I just heard the Wilson Alexandria XLF's Wednesday


My local high end audio shop hosted its annual "Music Matters" open house where reps from their prime product lines demonstrate their latest wares. In the past I've been introduced to many products that were either just reaching the market or still in prototype stage (e.g., the Magnepan Mini's).

In one room we had Peter McGrath of Wilson, Dan D'Agostino with his new $50K/pair monoblock amps, a Meridian rep with a Sooloos front end, and John Atkinson of Stereophile, who had some great 24/96 music files he'd recorded himself.

Two demos were of music Atkinson had recorded with minimal miking--a small orchestra and pianist playing Rhapsody in Blue and a 9-person vocal group with organ accompaniment.

This setup produced the most realistic reproduction of music I've personally heard. I am a subscriber to the Seattle Symphony and attend live concerts there monthly. It's obvious to me that these live performances have--in addition to the music--a sense of room energy that's consistently lacking in audio reproduction. NOT THIS TIME! The Meridian/D'Agostino/Transparent (Opus)/Wilson signal chain produced a completely fleshed-out, live-feeling presentation. A sonic hologram if you will. The presentation was transparent and resonance-free, linear, extended, but most of all, live-sounding.

In fact, the very next demo I went to was of Audio Research pushing the new Wisdom Audio $95K flagship panels+sub system, and it sounded artificial by comparison. On its own I'm sure the Wisdom is an excellent speaker, but following the twice-as-expensive Alexandria XLF it was a complete letdown.

Anyone who has an opportunity to hear the Alexandria XLFs should give them a listen just to see what can be done. For me it completely re-defined what can be done with musical reproduction and makes me regret not setting out to become a millionaire when I was young so I could afford a pair (plus the D'Agostino amps) today.

BTW, in all previous Wilson demo's I've heard (Sophia 2 & 3, Maxx 2 & 3, Alexandria X-2, Watt/Puppy 7, Sasha W/P 8), they always sounded decidedly better--more musical, liquid, resolving, real-sounding--with tube electronics. Not so this time. The D'Agostinos are so neutral and so good at driving the speakers that all you think about is the music and the holographic presentation.
johnnyb53

Showing 3 responses by sacman

I completely agree with the assessment of the D'Agostinos monos. I auditioned them driving a pair of Wilson Sasha at CES '11 and they're probably the most musical setup at the show. Meeting Dan was definitely the highlight for me that weekend. If I can ever afford the upgrade from my current system (801Nautilus + Krell 650mc), it would be the Sasha + Dan's new amps.
Hi Lloydelee21,

I've been an audiophile since I was making minimum wage at $4.75/hr years ago. I went through so many set up and every upgrade was very exciting as the improvement was somewhat aligned with the cost. However, as I went for more expensive gears I think I approached the point of diminishing return. Having the opportunity to attend CES every now and then, I am aways amazed how much more expensive these gears have become. For example, the a pair of YG speakers that costs 100K+ were really good but I'm pretty sure they don't sound 2000% better than my 801N bought used at $5.5K. Another example is the $20K Transparent Opus cables. At the end of the day, I realized that it's the music and time to enjoy listening are the most important things. Having said that, I do think the Sasha were amazing when matched with Dan's new amps. They left the most memorable sound in my head after spending 3+ days going through all the systems at CES in 2011. My recent revamp of the interconnects with the old lines of Transparent Musiclink/Musicwave super seemed to bring out the hidden improvement from my system. On the horizon, I probably will upgrade my PS Perfectwave DAC to MKII.
Unlike other Krell products, I'm pretty sure the D'Agostino monos will be collectors' items soon. In addition to the quality, look and engineering innovation, it's worth to consider the historical value being the very first, god forbid if not the last, products after so many years by one of the most legendary audio designers.

QN