^^^
Yes, there's nothing like the best recorded source with the fewest generations of copies and mixdowns between the event and the playback medium. The first time I heard a Sheffield D2D was on a portable Zenith record player. In 1975 the stereo shop I worked at hosted a Marantz clinic for measuring and plotting amps and receivers for frequency response, power output, and distortion. The engineer was Reice Hamel, who had recorded several great live albums including Time Jones Live at Caesar's Palace and Buddy Rich's Keep the Customer Satisfied. After the shop closed he took the store staff out to his mobile van for a demo of his traveling gear. Mostly he had a bank of 8" full range JBL speakers powered by little Crown D-75 amps. The source was a 4-track stereo Aiwa reel-to-reel--not a Tandberg, Tascam, or Revox. The sound was a direct mix off the multi-track master and it simply blew us away.
So I know all about that. I've been going to the Wilson demo at this open house every year since 2006. They always play a mix of recordings, sometimes including vinyl, but almost always John Atkinson is there with a 24/96 or even 24/192 recording or two that he's done with minimal miking. So I heard these Alexandria XLFs with a variety of material including 1st-gen copies of meticulously recorded material, and all played over state-of-the-art electronics and cables.
Taking all that into consideration, that XLF rig is the best reproduced sound I have ever heard, period. True, I haven't heard Focal Grand Utopias, top line Magico, or YG. But of everything I've heard, and allowing for a wide variety of source material quality, the XLF is a stunning speaker by any measure.
Yes, there's nothing like the best recorded source with the fewest generations of copies and mixdowns between the event and the playback medium. The first time I heard a Sheffield D2D was on a portable Zenith record player. In 1975 the stereo shop I worked at hosted a Marantz clinic for measuring and plotting amps and receivers for frequency response, power output, and distortion. The engineer was Reice Hamel, who had recorded several great live albums including Time Jones Live at Caesar's Palace and Buddy Rich's Keep the Customer Satisfied. After the shop closed he took the store staff out to his mobile van for a demo of his traveling gear. Mostly he had a bank of 8" full range JBL speakers powered by little Crown D-75 amps. The source was a 4-track stereo Aiwa reel-to-reel--not a Tandberg, Tascam, or Revox. The sound was a direct mix off the multi-track master and it simply blew us away.
So I know all about that. I've been going to the Wilson demo at this open house every year since 2006. They always play a mix of recordings, sometimes including vinyl, but almost always John Atkinson is there with a 24/96 or even 24/192 recording or two that he's done with minimal miking. So I heard these Alexandria XLFs with a variety of material including 1st-gen copies of meticulously recorded material, and all played over state-of-the-art electronics and cables.
Taking all that into consideration, that XLF rig is the best reproduced sound I have ever heard, period. True, I haven't heard Focal Grand Utopias, top line Magico, or YG. But of everything I've heard, and allowing for a wide variety of source material quality, the XLF is a stunning speaker by any measure.