractively priced for what it does relative to other big-name speakers (including the Maxx3 at significantly more). I have not heard newer generation Rockports which would be the other speaker maker of this caliber to whom i would look for great speakers at this price range...even in the 'middle' of their range...which would certainly quality as reference speakers for other designers.

 

[microstrip]

(...) I had an older dCS stack in my room a couple years ago. (...)

Was it the Scarlatti?

 

[Bruce B]

Was it the Scarlatti?

Yes...

 

[Bruce B]

So I heard them...in my local dealers room with equipment i know well...Metronome Kalista, Ref 5 and Krell Evo 900s. Transparent Ref cabling. Observations after 2 different times auditioning:

- Extraordinarily coherent
- Treble extension is extreme
- so is clarity and transparency

Great write up.... Thanks!

 

[LL21]

Great write up.... Thanks!

Hi Bruce,

It was easy to do...they are great speaker! Enjoy!

 

[stevebythebay]

Alexia's in place and sounding very fine. Setup took most of the day. Lots of rearranging of the space (moving many side wall CD and book cases). Grant from Music Lovers of Berkeley did the deed. And he'll be back for some fine tuning, when it appears the speakers have settled in some more. The optimal seating is quite a bit farther than would be suggested by the manual. But with a room that's 12x27 getting the right location to prevent any low end wave build-up or lower bass overhang is a challenge. The speakers really shine in showing everything a recording offers, warts and all. I'm amazed at some of the 24bit albums, both good and bad.

Quick pic of the setup. I've a minimalist system.



Pardon the less than elegant wiring, but for me it's all about the sound (just close my eyes and I'm into whatever the recording space). Vinyl on the right is for historical purposes only. And a terabyte of disk space on the NAS is more than enough to hold all those silver discs.

 

[MadFloyd]

Congrats, Steve!

I have some questions if you don't mind (I'm just curious).

What color are your Alexias (can't tell from the photo)?

How far away are you sitting?

How is the bass? Did you consider moving the bookshelf with the albums to give the speakers (particularly the bass) more breathing room?

Again, congratulations. It looks very inviting.

 

[audioline]

Congrats Steve,

It realy looks nice.
What loudspeaker cables do you use?

//Kim

 

[stevebythebay]

Congrats, Steve!

I have some questions if you don't mind (I'm just curious).

What color are your Alexias (can't tell from the photo)?

How far away are you sitting?

How is the bass? Did you consider moving the bookshelf with the albums to give the speakers (particularly the bass) more breathing room?

Again, congratulations. It looks very inviting.

Seem my comments embedded:

Congrats, Steve!

I have some questions if you don't mind (I'm just curious).

>>> Don't mind at all.

What color are your Alexias (can't tell from the photo)?

>>> Black on black (I'd even keep the covers off if the screws weren't silver, but that's Wilson's choice, and I'm not about to "paint" them).

How far away are you sitting?

>>> After setup by my dealer the current configuration is as follows:

Speakers are about 11 and 1/2 feet from my sitting position and are about 6 feet from each other (using center point of speaker as anchor of measurements). So, pretty far away. The width of the room is 12 feet so the speakers are about 3 feet from their center to the side walls. And from the rear of the room to the front of the speakers is about 6 feet.

(As an aside, if you happen to have an AES standard listening room proportion of 10x16x26, and if you believe George Cardas and his use of a Golden Cuboid (based on Fibonacci sequence, e.g. 5-8-13-21-34...), then with my ceiling height of 8 feet would suggest a location for the front of the speaker to rear wall, based on the acoustic center of the woofer panel, to be just under 5 feet. So, I'm a foot farther from the rear than indicated. The speakers are then supposed to be about 40 inches from the side wall to speaker center (I'm 3 inches closer to the wall). Given the very long room length, I believe I'm less likely to experience low frequency wave/pressure standing waves.)

The room is L-shaped with areas off to the sides with stairway and alcove and kitchen impacting bass response to one degree or another. Given the Wilson manual's recommended seating position of 1.1 to 1.25 times distance between tweeters, I'm currently far from that (it should come to a range of 79-90 inches vs. my current 136"). So, when my dealer visits next time, I think it might be advisable to play with a closer in position. However, playing by the ratio would take me closer than the Alexia's 8 foot (96") inner parameters. Too close and you cannot properly align the upper array/tweeter. So, with my current room environment, I'll live with a less than ideal soundstage. The other option is the move the speakers farther from one another (but closer to the side walls). That would likely introduce problematic side wall reflections (with only about a foot or so between the center of the speaker and each wall).

How is the bass? Did you consider moving the bookshelf with the albums to give the speakers (particularly the bass) more breathing room?

>>> Bass is really nice. Full, tight, extended, and precise, once we got both the location of speakers and sitting position set properly. Just what the doctor ordered. Seating position is all. Moving an inch or two away from the ideal and you lose or gain volume, at the expense of clear delineation of base tones and harmonics. And I've got corner traps up in 4 ceiling locations, as well as huge bass traps in two corner locations behind my sitting position of the over 35 foot room. I'll likely experiment with the big traps over time as I see what needs to be "tamed".

If anyone's got some other ideas to try, I'm game.

p.s. the Cardas pdf is here: http://www.cardas.com/roomsetup.pdf
And if you're interested Roy Allison did a great deal of analysis nearly 2 decades ago http://acmebass.com/archive_files/mag_articles/audio_magazine/Best Place for Your Speakers.pdf

Again, congratulations. It looks very inviting.

 

[stevebythebay]

Guess I need to have a profile with all my "stuff".

Using, as dictated by Spectral - MIT/Spectral 770 and 350 for speaker and pre-amp to amp respectively. Otherwise, the rest is Synergistic Research active cables (with their "bullets") for connecting PC (USB) to Berkeley Audio Design Alpha USB and their XLR to Alpha DAC and finally from DAC to preamp. Also I'm using a digital BNC cable from Black Cat (Silverstar 75) for my Transporter (Slim Devices) to DAC for internet-based sources.

 

[Bruce B]

Well I pulled the trigger and ordered a set of Stillpoints Ultra for the Alexia's. They're not in their final resting place yet but playing one of the best recorded grunge metal songs that I have heard lately, "Come As You Are by Nirvana" gives me goosebumps on top of goosebumps! The Alexia's are the best Wilson speaker I've heard properly setup.

 

[rockitman]

Well I pulled the trigger and ordered a set of Stillpoints Ultra for the Alexia's. They're not in their final resting place yet but playing one of the best recorded grunge metal songs that I have heard lately, "Come As You Are by Nirvana" gives me goosebumps on top of goosebumps! The Alexia's are the best Wilson speaker I've heard properly setup.

which ultra's ?

 

[Bruce B]

which ultra's ?

Five

 

[rockitman]

Five

 

[andromedaaudio]

Do you have it on tape ???

Well I pulled the trigger and ordered a set of Stillpoints Ultra for the Alexia's. They're not in their final resting place yet but playing one of the best recorded grunge metal songs that I have heard lately, "Come As You Are by Nirvana" gives me goosebumps on top of goosebumps! The Alexia's are the best Wilson speaker I've heard properly setup.