@Lloyd
I think imaging is not a matter of speaker size but of the way it deals with the wavelaunch. Pardon the big word but it means that the sound from the speakers reach the listener with a minimum amount of diffraction .. The X-2 does this extremely well. IT will go from smallish.. say a solo voice in a dry environment, to the huge sound of a concert hall. I have repeated this experience for a while but there was cut by Boz scags in an acoustic setting and clearly a small venue and close miked... The darn man was
there Spooky to an extent I have rarely head from any system... Then we heard a larger piece, from RR Recording I believe, don't remember .. The venue grew to big, very, very big .. Small monitors don't do that, they usually can't do that. They will be nice on small and continue to be small when the venue change and not only small monitors but also many speakers that image well .. They cannot grow to fill the soundstage with sound .. THe X-2 do it with a midrange that will make people with Quad marvel but with a dynamic I am not sure the Quads that I have heard (several) can.. Not anything against the X-1 but it is not as pure and neutral as the X-2.
I am not looking for speakers in that "price range'. I have had a change of philosophy concerning speakers I may open a thread on it. But at such a level I require neutrality, purity and an absence of coloration. I think it is a lot to pay for colorations however nice they may be. I consider a system to be just like the post office. Please deliver me the mail don;t add anything to the message. I wouldn't be too lenient on a speaker that put its patina on everything I listen to , I would like it to get out of the way and try to replicate the sound on the medium, if possible...
I heard them with Wilson XS and then Gotham. The XS IMO (Sorry Steve
) wasn't placed at the best position to strut its stuff and I came with the impression that beter placement would have made a serious difference, Steve if I remember correctly ended up not using it for 2-ch that much... The Gotham are another story .. First they were optimized in term of placement , settings and even room treatment. Second there were two of them . Third, One is superior to the XS , With 2 ... Need I say anything. Now I actually believe the X-2 more so than many speakers in its price range, requires a sub. The FR is is said to go below 20 Hz the speaker doesn't seem to go that low the way say speakers in this class (The Big JM Labs, The Big Rockports, the Dunleavy V and many others) ... They are not bass shy ... Faaaaar from it, simply they don't seem to plumb the depth below 30 Hz as well as they do everything over 30 Hz... The kind of low bass you feel as a dry , I-am-there-and-I-am-potent kind of looow bass... From 30 Hz to 500 Hz they match what one hears in real life and with accuracy. Few speakers are so at ease as well as the X-2 in that region .. They provide in that region a realistic energy that gives music a solid foundation that gives music a realism missing in many speakers ... Still to get the best of them IMHO they require subs more so than many in their price range, to repeat myself... I believe the best reproduction is attained by using subwoofers, as in multiple subwoofers regardless of the speakers ... The myths about speakers too fast to be mated with a "slow" subwoofers needs to be dispelled.. X-2 with good subwooferS (there are may out there) takes you to another level, which interestingly enough highlights the qualities of the speakers, and these are numerous ... In my book I would have used X-2 with gob of power. The cleaner the better but lot of power nonetheless
On the surface the difference between the X-2 and the rest of the Wilson line doesn't seem that much say the Maxx3 and the X-2 . A comparison with Live music will let you know how more neutral and true to the medium they are. They have, to me, the least amount of a "house" sound than the other Wilson speakers I have heard. And they are chameleon that works well with any amplifier you throw at them ... Tubes, SS or Class D I think they sound good (Not that I have heard them with Clas D
) ...I sincerely believe they'd sound good with a decent AVR ... Ouch !! The Heresy