Sidebar 2: Recordings in the Round
TRONDHEIM SOLOISTS: Reflections
Britten: Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge. Stravinsky: Apollon Musagète. Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
Trondheim Soloists; Øyvind Gimse, artistic dir.; Geir Inge Lotsberg, guest leader
2L 2L-125-SABD (SACD/CD+BD). 2016. Morten Lindberg, prod., eng. DDD. TT: 70:16
This recording was nominated for a Grammy for Best Surround Recording. The winner is more than fine (you can look it up), but we wuz robbed! Perhaps the Trondheim Soloists' 2L recordings are now quantities too…
Having discontinued the MAXX3 loudspeaker ($68,000/pair in 2009, when I reviewed it), Wilson Audio needed to plug the resulting gaping hole between the Alexia ($48,500/pair) and the Alexandria XLF ($210,000/pair). Company founder Dave Wilson was busy with the limited-edition WAMM Master Chronosonic loudspeaker ($685,000/pair), so son Darryl Wilson set about creating a speaker with a retail price of about $100,000/pair. The result, the Alexx, finally came in at $109,000/pair.
The Alexx shares with the Alexandria XLF Wilson's Aspherical Group Delay technology, whereby the positions of its…
In my room, the Alexx's bottom end was far superior to the Alexandria's: deeper, faster, tighter, and, interestingly, more organically and tunefully delivered. With recordings that include deep bass, that deep bass was just there—it didn't sound as if it was being pumped into the room by a loudspeaker. In that regard, the Alexx was remarkable.
That visceral but tuneful, well-controlled bass was ideally damped: sounding neither too tight nor mechanical nor in any way "porty." I'll be interested to compare John Atkinson's measurements of the Alexx's in-room frequency response with those…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Four-way, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25.4mm) silk-dome tweeter, 5.75" (146mm) paper/pulp-cone midrange, 7" (178mm) carbon-fiber/paper-cone midrange, 10.5" (267mm) & 12.5" (318mm) paper/pulp-cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: not disclosed. Frequency response: 20Hz–31kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 91dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 1.5 ohms minimum at 2850Hz. Minimum amplification: 50Wpc.
Dimensions: 62.3" (1582mm) H by 15.75" (400mm) W by 26.75" (680mm) D. Weight: 452 lbs (205kg).
Finishes: Multiple automotive paint…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable & Castellon stand; Kuzma 4Point, SAT tonearms; Lyra Atlas & Atlas SL & Etna & Etna SL, Ortofon Anna & A95, Miyajima Labs Zero (mono) & Madake cartridges.
Digital Sources: Audio Alchemy DDSPro CD transport; Simaudio Moon Evolution 780D, Brinkmann Nyquist DACs; Lynx Hilo A/D-D/A converter; Meridian Sooloos Digital Media System; Pure Vinyl & Vinyl Studio software.
Preamplification: Ypsilon MC-10L & MC-16L step-up transformers; CH Precision P1, TruLife Argo,…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Because this speaker's size and 452-lb weight made shipping one of them to me for measurement impossible, I drove my test gear to Michael Fremer's place. I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Wilson Audio Alexx's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and in-room responses.
The first dilemma was on what axis to examine the speaker's quasi-anechoic behavior. Wilson's Peter McGrath had adjusted the Alexx's tweeter and midrange modules so that their axes converged on the…
Saturday, April 29, from 1–5pm, Lavish Hi-Fi (1044 4th Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95404) is holding a vinyl lover's dream day, featuring The Last Record Store, and Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.
Mobile Fidelity mastering engineers Shawn and Rob will play their fabulous LPs and discuss the challenges of making ultra-high quality vinyl records. Last Record Store owner and music buff Doug Jayne will talk about his 30+ years of seeing the public's reaction to changing audio formats, and his own feelings about what vinyl does that other mediums do not. And Lavish Hi-Fi's Craig Allison will recount…
The most astounding and baffling system I encountered at AXPONA—I'm not sure which of those descriptors should come first—was in the Raidho/Aavik room, which used Ansuz cabling to join Danish-made Raidho Acoustics D-1.1 Black speakers ($23,000/pair) with sister-company Aavik Acoustics' C-300 control amplifier (preamp) with two phono stages ($42,000) and brand new M-300 300W class-A mono power amplifier ($48,000). At first, I was completely wowed by the sound. Over and over, I scribbled the word "marvelous" to describe the ear-opening ambience, spatiality, height and warmth on an unfamiliar…
See the smiling woman in this photo? That's Liz Miller, Conference & Programming Director for AXPONA, and the fact that she's smiling at the end of the largest North American consumer-audio of 2017 (so far) is a miracle. She and her team at JDEvents—Mark Freed, Joel Davis, Lou Mancini, Dawn Jeffrey, Melissa Cercone, Joelle Coretti, and Jenabeth Ferguson—worked on the show for months. Liz, in fact, works on it year-round. Yet at the end of an expo that sold 6723 tickets—up 13% from 2016!—and welcomed 4726 unique visitors over three days—up from 4092 in 2016!—she was so together that she…
So why do it? Remix Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 50 years after the album's original release? Giles Martin (above), son of Sir George and the man behind the new remix, said the answer is simple. Because the original tapes are in pristine condition we can.
And then there's the all-important context: record labels need something to sell. And after all we are talking about the Beatles here. If there is anything like a sure thing, a guaranteed hit, in the music business, it's John, Paul, Ringo and George.
Better face it now Beatles fans: we are all going to be buying "new"…
