Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Long time reader, first time writer.

There's something I've long wondered about Wilson speakers. The team at Wilson goes to great lengths and expense to put together a speaker where each driver can be infinitesimally adjusted with the goal of making sounds of different frequencies, each of which travels at a different speed, arrive at the listener's ear at the same time.

Am I right? Do I understand Wilson's design?

My question is this: Musical instruments have no such adjustments. The bow of a violin hits the strings at at one very small point in space. From that one point, sounds of all frequencies are launched. These frequencies all travel at different speeds. But one can't adjust the violin so that all of its frequencies reach the listener at the same time. The real world is not so orderly.

Does't Wilson want its speakers sound like the what we hear in the concert hall? Why would they want their speakers to sound unnatural, even if they've managed to improve on what we hear in the nature?

People have been paying six figures for Wilson speakers for many years so I'm guessing that there's an answer to my conundrum. But for the life of me, I can't figure out what it is.

I’m still evaluating you. My question in any review is will the item reviewed play my reference albums. Something Peter McGrath has never allowed at shows.

Next what are you going to use as refence material when MQA fades away completely?

No point in noting Peter likes MQA. If you and Peter can’t tell MQA is just DSP and a couple of tweaks that is your problem not mine.

I would have sent this back with a lot of review comments. Happy Holidays, stay safe and warm.

Stephen

Hi Jason,

Each month I look forward to reading your reviews. I must admit that I generally take lesser interest in the technical details of the component under review – although that is interesting – focusing instead on your choice of review music and your discussion of the listening experience. I have discovered a lot of fantastic music reading your reviews, and I always look forward to being introduced to that next gem. My hi-fi system could not be more different technically from yours. My system is tubes, paper cones, silk domes, and wood cabinets. I mostly listen to vinyl and CDs, preferring the tactile experience of physical media over streamed digital files; I use streaming mainly to discover new music. That said, we seem to have similar musical tastes. After reading each review, I queue up the review music selections on my system, sit back, close my eyes, and listen. I then compare my experience to what you have described as yours in the review. Great fun. Thanks for the great work. BTW, I am in complete agreement, Maazel’s and Battle's interpretation of Maher is “seductive.”

-- Monty

And here's where I differ from others, as I prefer to read about the technical aspects of such review and can do without all this stuff about their personal reference recordings. I know it all depends on how it sounds, but I don't need to know the exact details of whatever it is (which piece of music) you're listening to. Other than that, I do think all reviews are helpful in some way. Presently I'm not in the market for such a pair of speakers (at $67K) and would never contemplate Wilson Audio. But things do change... who knows?

I recognized my upgraditis addiction in my teens and now only make changes when I'm forced to (due to component failure) or when the value proposition is overwhelming (most recently Amazon Music Unlimited, Echo Link & Schiit Modi 3). So when reading this review I felt extremely sad for previous owners of the very expensive Alexia.
Why can't high end manufacturers give a new model name to each non-upgradeable version of an existing design, for the sake of the mental health of their customers?
Better still, have a renowned expert like John Atkinson, analyze and write about the changes made thru previous iterations to determine if the improvements could have been incorporated in the first design?
At the price paid it should not take five iterations to get to this level of perfection.

At the price paid, three iterations in nine years is excessive. Would you buy a speaker if the salesman told you an improved version will appear in five years? Loudspeakers are not like other consumer goods. A well designed & manufactured speaker should last decades of daily use. Is it too much to ask for a model name change (and of course price increase) at each iteration?

Hopefully the first Alexia was the result of many pre-production iterations. I believe it is the job of journalists to advocate for the customer and, be critical of manufacturer's decisions. There was no implication as to the life of the Alexia, I was considering the impact on the customer. A car is a consumer item and is expected to wear out with daily use. You have continued to miss the point, why upset the previous customer when a simple name change and price increase would have far less impact on their mental health?