WC,
I strongly disagree with the concept of company synergy. You happen to prefer the Gryphon Mephisto with Gryphon VIP cables because of the softening/mellowing effect compared to the Nordost Odin/Valhalla. Someone else or I might prefer Nordost because it would maximize sparkle and other things. I suspect on the Mephisto, you would also prefer other softening cables like Cardas, Ansuz, Wireworld, compared to Nordost. Perhaps the Ansuz would produce a fabulous result for you, maximizing the sparkle/focus while giving just enough softening to take away your unease with the Nordost.
In the end, a company team has their own concept and preference for how they want their products to sound together. Carried further, Gryphon might think that it is best to use their entire product line, including the speaker. However, you might not like their speakers. If you were listening with their team in their rooms, you might prefer other ancillary components with their G speakers, and the results might be different with even each G model. They would likely be different with your Wilson. Soon you will try all this on your Maggie 20.7, and the results are likely to be different as well.
If you presently think that your present combo is the ultimate, then you might as well shut down the entire thread, because nothing else can be quite as good. You will have locked yourself into this 1 combo of ultimate synergy. Of course, this is absurd, and you likely will find other speakers better for you than the Wilson Alexia 2, and then you will have to dump all your present synergistic components, and discover the magic with only one set of new synergistic components to go with the new speaker. Again, absurd. Even with your present setup, the ideal setup would be different depending on the quality of the recording. For the most natural recording like Perhaps Love, you might prefer Nordost + Mephisto, but for most lousy processed recordings where the Nordost shows the defects, the Gryphon VIP would be the best. Another factor is your moods from day to day. One day you may be stressed out and then prefer the softening effect of the VIP. Another day you are happily excited and revved up and may prefer Nordost.
I have it much easier, because all my components are chosen for transparency/clarity/brilliance as the overriding factor. If I get a new speaker, I won't need to throw out my present components and get completely different ones in order to get some magic synergy with the new speaker. Whatever characteristics of the new speaker, I will still seek to maximize those factors I value, so my present ancillary components will still retain the good results I have.
Don't say that my cheaper components are not as revealing as your more expensive ones, so my reasoning is not valid. I assure you that this is not the case. My Mytek has far more sparkle, etc. than the Merrill I tried. The Merrill has other qualities than other people would prefer. It has more expensive parts than my Mytek, but the different design concepts make it sound different, not the expensive parts.
With the critical performance of cars, it is likely that more expensive, finely tuned parts improve the performance. The same is not necessarily true about audio electronics and cables. Even with cheap cars, you can't put a round peg into a square hole. The design specifies that only certain parts will do. In other areas like drinks at clubs, it is a total farce that the same drink in a modest restaurant costs $5, but $30 in the fancy place. The talented bartender when he was working at the modest restaurant got a better offer at the fancy restaurant, so his same magic recipe now fetches $30. Of course, the real reason it is more expensive, is the artificial social image of the fancy place, with more money needed to create the fancy atmosphere, the larger space with more overhead, etc.
More basic than all of this is the overall issue of money--assume there is a hypothetical rich guy who is prepared to spend a million bucks on his total system. He might still appreciate and prefer the sonic qualities of a small cheap speaker like the Paradigm Persona B or a large cheap speaker like the Tekton Moab. But after careful listening and study of the market, he may decide that the DCS Vivaldi offers the best performance, and he spends big bucks on that. He may prefer the particular sound of the entire Odin 2 loom, and say it is worth spending for that. On the other hand, he may decide that he doesn't like the sound character of the $250,000 Relentless, and prefers the sound character of the $2500 Mytek. Money may or may not buy audio happiness.
I strongly disagree with the concept of company synergy. You happen to prefer the Gryphon Mephisto with Gryphon VIP cables because of the softening/mellowing effect compared to the Nordost Odin/Valhalla. Someone else or I might prefer Nordost because it would maximize sparkle and other things. I suspect on the Mephisto, you would also prefer other softening cables like Cardas, Ansuz, Wireworld, compared to Nordost. Perhaps the Ansuz would produce a fabulous result for you, maximizing the sparkle/focus while giving just enough softening to take away your unease with the Nordost.
In the end, a company team has their own concept and preference for how they want their products to sound together. Carried further, Gryphon might think that it is best to use their entire product line, including the speaker. However, you might not like their speakers. If you were listening with their team in their rooms, you might prefer other ancillary components with their G speakers, and the results might be different with even each G model. They would likely be different with your Wilson. Soon you will try all this on your Maggie 20.7, and the results are likely to be different as well.
If you presently think that your present combo is the ultimate, then you might as well shut down the entire thread, because nothing else can be quite as good. You will have locked yourself into this 1 combo of ultimate synergy. Of course, this is absurd, and you likely will find other speakers better for you than the Wilson Alexia 2, and then you will have to dump all your present synergistic components, and discover the magic with only one set of new synergistic components to go with the new speaker. Again, absurd. Even with your present setup, the ideal setup would be different depending on the quality of the recording. For the most natural recording like Perhaps Love, you might prefer Nordost + Mephisto, but for most lousy processed recordings where the Nordost shows the defects, the Gryphon VIP would be the best. Another factor is your moods from day to day. One day you may be stressed out and then prefer the softening effect of the VIP. Another day you are happily excited and revved up and may prefer Nordost.
I have it much easier, because all my components are chosen for transparency/clarity/brilliance as the overriding factor. If I get a new speaker, I won't need to throw out my present components and get completely different ones in order to get some magic synergy with the new speaker. Whatever characteristics of the new speaker, I will still seek to maximize those factors I value, so my present ancillary components will still retain the good results I have.
Don't say that my cheaper components are not as revealing as your more expensive ones, so my reasoning is not valid. I assure you that this is not the case. My Mytek has far more sparkle, etc. than the Merrill I tried. The Merrill has other qualities than other people would prefer. It has more expensive parts than my Mytek, but the different design concepts make it sound different, not the expensive parts.
With the critical performance of cars, it is likely that more expensive, finely tuned parts improve the performance. The same is not necessarily true about audio electronics and cables. Even with cheap cars, you can't put a round peg into a square hole. The design specifies that only certain parts will do. In other areas like drinks at clubs, it is a total farce that the same drink in a modest restaurant costs $5, but $30 in the fancy place. The talented bartender when he was working at the modest restaurant got a better offer at the fancy restaurant, so his same magic recipe now fetches $30. Of course, the real reason it is more expensive, is the artificial social image of the fancy place, with more money needed to create the fancy atmosphere, the larger space with more overhead, etc.
More basic than all of this is the overall issue of money--assume there is a hypothetical rich guy who is prepared to spend a million bucks on his total system. He might still appreciate and prefer the sonic qualities of a small cheap speaker like the Paradigm Persona B or a large cheap speaker like the Tekton Moab. But after careful listening and study of the market, he may decide that the DCS Vivaldi offers the best performance, and he spends big bucks on that. He may prefer the particular sound of the entire Odin 2 loom, and say it is worth spending for that. On the other hand, he may decide that he doesn't like the sound character of the $250,000 Relentless, and prefers the sound character of the $2500 Mytek. Money may or may not buy audio happiness.