The Alexia's are HERE!

[rockitman]

At Christian: IF you think that your titanium domes sound great, then that's great and I'm happy for you. Yes, I don't own the speakers ( and what has that got do with anything?? ) BUT I have heard them on numerous occasions and they are not "faulty", however I have always really disliked that tweet and it's the reason why I would never consider any Wilson speakers in the past.. That's to my ears, obviously YMMV.

The tweet you disliked could easily been setup, room, interconnect, ect. How many Wilson speakers have you owned ? Not looking to get into a pissing match here. I am happy with my speakers with the dreaded focal tweet. Dave's new tweet, midrange is all about better midrange to treble integration. That is a step forward. The integration of that for the X-2 is no slouch and it is still world class speaker. To suggest X-2's are not is ludicrous....

 

[DaveyF]

Christian, everybody gets defensive about speakers/gear that they own, I'm no different than you in this regard. To answer your question,I have never owned Wilson speakers for the reason that i expanded upon above. Owning Wilson speakers now or in the past is irrelevant. However, I have owned speakers with Titanium domes in the past and I have heard Wilson's ( including the X2's) on numerous occasions. I always heard the oil can resonance/stridency of this tweeter, regardless of what I listened to it with and how it was set-up. In my instance, it was only when in direct comparison with a good silk dome did these issues become so obvious. Perhaps, you need to take a listen to the new Wilson tweeter and then get back to me.

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

Not a Wilson fanboy . The tone of many posts in this thread are faintly implying that the Alexia would be superior to the X-2; that, according to those posts, on the strength of its silk dome tweeter. I am by no means saying it is impossible for the Alexia to be superior to the X-2, although I have an Himalaya of doubts about that , that would be an extraordinary feat; At any rate that wouldn't be just on the case of a tweeter. It needs to surpass the X-2 everywhere else... Not an easy thing to attain. BTW the treble of the X-2 is not a world beater but it is far from bad. It is actually good IMHO. The Alexia needs more than a tweeter however good that it might be to surpass the X-2 ., My money as an overall superior speaker is on the X-2. I haven't heard the Alexia yet ...

Now on a very different subject owning a component is not a requisite to form an opinion of it. This is an incorrect proposition: Not liking something is, by the way, one of the requisite for not owning it

P.S. Of the whole Wilson Audio lineup which I have heard the X-2 is the only speaker I could be happy with and for years. I have never owned a Wilson speaker

 

[steve williams]

P.S. Of the whole Wilson Audio lineup which I have heard the X-2 is the only speaker I could be happy with

I spoiled you

 

[LL21]

My two cents:
- I have owned the SF Guarneris and the SF Strads, and now the Wilson X1/Grand Slamms. I have heard both the SF Strad and the Wilson X1s in my home in the exact same system. Setting aside all of the differences elsewhere between the 2 speakers, on the treble, i think somewhere in my 'review' i noted that the X1s remained shockingly close to the Strads. (The mids believe it or not were even...i was MOST happy about that!) But in the treble, would i say my ears can tell the difference? Yes, particularly on older recordings of violin...but for my ears, they are distinct but close for someone whose priority is mid, then bass then treble. I might rank the X1 at an 85 and the Strad at 100.

I have to give credit to the Distributor who set them up...we went thru 3 resistors before getting it to my liking. And Wilson considers him one of their top 5 go to guys for setting up systems. I also have Zanden digital front end, CJ and Gryphon electronics and TA Ref XL calbes...so that ameliorates it, as Martin Colloms has noted in his review from many years ago when he also found CJ to work very well with the X1s.

For me, who perhaps is not as sensitive to some to tweeter issues (midrange and then bass matter more for me)...yes i can tell the difference and favor the Strad...but its darn close when set up well, such that the difference in recordings is far bigger an issue than the tweeters...and further, such that the rest of the X1s attributes for me worked much better.

REgarding the XLF tweeter which i have heard on 3 occassions, it is wonderful. I would love to hear it in my system, but frankly i dont need to...i have heard those speakers with equipment that i have done auditions with, and also in the same store. It is a very nice change for Wilson imho.

 

[Bruce B]

Well the Alexia does have the mid from the XLF... and like the X-2 and XLF the Alexia has replaceable resistors for the tweeter and mids.

I also have Focal speakers in my other room with the Beryllium tweeters and they can be fatigueing as well on certain material.

The Alexias are closer to the XLF than the X-2. It's not a small speaker at 53". The tweeter is above my ear level which is what I was looking for. My last speakers the tweeter level was 4" below my ear level and it showed.

I'm just glad I went in this direction instead of the X-2. My opinion, the Alexia betters the X-2 in everything but the bass. But what's a couple of JL subs between friends!!

 

[steve williams]

But what's a couple of JL subs between friends!!

Precisely but IMO the X2 does well also with a pair of JL subs

 

[microstrip]

Precisely but IMO the X2 does well also with a pair of JL subs

Depending on room, the X2's can really need one or two subs. They have a very extended low frequency, and because the port is on the same plane as the bass speakers you can easily get very extended low bass usable response with a dip around 30-40Hz due to room cancellation. Being able to put subs at different positions can easily suppress this dip with a great increase in sound quality. May be the XLF's, that allow you to choose port position and response will probably need the subs much less.

 

[NorthStar]

Yesterday I made a simple comment regarding the 'W' aesthetic only.
...This morning I was regretting it.
I realized how sensitive we all are. ...Especially music lovers, I think.

I reread this entire thread, and it makes me appreciate all the great participation everyone here has. It's a great thread, and can only get better as Bruce experiments some more with the SOUND.

In the future I'll try to be more tactful, by being more modestly honest.

Beautiful things in life are nice to look at (women, cars, houses, audio gear, etc.), but the real beauty is inside, in the soul of the music, the heart of the matter.

Here again I speak my mind in true honesty.

 

[Bruce B]

Here again I speak my mind in true honesty.

Keep on what you're doing Bob...!

 

[NorthStar]

Keep on what you're doing Bob...!

You make my heart smile, thanks Bruce.

 

[microstrip]

Yesterday I made a simple comment regarding the 'W' aesthetic only.
(...) .

Happily it was about the 'W' aesthetic. If it was about the 'SF' aesthetic you would find that italians can be much more sensitive and irascible, particularly at election time! . Perhaps it would be a nice way of knowing if we have readers from Italy!

 

[docvale]

Happily it was about the 'W' aesthetic. If it was about the 'SF' aesthetic you would find that italians can be much more sensitive and irascible, particularly at election time! . Perhaps it would be a nice way of knowing if we have readers from Italy!

I'm Italian (but based in NYC) and I'm also mad for the election results...

 

[Bruce B]

Tonight is my first "official" attended mastering session with the new Alexia's. I know they are not fully tweaked in, but I think I have a handle on what they are doing.

 

[stargate]

-- I'm going to speak my mind here: I hate Wilson speaker's designs. :b

A True artist

 

[stargate]

Precisely but IMO the X2 does well also with a pair of JL subs

I find that the rels studio 3's to have a better sub charge at the lowest levels-in my system- as we know it will vary in other systems-but to me the RELs had more control and more mushroom explosion at the lower foundation. and yes to all, subs do bring a more 3D effect to the two channel music.

 

[Jazzhead]

Depending on room, the X2's can really need one or two subs. They have a very extended low frequency, and because the port is on the same plane as the bass speakers you can easily get very extended low bass usable response with a dip around 30-40Hz due to room cancellation. Being able to put subs at different positions can easily suppress this dip with a great increase in sound quality. May be the XLF's, that allow you to choose port position and response will probably need the subs much less.

I find it strange that a X2 needs bottom end augmentation . I have seen more than a few set-ups featuring the X-2's , set up with subs to give heft . Yes , you may say it is not for the bass , but more to help better the sense of spatial information, even out nulls and let the benefits filter on up thru the mids and highs . Do correct me if my reasoning is flawed, but shouldn't a 160 K super speakers be able to do it all , or is that wishing for too much .

 

[microstrip]

I find it strange that a X2 needs bottom end augmentation . I have seen more than a few set-ups featuring the X-2's , set up with subs to give heft . Yes , you may say it is not for the bass , but more to help better the sense of spatial information, even out nulls and let the benefits filter on up thru the mids and highs . Do correct me if my reasoning is flawed, but shouldn't a 160 K super speakers be able to do it all , or is that wishing for too much .

Jazzhead,

I did not refer to bottom end augmentation, but filling some bass zones that can have dips due to interaction with the room in some rooms. Dave Wilson acknowledged this aspect of the X2 and explained how he solved it in the XLF in the presentation video, accessible at the Wilson Audio site. This cancellation problem is not peculiar of the X2 - most large speakers have this intrinsic feature. Although bass response of large speakers is mostly defined by room and positioning, speaker designers also know some tricks to improve it!

 

[Orb]

I felt the weak point of the Wilson speakers was the titanium tweeter. I know a lot of other people hated it as well. My W/P 7's were sometimes a little bright, especially on poorly recorded material. I had never liked Wilson speakers up until the Sophia's came out. That to me was a turning point in Wilson speakers. The Sophia, W/P 7 and MAXX were a lot better than previous generations of Wilsons.
The silk dome tweeter of the Alexia and XLF is a whole different sound for Wilson, which I feel is the better.

Grats on the speakers
Will you need to change the Transparent speaker cables?
Showing my ignorance but wondering if they were "tweaked" for WA speakers in the use of that network within the cable.
Cheers
Orb

 

[Orb]

The biggest issue will be their impedance - it is very difficult to guess the result of connecting a SET without feedback having a large output impedance to a load having a minimum of less than 2 ohms.

Even worse Micro is the phase angle on the Alexia.
HifiNews measured impedance at 1.8ohms at 80Hz, that is tough but then considering phase angles the EPDR gives a practical figure of 0.9ohms at 65Hz.

Cheers
Orb