That looks very good. The closer the tweeter and midrange speaker are together, the bigger the sweet spot becomes in the horizontal plane. That means you don't have to sit perfectly in the middle to enjoy the full potential of music.
Wilson Alexx V vs Rockport Orion
- Thread starter Chpray
- Start date
If you’re truly interested in innovation and new technology, you should consider older Wilson models. Unlike the newer models, which market century-old technologies like silk tweeters and paper cones as “new inventions,” the older ones actually feature more advanced technology—at least more modern than what’s found in the current Wilson drivers.
However, if you’re solely focused on how the speaker sounds and aren’t concerned with the age or type of technology used, then it’s best to leave discussions of new technology and innovation out of the equation. In that regard, Rockport speakers undeniably have more modern and innovative drivers.
Does that make the Asian sound then small, unassuming with a lack of realistic dynamics? ;-)
What about the lack of any type of alignment , lacks realism dimensionally for forward projection , i guess it helps in his preferred under powered type arrangements ..
Less wide frontbaffle, compact stiff design
Plus i can move the woofer higher then with a front mount, point source
Plus it sounds great it couples to the room differently then with a low woofer front mount
Im not constrained by economics i can make what i want
Thanks for the response, there are counters to it all , always a different way to skin the cat , I do remember when Ken did his version many decades ago for his NHT line ..
Exactly. Remember LL21 with the XVX there are four midranges with the outer two separated by quite a large distance. Add this to the crazy high tweeter height and you have a compromised speaker. If you love the huge sound it produces then buy one and be very happy. Nothing wrong with that. If you want accurate sound don't. Wilson has trapped themselves into this box over box philosophy in the pursuit of time alignment. What's next a ten foot speaker with 8 midranges? The Sabrina X, for me, is definitely their best speaker. - Jim
Posts like this don't deserve a reply they are so novice, other than to say, "Noted."
I think that you guys are totally incorrect in your criticisms of the XVX design. In my room the XVX is incredibly coherent and refined. Most of you Wilson detractors suffer from Wilson envy. This is very evident to me. For every person who enjoys the Rockport sound signature, there are ten who prefer the Wilson sound signature. I would prefer a Magico M6 to a Rockport Lyra. As I said, the Lyra is a dated speaker. I would never consider spending 190K only to see it replaced in 2-3 years. The Lyra is nearly a decade in production. You guys have essentially said that the XVX sounds terrible and is poorly designed from top to bottom. Don't you see how ridiculous you sound?? I haven't said anything at all about the Lyra other than to praise it and to echo RH's opinion that it was among the top five speakers he has auditioned but he prefers the XVX by a significant margin over it. I believe that his assessment is accurate. But the Lyra is not a statement speaker and it is rapidly becoming dated. The XVX is totally competitive with an M9. The Lyra is not even in the same ballpark as the XVX. The XVX is more than a match for the Lyra in refinement, musicality, coherence, transparency, resolution, imaging, sound stage, and noise floor. As far as FR and dynamic capability, the Lyra cannot remotely match the XVX:.
"It was quite extraordinary to find that, when driven by the Chronosonic XVX, this room measured uniformly down to a very low 15Hz -3dB, and was estimated at only -6dB down by 10Hz."Volume 15 / Number 3 July - Sept 2021 HiFiCritic MC.
You guys make uneducated and unsupported claims concerning the design of the XVX when you should be telling and urging AP to update the Lyra and also to make a larger more complex statement loudspeaker. Since the Lyra, Magico has produced the M9 and M7, both of which are a direct response to the WAMM and XVX, certainly not to the Lyra or Orion. My chief criticism of Wilson used to be that they were primarily a cabinet company using dated drivers like the Ti tweeter that they used for years and the ancient Focal woofers. The only thing new was the midrange. This all ended with Daryl Wilson. Now Wilson has state of the art drivers competitive with anything on the market. They own their own capacitor company. They have much more money for research and development than Rockport, probably 10x as much. They have more and better engineers. They are as dedicated to quality as Rockport. Magico not Rockport is their chief competitor. Rockport desperately needs an updated Lyra and a much larger statement loudspeaker on the order of the much larger discontinued Arrakis. If they made such a speaker I would definitely be in the market for it. An updated Arrakis for say 400K would be competitive with an XVX, Vivid Moya M1,or M9. I'm glad that this fine American speaker company has a very small but vocal, if envious and uninformed, following. I want to see Rockport highly successful and sell lots of speakers but for right now IMO they are falling far behind Wilson and Magico. There's really not much difference between a Lyra and an Orion. Both are essentially 3-way speakers about 50" in height. I would prefer the Orion over the Lyra because of the 60K price differential. Both are in the M6, GIYA, Alexx V range or category. No amount of objection or protestation by you Rockport aficionados will alter this.
I use a MC3500 with the newly issued green labeled tubes. I use a MCD12000 CD player An and a C-12000 pre An. MC2.1KW An for my Thor. AQ Wel Signature and Dragon pc's and IC's. Balanced. My full Signature is under Charles S system in the WBF Member System Forum.
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Would you please cite the numbers of the posts to which you refer? I don't recall seeing anything of the kind.
Thank you.
Size of the speakers , or their price don't make them "superior" sounding. Fidelity to the sound of the musical instruments does, and the ability to portray of the soul of the live event, i.e "the absolute sound" , which IMHO all Wilson speakers that I have heard extensively (to the extent that my ears were able to tolerate) have severely lacked.... For some recording engineers & reviewers, whose hearing ability in the crucial mid range at certain freq had been severely damaged, so they are oblivious to glare there, then yes, the Wilsons are a great magnifying tool, regardless of the generation of Wilsons in charge.
However, we all hear differently as "they" say....
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I apologize if my post sparked any unwanted debates. I genuinely admire both the Wilson Alexx V and the Rockport Orion. They are both exceptional speakers, which is why they made it to my final contenders list. Having closely listened to them multiple times, I've realized that there's no absolute "better" speaker—it's all about personal taste.
To me, Charles and JiminGa are both accurate in their descriptions of their preferred speakers. When it comes to dynamics and sheer bass output, Wilson is arguably the best. In fact, the Wilson dealer frankly hinted that my room might not be able to handle all the bass that the Wilson can produce.
On the other hand, the Rockport Orion really impressed me with the realistic sound it delivers. There's no right or wrong choice here—it's all about personal preference.
The main reason I started this discussion is that buying my next speaker represents a significant investment for me. I was hoping to get some second opinions from actual owners rather than relying solely on reviews. Additionally, I've noticed some imperfections in the sound at the dealers' listening rooms (which I won't mention here), and I believe might not be the fault of the speakers. I wanted to confirm this through feedback from the forum.
I hope everyone enjoys the speakers they love and let’s move beyond trying to find the "best."
To me, Charles and JiminGa are both accurate in their descriptions of their preferred speakers. When it comes to dynamics and sheer bass output, Wilson is arguably the best. In fact, the Wilson dealer frankly hinted that my room might not be able to handle all the bass that the Wilson can produce.
On the other hand, the Rockport Orion really impressed me with the realistic sound it delivers. There's no right or wrong choice here—it's all about personal preference.
The main reason I started this discussion is that buying my next speaker represents a significant investment for me. I was hoping to get some second opinions from actual owners rather than relying solely on reviews. Additionally, I've noticed some imperfections in the sound at the dealers' listening rooms (which I won't mention here), and I believe might not be the fault of the speakers. I wanted to confirm this through feedback from the forum.
I hope everyone enjoys the speakers they love and let’s move beyond trying to find the "best."
Ok noted .
Im posting since 2012 and still a novice lol.
Look im all for the XVX design , its wilsons view on Ls design .
It doesnt have to be mine , customers can decide on whatever they purchase
This only happens if you sit too close to the speaker and your ear height is much lower or much higher than the tweeter. This causes sharp dips in the frequency response. This is why horizontal d'Appolito center speakers don't work well at all because the radiation behavior in the vertical plane is poor.
MC3500, interesting , Mk1 or 2 .? Had Original MK1 many decades ago sold them on when i couldn't get the 6LQ6 output tubes anymore ..
Fantastic amplifier haven't had a chance to hear the current Mk2’s ..
Charles you have called Elliot and Andromeda “novices” because they don’t agree with you. Do you realize that they are industry insiders? They are not a hobbyist like you so find another reason for their disagreement. No one has said that they hate Wilson speakers only that they have design choices which affect the sound in ways that some don’t like. On the 26th I am flying across the country just to hear XVXs properly set up in a room built specifically for them. 210k monos on the XVX, 170k monos on the subsonics, Airforce 1 TT, full DCS stack, Transparent Magnum Opus cables, HRS racks etc. 1.5 million in total set up by Peter and then tweaked over 6 months. The room took 2 years to design and build. Stop being so defensive about your choices. Your characterization of Elliot and Andromeda tells me you don’t know anything about the industry and your never mentioning you own careful personal observation about any of the other speakers mentioned tells me you never went out of your way to actually hear them! Let’s see: 1) Not familiar with the industry 2) Doesn’t go and hear all the top competition for himself before buying 3) Instead takes the word of reviewers and salesmen and buys accordingly. 4) no comments about the importance of room acoustics or having sampled multiple electronics / front ends/ cables indicating a rudimentary understanding of the “systems” nature of reproduced sound to even begin to evaluate a transducer properly. That Charles is the very definition of a novice.
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