It's $600k according to Peter McGrath. In a Wilson Alexx Seminar last Sat at Fidelis in Nashua, NH, he mentioned there are already 27 WAMM pre-orders.
What's interesting is, WAMM and Alexx share the same drivers except WAMM has 2 additional midrange drivers. Alexx retails $110K vs $600K ... Hmm!
Never been a Wilson fan but Alexx sounds exceptional with all MSB. Also very impressed with Sabrina last summer driven by Agostino Momentum. Vac 200IQ a bit too small ... Wilson is on the right path.
while I have not heard the Sabrina, I have spent time w/ Sasha and Sophia. I never heard a disappointment, especially, with ARC/Bryston gear and Transparent OPUS cabling.
I'd love to see an independent impedance v -phase angle graph on these, as the Alexia's needed a Mack truck to drive them to get the very best out of them. Down to point nine of an ohm (.9ohm) in the worst place, at 65hz!!!
These are are OTT to me. IMHO Wilson's best work was the classic Watt Puppy and derivatives like the Sasha. This is just unsightly and ugly and overkill. I doubt they will sell more than a dozen - but it creates a buzz or a statement as I suppose it is intended to do.
The finest best selling Audiophile speaker designer / manufacturer decides to build a true statement speaker. Just like a La Ferrari , The finest car I have seen but never got a chance to drive. Listening to the Wamm is a dream. Me David Wilson takes 5 years to finally build the finest. Kudos to his dedication. We are truly blessed to see this in our lifetime.
I believe that the negative reaction here to the proposed pricing increase from the last gen Wilson is overly cynical. Sure, there are only 2 new drivers (and related enclosure costs), but you overlooked a critical distinction:
Great look! Not for everybody though. A little (actually, a lot) out of my price range, but one can always dream :) Would really like an opportunity to hear these some day.
I have a pair of Watt Puppy's and MAXX 2's. Love the Wilsons, but power is definitely a factor in owning Wilsons. I drive my Wilsons with a pair of Bryston 28B SST2's, and it's a good match.
The original WAMM's looked better (4-piece system) and did sound really good - I heard them in a pretty good sized room. More recently I got to hear the Alexandria-1 and thought IT was very good as well. Over and above (perhaps) the XLF, I don't get the goal. Also, we're talking a VERY large listening space, properly built from scratch. Also, the bass sections would (IMHO) be better off separated off. they look so awkward stacking the drivers in this endless vertical array. Same old argument- why so much money? Who really needs a speaker like this? I can name a dozen phenomenal speakers for a fraction of the cost, etc. BUT... leave it to D. Wilson to astonish us crazies once again...
I was also lucky enough to hear the Wilson/MSB demo at Fidelis AV.
From a visual stand point the Alexx are definitely an acquired taste, but the sound was truly amazing. The soundstage encompassed the entire room and the sense of scale was really impressive.
I was also lucky enough to hear the Wilson/MSB demo at Fidelis AV.
From a visual stand point the Alexx are definitely an acquired taste, but the sound was truly amazing. The soundstage encompassed the entire room and the sense of scale was really impressive.
I would love to demo Alexx with
Momentum. I find Sabrina with Momentum / VAC SigMKIIa SE was more resolving and preferable but doesn't have the scale, slam ... size matters. The MSB mono is class A and warm side of neutral.
Sabrina will be on my short list if shopping for speakers in a small room.
I think 2 VAC Phi 200s will work fine. I remembered Kevin Hayes used 2 VAC Phi 200s with KingSound King's at shows.
Kind of interesting but one VAC 200iq driving Sabrina was more resolving then MSB with Alexx. I think 2 VAC 200iq with KT150s will be a very interesting experiment. :-)
Wow I heard the MSB mono amps at CES three years ago on the Rockport Altair's. The worst sound I ever heard. Dark, dark, dark like you put a cloth over the speakers. I actually thought the speakers were defective. The next day at CES the Absolare 845 mono blocks arrived and the speakers were reborn. It had some of the best sound I ever heard at a show.
I'm familiar with Rockport Altair II and don't think MSB mono amps is a good match.
Altair II sounded best with VTL Sigfried II monos.
MSB with
Alexx wasn't awful but lacked detail, resolution and little dark. I think this is the 1st time Wilson sounded dark. :-) In general not a fan with most SS Class A amps.
Getting BACK to the subject of the Wilson Audio WAMM's, the online review from the Absolute Sound is out, and it is (no surprise here) filled with superlatives. They even love the design without the slightest reservation, which i find a bit odd. I was also VERY impressed at how the original WAMM's separated all the orchestra instruments so well. The underlying subject is not that they will cost $685K/pair (although i was predicting something like twice the Alexandria-XLF), but the room they were placed in, and the best-of-the-best music sources they were reviewed by. Given an average classical LP, or a good-but-not-great-CD (like a Blue-Note for ex.) you haven't completed the ideal chain envisioned by this kind of an engineering effort. Kind of like putting skinny tires on a Ferrari and driving at 150 mph. David Wilson lives in an environment of state-of-the art recordings, many done by himself, plus master-tapes, the best digital processing yet available, etc. Or he goes to Vienna to listen to an orchestra in one of the best halls in the world. He then decides to design no-holes-barred speakers to achieve that level of sonic realism. IF you share his vision that's fine, and you will be happy with the voicing he builds into his speaker line. There are however other ways to bring a smile to your face when listening to music, whether it's audiophile-grade or somewhat average-to-pretty-good quality. I still don't get the new WAMM's bass-modules (non-directional frequencies, right?) not being in separate enclosures. Maybe they did it this way to cut costs...!
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