You Win Some, You...

CAS 2010

By Jason Victor Serinus • Posted: Jul 31, 2010

Given how enthused my fellow Stereophile editors were over the sound of the Legacy Audio speakers at this year's Axpona Show, I was really looking forward to hearing them. I was also looking forward to hearing the pricey, eye-catching Win Analog SET electronics, which had not fared well at a recent demo for the Bay Area Audiophile Society (BAAS).

Unfortunately, the mammoth Legacy Audio Whisper XD ($20,000/pair), which boasts 94dB sensitivity and comes complete with DSP-implemeneted crossover, was not a good match with the Win Analog V series amps ($75,000/each). Given their extremely low input sensitivity, Legacy's Bill Dudleston was compelled to use a tremendous amount of DSP adjustment—far more than usually necessary—and replace the Win Analog preamp ($45,000) with an Inex Innovator preamp ($12,000). Despite the excellence of the Lindemann 825 CD player, the system was muffled on the bottom and clattery/buzzy on top. Still, thanks to Legacy's DSP, and Bill's careful control of volume, the Win Analog electronics sounded better than they when they were paired with Rockport speakers at the BAAS event.

Comments

Submitted by Stephen Scharf on August 2, 2010 - 11:33pm.

Good to know it wasn't my imagination as I didn't enjoy this room, either. I knew something was wrong but I didn't know what, thanks for the added info, Jason. I'm till not not impressed with my second audition of the Win amps after initially hearing them at Stereo Unlimited in Walnut Creek where they also had absolutley no center-fill. There is still something about this amp that is still not right. I don't know what it is but it is clearly still a work in development.

Submitted by John Zimmerman on August 3, 2010 - 11:41am.

I’ve heard the Whisper XD paired with Ayon amps before- it sounded fantastic, so I had to hear the Legacy’s again. This time the pairing wasn’t as strong, but I still thought the Legacy’s sounded great!

Submitted by Steven Higgens on August 7, 2010 - 9:54pm.

I visited this room on Saturday and the system sounded really good. I talked with one of the guys from Legacy- they said this was their first time using the Win Analog amps and the Inex preamp, and by Friday afternoon, they had the Whispers dialed in. I was really impressed with the sound of these speakers.