My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!
So I have been in a long journey looking to find the best amplifiers for my martin logan montis. As you know, the match between an amplifier and speakers has to be a good "marriage" and needs to be blend exquisitely. Right now, I think I might have found the best sounding amplifier for martin logan. I have gone through approximately 34-36 amplifiers in the past 12 months. Some of these are:
Bryston ST, SST, SST2 series NAD M25 PARASOUND HALO PARASOUND CLASSIC KRELL TAS KRELL KAV 500 KRELL CHORUS ROTEL RMB 1095 CLASSE CT 5300 CLASSE CA 2200 CLASSE CA 5200 MCINTOSH MC 205 CARY AUDIO CINEMA 7 OUTLAW AUDIO 755 LEXICON RX7 PASS LABS XA 30.8 BUTLER AUDIO 5150 ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005
With all that said, the amplifiers I mentioned above are the ones that in my opinion are worth mentioning. To make a long story short, there is NO 5 CHANNEL POWER AMP that sounds as good as a 3ch and 2ch amplifier combination. i have done both experiments and the truth is that YOU DO lose details and more channel separation,etc when you select a 5 channel power amplifier of any manufacturer. My recollection of what each amp sounded like is as follows:
ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005 (great power and amazing soundstage. Very low noise floor, BUT this amplifiers NEEDS TO BE cranked up in order to fully enjoy it. If you like listening at low volume levels or somewhat moderate, you are wasting your time here. This amp won’t sound any different than many other brands out there at this volume. The bass is great, good highs although they are a bit bright for my taste)
NAD M25 (very smooth, powerful, but somewhat thin sounding as far as bass goes) Bryston sst2(detailed, good soundstage, good power, but can be a little forward with certain speakers which could make them ear fatiguing at loud volumes)
Krell (fast sounding, nice bass attack, nice highs, but some detail does get lost with certain speakers)
rotel (good amp for the money, but too bright in my opinion)
cary audio (good sound overall, very musical, but it didn’t have enough oomph)
parasound halo (good detail, great bass, but it still holds back some background detail that i can hear in others)
lexicon (very laid back and smooth. huge power, but if you like more detail or crisper highs, this amp will disappoint you)
McIntosh mc205 (probably the worst multichannel amp given its price point. it was too thin sounding, had detail but lacked bass.
butler audio (good amplifier. very warm and smooth sweet sounding. i think for the money, this is a better amp than the parasound a51)
pass labs (very VERY musical with excellent bass control. You can listen to this for hours and hours without getting ear fatigue. however, it DOES NOT do well in home theater applications if all you have is a 2 channel set up for movies. The midrange gets somewhat "muddy" or very weak sounding that you find yourself trying to turn it up.
classe audio (best amplifier for multi channel applications. i simply COULDNT FIND a better multi channel amplifier PERIOD. IT has amazing smoothness, amazing power and good bass control although i would say krell has much better bass control)
Update: The reviews above were done in January 2015. Below is my newest update as of October 2016:
PS AUDIO BHK 300 MONOBLOCKS: Amazing amps. Tons of detail and really amazing midrange. the bass is amazing too, but the one thing i will say is that those of you with speakers efficiency of 87db and below you will not have all the "loudness" that you may want from time to time. These amps go into protection mode when using a speaker such as the Salon, but only at very loud levels. Maybe 97db and above. If you don’t listen to extreme crazy levels, these amps will please you in every way.
Plinius Odeon 7 channel amp: This is THE BEST multichannel amp i have ever owned. Far , but FAR SUPERIOR to any other multichannel amp i have owned. In my opinion it destroyed all of the multichannel amps i mentioned above and below. The Odeon is an amp that is in a different tier group and it is in a league of its own. Amazing bass, treble and it made my center channel sound more articulate than ever before. The voices where never scrambled with the action scenes. It just separated everything very nicely.
Theta Dreadnaught D: Good detailed amp. Looks very elegant, has a pleasant sound, but i found it a tad too bright for my taste. I thought it was also somewhat "thin" sounding lacking body to the music. could be that it is because it is class d?
Krell Duo 300: Good amp. Nice and detailed with enough power to handle most speakers out there. I found that it does have a very nice "3d" sound through my electrostatics. Nothing to fault here on this amp. Mark Levinson 532H: Great 2 channel amp. Lots of detail, amazing midrange which is what Mark Levinson is known for. It sounds very holographic and will please those of you looking for more detail and a better midrange. As far as bass, it is there, but it is not going to give you the slam of a pass labs 350.5 or JC1s for example. It is great for those that appreciate classical music, instrumental, etc, but not those of you who love tons of deep bass.
It is articulate sounding too Krell 7200: Plenty of detail and enough power for most people. i found that my rear speakers contained more information after installed this amp. One thing that i hated is that you must use xlr cables with this amp or else you lose most of its sound performance when using RCA’s.
Krell 402e: Great amp. Very powerful and will handle any speaker you wish. Power is incredible and with great detail. That said, i didn’t get all the bass that most reviewers mentioned. I thought it was "ok" in regards to bass. It was there, but it didn’t slam me to my listening chair.
Bryston 4B3: Good amp with a complete sound. I think this amp is more laid back than the SST2 version. I think those of you who found the SST2 version of this amp a little too forward with your speakers will definitely benefit from this amp’s warmth. Bryston has gone towards the "warm" side in my opinion with their new SST3 series. As always, they are built like tanks. I wouldn’t call this amp tube-like, but rather closer to what the classe audio delta 2 series sound like which is on the warm side of things.
Parasound JC1s: Good powerful amps. Amazing low end punch (far superior bass than the 402e). This amp is the amp that i consider complete from top to bottom in regards to sound. Nothing is lacking other than perhaps a nicer chassis. Parasound needs to rework their external appearance when they introduce new amps. This amp would sell much more if it had a revised external appearance because the sound is a great bang for the money. It made my 800 Nautilus scream and slam. Again, amazing low end punch.
Simaudio W7: Good detailed amp. This amp reminds me a lot of the Mark Levinson 532h. Great detail and very articulate. I think this amp will go well with bookshelves that are ported in order to compensate for what it lacks when it comes to the bass. That doesn’t mean it has no bass, but when it is no Parasound JC1 either. Pass labs 350.5: Wow, where do i begin? maybe my first time around with the xa30.8 wasn’t as special as it was with this monster 350.5. It is just SPECTACULAR sounding with my electrostatics. The bass was THE BEST BASS i have ever heard from ANY amp period. The only amp that comes close would be the jC1s. It made me check my settings to make sure the bass was not boosted and kept making my jaw drop each time i heard it. It totally destroyed the krell 402e in every regard. The krell sounded too "flat" when compared to this amp. This amp had amazing mirange with great detail up top. In my opinion, this amp is the best bang for the money. i loved this amp so much that i ended up buying the amp that follows below.
Pass labs 250.8: What can i say here. This is THE BEST STEREO AMP i have ever heard. This amp destroys all the amps i have listed above today to include the pass labs 350.5. It is a refined 350.5 amp. It has more 3d sound which is something the 350.5 lacked. It has a level of detail that i really have never experienced before and the bass was amazing as well. I really thought it was the most complete power amplifier i have ever heard HANDS DOWN. To me, this is a benchmark of an amplifier. This is the amp that others should be judged by. NOTHING is lacking and right now it is the #1 amplifier that i have ever owned.
My current amps are Mcintosh MC601s: i decided to give these 601s a try and they don’t disappoint. They have great detail, HUGE soundstage, MASSIVE power and great midrange/highs. The bass is great, but it is no pass labs 250.8 or 350.5. As far as looks, these are the best looking amps i have ever owned. No contest there. i gotta be honest with you all, i never bought mcintosh monos before because i wasn’t really "wowed" by the mc452, but it could have been also because at that time i was using a processor as a preamp which i no longer do. Today, i own the Mcintosh C1100 2 chassis tube preamp which sounds unbelievable. All the amps i just described above have been amps that i auditioned with the C1100 as a preamp. The MC601s sound great without a doubt, but i will say that if you are looking for THE BEST sound for the money, these would not be it. However, Mcintosh remains UNMATCHED when it comes to looks and also resale value. Every other amp above depreciates much faster than Mcintosh.
That said, my future purchase (when i can find a steal of a deal) will be the Pass labs 350.8. I am tempted to make a preliminary statement which is that i feel this amp could be THE BEST stereo amp under 30k dollars. Again, i will be able to say more and confirm once i own it. I hope this update can help you all in your buying decisions!
What a great new speaker! On this song, the well recorded opening guitar is satisfactory on the M6, but the new speaker offers even more brilliance. Then around 50 seconds after the opening, the voice is badly veiled on the M6. The inconsistent engineer did a great job with the clarity of the opening guitar, and a lousy job on the voice which is muddy by comparison. But on the new speaker, the veiled recording of the voice has acceptable clarity.
I am sure the drivers and enclosure of the M6 are superb, but the M6 designer chose to voice the speaker much darker than that of the new speaker. There is more HF/upper midrange emphasis on the new speaker vs M6, which brings out the plucking percussive aspects of the guitar, whereas the body of the instrument is emphasized more on the M6. I can see a listener finding the guitar enjoyable on either speaker, but I absolutely hate the veil and muddiness of this recorded voice on the M6.
The new speaker reminds me of the brilliance of the Focal Stella Utopia that Jay had. The new speaker is lean in the lower midrange/upper bass, which greatly helps the voice. It is the most brilliant speaker Jay has owned. Although the Essence monos are more brilliant and open than the Essence stereo, the monos cannot get the M6 to have the brilliant clarity of the new speaker. I believe the GTA speaker is still more brilliant than the new speaker, and I am delighted and surprised that a conventional dynamic speaker like this may challenge the GTA for these qualities. In the world of expensive dynamic speakers, this new speaker may be the pinnacle. The final frontier will be the GTA, much much cheaper. Steve and I are waiting on the completely reworked GTA.
Well, no matter, we'll be listening to the new speakers. This is about amps comparison not speakers really. And I am surprised with Gryphon Essence monoblocks, they got it right in Denmark this time. They wanted to recreate the original first Gryphon class A amp and take it further. I didn't hear the original but this one sounds authentic to my ear. First thing you notice while listening is what annoys you. In this case, I didn't notice anything.
Inna, On any given speaker, it is easier to compare amps, because tonal balance differences are much smaller than for different speakers. For amp A/B's you can match the SPL closely, but the big variation in tonal balance from speakers makes it more difficult to match the SPL. The latest video shows that the superior Essence monos cannot produce the clarity from the new speaker from the M6. This reaffirms the classic wisdom that the speaker is the most important element in the chain. It is much more interesting to compare speakers vs amps.
I am glad Jay waited for the new speaker before doing the A/B between the DCS and MSB dacs. It is much more revealing than the M6, and will easily show the dac differences.
What? Are you saying the new is not neutral? Not that it matters that much because nothing is neutral. Everything put its own spin on the sound. After that it all about preferences and synergy
I was thinking the same thing about the neutrality. In other words, I’m hearing the speaker more than the music. It doesn’t mean I didn’t like what I was hearing. I was wondering how different these speakers would sound with a tube amp. For me, it would probably take a good 6 months to decide if these speakers would be keepers or not.
Sorry Jay, but playing Deep Purple on your home stereo system is just wrong IMO. Their music is reserved for listening while either driving your car fast, or rolling skating to ’Guy’s only song’ - sorry ladies you’ll have to sit this one out.
Just wait for the video that i am releasing in about 30 min.. i am very vocal about my initial impressions and some of you might be able to identify what speaker it is based on what i will be talking about.
FACT: THIS IS THE BEST IMAGING SPEAKER I HAVE EVER HAD OUT OF ANY SPEAKER I HAVE OWNED BY BUS LENGHTS. Nothing comes remotely close to this monster with regards to imaging and dynamics - nothing that i have owned.
Quick facts i have gathered:
best dynamics by miles
best imaging by miles
best bass in my room (full, complete, never lethargic)
This highly efficient speaker will be amazing for me to review amplifiers with. It won’t punish those amps that are only 50 watts like the M6 did. I am GLAD i made the move and i must admit i was scared as hell because i had never heard it. I was afraid the size would overload my room, but man oh man... All my fears have now vanished and i am speechless each day i continue to play with it. All i want to do is keep giving it more volume because i can’t get enough of it. This Friday i will unveil what it is.
It also makes sense to me that WC is delaying the reveal of the new speaker more than he needs to (he’s had them 6 days already, and they’re likely used, not new, so break-in probably isn’t a thing).
WC knows there will be some Wilson-backlash or Wilson-fatigue after the reveal (we’ve already seen it here), and the more people who go on record now saying how great the speaker is, the less the complaints to come will hold water (wait - you loved it before you know what it was!).
I don’t think it’s so much so we can twist in the wind throwing out guesses as to what the speaker might be (although WC seems to enjoy that aspect as well), but more of the former reason. Anyway, not at all a fan of the big windup, as I always say when WC does this, but not my channel.
And if I’m wrong about the speaker, I guess this post will in hindsight be a lot of hot air, but ........
Edit: and to correct my earlier timeline, I guess I had actually predicted the M6 were leaving before WC had revealed that they were leaving, next WC confirmed M6 were leaving, and then I predicted "Big Wilson" right after that (so it wasn't before he told us M6 leaving after all - although if you remember when he was going to a dealer to listen to AlexxV I predicted at the time that if WC could find a relatively painless way to get out of the M6 and into a Wilson (I was more thinking AlexxV then), he would do it - that was a month or so ago).
Jay, You were one of the few listeners who said the M6 is neutral. Of course, your impressions are most important since over 99% of your followers including I have never been in your room. As for me, I posted videos on page 302 comparing M6 to Alexx. I stated at that time and still affirm that the Alexx is more lively with more snap/sparkle. Perhaps I should stop using the word "neutral" which only means that all freq are presented evenly and in balance. Resolution and clarity are really what I am after. There are examples of components that are neutral but have mediocre resolution and clarity. The M6 tweeter may be more refined than the Alexx tweeter, but the overall design of the Alexx with its EQ options using resistors displays more snap in the upper midrange/HF. So far, the new speaker blows away both the M6 and Alexx on the snap of the guitar and clarity of the voice. I hated the muddy voice on the M6 but can enjoy it on the new speaker.
You were never going to get the resolution/clarity of the new speaker from the M6 even if you tried all the expensive amps in the world and completely redid your room. You didn't FAIL--you will SUCCEED in your new quest to get far more musical enjoyment from this new speaker.
Focal Grande Utopia EM Evo is possible. Mike Fremer gushes in vague ways about his new Wilson XVX, but he doesn't mention much about raw detail, so I think Focal is more likely. A horn which is usually 100 dB efficient is likely ruled out. The Wilson XVX could be 92 dB efficient, and if it has the resistor adjustments of the Alexx, it can be tweaked to be brilliant, so that is still a possibility.
I will be the second, behind kren0006 who was first, to say emphatically that it is the Wilson XVX. Jay said that the new speaker has been a long time favorite of the mags.
XVX is 92 dB efficient. Most significantly, Jay said that this speaker has the best imaging he has heard, surprising for a large tall speaker. What makes it possible? Time alignment!!!! The funny shape of the top Wilsons is necessary to allow time alignment. The XVX also has the tuning resistors, which is a form of EQ that I could have fun with. I hope Jay does also.
Focal is still possible, because its shape also supports time alignment. Efficiency of the Meastro Utopia is 93 dB, close enough. I did say that I thought the new speaker resembled the sound of the Focal Stella that Jay had.
After many audio affairs, Jay has finally gotten married to Wilson.
Jay, we all are really happy for you. I can see that you are truly excited and estatic about this speaker. More than any other I can recall. Your 2am jaunts will be taken without hesitancy and for joy, emotion and pleasure, not dissatisfaction, duty and frustration. Enjoy the music (and get some sleep). As it should be and as we all aspire.
Well guys, i was going to drag it a few more days but i sense a bit of desperation so i am revealing the speaker tomorrow at 10am ET: Turn on your notifications!
Clever attempt to confuse. The white/black speakers look like cartoon characters with ordinary drivers. I could be wrong, since you said you were nervous that you never heard them before you bought them. Maybe you heard the XVX at shows. I still say XVX.
Kren0006 still wins the Gold Medal for his predictions. I happily take 2nd place--my XVX guess is close enough to Jay's selected XLF.
Even with the cluttered room and stack of VAcoustics boxes near the left XLF, the XLF still is the best speaker Jay has ever owned. I didn't pay attention to the bass, but I am thrilled with the midrange/HF. My only reservation is the rear firing tweeter. Multiple tweeter drivers firing in different directions often create time smear which interferes with the purpose of time alignment. It is possible that the added tweeter output creates HF prominence which I personally like--an EQ of sorts--this goes a long way to increasing the resolution, clarity and articulation. The rear tweeter creates a dipole effect which is one thing that makes panel speakers attractive. I would have changed the design to omit the rear tweeter but increase the output of the forward tweeter to maybe 1.5x. It would be nice if Peter McGrath came over and did time alignment measurements, but Jay has an excellent ear and subjective assessment is always the ultimate way to do this.
Theoretically, time alignment is perfect for only ONE listener in that sweet spot. Listeners away from the sweet spot will probably still enjoy the excellent sound. This XLF is craftily designed with the right sauce of driver balance/integration, crossover components, with those tuning resistors that can be tweaked to personal preference.
I was totally misled by Mike Fremer's comparative review of the XLF he owned prior to the Alexx where he preferred the Alexx. Jay has shown that he has better ears.
Thanks man. More to come soon. Lots of people wanted to hear a different flavor, but i dont control what is available to me. I gotta work with what is on the table and hand pick from there. Obscure brands from other continents are just not things i can play with unless the guys who work with my local Waste Management want a nice present from me. In this case, i am sure they would be willing to come into the room and crate things up and haul them on top of the garbage truck. The reason WHY i dont venture too far "out into the woods" with regards to brands is because MOST OF YOU won’t come rescue me when i need to get out. If there was demand for these other specialty brands THEN i would gladly buy the name brands thrown at me. Look at the Soulution 701s monoblocks listed on here? $55k and they are $170-180k MSRP, current model and yet they ARE NOT moving... Let’s say i bought a new set of these for 90k today, WHO IN THE HELL is going to pay me 90k for them when there is a set for 55k on there? This proves my point... I got a family to feed and part of the reason why i am able to keep doing what i am doing is because i study the used market A LOT as well as the desirability of a particular product.
I looked at the Aida 2 - nothing is being built for like 8 months so i passed I looked at the Ultra 9s - nothing available to me I looked at Rockport Lyra - nothing available to me
i can not look at MBL because those are hard to drive speakers that need their own amps so how in the world can i present to you a Gryphon Essence with a speaker that hungry? - Impossible i thought about horns, but not long enough to truly give them a shot
I looked at the Alexx V, but then the XLF came to my attention and after pondering it for a few weeks, i thought "what the hell, let's try it because the Alexx V aint going nowhere anytime soon and the XLF is not exactly a speaker that is presented to me everyday plus i want to be able to draw parallel comparisons between it and the former Alexx which i have owned in order to see what else this big speaker brings to the table that the Alexx did not (i will go over this in a future video).
Go Suns! Love the purple and orange color combination now in your room! Much better than purple and yellow!! Looking forward to the videos to come with this speaker.
At work but listened to the first half of the video, and the advice is don't make the mistake of "taking steps backwards" (your words) again! Just remember how you're feeling about your room now versus the last two months or after you got rid of previous speakers.
You were there after Sasha DAW, you were there after Alexia 2, you were there after Alexx, and now here you are. Each time your tried to move forward but were kinda miserable with the change attempt until the next Wilson appeared, which usually didn't take 2 months as it did this time.
If you are going to go up from here you know what it will take (I'd mention it but some would get prickly so I'll leave it alone).
Anyway, congrats. The orange is badass. I almost predicted fly yellow, so now glad I didn't, haha
What about some British speakers? BW 800s would be interesting or even the Nautilus. Or even moreso, big Active ATCs would be interesting to compare the synergy you allegedly get with built in amps over your amp/speaker combos you have been trying. Not expensive enough? Think of it like trying the Parasound JC1+ last year after having had the big D'Agostinos and other mega amps you had, or the relatively affordable maggies. I think a lot of folks would like to see how they stack up. There may not be a huge resale demand for ATC but BWs there certainly is. Check out YouTube HiFi mania videos of the big 15 inch ATCs. -. Great sounding videos. PMC speakers also...
Big Wilsons are great to compare electronics. Good move, Jay. Just give them Essence monos not stereo, quite a difference, at least what I heard or thought I heard with M6. Viber, I disagree that comparing speakers is more interesting. Differences will be obvious, in a sense - nothing to compare. Personally, I am interested in Essence/Boulder comparison. Yeah, situation with Soulution is clear, too bad.
I appreciate the recommendations above, but i just got these monsters and they haven't been set up correctly yet. I'd like to circle back to any of the speakers above if possible in the future.
I was really hoping for a big Tidal or Marten....ho hum.No harm done with the Wilson....just more of the same which apparently what Jay really likes. His room, his dough..
inna, Sophisticated 'philes like us pride ourselves in hearing subtle differences in components that are denied by most music lovers or the "scientific" types who say that all cables sound the same, or even that all amps with flat freq response sound the same. But we struggle to be sure that we hear the differences, and our egos demand that we struggle to hear the differences that others can't.
Speakers show much greater differences than any other component. I found both the M6 and M3 so dull and boring that although I could hear the differences between amps, I didn't really care, because the sound was mediocre with any amp. But with the fantastically revealing XLF speaker, these source, amp, preamp, stand and cable A/B's will be much more interesting and clear. Since the XLF is so exciting even with a low watt amp, Jay may even find that the greater purity and transparency of dac direct outweighs the bloom and greater dynamics with a preamp added. Extra bloom isn't needed.
So now an Essence/Boulder comparison will be more dramatic. No need to spend a lot of money--Essence stereo at $24K vs Boulder 1161 stereo at $22K. That kind of comparison will be appreciated by lots more people than an A/B of $100K amps. The big money has been well spent on what is the most important component, the XLF speaker.
Jay, you are a savvy business guy and could offer $40K or less for the used Soulution 701 monos. When you are done, you could get out gracefully without much loss. You could sell anything now that you can make great sounding videos with the XLF.
Synergistic Research fuses should be coming to me. All my gryphon gear will get upgraded fuses and the dcs Rossini with the clock will too BUT after the shootout. I briefly cued a few songs from some music i received from greyhound and as i began to play some of the reference recordings on there, the astonishing clarity, bass and soundstage is even more present. It feels as if the rear mounted tweeter only kicks in when the recording is recorded really well and with a big soundstage. Quite interesting i must say.
Yes, very interesting. I can see how the rear tweeter ADDS ambience, but that is mainly true if your front walls are live. If they are damped, then there should be less of the effect. However, if you take a naturally spacious recording, ADDING the ambient effect of the rear tweeter artificially superimposes the room ambience onto the recorded stage/hall ambience. This creates smear, like being in a room with mirrors facing each other on opposite walls. You can have fun looking at the many reflections of yourself in the mirrors, but this is not really true to life. For a naturally spacious recording, I prefer the direct sound of all drivers, without rear radiation. Is it possible to disconnect the rear tweeter so you can experiment both ways?
Clever design. They did everything judiciously. Maybe this was the last work of Dave Wilson, before son Darryl took over. Newer isn't always better. Maybe this original forward firing tweeter was hotter than subsequent versions. "Some like it hot" like me.
Yes, the XLF has plenty of bass. Perhaps Mike Fremer preferred the Alexx to the XLF because his small, cluttered room couldn't handle the prodigious mid and deep bass of the XLF. But he missed the boat on how the midrange/HF on the XLF is far superior to that of Alexx. Although I hate bass dominated sound, I like the whole package of the XLF, because the superior midrange/HF nicely balances the full bass. The bass is not just full; it is well defined because its higher freq overtones are well presented. The XLF is the fantastic whole package.
As an aside, I was playing in an orchestra conducted by Arturo Delmoni, the famed violinist who appeared in several Stereophile shows years ago. Although we usually talked about violins, this time I told him how much I liked the powerful, full sound of the deep bass tuba. The orchestra gives you everything, and the XLF is the closest facsimile of that. WOW.
These suckers have grown on me but i can't properly set them up until vicoustics comes to pick up all these damn panels they sent me in the wrong color... By the way, many are asking me on the youtube comment section if the xlf is better than the m6 and i can not answer that because i have only owned the xlf for a week. I need to live with it before i can begin to compare to the m6. Part of the reason why i brought the xlf was to find out if it is better or worse than the Alexx i had in here. I believe stereophile said the Alexx was better than the XLF, but i 200% disagree with this. The Alexx is harder to drive, the bass was never quite right (in my room of course) and it did not do the crazy imaging the XLF does. Also, based on the in-room measurements from John Atkinsons, the XLF measured better in Michael's room than the Alexx. John also preferred the fullness of the XLF to the Alexx.
To be quite honest, and yes i know i have not heard every single speaker, i can not think of a speaker that can beat the XLF when you factor-in the money it can be had for now that it has been discontinued. Trust me i looked at ALL OPTIONS and NOTHING gave me the feeling that it could beat the XLF for the money. Will i ever bring the Alexx V ? I plan to at some point, but i am quite scared to be honest because the scale of this speaker has me possessed. Word on the street is that the XLF was retired because Focal was not going to sell Wilson more woofers so Wilson had to pull the plug on it. Wilson has enough replacement drivers, but Focal decided to not continue to support their needs with new XLFs.
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