Wilson Scales the CES Heights

It's unfair to judge the scale of Wilson Audio's forthcoming Alexx loudspeaker ($109,000/pair) from the height of the two gentlemen flanking it, because main designer Daryl Wilson and inspiration/father Dave Wilson are ridiculously tall. But despite the fact that Alexx is 4" shorter than the older MAXX3, his 65" height means he's a foot taller than his not-so-little sister Alexia.

Measurements, however, say only so much about an imposing 4-way loudspeaker that is due in the first quarter of 2016. A listen would say a lot more, but Wilson opted for static display. Thus we must content ourselves, for now, with that fact that sweet Alexx has a specified sensitivity of 91dB, and a driver compliment that includes 12.5" and 10.5" woofers, and 7" and 5.75" midrange drivers that flank a 1" silk-dome tweeter. The two woofers were initially developed for Dave Wilson's forthcoming magnum opus, the towering WAMM, and derive from the woofers used in the Alexia. The 7" midrange, in turn, came from the Alexandria XLF, and the 5.75" mid from the Sabrina. For the first time, raw Opus cabling from Transparent is used in the woofer crossover, albeit with twist ratios proprietary to Wilson.

A feature of the speaker that it derives from the larger Alexandria XLF is its ability to use either the front port, which emphasizes upper bass, or the rear port, which emphasizes lower bass. In addition, Alexx has a divided midrange, with the two different-sized drivers and tweeter afforded separate, time domain-adjustable and optimized compartments.

"It was challenging to develop it," Daryl Wilson confessed. "But thanks to the double midrange, we've relieved the tweeter of the need to go down as low as before. Crossing the tweeter over between 2.5 and 3kHz gives Alexx an airy quality, detail, and spaciousness that we've not achieved in other loudspeakers. It also gives Alexx a better overall midrange balance than the Maxx3, and lots of detail in the upper midrange."

Daryl was also very straightforward about the "Wilson sound." "We listen to live music," he said. "We frequently go to Vienna. After meeting Cleveland Orchestra conductor Franz Welser-Möst there, we were recently in Cleveland for orchestra rehearsals in Severance Hall. We don't reference recordings or voice to our favorite recordings; we reference the live thing. Thus, we choose the materials and design elements that best meet our goal."

COMMENTS
bdaddy60's picture

I am so tempted to say something that should be said about home audio speakers priced like these ...but I won't you know what I'm thinking....anyway those guys are very well dressed.

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