Wilson Alexandria V2

Hi Jon_p.

If you really have a large room and listen loudly, maybe try a top slight SS amp with a lot of headroom-just another option.

(better yet, get the x2's and a great SS amp :)

Out of curiousity, what's the rest of your system?

I've listened to the Wilson Alexandria V2's and the Sigfried's. I think they are a match made in heaven! Also had Thor's hammer. Which I would also recommend.

I don't understand this playing loud thing. Most audiophiles go out of thier way to protect the ears, but blast music at levels high enough to damage(regardless if the sound is distortion free and you have a large room).
I never play loud(even with the guitar).

My Maxx's are great speakers but i'm constantly blowing the midrange capacitors.

Have you considered trying pro gear? Most consumer designs don't like being driven hard as the drivers are not built for it. Soundstage won't even test a speaker above 100 db SPL as most consumer designs would be damaged.

Friend of mine had the same problem with his Maxx 2's, large room and kept blowing the mid-range. SPL's not high either.
He traded for SoundLab U1-PX's after he heard mine. IMO its worth auditioning electrostatic speakers.
Couple of quote from friends who own large hi-fi stores: (1) "On Saturday I had an interesting situation in the store, in one demo room I had ML's new CLX being driven by Ref 7&3 & Evo 600 mono's. In another room Maxx 2 & FBI & 505CD, It was chalk & cheese the CLX system was totally organic whilst the Maxx 2 set up was pure 'Hi-Fi'....

(2) "No offense to Dave Wilson but his designs have always been “hi-fi” to me and it’s no accident that his first speaker, the original WAMMs, had (and still do) two electrostatic elements in it. I am not a fan of the Wilson sound but I must say I like the Sophias and Watt 7s (not the 6s) in the areas where they are musically involving – the lower mids. Gayle Sanders’ (Martin Logan) best effort was and still is the CL series of full range electrostatic and their latest CLX is their best effort yet. I think they lost the plot when they started developing hybrids and subwoofers/cone loudspeakers and home cinema.
It was people like Roger West (and Quad) who stayed true to the electrostatic loudspeaker and only redeveloped the Dynastat hybrid as a way of offering his electrostatic technology to a wider audience because of price. Roger once told me if he had his way he would make his full-range ESL even bigger – a true wall of sound. Incidentally the first SoundLAB creation way back in 1978 was a hybrid design called the R-1".