I, too, have heard the X-2's at Innovative. They were powered by Levinson 33's and the then-new (Summer 2005) Spectral single-box CD player, of course with MIT cabling. The room is a large, purpose built room, probably 35' x 25' x 9'.
The sound to my ears was quite disappointing and I thought the WattPuppy 7's in the other room sounded much better. The X-2's were not dialed in properly and the speakers could be identified as the source of sound. Given that the midrange and tweeter drivers are mounted quite high in the air, the sound was shooting down at me and the presentation totally unnatural. Eliott and his staff are professional, try hard and are super-nice by NYC standards, but I respectfully differ from the above poster about the X-2 set-up at Innovative and would not judge X-2's on that set-up.
Taking the liberty of offering my honest opinion, I have never cared for Levinson amplifiers and do not believe they are appropriate for a speaker of the level of X-2's. As for solid-state, the darTZeel, Tenor or Lamm amps (or vintage Rowland if we're pinching pennies -- Models 2/6/8ti/9ti) are the only solid-state amps I am aware of that can layer space like a great tube amp and that do not denature timbre. That would be my first choice, and second choice would be Spectral or Audio Research, which Wilsons are primarily voiced with. A pair of speakers like X-2's, the top Kharmas, the big Magicos or just released Evolution Acoustics merit the CAT monoblocks or darTZeel (the synergy between Wilsons and CAT's amps are outstanding, by the way). I respect Levinson's 32 preamp and owned a 360S DAC and 37 transport for a couple of years (the latter I bought at Innovative, by the way), but their amps, while being very good solid-state, are not, I believe, in the same league as X-2's. My sincere apologies if any of this is offensive to the person who began this thread or anyone else (that is absolutely not my intention), but the X-2's are both very special and very expensive -- my conscience is now clean.
The sound to my ears was quite disappointing and I thought the WattPuppy 7's in the other room sounded much better. The X-2's were not dialed in properly and the speakers could be identified as the source of sound. Given that the midrange and tweeter drivers are mounted quite high in the air, the sound was shooting down at me and the presentation totally unnatural. Eliott and his staff are professional, try hard and are super-nice by NYC standards, but I respectfully differ from the above poster about the X-2 set-up at Innovative and would not judge X-2's on that set-up.
Taking the liberty of offering my honest opinion, I have never cared for Levinson amplifiers and do not believe they are appropriate for a speaker of the level of X-2's. As for solid-state, the darTZeel, Tenor or Lamm amps (or vintage Rowland if we're pinching pennies -- Models 2/6/8ti/9ti) are the only solid-state amps I am aware of that can layer space like a great tube amp and that do not denature timbre. That would be my first choice, and second choice would be Spectral or Audio Research, which Wilsons are primarily voiced with. A pair of speakers like X-2's, the top Kharmas, the big Magicos or just released Evolution Acoustics merit the CAT monoblocks or darTZeel (the synergy between Wilsons and CAT's amps are outstanding, by the way). I respect Levinson's 32 preamp and owned a 360S DAC and 37 transport for a couple of years (the latter I bought at Innovative, by the way), but their amps, while being very good solid-state, are not, I believe, in the same league as X-2's. My sincere apologies if any of this is offensive to the person who began this thread or anyone else (that is absolutely not my intention), but the X-2's are both very special and very expensive -- my conscience is now clean.