I just heard the Wilson Alexandria XLF's Wednesday

In regards to Siddh's very astute observations listening to high-definition recordings by P.McGrath, i also have had similar exposure to Peter's tapes made on a Nagra-D reel-to-reel of local classical music concerts. needless to say, it sounded like the musicians were trapped inside the speakers struggling to get out... the Wilson
speakers in this case were X-1 Grand Slamms. I am sure the XLF's are very very good having heard the Alexandria X-2.1's which left me thinking about what i had heard for days afterwards (being immersed in sound coming from everywhere). but with the right sources you can expect a lot of systems to open up and reach new heights of sonority. Just how these recording compare to "HD-tracks" i do not know...

WELL NOW WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE...again.
or at least the Absolute Sound has practically become a Wilson Audio Brochure regarding these latest renditions of "as good as we know how to make" XLF speakers.
i don't recall having ever seen such a lengthy discussion of a product before.
when i heard the the Alexandria-1's i was extremely impressed by what was obviously a very very good loudspeaker, if slightly forward sounding (the resolution was so sharp and in focus that it was really hard to judge this as a fault). plus looking at them straight-on they looked fairly slim and had nice simple lines. needless to say that now Wilson is not going to rest until their reference product has met every challenge (and every challenger). i even saw a mention in the article of re-producing the WAMM system at some time in the future-
something i have thought about again and again after hearing an early edition of the WAMM's and walking out of the store in a daze. was it "live or memorex"
was no longer a dumb slogan about cassette tape but a through-the-looking-glass experience that made me a little crazy when i considered what it would cost to own a system like that. i can only imagine what the last iteration of the WAMM's might have sounded like in the right environment with a killer turntable and cdp (and a nice Studer Reel to Reel). what on earth kind of drivers would Wilson consider now for a WAMM tower? certainly quite a bit better than the ones in the merely-good XLF speaker....! for sure, right?
nothing like a healthy new shot of audiophile-adrenaline to keep the dream alive.

one thing i thought was a little tricky about the article, and that was the inclusion of TWO THOR subwoofers as a part of the audition. the speakers already have a 13 and a 15 inch driver and a larger cabinet to get clean bass (even cleaner/better than the alexandria ver.2). he only "mentions" the added effect of the sub's briefly, but doesn't elaborate on what the XLF's aren't quite able to do without them...
i understand the comments related specifically to the speakers themselves, but if you need to get the whole 10th row at a Led Zeppelin Concert effect you might not want to skip on the whole enchilada. this also might help to realize the effect of sitting in the Notre Dame while someone plays the organ.
speaking of which i got to hear a few organ concerts in churches and one of the most impressive ones had an electronic model playing through a VERY good set of speakers. i was surprised but it really did sound fantastic- a few notches above even a great stereo system. maybe THAT was what he was talking about.

i agree about working around the bigger cabinet or the port issue by adding a subwoofer. Except Wilson should be willing to offer the new tweeter to owners of either model of alexandrias. Even if the crossover frequency to the midrange drivers might have to be changed it shouldn't be that difficult to do.

Perhaps the issue of making a 3 or 4 piece reference system to separate the extreme-low frequencies into another enclosure and just doing "mid-bass" on-up with the main system will almost HAVE TO BE the only practical solution to this problem (i.e. completely effortless Bass). In the WAMM system each frequency band was addressed with
a very specialized speaker- including even an electrostatic driver. each driver could be adjusted in all directions. the configuration i saw had mono block amps
for the front towers and a stereo amp bridged to mono for the two subwoofer cabinets in the rear. even this set-up was revised several times before
Wilson stopped making it, and only a rare few know what exactly those refinements were. but if the company was at least willing to include a wire harness and a crossover control box it might be at the very least a useful experimental model to explore not only "the best we know how to make" but literally "closest to what i heard in the concert hall".
coming back down to Planet Earth for a moment, something is bothering me about Wilson's insistence that if you use MDF and compromise in various areas that don't have a direct effect on the sound, that it would undermine their philosophy (even though it would be MUCH less expensive).
i personally don't care how long the drill bits last making a cabinet- can
you dampen vibrations using a combination of materials that don't cost a fortune to obtain and don't cost as much to assemble? that's just as worthy an approach as any other and $200 grand does not automatically buy you the best SOUNDING loudspeaker. $200 GRAND... to listen to pre-recorded music.
philosophically speaking, i would feel even better "spending the difference" directly supporting musicians that can make great music.
i remember seeing Art Blakey (ATJM) a few months before he died. towards the end of their set, Art asked the audience that if they enjoyed the concert to PLEASE go out and buy some Jazz records, because the sales of straight-ahead recordings were so minuscule and players were struggling to feed their families. imagine an icon of jazz history shamelessly pleading to an audience for financial support.
Hey, i am sorry, but when i get wound up, i can't stop for a while... I love great sounding systems, but i need to look hard at the numbers too.