Hi Everyone,
With Steve and Ron's most excellent tech/software upgrade to the WBF Platform last week, I was [finally!] able to search "XLF" in the WBF annals...and found we did not have a dedicated thread! So I thought given that there are a few owners here, and many Wilson owners who also have heard them, I would start one.
WILSON JOURNEY BEGINS 2008
My own history with Wilson began with an unexpected listen to the Wilson X1/Grand Slamm Series III powered by a pair of Krell Evo Ones, an ARC Ref 3 preamp and TA Reference cabling. An astounding performance that really opened my eyes to what the effortlessness of scale and dynamics can really do to recreate a performance. I never forgot that introduction when at the time I was enjoying the intimate sound of Sonus Faber Guarneris and a big Velodyne DD18 sub.
When I did a half-day shoot-out with the Guarneri and the Quad 2805 and 2905...I found myself so impressed with the Guarneris in comparison...I very nearly kept them (until I spied the SF Strads in the middle of the main showroom)...and that led to my next major upgrade. On the day I bought them later that week or so...I specifically remember saying to the owner of the store...the SF Strads are an amazing reference speaker...the only one I would upgrade to would be the X1/Grand Slamm.
...and one year later he called me with a 16-year old pair in near-mint condition that had showed up and at a price that allowed me literally to just swap speakers...that was 10 years ago and the evolution of minor, mini-tweaks and adjustments to fine tune this remarkable now-26 year old speaker are chronicled here:
https://whatsbestforum.com/threads/wilson-x1-grand-slamm-still-improving-after-20-years.15530/
ENTER WILSON XLF - 2012
Since then, I went on to listen to systems with the mighty Rockport Arrakis, the Genesis 1s, the 4-tower Tidal Sunrays, the YG Acoustics Anat Ref IIs, the Focal Grande Utopia EM, multiple X2 Series 1 and 2s...nearly all of these in the same demo rooms I had grown accustomed to over the years. And of all of these, the Arrakis stuck with me all those years...the ONLY other speaker that kept me thinking about it was the Wilson XLF. We first heard it in 2012 and revelled in its newfound alacrity, power, effortlessness, nuance (not just in the treble).
Not the equal of the Arrakis in unlimited scale, effortlessness...but so nuanced, its ability to portray organic detail from the sources and amps was spectacular and truly a level well above its original incarnation the X1...and finally, it was also so finely adjustable by a super-maven like Pedro of Absolute Sounds UK. Whenever I thought about getting the Arrakis, it always occurred to me whether I might (in some small, small way) miss the opportunity to enjoy the 20-year newer, more rigid, more capable, more powerful, more detailed, quieter, more nuanced version of the original X1/Grand SLAMM...roughly 7 generations later if you could include X1 Series 1, 2, 3 the Level V, the Alexandria 1, 2 and then XLF 7.
WILSON XLF - 2020
As the arrival of the new generation of Wilson flagships took off, the 8 year flagship came to end, and we had the opportunity to acquire an 'as new, full 5-year warranty' pair painted new to our choice but at a price that worked for us. We took it. (Turns out rumor has it that this pair might have been Transparent Audio Founder Karen Sumner's personal pair. Cool. She has presumably gone up to the XVX.)
In comparison with our 26-year-old X1/Grand Slamm, the XLF is truly more inert, more capable, more effortless, quieter and more refined. It is also far more powerful and propsulsive while also being more delicate. But it never strays from the original 'ethos' that was born in the X1: effortlessness, scale, dynamic capability...and supremely adjustable to finetune to room variances and of course personal taste. And always in the hands of a professional.
A few notes:
- Every internal surface of the XLF (that you can see) is covered in acoustic material so as you get near that part of the speaker (behind the adjustable modules for example), your ears almost feel like they are popping because the sound deadens.
- Every corner and edge is specifically mitered, rounded, smoothed and THEN generally covered with a thin elastomer material where it makes contact with another surface
- Every insertion peg is covered in an elastomer material before it goes into a screw hole
- The solidity of the unit is far greater than the X1 where I was constantly driving greater rigidity, mass damping to reduce vibration-induced 'noise'
- The weight of the XLF is some 20% or 100+lbs heavier than the original X1/Grand SLAMM
- It also has a 13" and 15" combination for bass (vs the X1s 12" and 15") and 2 x 7" midrange cones (vs 2 x 6" for X1)
Standout Listening Notes?
- Super quiet noise floor
- Far more resolute
- Greater detail, dynamic range and ability to parse out fine gradients in microdynamics and shading
- Overall, the picture produced by the XLF is far more resolute than earlier incarnations...the rigidity certainly feels like a big part of it, combined with tighter tolerances on manufacturing design and quality of parts
Tweaks?
- We utilized the Stillpoints Ultra 5s on the feet
- We also discovered that putting HRS Nimbus Couplers on the back of the crossver box...stacking 3 Stillpoints Ultra 5s on top and then placing 16kg (so total of 20kg or 45lbs) of Artesania damping plates. In this way, you keep all the original decay, delicacy of the speaker...but now also find that cymbals and certain high-intensity notes in the treble find far greater palpability and solidity of form...while bass also becomes tighter and more resolute
We drive them with the Robert Koda K15EX Super Ground Preamp combined with the Gryphon Audio Mephisto (175 Watts Pure Class A...doubling all the way down to 0.5ohms 5600watts peak) so a LOT of on tap power. And the XLF is genuinely enjoying the extraordinary power.
Look forward to hearing from fellow owners.
With Steve and Ron's most excellent tech/software upgrade to the WBF Platform last week, I was [finally!] able to search "XLF" in the WBF annals...and found we did not have a dedicated thread! So I thought given that there are a few owners here, and many Wilson owners who also have heard them, I would start one.
WILSON JOURNEY BEGINS 2008
My own history with Wilson began with an unexpected listen to the Wilson X1/Grand Slamm Series III powered by a pair of Krell Evo Ones, an ARC Ref 3 preamp and TA Reference cabling. An astounding performance that really opened my eyes to what the effortlessness of scale and dynamics can really do to recreate a performance. I never forgot that introduction when at the time I was enjoying the intimate sound of Sonus Faber Guarneris and a big Velodyne DD18 sub.
When I did a half-day shoot-out with the Guarneri and the Quad 2805 and 2905...I found myself so impressed with the Guarneris in comparison...I very nearly kept them (until I spied the SF Strads in the middle of the main showroom)...and that led to my next major upgrade. On the day I bought them later that week or so...I specifically remember saying to the owner of the store...the SF Strads are an amazing reference speaker...the only one I would upgrade to would be the X1/Grand Slamm.
...and one year later he called me with a 16-year old pair in near-mint condition that had showed up and at a price that allowed me literally to just swap speakers...that was 10 years ago and the evolution of minor, mini-tweaks and adjustments to fine tune this remarkable now-26 year old speaker are chronicled here:
https://whatsbestforum.com/threads/wilson-x1-grand-slamm-still-improving-after-20-years.15530/
ENTER WILSON XLF - 2012
Since then, I went on to listen to systems with the mighty Rockport Arrakis, the Genesis 1s, the 4-tower Tidal Sunrays, the YG Acoustics Anat Ref IIs, the Focal Grande Utopia EM, multiple X2 Series 1 and 2s...nearly all of these in the same demo rooms I had grown accustomed to over the years. And of all of these, the Arrakis stuck with me all those years...the ONLY other speaker that kept me thinking about it was the Wilson XLF. We first heard it in 2012 and revelled in its newfound alacrity, power, effortlessness, nuance (not just in the treble).
Not the equal of the Arrakis in unlimited scale, effortlessness...but so nuanced, its ability to portray organic detail from the sources and amps was spectacular and truly a level well above its original incarnation the X1...and finally, it was also so finely adjustable by a super-maven like Pedro of Absolute Sounds UK. Whenever I thought about getting the Arrakis, it always occurred to me whether I might (in some small, small way) miss the opportunity to enjoy the 20-year newer, more rigid, more capable, more powerful, more detailed, quieter, more nuanced version of the original X1/Grand SLAMM...roughly 7 generations later if you could include X1 Series 1, 2, 3 the Level V, the Alexandria 1, 2 and then XLF 7.
WILSON XLF - 2020
As the arrival of the new generation of Wilson flagships took off, the 8 year flagship came to end, and we had the opportunity to acquire an 'as new, full 5-year warranty' pair painted new to our choice but at a price that worked for us. We took it. (Turns out rumor has it that this pair might have been Transparent Audio Founder Karen Sumner's personal pair. Cool. She has presumably gone up to the XVX.)
In comparison with our 26-year-old X1/Grand Slamm, the XLF is truly more inert, more capable, more effortless, quieter and more refined. It is also far more powerful and propsulsive while also being more delicate. But it never strays from the original 'ethos' that was born in the X1: effortlessness, scale, dynamic capability...and supremely adjustable to finetune to room variances and of course personal taste. And always in the hands of a professional.
A few notes:
- Every internal surface of the XLF (that you can see) is covered in acoustic material so as you get near that part of the speaker (behind the adjustable modules for example), your ears almost feel like they are popping because the sound deadens.
- Every corner and edge is specifically mitered, rounded, smoothed and THEN generally covered with a thin elastomer material where it makes contact with another surface
- Every insertion peg is covered in an elastomer material before it goes into a screw hole
- The solidity of the unit is far greater than the X1 where I was constantly driving greater rigidity, mass damping to reduce vibration-induced 'noise'
- The weight of the XLF is some 20% or 100+lbs heavier than the original X1/Grand SLAMM
- It also has a 13" and 15" combination for bass (vs the X1s 12" and 15") and 2 x 7" midrange cones (vs 2 x 6" for X1)
Standout Listening Notes?
- Super quiet noise floor
- Far more resolute
- Greater detail, dynamic range and ability to parse out fine gradients in microdynamics and shading
- Overall, the picture produced by the XLF is far more resolute than earlier incarnations...the rigidity certainly feels like a big part of it, combined with tighter tolerances on manufacturing design and quality of parts
Tweaks?
- We utilized the Stillpoints Ultra 5s on the feet
- We also discovered that putting HRS Nimbus Couplers on the back of the crossver box...stacking 3 Stillpoints Ultra 5s on top and then placing 16kg (so total of 20kg or 45lbs) of Artesania damping plates. In this way, you keep all the original decay, delicacy of the speaker...but now also find that cymbals and certain high-intensity notes in the treble find far greater palpability and solidity of form...while bass also becomes tighter and more resolute
We drive them with the Robert Koda K15EX Super Ground Preamp combined with the Gryphon Audio Mephisto (175 Watts Pure Class A...doubling all the way down to 0.5ohms 5600watts peak) so a LOT of on tap power. And the XLF is genuinely enjoying the extraordinary power.
Look forward to hearing from fellow owners.
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