Wilson Alexia 20x15 Room

I'll put in my 2 cents. I'm going to try and be objective and fair here (even though like everyone I have my biases).

I just sold my Alexias. Before that I owned Sashas (and still own Sophia 2's in my home theater).

My friend owns Vandersteen 5A's which I have heard many times over the years (with different electronics) and I feel I know the differences between these speakers fairly well.

The Alexias will give you a bigger sound. They also have much more slam (they can really rock).

BUT, they come with some tradeoffs. The 5As will give you more articulate bass. The fact that you can EQ the low frequencies is might powerful. You can also drive them with tube amps (if you like tubes) and still have the low frequencies powered by solid state.

The Alexias require careful room placement in order to not obscure the midrange with their abundant bass.

In my opinion, the 5As are a LOT easier to listen to because they don't have distortion in the upper midrange. Maybe it won't bother you (i.e. you might not detect it), but I couldn't listen to a lot of rock or pop with my Sashas or Alexias without wincing at vocals. I first thought it was my room or other gear and I spent a lot of money trying to correct it. I then upgraded to Alexias because of the better tweeter and more adjustable upper cabinet. I spent a solid year trying to understand why certain frequencies hurt my ears...

Whenever I went over to my friend's house and heard his 5A's, I didn't hear any of these issues. I could just sit back, relax and enjoy the music.

Then a friend pointed out that I was probably hearing driver breakup and pointed me at the Stereophile measurements where not only did the upper frequencies look pretty jagged but you could clearly see the midrange driver breakup as it was crossed over into the tweeter's range. It was 20db lower in volume (which is either a lot or not enough depending on your ears).

In any case, as an experiment I got in a pair of Magico S5's. All the issues I was hearing in the upper frequencies were just... gone. It was clean, linear. I could enjoy vocals again. Even clarinet and other instruments were more enjoyable.

I am NOT trying to sway you to Magicos. I'm not even trying to tell you to stay away from Wilsons. I'm just trying to help you make sure you like them. My advice is to listen to a bunch of music at the dealer and ensure that this 'issue' that I'm describing (whether real or just in my mind) is not going to bother you.

Apart from this complaint about the Alexias, I think they are dynamite speakers. They have a lot of presence and body and can do everything from piano to symphonies to rock to acoustic music very well.

Good luck!

Madfloyd,
Posts such as yours are what make audiogon a valued resource,perspective from actual owners of various products. It doesn't mean that the OP will have the same or similar outcome, but it's certainly worthwhile information.
Charles,

One of my favorite recordings is Rebecca Pidgeon’s “Spanish Harlem” from The Raven. Have heard it on many systems/speakers but I have never thought it sounded more beautiful than it does on my Alexia’s. Sweet and warm, and pure with no harshness or distortion. Before buying my Wilson’s 6 months ago I did extensive research on them and other competitors. What came out of it was quite binary. It seems folks either love or hate Wilson. It always amazes me that a speaker that has won a Golden Ear award at TAS and received Product of the year from Stereophile can be described as “distorted”(knowing all speakers distort).

11-21-14: Bo1972
I auditioned 2 days ago the Rockport Aquila with the Absolore best pre amp with their monoblocks. ( 50 watt) This was also not the best combo in control and authority. You could not play that loud. You lost control, tweeters became difficulties and the overall sound became less involving. Sensitivity of the Aquila is 89db.

That's an important consideration Bol. No doubt the Absolare amps sound lovely, but even robust 50 watt tube amps have limitations because an SET design can only produce so much current. In a larger room, with a moderately demanding load I advocate ss amps which sound warm and tube-like, but have high current and an efficient psu.

11-21-14: Bo1972
There is one thing I want to make clear. I have tested many
cables in over 16 years of time. These days it is a lot easier to create a higher end result with expensive and stunning cables with less expensive power amps. This against a very expensive power amp with less expensive cables for the same amount of money. I have proven this in many blind tests. My focus is always on the end results. This counts most.

I give you another example; I use the latest Audioquest
Redwood with the brand new AQ Wel Signature xlr cables and the Purist Audio Limited powercables. These cables give a superior level in details, blacklevel, dynamics, differences in height of a recording and a much more physical 3d image against the Meteor and Sky interconnects. This difference is huge.

With these cables you can reveal details which will not be
there even if you bought a very expensive set of speakers.

Most people who have this as a hobby play at an average level in % of the whole capability what a speaker is capable of. In 16 years of time I have showed many people that they miss a lot of what their speaker is capable of. You need a good balance in how you created your system. The most common mistake in audio is that people spend a lot of money on speakers against less money on their equipment. Be aware of this!!

Spot on. I have advocated for some time that your system needs to be balanced (and by that I don't mean using true balanced components or xlr cables, though they help). That has been my approach since I started building my new system about 2 years ago. I could have bought better speakers such as the YG Hailey, but I knew to do justice to them I would have needed separates as they need more juice, and as I couldn't afford the Vitus Sig series separates, so I thought to myself "The S5's are good enough. I'll build my system around the S5's and fully optimize my system, leaving no weak links". For example, many audiophiles ignore the importance of cables as you said, AC power, isolation and room treatments in their pursuit of better speakers. I run a Vitus SIA-025 integrated which is a peach & allowed me to spend more on my cables and isolation with one less box. I am using Jorma Prime & Statement cables. The Statement sc's, though very expensive, have been a revelation. I was shocked how much more resolving they were and how the sound stage opened up! Similarly, when I recently addressed AC power by adding a Gigawatt PC-3 SE Evo conditioner & Furutech GTX-D wpo my system moved up another level. That is why i'm confident when my system is finished it will challenge systems boasting much more impressive speakers and front ends.