2. speakers
  3. 132198-94555

NEW!!! Wilson Alexia MkII listening session

Had a chance last Wednesday to listen to Edgar Kramer's (reviewer for Sound Stage Australia, 6 Moons, Australian HiFi, Audio Esoterica)  new Wilson Alexia MkII's, and came away very impressed with their sound compared to his old Alexia MkI.

 

System consisted of:

 

Source:  Yamaha CD-S2100 Used as transport and very good never missed a beat.

 

Dac: R2R Mutibit Totaldac d1-core DAC with optional 2 x external power supplies, outstanding R2R dac from Europe (somewhere?)

 

Pream/s: Supratek DHT Reference or Lightspeed Attenuator LDR passive attenuator. Swapped between these a few times, but found the tubes in the Supratek too microphonic.

 

Poweramp: Gryphon Audio Antileon EVO. This is one hell of an amp, will drive anything anywhere any time! We used it in Class-A 50w with it's adjustable bias, then goes to 150 Class-b at 8ohm or 1200w Class-B 1ohm and a staggering 5000w Class-B peak into 1/2ohm  

 

I 'd heard this same setup a couple of months earlier but with the Alexia MkI and thought yes this is very good, it still has to me that great Wilson signature sound, some like it some don't, can be a little confronting over long periods to some with it's dynamics.  

But with these new Alexia MkII's there was a massive difference to me, they got far greater integration between the drivers, without that highlighted Wilson signature of certain things.

What they strive'd for with this new model, was a seamless sound integration between tweeter to mids to upper bass to lower bass which gave it a larger sound stage and a more disappearing act of the speakers, reminded me of my massive full range ESL's. This was all attained without loosing any detail or impact of dynamics from MkI's and the music itself, with less in your face dynamics, but still there in spades but with a big wash over you effect instead, rather than a shot at you from a cannon effect, for want of a better word, more relaxed to listen to even all day.

 

Great speaker, I believe will become a sought after Wilson Classic second hand if you can afford them, as new they are way way out of my reach.

 

Cheers George


128x128georgehifi
erik_squires
16,059 posts
 
So, around $70k in the US? 

Well they really have to be for you! 
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
I'm sure they are quite lovely. 
pokey77
1,267 posts
 
Will get a chance to hear these in two weeks at Sunny's Components. Should be fun.
4425
861 posts
 
pokey. when at sunny’s give the Yvette’s a listen too. Way below your budget but it’s a new kind of Wilson sound. Sweetness and intense musicality with authority.
Alexia Mk 2’s would be more of all of the above I would expect with similar voicing. The new “plain” tweeter is amazing. 
gpgr4blu
1,085 posts
 
Heard Alexia 2s at Innovative Audio  in NYC tonight presented by Peter MGrath. They sounded superb in all respects. I will listen to Magico S7 and Rockport Cygnus---but---the new Alexias set a very high bar.
Also, I was previously a skeptic of MQA having heard it only on MyTek Dacs and headphones. I could not hear a difference that mattered.
On a Meridian, D'Agostino, Transparent, Wilson system, the change from a pre MQA file recorded by Peter himself and the MQA version of that file was quite large and easily noticed.  I'm not sure that all MQA files will improve upon the original digital release to the extent that I heard tonight--but if 1 out of 5 files can be improved to this extent--I'm in.   
More to discover