Building around Wilson Alexandria | Virtual Listening Room

Description

I wrote the comments below years ago. I will keep them for a while as a reminder of my newbie thinking at the time. This hobby is a series of plateaus. I have reached a new one with my current gear. Having a lot of fun.

Have made quite a few changes to this system as my fledgling knowlege of audio has begun to mature. I still have a long way to go...in the knowlege department! I probably won't change components for a while. My goal is best possible 2 channel playback with secondary theater application. Have dedicated room 24 x 17 x 11. There are 5 dedicated 20 amp circuits. My recent focus has been on minimizing negative effects from the room. I have recently added ASC tube traps behind the main speakers and in the ceiling behind the listening position. The most interesting thing I did was to cut a 50x12" hole in the double sheetrocked wall behind the main speakers. There is a large floor to ceiling enclosed cavity that I filled with fiberglass. Then we covered the opening with an ASC custom built sound plank with an open back. The other issue I have worked on feverishly is speaker placement. Getting that right really improved clarity. timbre, and air. Before there was a bit of "congestion" in the sound. Finally, the bass trapping did more for the quality of the bass than I would have expected. Now I have zero bass boom; very tuneful low frequency. Nothing is perfect, but I (with the help of many others!!), have really achieved an outstanding quality of 2 channel music reproduction. Maybe now it's time to focus on the theatre side for a while.

Components Toggle details

- Wilson Audio Alexandria X2 Series 2
Aspen Silver
- DCS Vivaldi
Transport, DAC, Upsampler, Clock
- Boulder 2060
Stereo amp used with Wilson Maxx 2
- Boulder 2010 Preamp
Replaced 1012 DAC/pre. Similar neutral sound with significantly more detail yet musical.
- Goodwins Silent Server Server
Custom server for High Rez downloads. Connected to an 8Tb NAS drive
- Wilson Audio watch
center channel
- JL Audio Fathom F113
Pair of stereo subs. excellent quality. Integrates well with the Wilsons
- Theta Digital Casablanca 3
with extreme DAC'c
- Oppo BDP-95
DVD/Blu-Ray
- Balanced Audio VK 250SE Mono
Center channel amplifier. Replaces BAT VK 110 mono. Sounds great and not nearly as hot.
- Balanced Audio vk-220
SOLID STATE for surrounds (pair)
- B&W SCM-8
side and rear channels
- Transparent Audio Opus MM2 Speaker cable
12 ft pair. Great synergy with my equipment
- Transparent Audio Opus MM2 Interconnect
2 ft pair from preamplifier to amplifier.
- Nordost Odin
analog interconnect from Vivaldi DAC to preamp
- MIT MA-X Digital Proline
3 Digital cables, Vivaldi Transport to Upsampler and Upsampler to DAC
- Tara Labs Zero digital
Stereo Pair from Vivaldi Transport to Vivaldi DAC for SACD. Clearly one of the best digital cables made
- Tara Labs The One XL Cobalt Power Cable
On pre-amp, and all Vivaldi components
- Tara Labs 0.8
balanced 50 ft interconnect run to right and left channel preamp from Theta casablanca
- Kimber Hero interconnect and speaker cable
balanced from processor to center channel amp and from amp to center
- Running Springs Jaco
power conditioner on theater front end
- Sound Application RLS-1
Very transparent. I used this in the past with my Maxx 2's than changed for the Audience AR6T. The Sound app is better on the alexandrias.
- Sound Application Brass Alloy Power Outlets
Highly conductive modified Hubbell outlets. Remarkably better that the PS Audio. Used on 2 channel front end and amps.
- PS Audio Power Port
Modified Hubbell power outlets used in 2 dedicated circuits on theater front end.
- Pagoda Finite Element Master Reference
Rack for Pre amp and transport. Also master reference amplifier stand for Boulder 2060.
- ASC Tube traps
This photo shows 16" full rounds behind Maxx's. Recently added a second pair of 16" super traps behind speakers. Unbelievable improvement in imaging. Can't understate the difference this made. The panel on the rear wall covers a 12" by 50" hole cut into the sheetrock which allows low frequency to pass into a floor to ceiling enclosed cavity which is filled with fiberglass. Homemade (sort of) bass trap. There are also 3 16" half rounds on the ceiling behind the listening position.
- Sony SXRD
1080p projector
- Room Acoustics Custom
Custom designed combination of diffusors and absorption covered in fabric on walls and ceiling.

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Bflowers

I found the same issue with the Lamm ML 2.1 and my Wilson X-2, series 1 speakers. With the right preamp they really sang...the ARC Ref 3 and the humble, but a wonderful fit of the Lamm LL2. However, unfortunately the synergy disappeared with my CJ ART 3... As Oneobgyn stated, it is the fit that you love is the only thing that really matters...Congratulations!

unoear February 27, 2009 05:34

Yep, the 8 ohm tap also worked best for me when matching the Lamm ML 2.1 amps with the Wilson X-2s. However, when listening with ARC amps I preferred the 4 ohm tap.

unoear February 01, 2009 20:45

Hello Brian,

Congratulations on your purchase the new Wilsons! You are much more sensible and I must say smarter than Doc and myself :-)

I have the X-2s and had the same experience that you are describing with your break-in of the MAXX 3's. The Wilsons magic started opening-up for me between 80-100 hrs, which caused me some distress while I was patiently waiting. Also, since you are still trying to optimize the set-up, I presume that you have not spiked the speakers yet.

Also, I really think that your front-end is first-class and you have to ignore Doc...he has been afflicted with a slow virus, commonly referred to as the tube-sickness.

unoear December 20, 2008 20:08