Wilson Alexia 20x15 Room

@Veerapaneni, $7.5k isn't too bad. Jorma Prime xlr's are $10.5k ;)

One last observation has to do with listener fatigue. When I first received my Alexia’s I found I had fatigue after long listening sessions. Then I pulled out my sound level meter and discovered the problem....way to many Db’s. These speakers play so clean and effortlessly with my 500 watt per channel SS amps I simply had the volume to high. Problem solved when I wrestled them down to normal listening levels (85-90 db).

@Melbguy; nice to read that there are more people who are
capable to look further. From 2005 till 2007 I have visited
about 40-50 sets between 10.000 euro and above 150.000 euro.
Only one I found well balanced.

In my eyes and insight they all make different mistakes. Many
had acoustic limitations. But most create wrong combinations
of properties which does not fitt with eachother. So here you
see that most are not capable of creating the right balance.

That is why I always say; when you are not aware of all the
different properties of each different tool in your system you
never know how the overall sound and image is being build. And
you need a lot of luck to get a good balance.

Why you want and need to play loud. I still think 85-90 db is
loud during a long period of listening!

"Why you want and need to play loud. I still think 85-90 db is
loud during a long period of listening!
Bo1972 (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)"

I've always thought that playing a system loud is a way to make up for flaws. If something is missing in one area, the extra volume may be a way to compensate. I think most people may not realize that this is the case. I found that when I have a system that sounds right for me, I don't listen as loud.

I disagree somewhat with the last two posts. It is true turning it up will mask a bad system's flaws however, you have not mentioned what type of system. Mid-fi system or High end system? I will explain why. If you have a highly resolving system with a low noise floor and low distortion you have the ability to play it louder since you can hear less distortion when played at higher levels.That is really evident if it has high dynamic range and lots of power behind the speakers. We know that Wilson's are very efficient and can play loud with low wattage amplifiers. 85-90 db is not that bad. It depends if you are measuring peaks or constant. If you have a good system you can hear detail at low levels and also at higher levels. I'm not talking ear splitting levels like at the theaters.