I'll put in my 2 cents. I'm going to try and be objective and fair here (even though like everyone I have my biases).
I just sold my Alexias. Before that I owned Sashas (and still own Sophia 2's in my home theater).
My friend owns Vandersteen 5A's which I have heard many times over the years (with different electronics) and I feel I know the differences between these speakers fairly well.
The Alexias will give you a bigger sound. They also have much more slam (they can really rock).
BUT, they come with some tradeoffs. The 5As will give you more articulate bass. The fact that you can EQ the low frequencies is might powerful. You can also drive them with tube amps (if you like tubes) and still have the low frequencies powered by solid state.
The Alexias require careful room placement in order to not obscure the midrange with their abundant bass.
In my opinion, the 5As are a LOT easier to listen to because they don't have distortion in the upper midrange. Maybe it won't bother you (i.e. you might not detect it), but I couldn't listen to a lot of rock or pop with my Sashas or Alexias without wincing at vocals. I first thought it was my room or other gear and I spent a lot of money trying to correct it. I then upgraded to Alexias because of the better tweeter and more adjustable upper cabinet. I spent a solid year trying to understand why certain frequencies hurt my ears...
Whenever I went over to my friend's house and heard his 5A's, I didn't hear any of these issues. I could just sit back, relax and enjoy the music.
Then a friend pointed out that I was probably hearing driver breakup and pointed me at the Stereophile measurements where not only did the upper frequencies look pretty jagged but you could clearly see the midrange driver breakup as it was crossed over into the tweeter's range. It was 20db lower in volume (which is either a lot or not enough depending on your ears).
In any case, as an experiment I got in a pair of Magico S5's. All the issues I was hearing in the upper frequencies were just... gone. It was clean, linear. I could enjoy vocals again. Even clarinet and other instruments were more enjoyable.
I am NOT trying to sway you to Magicos. I'm not even trying to tell you to stay away from Wilsons. I'm just trying to help you make sure you like them. My advice is to listen to a bunch of music at the dealer and ensure that this 'issue' that I'm describing (whether real or just in my mind) is not going to bother you.
Apart from this complaint about the Alexias, I think they are dynamite speakers. They have a lot of presence and body and can do everything from piano to symphonies to rock to acoustic music very well.
Good luck!
I just sold my Alexias. Before that I owned Sashas (and still own Sophia 2's in my home theater).
My friend owns Vandersteen 5A's which I have heard many times over the years (with different electronics) and I feel I know the differences between these speakers fairly well.
The Alexias will give you a bigger sound. They also have much more slam (they can really rock).
BUT, they come with some tradeoffs. The 5As will give you more articulate bass. The fact that you can EQ the low frequencies is might powerful. You can also drive them with tube amps (if you like tubes) and still have the low frequencies powered by solid state.
The Alexias require careful room placement in order to not obscure the midrange with their abundant bass.
In my opinion, the 5As are a LOT easier to listen to because they don't have distortion in the upper midrange. Maybe it won't bother you (i.e. you might not detect it), but I couldn't listen to a lot of rock or pop with my Sashas or Alexias without wincing at vocals. I first thought it was my room or other gear and I spent a lot of money trying to correct it. I then upgraded to Alexias because of the better tweeter and more adjustable upper cabinet. I spent a solid year trying to understand why certain frequencies hurt my ears...
Whenever I went over to my friend's house and heard his 5A's, I didn't hear any of these issues. I could just sit back, relax and enjoy the music.
Then a friend pointed out that I was probably hearing driver breakup and pointed me at the Stereophile measurements where not only did the upper frequencies look pretty jagged but you could clearly see the midrange driver breakup as it was crossed over into the tweeter's range. It was 20db lower in volume (which is either a lot or not enough depending on your ears).
In any case, as an experiment I got in a pair of Magico S5's. All the issues I was hearing in the upper frequencies were just... gone. It was clean, linear. I could enjoy vocals again. Even clarinet and other instruments were more enjoyable.
I am NOT trying to sway you to Magicos. I'm not even trying to tell you to stay away from Wilsons. I'm just trying to help you make sure you like them. My advice is to listen to a bunch of music at the dealer and ensure that this 'issue' that I'm describing (whether real or just in my mind) is not going to bother you.
Apart from this complaint about the Alexias, I think they are dynamite speakers. They have a lot of presence and body and can do everything from piano to symphonies to rock to acoustic music very well.
Good luck!