Any high powered receiver will do the job. Dave Wilson did a demo with a receiver to show that the speaker is what mattered.
Wilson Alexia 2
Any suggestions for electronics for these speakers. Something that would do them justice but moderately priced. Is McIntosh a good match or is there something better in that price range? Ie: Spectral, ARC, Krell. Looking for bang for the buck but not cheat the speaker either.
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Insanely good speaker I heard this very pair https://www.soundstageaustralia.com/index.php/reviews/84-wilson-audio-specialties-alexia-series-2-loudspeakers at length over time with many different amps using the same Total Dac/Lightspeed front end. The only two amps out of all the ones we heard that extracted the very best from these extremely hard to drive speakers, was the Parasound Halo JC1's and the Gryphon Antillion Evo. With the Gryphon Antillion being the chosen one over the Parasound if money was no object. I dare say that the new Parasound JC1+ mono's will close the gap. Cheers George |
Any high powered receiver will do the job. Dave Wilson did a demo with a receiver to show that the speaker is what mattered.Yeah, a receiver will "do the job". A Prius will "do the job" too, but I'm not a fan for obvious reasons. But your premise that the speaker is "what maters" is silly, A receiver will always be a sub par piece of audio gear targeted to the unwashed masses. If you want to hear what any speaker can really do, it's the last thing you'd want. Oz |
Ozzy, I agree with your perspective but interestingly it was Dave Wilson himself who intentionally demonstrated his Alexia driven by a receiver. Seems odd given the known load characteristics of this speaker. Who’d be more aware of this than the designer/builder himself? Perhaps this receiver was particularly robust. It seems Wilson was trying to make the point that amplification is not that important. This goes against my experiences, amplifier quality/capability most certainly matters. Charles |
I recently heard these with three different amps: Naim, D’Agostino and McIntosh. Speakers sounded great on all three. Dealer actually recommended a pair of the 1.2 kwh McIntosh monoblocks which I preferred as well. I have the amps now waiting on the speakers. The D’Agostino sounded great as well. Both of these amps really opened up the sound at lower volume levels. |
I tried the spectral but wanted something that draws you in to the music a little more. While the Spectral was very good in a lot of ways but You have do do the entire system and I didn’t feel I liked enough to make the commitment. Something a little more organic. Gryphon sound like a good choice too. I’ll have to check it out. Checking out the Mac system as well |
Carey, I'm glad that you had the opportunity to hear Spectral and judge for yourself. I understand your description. It's one thing to make sound (Even good sound by Hifi criteria). It's another thing to establish an emotionally communicating music listening experience. If you aren't drawn into the music performance, keep looking/searching until you find it. Charles |
Many times. An all Spectral system with Wilson presents an extremely accurate but, IMHO slightly antiseptic sound--unlike, say, D'Agostino, Wells audio, Lamm 1.2 (hybrid) or tubes (ARC, VTL, VAC, BAT) which are my personal favorites because they draw me in more than solid state. OTOH, I love their cd player. |
They are regularly shown at show with VTLs and the dealer in NYC shows them almost exclusively with VTLs. It is a brilliant match. Check out AVM. Their Ovation 8.3s have a tube input stage with a high power SS output stage and have an amazing depth of sound. It is kind of best of both worlds. I just sold a pair of their flagship monos to a customer and am waiting on delivery. |
You should really listen to the Alexia 2s with ARC Ref 160 monos. I have had in house in the past the Ref 250s, the D’Agostino Momentum S250 and now the ARC Ref 160 monos. The Ref 160 monos are the most musical and natural sounding amps that I have ever heard with Alexia 2s and I now own them. The ARC power supplies are monsters that enable the amps to grab and slam the bottom end as well as anything I have heard to date. |
Please no Mcintosh.+1 With high output impedance of .7ohm of the Ref-160’s into the Alexia’s .9ohm epdr bass they may sound good. But surely not against the D’Agostino Momentum S250, or even a Gryphon Antilleon in the bass with these Alexia’s. Stereophile: Cheers George |
George: In my home, the only difference in bass response between the Dag Momentum S250 and the Audio Research amps was the quality of the bass, not the depth or slam. The quality of ss and tube bass are quite different as is the midrange---but re slam--I could not tell the difference nor could an experienced recording engineer who sat with me during the evaluation. Stereophile measurements are important-but more important is what you hear when you hook things up. That being said, as I've said many times on this forum, the Dag amps are great and would be my solid state choice for Wilson. |
George:That will be the output impedance of the ARC being 0.7ohm and the D’Ago being 0.2ohm this is 3 x the damping factor in favor of the D’Ago, the Gryphon is 0.02ohm 10 x better again than the D’Ago, and with even more current available. The bass of the Alexia which is at it’s worse .9ohm epdr. That’s why they’re so hard to drive to their best in the bass. All this is reflected in what the reviewer and tester found with the D’Ago Overall, the Momentum’s sonic personality, its high-frequency transients somewhat more relaxed, its bass performance ever so slightly less muscular The output impedance was moderately high for a solid-state design, at 0.21 ohm at 20Hz and 2kHzAnd that was on the Wilson Alexandria XLF’s https://www.stereophile.com/images/113Walexfig1.jpg way easier to drive than the Alexia’s in the bass https://www.stereophile.com/images/1213Walexfig01.jpg Cheers George |
Agree nothing beats listening. But to give what your listening to, deserves to have the best measurements to do the job properly, and get the very best out of the speakers yes? Even a big Nad will work into them and sound fine, and if you didn't know any better you could very well say that's the amp for them. So tot get a "base line of amps" that will do these great speakers justice, the test specs are the 1st most important to be considered, for the "base line of amps to listen to". Otherwise you get some saying things like Cary 805 monoblocks are a great amp get them!! Cheers George |
Old thread, and comments are spot on. FWIW: own the Alexia 2s and had them on McIntosh stereo amp. Not offensive, but somewhat veiled. Moved to Pass X600.8s and a huge improvement. Heard both Boulder stereo and D’Agastino Progression monos and Momento monos (new release version) on them. Heard the ARC 160s, too. And what they say seems true: the Wilson’s sound best IN MY OPINION on ARC for tube, and D’Agostino for SS. We liked the Momentum’s, stereo or monos work, well over the Progressions.
We will be upgrading in a bit to either ARC or Dags Momentums, most likely. Just my two cents. j
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@carey1110 I would agree with the posters who have mentioned the synergy with ARC. Wilson excels with neutral-sounding amps, which is why they tend to pair up with ARC and Simaudio at the big shows. The dynamics are incredible and resolution is one of the best with these combinations. @yyzsantabarbara also makes a good suggestion with T+A. In full transparency, I am an authorized T+A dealer who paired the T+A HV series stack with Wilson Yvette. T+A is just a tad bit warmer than ARC and Simaudio, which resulted in a thicker, slightly darker presentation. It was wonderful, but different than what I’ve heard with the pairings above. Between the three (T+A, ARC, and Simaudio) it would come down to listener preferences. I would never on the other hand pair Wilson up with amplifiers that tend to be more on the bloomier side like Luxman or McIntosh, but perhaps other have had good experiences. Wilson are also quite current hungry. Some tube amps may drive them just fine (ARC especially), but in most cases you’re right in looking into solid state. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss T+A pairing. |
@carey1110 I sent you a PM. Apologies as I did not realize how old the thread was, but I shot some thoughts to you over the message. |
Paired my Wilson Alexia 2s with the new Krell i400… WOW! Highs and midrange on another level, musical - smooth…. Bass is also very nuanced and deep. Great fit for this speaker. I came from a recapped FPB 300, and did a lot of listening between D’ago m400 and s250. I400 was more musical and better bass. |
@megabyte Megabyte- where did you hear the combining of the Alexx V and the Hegel |
I'd go with Parasound JC1+ mono. I'm in the camp that many of the 40K-70k power amps don't provide the level of benefit commensurate to their price. I run Classe Delta Mono's with my Alexx V's with great result. The spec's on this amp along with the Parasound don't get much better. I think you might "hear" differences between these amps and their higher priced brethren but not necessarily "better" just different. |
@skinzy thanks I’ll check it out. What preamp are you using with those Classe’s? |
I'm currently powering my Alexia's with Conrad Johnson LP275M mono's fitted with KT120 power tubes. Those have the power and finesse to do the big Alexia's justice. From time to time, I rotate them with my Bryston 24B-SST mono's. The low end grip they povide is quite astonishing, but for my overall taste I prefer the big CJ's. My old Levinson No. 23.5 does an admirable job as well, but I've become addicted to monoblocks over the years. Common to allo f these is my Aethetix Callisto Eclipse preamp. I really like the suggestions of those big Krell amps. I've had several Krell pieces over the years and find them to be first rate sonics and build wise. |