Looking To Meet Some Arizona Audiophiles April 24th

[Johnny Vinyl]

yes......

I guess we'll have to wait.....

 

[Steve Williams]

Pretty obvious (for me at least)

BTW Marty is planning on doing an extensive write up here later today re our experience and I know it will be worth waiting for

 

[DaveyF]

Steve, glad you liked the silk dome(s). I too hope that DW will replace all of the inverted titanium domes throughout his line. I am of the same opinion as you are regarding the silk domes ability. Did you also get to hear the speakers with the other ss gear that you posted earlier that was on hand?
I'm sure that the SF's liked the tube amp the best, no surprise for me there.
Thanks for the reviews.

 

[Steve Williams]

We didn't Davey. Just not enough time. We did hear the big MBL's with an MBL amp

When all was said and done the trip for me was worth it in order to be able to evaluate the tweeter. Overall (and Mike was the first to apologize) however the lack of any genuine room treatments left both rooms with lots to be desired. It was very difficult to properly evaluate as both Marty and I have heard the Aida sound much better and certainly with a better bottom end. Nonetheless we also got to play with the trim switches on the back which can change ambient sound.

I can say this that IMHO the silk dome tweeter is a huge change for the Wilson line and I am betting it will show up on other Wilson speakers. Having said that however I can say that my X-2 series ll's with twin Gotham subs puts out a far better bottom end as compared to just the XLF alone.

Marty will be writing an extensive review as he has heard the Aida on more occasions than I

 

[Ron Party]

... my X-2 series ll's with twin Gotham subs puts out a far better bottom end as compared to just the XLF alone.

No surprise there.

 

[FrantzM]

No surprise there.

+1

 

[Steve Williams]

For my few hours there yesterday the revelation for me was just how good and how different the new silk dome tweeter is. Unfortunately there is no way to swap out one for the other in my speaker as the housing casing is a different dimension and will not fit

 

[Gregadd]

Your ears are better than mine, Steve. I find that 24hrs after flying, I can't trust my ears for any critical listening. Which is why I always fly in at least 24hrs before setting up for a show. It always sounds harsher and thinner with poor imaging and soundstage when I've just flown.

I had that problem when I visited Steve. But then I almost never fly. It's possible he's accustomed to it.

 

[cjfrbw]

It seems just a few years ago that any North American speaker manufacturer that used silk dome tweeters was considered strictly low tech and low fi. How the fashion wheel turns!

I always liked silk dome tweeters, much less mechanical sounding and less hard "bite" in the upper midrange. However, the metal types were always seen as far more accurate.

 

[Steve Williams]

It seems just a few years ago that any North American speaker manufacturer that used silk dome tweeters was considered strictly low tech and low fi. How the fashion wheel turns!

I always liked silk dome tweeters, much less mechanical sounding and less hard "bite" in the upper midrange. However, the metal types were always seen as far more accurate.

Carl

You are probably correct re accuracy but the sound of that tweeter for me was smooth,open relaxed and was wonderful to listen to

 

[andromedaaudio]

Inverted hard domes are more hard /snappy in my opinion , i like the attack (on guitarstrings) with such a tweeter , sometimes its :you win some you lose some, maybe
Soft dome implementation is very important off course , if one would hear that same tweeter build in a mdf box it would sound very diffferent than very well executed wilson style .
But its indeed kind of a new old thing , does high end progress forward or does it move in circles

 

[microstrip]

I have owned a few speakers with beryllium tweeters - Wilson and Jmlabs. However as all of them had tilted up frequency balances - a designer choice, not a tweeter characteristic - I can not be sure if their treble characteristics were due to the driver material or just the frequency response.

The Maxx3 had a tilted down treble balance compared with the Maxx2 or the Watt system 7 and I never found it tiresome in my system, but my room is well damped in the treble. Would love to see the frequency response of the X2 and XLF.

 

[microstrip]

Carl

You are probably correct re accuracy but the sound of that tweeter for me was smooth,open relaxed and was wonderful to listen to

That means the XLF tweeter , the Aida's or both?

 

[Steve Williams]

I have owned a few speakers with beryllium tweeters - Wilson and Jmlabs. However as all of them had tilted up frequency balances - a designer choice, not a tweeter characteristic - I can not be sure if their treble characteristics were due to the driver material or just the frequency response.

The Maxx3 had a tilted down treble balance compared with the Maxx2 or the Watt system 7 and I never found it tiresome in my system, but my room is well damped in the treble. Would love to see the frequency response of the X2 and XLF.

Stay tuned because we measured the frequency response of the XLF.

Micro

You've heard if the B&K frequency response curve being what people like most.

 

[LL21]

Thanks, Steve. Sounds like a great day. I have heard very, very positive feedback from an owner here who swapped his X2 2s for XLFs in January/Feb. In any event, i am not at all surprised to hear 2 Gothams and your X2 2s provide better bass than a single XLF...in fact, once i get round to the transport upgrade...i suspect my next long-term move would be trading in the Velodyne DD18 for a second-hand Gotham...or buying a 2nd used Velodyne DD18.

 

[Steve Williams]

BTW I sent the speakers' frequency responses to Marty for his review here but again remember there were room issues contributing

 

[FrantzM]

Thanks, Steve. Sounds like a great day. I have heard very, very positive feedback from an owner here who swapped his X2 2s for XLFs in January/Feb. In any event, i am not at all surprised to hear 2 Gothams and your X2 2s provide better bass than a single XLF...in fact, once i get round to the transport upgrade...i suspect my next long-term move would be trading in the Velodyne DD18 for a second-hand Gotham...or buying a 2nd used Velodyne DD18.

OT
While I think the Gotham to be superior to the DD18 (guess, belief, opinion, speculation.. based on nothing but impressions, although have heard both in vastly diffeent systems/rooms .. and I could be wrong ... ) Go for a second DD 18 ... more subs = better bass 98% of the time ...

Am waiting for Marty's write-up ...

 

[Ron Party]

OT
While I think the Gotham to be superior to the DD18 (guess, belief, opinion, speculation.. based on nothing but impressions, although have heard both in vastly diffeent systems/rooms .. and I could be wrong ... ) Go for a second DD 18 ... more subs = better bass 98% of the time ...

Or a Submersive and spend the extra 1500.00 on source material!

 

[LL21]

Yes, i have heard this...2 subs better than one when properly set up. I could well imagine. I also have heard good things about Submersives. Well...not for a while in any event, so plenty of time to read up and audition. thanks for the advice guys!

...now back to the main feature presentation...XLF v Aida (v MBL)

 

[Steve Williams]

OT
While I think the Gotham to be superior to the DD18 (guess, belief, opinion, speculation.. based on nothing but impressions, although have heard both in vastly diffeent systems/rooms .. and I could be wrong ... ) Go for a second DD 18 ... more subs = better bass 98% of the time ...

Am waiting for Marty's write-up ...

Frantz

what is interesting is that Marty and I have had essentially no time to privately discuss our thoughts as literally we both got off 2 separate airplanes, were met by the owner at the curb, went for lunch and listened for 5 hours. Subsequently we were driven to the airport and hopped on two separate planes and the only conversation we've had to-day is that I sent him the photos taken with the Phonik of each speaker's frequency response as well as a second taken of the Aida after speaker position was changed by only a few inches which still showed a suck out but a much flatter frequency response. Because of this I couldn't really say there was much deep bass in spite of a downward firing 13" sub. When I previously heard the speaker at CES I really don't remember that being an issue but again in all fairness to Mike, the owner, he was candid with us right from the beginning that the acoustics in the rooms was still to be finished in the next few weeks. IOW, I suspect that room issues contributed to my statement above. Marty told me he heard the Aida recently while away. It was played with the Zanden 65 wpc amp and he said it was amazing. Needless to say I also look forward to his review

For my ears yesterday, it wasn't until the speaker placement was changed slightly and the amp was changed from the Mac SS 1.2 Kw to the Mac tube amp 2301.

BTW, I agree about a 2nd Velodyne as well as perhaps 1-2 other subs a well