Thread: Wilson Alexia

Does anyone know if you can biamp the Wilson Alexia's? I'm perfectly happy with my speakers, I'm just asking for a friend!

Mike

I finally got to hear a pair today and I have to tell you they were wonderful. I absolutely loved them. Huge sound stage. Lively without being harsh, full bass. A great speaker. I think Wilson hit a huge home run with these. I could see these in my room.

I would love hear a pair someday. I've only heard Sophia 2's and Maxx 3's (the ones in Jim's photo from the other thread) and they were really something. Those Maxx 3's were fabulous being driven by a Ref250/Ref5 pairing. I imagine the Alexia's are special for sure.

Welcome to the forum "Big B"

Thanks for joining.

Welcome to AS Big B!!!

I would say The Watch Center Series 3 would be a good match for be Alexia.

Big B... Hello & Welcome to AudioShark!!!

Originally Posted by Big B

Has anyone heard about an Alexia center channel or inwalls?

Welcome.jpg To this great forum Big B

Bienvenido Big B

Originally Posted by joeinid

I finally got to hear a pair today and I have to tell you they were wonderful. I absolutely loved them. Huge sound stage. Lively without being harsh, full bass. A great speaker. I think Wilson hit a huge home run with these. I could see these in my room.

Glad you like them, Joe! I liked what I heard from them, too. It's too bad the room was square so the bass was way over bloated. Would love to hear what it sounds like in a proper setup!

Big B, welcome to AS!

I will be checking the Alexia's out this coming Saturday. Fidelis AV of Derry, NH (1 hr north of Boston) will be hosting Peter McGrath from Wilson demoing the Alexias with Dan D'Agostino, who will be demoing his preamp and mono amps. Also Brett D'Agostino will be there to demo his new Class A amp and his preamp. For those in the New England Area who are interested, the event is this coming Sat Jun 22 from 1-6pm. You can email them at store@fidelisav.com if you are interested in attending.

Cyril - lucky you! I loved them. They would be in my room right now if not for someone called "Aida".

Originally Posted by Mike

Cyril - lucky you! I loved them. They would be in my room right now if not for someone called "Aida".

Mike...I am looking forward to it. I posted a new thread letting folks know about the demo in case there is anyone on AS who is in the New England area who might be interested. Unfortunately, I am not even remotely in a position to consider this level of gear right now but it will be interesting to hear these babies with the apparently excellent D'Agostino products.

Originally Posted by cmalak

Mike...I am looking forward to it. I posted a new thread letting folks know about the demo in case there is anyone on AS who is in the New England area who might be interested. Unfortunately, I am not even remotely in a position to consider this level of gear right now but it will be interesting to hear these babies with the apparently excellent D'Agostino products.

Just enjoy the demo! I certainly did.

Mike

Originally Posted by cmalak

I will be checking the Alexia's out this coming Saturday. Fidelis AV of Derry, NH (1 hr north of Boston) will be hosting Peter McGrath from Wilson demoing the Alexias with Dan D'Agostino, who will be demoing his preamp and mono amps. Also Brett D'Agostino will be there to demo his new Class A amp and his preamp. For those in the New England Area who are interested, the event is this coming Sat Jun 22 from 1-6pm. You can email them at store@fidelisav.com if you are interested in attending.

Cyril,

What a coinkidink!! Jeff, E, and I will be auditioning the Alexia this Saturday also.. It will be paired up with AR Ref150, we will report back..

Cyril,

Have fun and please keep me in mind. Since I already have the "required" D'Agostino gear, I'm interested in your opinion. I am considering Alexia for another room. A room with enough space to do them justice. I have a few other speakers in mind but the Alexia are certainly on the "short" list.

Originally Posted by Dewster

Cyril,

What a coinkidink!! Jeff, E, and I will be auditioning the Alexia this Saturday also.. It will be paired up with AR Ref150, we will report back..

Keep the opinions coming! I like the feedback.

Originally Posted by Dewster

Cyril,

What a coinkidink!! Jeff, E, and I will be auditioning the Alexia this Saturday also.. It will be paired up with AR Ref150, we will report back..

Dewey...let us know what you think. I will do the same. Thx

Originally Posted by joeinid

Cyril,

Have fun and please keep me in mind. Since I already have the "required" D'Agostino gear, I'm interested in your opinion. I am considering Alexia for another room. A room with enough space to do them justice. I have a few other speakers in mind but the Alexia are certainly on the "short" list.

Will do Joe.

Originally Posted by joeinid

Keep the opinions coming! I like the feedback.

We will give you our truthful no BS assessment

Spending time and a little money on a room, can pay larger dividends than a single component change. The key (I have found) is not to over do it. You can make a room too "dead" sounding. It's a delicate balance. Start with a few pieces and then gradually make some additions. The big bang theory of room acoustics (going crazy with panels) rarely works.

Originally Posted by Dewster

Cyril,

What a coinkidink!! Jeff, E, and I will be auditioning the Alexia this Saturday also.. It will be paired up with AR Ref150, we will report back..

You're stickin' with the 1960's fridges, eh? :p

Also trying to find a place that has some Focal Utopias laying around to fire up... not an easy task.

Originally Posted by -E-

You're stickin' with the 1960's fridges, eh? :p

Also trying to find a place that has some Focal Utopias laying around to fire up... not an easy task.

AR Ref150 will be a good match man..

I'm not saying it won't be... I like the way ARC *sounds*...

Originally Posted by Dewster

AR Ref150 will be a good match man..

+1

I agree.

Originally Posted by joeinid

Keep the opinions coming! I like the feedback.

I would say something, yet I think my thoughts might be a little biased. For some reason I tend to prefer Wilson Audio over all others....

Originally Posted by -E-

You're stickin' with the 1960's fridges, eh? :p

Also trying to find a place that has some Focal Utopias laying around to fire up... not an easy task.

Check with Carl at Apex Audio in Denver. He usually has something in the Utopia line set-up.

Originally Posted by Lildebs

I would say something, yet I think my thoughts might be a little biased. For some reason I tend to prefer Wilson Audio over all others....

That's a great start Debby. Can you tell us more I really liked the Alexia when I heard them.

Originally Posted by Lildebs

I would say something, yet I think my thoughts might be a little biased. For some reason I tend to prefer Wilson Audio over all others....

Very good answer

Originally Posted by still-one

Check with Carl at Apex Audio in Denver. He usually has something in the Utopia line set-up.

I found a spot with the Scala's... we're going to check them out (they have some Kharma stuff at the Focal place, too).

Originally Posted by Dewster

We will give you our truthful no BS assessment

Dewey...any thoughts you want to share on the Alexias paired up with the ARC Ref 150s? Here are my thoughts on the D'Ag and Alexia combo which I posted in the other thread on the the demo at Fidelis in case you did not see them:

Well folks, I just got back from this demo and I can see what all the fuss is about. The caveats are that I was not sitting in the sweet spot and the room was a bit small for the Alexias (I believe) but the D'Agostino stereo amp and preamp with a Bricasti front end and Transparent cabling all terminating in the Alexias was quite a combo. There were 20 people or so smushed in a small room so that and not being in the sweet spot prevented me from being emotionally engaged with the music. Plus it was Peter McGrath of Wilson playing samples of his excellent recordings but pieces of music not familiar to me that also kept me from being really swept away. But here's what I heard and it was all very impressive:

1. Crystal clear/transparent midrange. Resolution on these babies was out of bounds
2. Pristine and extended highs (in contrast to earlier Wilsons which were a bit peaky for my taste, the soft dome tweeters on the Alexias were just right)
3. Bass was extended and punchy. I think there was a bit too much bass-room interaction because I think on bass heavy music, the bass was not as tight as I would have expected and maybe a tad blurring of resolution as a result
4. When you add all of the above, musical timbres were spot on (vocals, piano, horns, percussion, etc... all sounded natural and accurate)
5. These speakers are dynamic as hell. And I am sure the D'Ag stereo amp had a good hand in the delivery of macro dynamics as well
6. The speakers definitely presented images within the stage that were full bodied (3D in the sense of meat on the bones)
7. Overall staging I did not get to fully experience properly again because I was not sitting in the sweet spot

Overall very impressive combo. Fit and finish on both the Wilson and the D'Ag gear is right up there with the best.

For any Alexia owners on AS congrats. For all you D'Ag owners (Joe and Shane and others ), congrats as well.

Both Dan D'Agostino and Peter McGrath were super nice guys and they know their sh*te that's for sure

Hope this gives you a decent sense of what it was like being there. Here's a crappy iPhone pic of the set-up:

Attachment 2031

And finally, for anyone in the New England area who has not dealt with Fidelis, Walter Swanbon (founder/owner) is a very good guy and eventhough I have not had any dealings with them (yet ), I would heartily recommend him and his team at Fidelis.

Originally Posted by cmalak

Dewey...any thoughts you want to share on the Alexias paired up with the ARC Ref 150s? Here are my thoughts on the D'Ag and Alexia combo which I posted in the other thread on the the demo at Fidelis in case you did not see them:

Cyril,

My apology, I cannot at this time really give you my review of the Alexia. I didn't think the room we were in really do the Alexia's justice, but at this time, it didn't impressed me enough to replace my Futura. The equipments we auditioned with as follow... VTL pre(forgot which model), ARC Ref 150, 4 stacks DCS Paganini, AMG V12 TT, and Transparent Cables.

Originally Posted by Dewster

Cyril,

My apology, I cannot at this time really give you my review of the Alexia. I didn't think the room we were in really do the Alexia's justice, but at this time, it didn't impressed me enough to replace my Futura. The equipments we auditioned with as follow... VTL pre(forgot which model), ARC Ref 150, 4 stacks DCS Paganini, AMG V12 TT, and Transparent Cables.

Dewey...that's fair. I also thought the room I was in was holding back the Alexias a bit as I mentioned above, especially as it related to the low frequency performance. Look at it this way, you just saved an incremental $25K (not sure what used Futuras get in the marketplace but I am assuming high teens to low 20s and list on Alexia is $48.5K).

At that level, its often just "different" rather than "better" and the law of diminishing returns really starts to kick in. I was fortunate to hear the Futuras beside the Alexia's. Same Linn Akurate DS source. Both are excellent. If I had a small(ish) room, I would definitely go with the Futuras - but I would then face some limitations from an amplification standpoint (Bryston 28's would be the front runner for sure). If I had a big(ish) room (say at least 15 x 25) - I would go with the Alexia's and certainly have some more options with amplification (probably ARC if I wanted tubes or D'Agostino if I wanted to go SS). Both are excellent and both are capable of producing world class sound reproduction.

Just my two cents.

Mike,

The room that we were in is aproximate 18' x 24' ish, and I thought to myself the Alexia could handle bigger

Originally Posted by Dewster

Mike,

The room that we were in is aproximate 18' x 24' ish, and I thought to myself the Alexia could handle bigger

That sounds like a large enough room for the Alexia. Sounds like poor speaker set-up is the main issue.

Originally Posted by cmalak

That sounds like a large enough room for the Alexia. Sounds like poor speaker set-up is the main issue.

I feel the same..

I do not think the room was a problem. And the setup was done by the key people of the dealer who "spent the last day dialing them in just right."

Originally Posted by Big B

Has anyone heard about an Alexia center channel or inwalls?

Actually, you want the Mezzo if you're going to go with the Alexia.

As for inwall, dunno. I'm currently happy with the "watch" for my center with my Sasha's.

Originally Posted by Mike

Cyril - lucky you! I loved them. They would be in my room right now if not for someone called "Aida".

OK Mike, since you said it. I have to ask. Please compare them. I realize the Aida's are much more expensive (about double right?). But what were the big points on what you heard between the two?

Originally Posted by Mike

Does anyone know if you can biamp the Wilson Alexia's? I'm perfectly happy with my speakers, I'm just asking for a friend!

Mike

Mike, the Alexia's are similar to the Sasha's in that there is one set of binding posts at the bottom of the speaker. From there the input goes through an internal crossover and the leads are connected to the binding posts of the upper cabinet. There is no difference between the Alexia and Sasha connections really (they look the same is all I'm saying, I'm sure there really are differences in other ways -- I'm just talking about the connections). There are two sets of connections to the upper cabinet, one for highs and one for mids. I suppose you could try to connect directly there, but you'd be bypassing the internal crossover and probably voiding your warranty (and sound too, but I digress).

Bottom line, the only way to "biamp" them is to use two monoblocks One for the left loudspeaker and one for the right, but I guess you knew that already LOL. Answer is a definitive "NO".

Here's a photo of the connections I found online.

wilson_alexia_posteriore.jpg

Bryan

Originally Posted by radioactive

OK Mike, since you said it. I have to ask. Please compare them. I realize the Aida's are much more expensive (about double right?). But what were the big points on what you heard between the two?

If I didn't own the Aida's, I would be tossing and turning between Amati Futura's and Alexia's. I loved them both. The Alexia's were the first speaker I ever heard where I kept saying over and over in my head "these are totally worth their asking price"!

That being said - I still need to properly audition Rockport, Magico, Raidho and an assortment of other top runners in the under $50k bracket.

The Aida's are in another league (and so they should be). The reviews from HiFi News and Tone Magazine nailed it. They do so many things well. They are very very neutral speakers (something quite different from the Strads - which I love too). The big Aida speakers completely disappear and you are left with a wall of sound that is wider than the speakers and deep. They are as close to the MBL 101 Extremes in terms of creating a 3D soundstage and immersing you in the "musicians have assembled in my room for a private concert" feeling as anything I've ever heard. But the big nod still goes to the MBL's. The MBL's own 3D reproduction of music. But still, the rear firing woofer/tweeter of the Aida's help it achieve some impressive depth of soundstage.

Everything is just so much bigger with the Aida's. Life sized would be a better term. Closing your eyes, you can really feel that everything is proportionally correct to what you may hear live.

Super speakers like Aida's, XLF's, Q7's, etc. - just do everything so well.