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Wilson Alexia 2 Speakers

Bob from Florida

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An audio buddy asked me to help him set up a pair of Alexia 2's he just purchased. Very interesting speakers - out of my price range, but the chance to do initial setup was cool.


The speaker has to be assembled - a bass module with a midrange/tweeter module that sits in a "nesting area". Combined weight is 260 pounds! Wilson has a comprehensive manual with recommended mechanical settings based on ear height and distance from the speakers. The midrange/tweeter module has front to back alignment and tilt - based on the charts in the manual. The tweeter also can be adjusted front to back as well. Power resistors are also provided to fine tune the attenuation of the midrange and tweeter circuits. Initial setup followed the "book". Initial listening was - for want of a better descriptor - amazing. Bass was clean and extended - same for midrange and treble. Dynamics were clearly there - driven by Pass Labs 60 watt mono blocks. An expensive speaker that "sounds good"! I have heard some high dollar speakers before, but these are clearly the best so far.
 

fpitas

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Bob from Florida

Bob from Florida

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YSC

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Omar Cumming

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looks ok to quite good on axis, directivity is kind of poor, but to me the most worrying thing is the look... it really don't feel like I would want a pair in my home

1- Yes they are ugly and and large! But also:

2- They are ridiculously expensive.

3- The frequency response is nothing to write home about, with a bass boost that would make a maker of cheap speakers proud.

Cheers
 
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Bob from Florida

Bob from Florida

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looks ok to quite good on axis, directivity is kind of poor, but to me the most worrying thing is the look... it really don't feel like I would want a pair in my home
I would have to win the lottery before spending that kind of money on a speaker and the looks are something to get used to for sure. Perhaps the manual had some good advice relative to setup - certainly had details for sure. The bass was not overdone - possibly the room was helping. I recently heard the Kii 3 system with the bass modules. These speakers reminded me of the Kii 3 system in terms of clarity without audible distortion at higher volumes.
Not really here to promote getting them versus something else. I have heard some very expensive speakers. PBN Montanas WAS for example - 2 18" woofers will "bloat" the bass if not in a giant room - for example. These Wilsons impressed me when I was not expecting to be impressed.
 

fpitas

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looks ok to quite good on axis, directivity is kind of poor, but to me the most worrying thing is the look... it really don't feel like I would want a pair in my home
Yeah, it's not very appealing visually. I stacked modules for my home speakers, but not for looks. I'll be the first to admit they have an alien robot look.
 

YSC

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I would have to win the lottery before spending that kind of money on a speaker and the looks are something to get used to for sure. Perhaps the manual had some good advice relative to setup - certainly had details for sure. The bass was not overdone - possibly the room was helping. I recently heard the Kii 3 system with the bass modules. These speakers reminded me of the Kii 3 system in terms of clarity without audible distortion at higher volumes.
Not really here to promote getting them versus something else. I have heard some very expensive speakers. PBN Montanas WAS for example - 2 18" woofers will "bloat" the bass if not in a giant room - for example. These Wilsons impressed me when I was not expecting to be impressed.
yea, re-reading your original post it does looked like they did a great design to optitmize the MLP response in most sensible space to put them in (ok, just to say not putting right next to thte PC desk as nearfield, or in a concert hall), and the resistors and angle arrangement to make them sound good without EQ correction. would be interesting to see an in room measurement with say decay time, phase as well as FR to see how well actually it gets, I would imagine phase will be more linear than normal speakers, and then the FR sens the room mode peak/null would follow the gentle slope model quite well.
 

MattHooper

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One thing I've never understood about the Wilson speakers:

By their own account they go to extreme lengths to optimize "time coherence," both in the design and set up of the speakers. In the larger models, each driver enclosure can be adjusted so that "all the sound arrives at the listener's ears at the same time." This apparently will result in greater image focus, precision in soundstaging etc.

I've always understood that IF you are going along these lines of trying to get all the sound to cohere in the time domain, you'd want time AND PHASE coherence. Otherwise you are still stuck with the fact the crossovers are putting the waveforms out of phase...so what was the point?

I know the audibility of time/phase coherence is controversial, but as we know companies dedicated to the idea, like Thiel, did manage to achieve pretty good time/phase behaviour in their passive designs. I just don't understand why Wilson seems to go 1/2 way if getting the sound to cohere is what they are all about.

That said: something that seems a constant in reports from those who have owned, set up or listened extensively to the big Wilson speakers, is that the sense of soundstaging and imaging is particularly impressive - with a sense of exactness and density to the sonic images and very precise sounding "soundstages." And I've read numerous accounts that when the speakers are being dialed in that the minute changes in position/driver position are readily heard in terms of such precision.

So...I dunno. Maybe they are doing something half right?
 

fpitas

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One thing I've never understood about the Wilson speakers:

By their own account they go to extreme lengths to optimize "time coherence," both in the design and set up of the speakers. In the larger models, each driver enclosure can be adjusted so that "all the sound arrives at the listener's ears at the same time." This apparently will result in greater image focus, precision in soundstaging etc.

I've always understood that IF you are going along these lines of trying to get all the sound to cohere in the time domain, you'd want time AND PHASE coherence. Otherwise you are still stuck with the fact the crossovers are putting the waveforms out of phase...so what was the point?

I know the audibility of time/phase coherence is controversial, but as we know companies dedicated to the idea, like Thiel, did manage to achieve pretty good time/phase behaviour in their passive designs. I just don't understand why Wilson seems to go 1/2 way if getting the sound to cohere is what they are all about.

That said: something that seems a constant in reports from those who have owned, set up or listened extensively to the big Wilson speakers, is that the sense of soundstaging and imaging is particularly impressive - with a sense of exactness and density to the sonic images and very precise sounding "soundstages." And I've read numerous accounts that when the speakers are being dialed in that the minute changes in position/driver position are readily heard in terms of such precision.

So...I dunno. Maybe they are doing something half right?
I suspect they tweak the crossover around by ear to get the sound they like best. So it's probably some relationship of on and off-axis sound they go for.
 

Somafunk

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An audio buddy asked me to help him set up a pair of Alexia 2's he just purchased. Very interesting speakers - out of my price range, but the chance to do initial setup was cool.

Surely a speaker that is such an expense should be setup by the dealer?.
 
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