Wilson Audio Chronosonic XVX First Impressions

I just spent over six hours today listening to my friend's new Wilson Audio Chronosonic XVX loudspeakers. Consistent with being blown away by the Master Chronosonic + Master Subsonic system at Maier Shadi's demo in Santa Monica, and consistent with a couple of reports by people who auditioned at Maier's both the Master Chronosonic and later the XVX and preferred the XVX, I am here to report officially that I think the XVX is now my favorite conventional cone driver speaker system. I think I prefer the XVX even to my longtime favorite dynamic driver loudspeaker, the mighty Rockport Arrakis.

Prior to the XVX, my friend had the Alexx. The height alone of the XVX over the Alexx affords the system the height and scale and grandeur I always notice and appreciate from very tall loudspeakers.

I don't know why the XVX is an order of magnitude better -- next level better -- than the Alexx. But I am certain that it is.

I think the XVX is the first dynamic driver speaker of which I was very aware that you can hear seemingly almost everything at fairly low listening volumes. It doesn't need to be played loudly to be heard comfortably.

In much the same way that people like to applaud their digital playback systems by saying "it sounds like analog," dynamic driver loudspeaker aficionados like to say their cone speakers have "electrostatic-like transparency." Believe me, if most dynamic driver speakers had "electrostatic-like transparency" we would not need electrostatic speakers.

As somebody who loves electrostatic speakers I have always been aware that speakers of other topologies are one or two steps less transparent than electrostatic speakers. I feel like the XVX truly has "electrostatic-like transparency" -- at least credibly so, and more so than any other cone speaker I've ever heard.

Just like I felt about the Master Chronosonic the XVX gives one the sense of unlimited dynamic capability. There is a limitlessness and an effortlessness to the sound that I do not hear from other box speakers. Other heroically inert box speakers sound tightly wrapped or button-downed by comparison -- like some portion of the sound is trapped in the box and having trouble freeing itself. The XVX sounds open somehow -- a sonic presentation I associate with planar speakers, not with big box speakers.

I know, I know, I know. I am thinking and saying the same things you are: these are meaningless statements as you can't compare loudspeakers in different systems from fault-prone memory; you will never be able to hear an XVX versus a Rockport Arrakis, or an XVX versus a VSA Ultra 11, in the same room with the same associated components at the same time, etc., etc. I know, and I agree with you.

All I am saying is that if you put a gun to my head and told me I had to buy a dynamic driver loudspeaker system for my personal system and cost was not a factor. . . I would say take the gun away from my head. Then I would tell you I will order XVX + Master Subsonics.

Without intending to be coy, I couch this is terms of "the XVX is the box speaker I would I buy if I had to buy a box speaker for myself" rather than "the XVX is the best box speaker I've ever heard," because I cannot hear the Von Schweikert Audio Ultra 11 and the Evolution Acoustics MM7 and the Rockport Arrakis and the YG XV in the same room in the same system as the XVX + Subsonics. So it just does not make any sense to declare, and it is analytically defective to declare, that the XVX is the best speaker I have ever heard.

My view that if I had to buy a box speaker I would buy the XVX + Subsonics is a combination of what I heard from the XVX, what I vaguely remember from hearing these other other speakers in other systems, and my slight prejudice against ceramic drivers which I would be worried I might find uncomfortable over a long period of time. (I would worry the same about beryllium drivers and about diamond encrusted drivers.)

I have owned only planar loudspeakers my entire life. I literally couldn't bear to listen to Wilson Audio speakers with metal dome tweeters. I have never been a big fan of Wilson Audio speakers in general. But I thought I heard magic from Maier's demo of the Master Chronosonic, and my experience today proves that that inkling was correct.

I don't know how or what Daryl Wilson did to achieve it, but I am reporting that to my ears the XVX is a very, very special speaker. It is a stunning achievement in dynamic driver loudspeaker design specifically, and in loudspeaker design in general.

PS: Assuming they physically fit in Michael Fremer's listening room, I have no doubt that Michael will upgrade his Alexx to XVX. He might go in not wanting to upgrade, but after hearing these there is no way he's going to be happy without the XVX.

Wilson-XVX.jpg
 
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Many thanks for your wonderful feedback. May I ask what size is your friends room? I believe Robert Harley's review will be in the next issue of TAS.

I don't know the exact dimensions of my friend's room. The listening position is about 4 feet from the rear wall; the speakers are about 10 feet in front of the listening position; and the front wall is far behind the speakers (The speakers are effectively in the middle of a rectangular living room.) Because of the distance from the front wall to the speakers the system generates as much acoustic depth as the recording can muster.
 
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I don't know the exact dimensions of my friend's room. The listening position is about 4 feet from the rear wall; the speakers are about 10 feet in front of the listening position; and the front wall is far behind the speakers (The speakers are effectively in the middle of a rectangular living room.) Because of the distance from the front wall to the speakers the system generates as much acoustic depth as the recording can muster.

Many thanks for the feedback and no worries about the exact dimensions.
 
I don't know the exact dimensions of my friend's room. The listening position is about 4 feet from the rear wall; the speakers are about 10 feet in front of the listening position; and the front wall is far behind the speakers (The speakers are effectively in the middle of a rectangular living room.) Because of the distance from the front wall to the speakers the system generates as much acoustic depth as the recording can muster.

Hi Ron,

I think I can add some more precise dimensions for you.

Listening position is 11'8" from the speakers. XVX are just short of 8' apart inside corner to inside corner.

The room is sort of two rooms, there's a four inch step down into the area behind the speakers. It's 16ft from the rear wall to the step down and another 16' to the front wall. Width of the room is I believe 15'6" in the back section and 18' in front. The front portion of the room opens onto the kitchen and the back portion onto a hallway.

Bill
 
Bill,

You Wilson folks are always spot-on, thanks for sharing the setup information with us.

vbw,
-a
 
Hi Ron,

I think I can add some more precise dimensions for you.

Listening position is 11'8" from the speakers. XVX are just short of 8' apart inside corner to inside corner.

The room is sort of two rooms, there's a four inch step down into the area behind the speakers. It's 16ft from the rear wall to the step down and another 16' to the front wall. Width of the room is I believe 15'6" in the back section and 18' in front. The front portion of the room opens onto the kitchen and the back portion onto a hallway.

Bill

Hello Bill,
Many thanks for the feedback....most helpful. Looking forward to Robert's review next month in TAS. Cheers
 
A dagger at the heart of the matter! :)

Answer: no.

All I can say, Tang, is that I really, really, really want to hear the Pendragons again! I have not heard them in four years.

I have always loved planar speakers. If I were designing a loudspeaker myself primarily for solo vocals the Pendragon is exactly what I would design: a dipole ribbon used as a nearly full-range driver (200Hz to 18kHz); no cross-over to air motion tweeters above 18kHz; and a self-powered woofer tower <200Hz consisting of a large number of small cones.

Great write up Ron especially for those of us that may never have the opportunity. I am biased but I think you will fall in love with you choice again as you once did.
 
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Answer: no.

All I can say, Tang, is that I really, really, really want to hear the Pendragons again! I have not heard them in four years.

Bravo! This is Ron Resnick signature with a strong punctuation at the end.

I have been hearing "gobsmack" "Jaw drop" talk of listening to this that system of others. I appreciate much more hearing when a person get jawdrop gobsmack outside home, but once come home get "drop dead" like Steve.
 
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Hi Ron,

I think I can add some more precise dimensions for you.

Listening position is 11'8" from the speakers. XVX are just short of 8' apart inside corner to inside corner.

The room is sort of two rooms, there's a four inch step down into the area behind the speakers. It's 16ft from the rear wall to the step down and another 16' to the front wall. Width of the room is I believe 15'6" in the back section and 18' in front. The front portion of the room opens onto the kitchen and the back portion onto a hallway.

Bill

Thank you, Bill!

I wasn't sure how to describe the double room situation. :)
 
Nice report Ron. Could you share some details about the rest of the system, and what music did you listen to?


Associated Components:

Dynavector XX-1(?) cartridge on Technics SP-10(?) turntable and Lyra Atlas Lambda on vintage Thorens on large OMA plinth -> Einstein solid-state phono stage and Einstein line stage -> Einstein Silver Bullet OTL and McIntosh MC611 amplifiers, with Nordost speaker cables.

Tracks:

"Bird on a Wire,” “Famous Blue Raincoat,” and "First We Take Manhattan,” by Jennifer Warnes, Famous Blue Raincoat (Rock the House Records/Classic Records)

”I’ve Got the Music in Me" by Thelma Houston, I've Got the Music in Me (Sheffield Lab 2)

"Landslide" and "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac (MFSL)

“Pictures at an Exhibition” on The Power of the Orchestra, Rene Leibowitz, RPO, Chesky RC30

and many jazz and vocal tracks selected by my friend.

PS: I definitely do not care for that Dynavector cartridge. I heard the same cartridge in London in a demo of the Martin Logan Neolith (which I love) with VTL electronics (which I love) playing my test tracks, and the sound was clinical and old digital-like. I heard the same clinical sound in my friend's system with that cartridge. On different turntables and tonearms, of course, but I preferred the Lyra Atlas Lamda in my friend's system.
 
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