Not surprisingly, the XLFs ended up within a few inches of where the MAXX 3s had stood—and, also as with the MAXX 3s, when I sat down just under 8' away, the upper woofers were where the tweeters would be in a speaker of more appropriate size for the space. The XLFs' midrange-tweeter…
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We rolled the woofer cabinets into their approximate positions, then laid on the carpet the four wings and the six upper driver modules. McGrath arrived the next day, and within a few hours these positively enormous speakers, had been positioned, voiced, and spiked, and their ports set to fire to the rear.
Have you heard Roberto Gerhard's cantata The Plague? Better to hear it than buy it. This 1973 performance, with Antal Dor†ti conducting the National Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (LP, Decca Headline HEAD 6), recorded at Constitution Hall by an engineering team led by Kenneth Wilkinson, is a gruesome affair that is every bit the horror show its title suggests. But what a recording! The timpani thwacks sound great through the MAXX 3s—but through the XLFs they went deeper, were better controlled and far more transparent, and lacked a slightly hard leading edge that I now know is a coloration…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) silk-dome tweeter (rear-firing), 1" silk-dome tweeter (front-firing), two 7" (178mm) carbon-fiber/paper-cone midrange units, 13" (330mm) and 15" (381mm) W-sandwich cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: not disclosed. Frequency response (average, in-room): 19.5Hz–33kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 93.5dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum amplification: 7Wpc.
Dimensions: 70 1/4" (1784mm) H by 19 13/16" (504mm) W by 27 7/8" (708mm) D. Weight: 655 lbs (297kg).
Finishes: Multiple…
Sidebar 2: Aspherical Group Delay
Wilson claims that its Aspherical Group Delay technology is as effective harmonically and texturally as it is spatially, helping to precisely reintegrate, at the listening position, the frequencies that have been separated by the crossover and sent to the various drivers.
To do this, each of the three drivers in the Alexandria XLF's MTM array can be independently adjusted fore and aft, as well as rotated on its polar axis. Of equal importance, once the appropriate position has been found, each module can be rigidly locked in place with tether…
Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, Cobra, and Castellon turntable, tonearm, and stand; Graham Engineering Phantom Supreme II, Kuzma 4Point tonearms; Lyra Atlas & Titan i, Miyajima Labs Focus (mono), Ortofon Anna, cartridges.
Digital Sources: MSB Platinum Data CD IV and Diamond DAC IV CD transport and DAC, Platinum Studio ADC; BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder; Meridian Digital Media System; Pure Music software.
Phono preamplifier: Ypsilon VPS-100 with MC-10 and MC-16 step-up transformers.
Preamplifier: darTZeel…
Sidebar 4: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Wilson Alexandria XLF's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and spatially averaged room responses.
Performing measurements on such a large, heavy speaker as the Alexandria XLF poses two main problems. The first is practical: shipping the speakers to my test lab was out of the question, so I had to take my test gear to Michael Fremer's house. The second is that the assumption in any farfield acoustic measurement is that the distance…
Register to win The Beach Boys Remasters 12 CD box set and associated merchandise (MSRP $200) we are giving away.
According to EMI Music:
The 12 Beach Boys studio albums have been digitally remastered by Mark Linett and will be released on CD and digitally, most featuring mono and stereo mixes. The albums are: Surfin’ U.S.A.; Surfer Girl; Little Deuce Coupe; Shut Down, Volume 2; All Summer Long; The Beach Boys Today!; Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!); Beach Boys Party!; Pet Sounds; Smiley Smile; Sunflower (stereo mix only); and Surf’s Up (stereo mix only).
These…
Congratulations to Timothy Brown in Omaha, Nebraska on winning the Ultimate Gift of Music from Sonos.
The Ultimate Gift of Music package includes a Sonos Bridge and PLAY:3 system (MSRP $348).
Timothy Brown couldn't look jollier to get this major gift. Brown's acquisition of the PLAY:3 serves as an upgrade to his already existing Sonos system thus expanding the reach of his playback from the bedroom as an alarm clock radio and into the kitchen as a cooking companion. Per Sonos system specs, he now has a PLAY:5! Brown primarily listens to MOG streaming services on his system. Play…
David Manley, 73, founder of VTL, Manley Laboratories, and the ViTaL record label, died of a heart attack on December 26, 2012, at a hospital near his home in Varrennes-Jarcy, France. Famously described in the pages of Stereophile by Robert Harley in a 1991 interview as expressing "his strongly held beliefs with a passion and conviction that the printed word does not adequately convey," Manley leaves behind a rich legacy that continues to grow under the leadership of, for VTL, his son Luke Manley and daughter-in-law Beatrice Lam, and for Manley Labs, his fifth wife, EveAnna Manley.
Even…
I was ready to have some fun with Dayton Audio's B652 loudspeakers—the ones with the outrageously high price of $39.80/pair.
Available from Parts Express (catalog #300-652), the Dayton B652 is a simple two-way, sealed-cabinet design with a 6.5" polypropylene mid/woofer and a ferrofluid-cooled, 5/8" polycarbonate tweeter. The cabinet is clad in black vinyl and has a removable grille of black cloth. The B652s sounded pretty much the same regardless of whether the grilles were in place, but I preferred their looks with the grilles off, so that's how I listened. Better looks often equal…