Ok here we go:
Focal scala evo PROS
Clarity and detail in spades
Tight & agile bottom end
Incredible imaging
Sounds great even if you’re just streaming music from your phone. Yes it really does !
Not a big issue to position them in the room due to the nice adjustments on the back of the speaker.
I recommend tubes or class A for these speakers.
Wilson Alexia 1 PROS
Huge sound
Extremely organic sounding with an amazing level of realism
Bass that rivals most subwoofers out there
Dynamic has hell with explosiveness
Smooth and comfortable at any volume level
Instruments are suspended in the air
They disappeared completely in my room
They are chameleons that sound huge when the song calls for it or can turn into bookshelf speakers if that’s what the music is telling them to do.
I recommend you pawn most of your gear and get serious artillery for these. No shortcuts here
Focal scala evo CONS:
High resolution also means that it can get somewhat edgy when pushed hard
If you are a rock fan, you can enjoy them but not at loud levels
If you have a tendency to get ear ringing with loud or long listening sessions , this might not be the speaker for you. On the other hand, those of you with "older ears " might love this tweeter due to the extra detail this tweeter delivers. Also, those of you who do a lot of low level listening will totally dig the sparkle this tweeter has.
They scale very nicely but not to the same degree as the Alexia.
At this level, no speaker will forgive you with piss poor electronics so although this speaker will sound very good with average electronics, you won’t untap its potential until you invest in better electronics.
Wilson Alexia CONS:
BASS will command your attention but in the wrong room it will be a recipe for disaster
This is not the speaker for those of you living in an apartment. It will piss the hell out of your neighbors because the bass will travel through the walls.
They need space and are tricky to set up. Don’t pretend to be a damn expert in regards to speaker placement just because you have positioned Logans , yg, magico, b&w etc.
If you show up with electronics the likes of bhk, parasound, classe, emotiva, Rotel, etc , you will soon hate these speakers.
If you are annoyed by bass or a muscular presentation then stay away.
If you stream a lot of tidal, you will actually hear the difference between streaming and playing a cd which you might hate because you will hear the quality of a well recorded cd and how superior it is vs streaming. (The Scala Evo sounded good with both and you couldn’t tell much of a difference between a CD and streaming )
With all this said , I did a lot of listening today and tried both preamps, 2 other sets of speaker cables and had a few people over helping out. No matter what we played , what cable, what preamp, the focal always sounded great and the Alexia just went about its business by showing you what all these changes were doing to your music. It was easier to dissect changes on your front end using the Alexias which I really liked.
We also felt that the Alexia was always more engaging or that it just drew you into the music much quicker than the focal did. There was also the feeling that the Scala Evo is like an m60 machine gun by the way it fired so rapidly at you and the Alexia is a 50 caliber machine gun that just blasts harder and for longer distances but it is a big gun that needs to be mounted on a vehicle to be able to shoot it because of its power that can send you flying with its kick.
Finally, after taking everything else above in consideration I have decided that the Alexia will be the speaker that I will roll forward with. This means that next year I will need to be patient to see if I can score a pair of ALEXX ? We shall see what the future holds.
Tomorrow I will give my impressions of the xp30 vs boulder 2010. For now, I will go back to listening to more music.
Focal scala evo PROS
Clarity and detail in spades
Tight & agile bottom end
Incredible imaging
Sounds great even if you’re just streaming music from your phone. Yes it really does !
Not a big issue to position them in the room due to the nice adjustments on the back of the speaker.
I recommend tubes or class A for these speakers.
Wilson Alexia 1 PROS
Huge sound
Extremely organic sounding with an amazing level of realism
Bass that rivals most subwoofers out there
Dynamic has hell with explosiveness
Smooth and comfortable at any volume level
Instruments are suspended in the air
They disappeared completely in my room
They are chameleons that sound huge when the song calls for it or can turn into bookshelf speakers if that’s what the music is telling them to do.
I recommend you pawn most of your gear and get serious artillery for these. No shortcuts here
Focal scala evo CONS:
High resolution also means that it can get somewhat edgy when pushed hard
If you are a rock fan, you can enjoy them but not at loud levels
If you have a tendency to get ear ringing with loud or long listening sessions , this might not be the speaker for you. On the other hand, those of you with "older ears " might love this tweeter due to the extra detail this tweeter delivers. Also, those of you who do a lot of low level listening will totally dig the sparkle this tweeter has.
They scale very nicely but not to the same degree as the Alexia.
At this level, no speaker will forgive you with piss poor electronics so although this speaker will sound very good with average electronics, you won’t untap its potential until you invest in better electronics.
Wilson Alexia CONS:
BASS will command your attention but in the wrong room it will be a recipe for disaster
This is not the speaker for those of you living in an apartment. It will piss the hell out of your neighbors because the bass will travel through the walls.
They need space and are tricky to set up. Don’t pretend to be a damn expert in regards to speaker placement just because you have positioned Logans , yg, magico, b&w etc.
If you show up with electronics the likes of bhk, parasound, classe, emotiva, Rotel, etc , you will soon hate these speakers.
If you are annoyed by bass or a muscular presentation then stay away.
If you stream a lot of tidal, you will actually hear the difference between streaming and playing a cd which you might hate because you will hear the quality of a well recorded cd and how superior it is vs streaming. (The Scala Evo sounded good with both and you couldn’t tell much of a difference between a CD and streaming )
With all this said , I did a lot of listening today and tried both preamps, 2 other sets of speaker cables and had a few people over helping out. No matter what we played , what cable, what preamp, the focal always sounded great and the Alexia just went about its business by showing you what all these changes were doing to your music. It was easier to dissect changes on your front end using the Alexias which I really liked.
We also felt that the Alexia was always more engaging or that it just drew you into the music much quicker than the focal did. There was also the feeling that the Scala Evo is like an m60 machine gun by the way it fired so rapidly at you and the Alexia is a 50 caliber machine gun that just blasts harder and for longer distances but it is a big gun that needs to be mounted on a vehicle to be able to shoot it because of its power that can send you flying with its kick.
Finally, after taking everything else above in consideration I have decided that the Alexia will be the speaker that I will roll forward with. This means that next year I will need to be patient to see if I can score a pair of ALEXX ? We shall see what the future holds.
Tomorrow I will give my impressions of the xp30 vs boulder 2010. For now, I will go back to listening to more music.