wilson audio alexia loudspeakers

on test
Wilson Audio Alexia Loudspeakers
Wilson Audio
Alexia Loudspeakers
A
lexia, the female Alexius, the Greek
defender of men. Or perhaps, being at the median point of the Wilson speaker collection, it’s the guardian, or
the representative sentinel, for the brand’s
whole speaker range. Indeed, the new
speaker has become a fresh pivotal focal
point that, at least for now, has stolen the
limelight from the company’s best-selling
and multi-generational pin-up hero—in its
new Sasha guise—the WATT/Puppy.
What’s more, the Alexia plugs a void in
the range’s price point, physical form and
conceptual design that fits it in between the
Sasha W/P and the large scale MAXX 3. But
the new speaker is the recipient of much of
the driver technology and overall engineering of Wilson’s flagship, the massive Alexandria XLF. So for starters, the Alexia is the
80
first to receive the new tweeter as used in
the XLF—in a revised version to mate with
the single midrange driver—and therefore
shares the tonal signature of the flagship
design. But I’m getting ahead of myself…
Conceptual principles
Alexia is a new design from the ground up:
Wilson Audio’s first such since the Sasha
W/P… though that speaker was really an
evolution of its WATT/Puppy Series 8 ancestor. Founder/designer David Wilson says
that he and the company’s design team set
out to create ‘a loudspeaker that would
communicate the majesty of music on a
grander scale while only marginally increasing Sasha’s footprint.’ So overall Alexia
measures 1,350mm high by 387mm wide
by 537mm deep, all of 240mm taller, 30mm
wider and about the same depth as its little
sister while weighing a substantial 27kg
heavier at 116kg. The stature becomes
apparent when, as you’re seated in your
favourite sweet-spot chair, the tall imposing
figure of Alexia and its single tweeter-eye
gazes down upon you.
Said tweeter is the new Wilson Audio
CST driver (Convergent Synergy Tweeter) in
a modified version of the XLF’s own, which
came about after a prolonged research program during which Wilson says all manner
of tweeterage was tested and evaluated.
Made by Scan-Speak to Wilson’s specification (and reportedly further modified at the
Wilson factory) the 25mm dome silk tweeter marks a departure from the long-running
modified titanium tweeter previously used
that came from Focal.
Wilson Audio Alexia Loudspeakers
On TEST
Results in a more robust and
extended low register while
maintaining a room-friendly
Sasha footprint.
For this new tweeter, Wilson claims a very
linear response, wide bandwidth and high
power-handling capabilities: all factors that
permit a smooth transition to the midrange
driver. Said midrange driver is a derivative
of the 178mm unit Wilson has been using
across the floorstanders and is said to be
almost identical to the XLF’s. It features a
stiff but very light diaphragm consisting of
a proprietary cellulose fibre blend and a soft
rubber roll surround.
In line with the larger Wilson speakers, Alexia features two disparately-sized
bass drivers (203mm and 254mm, also
sourced from Scan-Speak) presumably to
capitalise on the speed of the smaller driver
while reaching for subterranean lows with
the larger one (actually, the two drivers
operate in unison at very low frequencies).
The combination of the larger driver array
and increased internal enclosure volume
(in conjunction with a large low-tuned
machined aluminium port tube) results in
a more robust and extended low register
while actually maintaining a room-friendly
near-Sasha footprint.
The Alexia introduces for the first time
at this price point the ‘Aspherical Propagation Delay’ sub-enclosure alignment
techniques Wilson uses in its larger models.
Each speaker system comprises three spikecoupled enclosures; the largest, of course,
being the bass cabinet housing the bass
drivers while atop sits the pyramidal 178mm
driver’s twin slot-ported enclosure which
supports the sealed tweeter module.
Fore, aft and vertical adjustments can
be made to the mid and treble modules to
acoustically align the speaker, in relation
to the throw distance and ear height, to
‘focus’ at the listening position. The spiked
mid enclosure moves fore and aft (along
two metal guide rails for the front spikes) to
line-up at the rear with a machined metal
stepped block which shifts along a numerical scale. The vertical/angle adjustment is
performed via
an interchangeable rear spike
(different lengths
supplied) that sits
on one of the
block’s 10 ‘steps’.
The rear spike sits
on the appropriate step firmly
enough but a
shallow spike-coupling indentation
on the step would
make the arrangement more solid
while also centring the spike within the
width of the step. This could be offered as
an upgrade seeing that the step block can
be removed and replaced easily enough.
The tweeter module sits within a cutaway of the mid enclosure and can be
independently adjusted via a metal indentation guide integrated into its top surface.
A heavy aluminium plate serves as a brace
against the mid module’s ‘wing’ cut-away
panels and features a downwards-pointing
spike which, once aligned with the scale
atop the tweeter module (all part of the
Propagation Delay adjustment suite), can
be hand locked via yet another spiking arrangement which provides fulcrum pressure
from the rear.
As complicated as all this may sound on
paper, the procedure is self-evident once
you understand the mechanical alignment
principles at play and, in any case, set-up
will be carried out by your dealer. The whole
thing need only happen once unless you
drastically change your seating position.
Even then, the entire suite of adjustments is
easily made with the help of Alexia’s comprehensive and rather exemplary manual
which contains the ‘Alignment Tables’ required as well as very thorough room set-up
suggestions and other system information.
Wilson Audio
Alexia Loudspeakers
Brand: Wilson Audio Specialties
Model: Alexia
Category: Floorstanding loudspeakers
RRP: $67,795
Warranty: Five Years
Distributor: Advance Audio
Address: Unit 8, 509–529 Parramatta Rd
Leichhardt
NSW, 2040
T: (02) 9561 0799
F: (02) 9569 1085
E: [email protected]
W: www.advanceaudio.com.au
Superb performance in all
sonic areas
Comprehensive alignment
for optimal imaging and
soundstaging
Exceptional engineering
Superb finish
Form factor may not
appeal to some
Step coupling could be
improved via a small indent
LAB REPORT: Turn to page 86
Test results apply to review sample only.
81
ON TEST
Wilson Audio Alexia Loudspeakers
Very impressively, the speaker ‘vanishes’
in a way that is astonishing when you
consider its physical size.
Aesthetically, the whole mid and tweeter
arrangement echoes the design style of the
Sasha’s top module.
Aside from the superb fit and finish,
these aren’t ‘pretty’ speakers—their form is
dictated by their functional principles—but
Alexia’s industrial design elegance will suit
modern environments and please those appreciative of refined engineering.
Included with the manual are two large
‘pizza-style’ boxes with internal foam
cut-outs for the provided very high quality
US-manufactured tools, machined ‘diodes’,
matching spikes (both for tilt-alignment and
the overall speaker), brass floor protectors, microfibre polishing cloth and a set of
resistors. These last can be used to tailor
the Alexia’s midrange and treble response
for different room acoustics and are easily user-fitted to terminals accessed via a
removable brushed aluminium cover on the
bass enclosure’s rear panel. Wilson advises
that the resistors can also act as a form of
protection should excess power threaten to
harm the drivers.
Wilson Audio eschews the more commonly used MDF in favour of its own
formula of composite compounds across
the entire product range. Alexia enclosures
feature a combination of ultra hard ‘X’
cellulose and phenolic composite materials
and midrange-suitable ‘S’ material (natural
fibres in a phenolic resin laminate as first
developed for Sasha) where appropriate.
A number of standard high-quality gloss
finishes are offered and, at added cost, a
selection of premium colours or any custom
tone from the infinite automotive palette.
We’re thoroughly familiar with a number of
products from the Wilson stable and must
note that the paint finish has markedly
improved over the last three generations to
exemplary mirror-like standards. Our review
sample was finished in a stunning ‘Dark
Titanium’ with a deep lustre resplendent
with metallic speckle.
Alexia ships in three large timber crates
and the logistics of delivery and installation,
82
although handled by your
dealer, need to be considered
in terms of access and container storage.
Wilson Audio specifies
the Alexia as having a wide
frequency response between
20Hz and 32kHz ±3dB
while sensitivity is quoted
as 90dBSPL/1W/1M at 1kHz
with a nominal impedance
of 4Ω. Impedance minima is
quoted as 2Ω at 80Hz but our
measurements showed otherwise… whatever the case,
high-current solid-state and
high-watts valve amplification would be most suitable
in order to attain the full
power, control and dynamic
potential.
Wheel ‘em out!
The Alexia comes pre-fitted
with castors, something that is invaluable
in terms of room position experimentation
for a speaker weighing well over 100kg.
Days of wheelin’ high-jinx led to the Alexia
being positioned only a few centimetres
wider apart and further into the room than
my reference Sasha. I had at hand a range
of high-current solid-state amplifiers and
some powerful valve ones too, so the Alexia
was fed a good variety of the appropriate
quality. Ditto for the preamplification, which
featured outstanding products of valve and
solid-state designs.
Going from the Sasha to Alexia demonstrated that the Wilson Audio ‘house
sound’, for lack of a better descriptor, is
recognisable out-of-the-box—but oh boy,
do we have so much more on offer here…
This driver mix offers the most coherent cut-of-the-same-cloth sonic balance
I’ve ever heard from a Wilson speaker and,
indeed, one of the most coherent full stop.
In my listening room—which, untreated,
has been measured to be fortuitously
and refreshingly flat—the frequency
graph’s 20-to-20 terrain is one of minor
undulations within a narrow scale rather
than most rooms’ mountainous and
subterranean chasms. This allows the true
signature of any speaker to transmit across
with much less than the usual environmental editorialising.
The Alexia is top to bottom consistent
and, in conjunction with the comprehensive
alignment adjustments, totally disappears—
but alas, only from the listening position.
While on spatial descriptions, the massive
sonic field is populated with well-defined
images that possess, in terms of localisation
and corporeal presence, the fundamental
signatures of individual instruments and
voices as close to real manifestations. Very
impressively, the speaker ‘vanishes’ in a way
that is astonishing when you consider its
physical size. Music emanates around and
radiates outwards just forward of the speakers’ plane; enveloping but with clear and
precise image localisation.
ON TEST
The aforementioned ability for the new
drivers to coalesce also presents gains in the
tonal character of the loudspeakers. The
Alexia is a subtle and sophisticated handler
of the textural palette and micro-detail
minutiae. Instruments and voices sound
natural, with correct timbre and unaffected
tonality, as they do when I hear them at
acoustic live performances. No better example of soundscape and tonality is Audiofon’s
Earl Wilde, The Art of Transcription, Live
at Carnegie Hall. Alexia reproduces Wild’s
majestic piano with tremendous power
and dynamic accuracy while preserving and
naturally-decaying its sustain within the
astonishingly realistic live acoustics and rich
ambience of Carnegie Hall as captured by
Wilson Audio’s own Peter McGrath (who is
also Audiofon’s Chief Engineer).
And I should talk about pyrotechnics—
in the sense of the type of unrestrained
dynamic exuberance and bass power that
the brand has always been known for. Here
the Alexia provides a generous and quite
surprising proportion of what much larger
well-designed speakers can offer. I dare you
to crank the volume while playing Bozzio
Levin Stevens’ ‘Duende’ from the trio’s Black
Light Syndrome release. Between Levin’s
punctuated bass (especially in the intro),
Stevens’ devastating guitar attacks and
Bozzio’s Bofors-cannon drum rolls you’ll be
left breathless… and your neighbours kind
of anxious. Alexia has a much more even
and balanced bass than my Sasha; yet it
slams much harder while dipping far lower
and seeming ‘faster’. It’s a low register that
brings an unconscious smile to your face, a
84
Wilson Audio Alexia Loudspeakers
stupor, because
its energy and
excitement make
it sound real. It’s
pacey, clean, with
sharp transient
attack and massive power while
petering off with
natural decay.
But such
low-end quality,
all things being
equal, is to be
expected. Alexia
is a large speaker
with two powerful bass drivers
designed by a team of experts with decades
of scientific and engineering research behind them. What is much, much harder to
achieve is a natural midrange and top-end
while balancing the respective inter-driver
and crossover interactions and managing
the cabinet’s resonant behaviour.
Coming from the previous Wilson tweeter as used in the Sasha, at first listen, Alexia
may seem somewhat reserved, restrained,
less airy and extended. Long-term listening
will, however, reveal a less forward, more
refined, nuanced and natural presentation
with truthful tonality, filigreed detail and
stunning dynamic modulation.
I couldn’t possibly illustrate a better
example of the sublime midrange and treble
performance of this speaker than to ask you
to give the tired and clichéd audio show
chestnut that is Rebecca Pidgeon’s Spanish
Harlem a whirl. I never play this for my own
pleasure, or even for evaluating audio, even
if it’s a fairly good recording and its ubiquity
makes it somewhat of a familiar reference:
its over-rotation in audiophile circles has just
ruined it for me. However, at the request of
a visiting friend, on it went… ‘Just for kicks
and only a minute of it…’ he said. Well,
I’ll be blowed! Such was the captivating
beauty Alexia was able to convey that we
both froze and listened to the whole track
through… in my case, for the very first time
in many years. Pidgeon’s voice was crystalclear, dead-centre and rendered with a verisimilitude, a purity that bestowed the tired
track with new authenticity. And should you
be from another planet and not expect the
shakers as they come in, then you’d be
startled at the lifelike resolution which
almost allows a bead count. Spooky real.
Yet another strength in abundance is
resolving power. Feed the Alexia with the
most complex mixes, the most intricate
instrumental dexterity and nuanced musicianship and it rewards with meticulous
separation and intact micro-detail while
maintaining the musical flow. Sasha is adept
at this too but Alexia just renders it all with
superior musicality and emotive connection.
And as much as Alexia excels at all performance parameters, what is at its core is
an ability that is, surprisingly, somewhat
rare in high-end hi-fi—the capacity to
communicate the emotion of the music in
a way that captivates the listener. And that
is priceless…
Conclusion
Wilson Audio’s model releases are the
result of evolving research and ideologies.
Of course, form, physical elements and
manufacturing factors will determine a new
speaker’s price but it’s common for Wilson
Audio to produce a new design featuring
the latest thinking that, as a result, may
outperform siblings up the range. In other
words, new speakers are recipients of the
best knowledge and design skill at hand
and not constrained or hampered in order
to fulfil price-point expectations.
The new Alexia fulfils the mandate
required to produce a speaker that is close
to being on par with the XLF flagship’s
performance—save for the bigger speaker’s
obvious bass superiority—while maintaining Sasha’s approximate dimensions. Alexia
is a considerable investment, however, few
speakers can match its level of engineering
and, in the sum of its parts, it’s a product of
developed and costly manufacturing methodologies. Its power and sonic excellence
are directly derived from the meticulous
acoustic alignment provisions, the advanced
non-resonant enclosure materials, the bespoke drivers, the painstaking attention to
detail in construction and the skilfully tuned
‘system’ entire.
Alexia will be a landmark product for
Wilson Audio, of that I have little doubt,
and may even outsell the smaller and less
expensive Sasha. It’s a remarkable design.
Alexia, the new Wilson Audio lady, is not
leaving this house. Review sample promptly
Edgar Kramer
purchased…
Lab Report
Laboratory Test Results
The frequency response measured by Newport Test Labs that’s shown in Graph 1 is, as
you can see, extremely balanced and linear,
so that as graphed, using the pink noise test
stimulus, the Wilson Audio Alexia’s response
extends from 27Hz to 20kHz ±3.5dB. As
you can see, there’s a slight bass emphasis
between 40Hz and 90Hz, which is around
2.5dB higher than the average for the
response between 600Hz and 7kHz, and
there’s a slight dip in the region between
90Hz and 600Hz that is around 2.5dB
below the average. However, both the emphasis and the dip are at frequencies that
will be greatly affected by room placement,
so with careful positioning you’ll be able
to ameliorate these effects to gain an even
‘flatter’ response if this is desired.
Graph 2 shows the effect on the frequency response of operating the Wilson
Audio Alexia with and without its grilles in
Wilson Audio Alexia Loudspeakers
place. I don’t think I’ve seen such a dramatic difference previously: performance will be
audibly better with the grilles removed—so
much better that I would recommend listening with the grilles off all the time (though
replacing them when you’re not, to protect
the drivers). Note, however, that it’s only
the midrange and tweeter grilles you need
to remove, you can leave the main (largest) grille over the dual woofers without
affecting the sound quality at all. Looking
at the response without the grilles, you can
see there’s a dip at just above 4kHz. This
is mostly a microphone-positioning issue
caused because the microphone used to
make the measurement
was only two metres away:
the response you’d hear at
the listening position is as
shown in Graph 1—perfectly linear. The sharp ‘notch’
just below 15kHz worried
me, but according to the authorities I contacted, it’s a characteristic of the soft-dome
tweeter Wilson is using, and has been
noted in all tests done on the Alexia—and
not only in the measurements of the Alexia,
but also of Wilson Audio’s Alexandria XLF,
which uses the same tweeter. The bandwidth of the notch and the high frequency
at which it occurs means it would not have
any audible effect on the sound. Indeed for
many listeners, it will occur above the highfrequency limit of their hearing.
Low frequency response (Graph 3) was
fairly unusual, because the two bass drivers do not appear to be crossed over any
dBSPL
105
Newport Test Labs
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Graph 1. Averaged frequency response using pink noise test stimulus with capture
unsmoothed (red trace) and smoothed to one-third octave (blue trace). Both traces are the
averaged results of nine individual frequency sweeps measured at three metres, with the
central grid point on-axis with the tweeter. [Wilson Audio Alexia Loudspeaker]
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Newport Test Labs
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Graph 2. High-frequency response, expanded view. Test stimulus gated sine. Microphone
placed at three metres on-axis with dome tweeter. Lower measurement limit 800Hz. Grille
on (red trace) vs grille off (black trace). [Wilson Audio Alexia Loudspeaker]
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Graph 3. Near-field response of lower bass driver (black trace); upper bass driver (blue
trace); rear-firing bass reflex port (red trace); midrange driver (pink trace) and midrange
slots ['ports'] (green trace). Ports/woofers/midrange levels not compensated for differences
in radiating areas. [Wilson Audio Alexia Loudspeaker]
86
2K
Wilson Audio Alexia Loudspeakers
differently, and both have a fairly peaky response that’s centred at 65Hz, so that their
combined response is around 6dB down
at 45Hz and 130Hz, this upper frequency
appearing to be the acoustic crossover to
the midrange driver. The rear-firing bass
reflex port has a very unusual tuning, so
that its output is essentially completely flat
from around 16Hz up to 55Hz. Above 55Hz
the port’s output rolls off at 16dB/octave,
so that there’s almost no output above
200Hz. This means that you could, if you
wished, operate the Alexias with their backs
very close to a wall without getting any unwanted high-frequency wall bounce, as you
10
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do with most large speakers with rear-firing
ports. The midrange driver’s response rolls
on very smoothly from around 80Hz so that
it’s taken over by 200Hz and, as you can
see, has a very even, linear output right up
to where it’s rolled off so the tweeter can
take over from it. The green trace shows
the output from the two slots at the rear of
the ‘head’ housing the midrange driver. As
you can see, the slots do not provide any
bass reinforcement at all, and seem present
only to change the loading on the rear of
the midrange driver’s cone. You can see,
however, that there is quite a bit of higherfrequency output (at 450Hz) which could
give some small emphasis
to the midrange.
Newport Test Labs
Wilson Audio has a
reputation for building
loudspeakers that are
difficult to drive, and the
Alexia is no exception, because its impedance barely
rises above 4Ω over the
range where most musical
fundamentals are found,
and drops to just 1.8Ω at
80Hz. (I was interested why
Graph 4. Impedance modulus (red trace) plus phase (blue trace). Black trace under is
reference 2 ohm precision calibration resistor. [Wilson Audio Alexia Loudspeaker]
Wilson Audio continues
to specify the minimum
Newport Test Labs
impedance as 2Ω whereas
every other test of the
Alexia I’ve seen, including
this one from Newport Test
Labs, shows it at 1.8Ω.) The
fact that the impedance
remains below 3Ω between
55Hz and 250Hz means
this design could never be
classified (at least under the
IEC 268-5-16 loudspeaker
Graph 5. Frequency response. Trace below 800Hz is the averaged result of nine individual
standard) as having a ‘nomfrequency sweeps measured at three metres, with the central grid point on-axis with the
inal’ impedance of 4Ω.
tweeter using pink noise test stimulus with capture unsmoothed. This has been manually
spliced (at 800Hz) to the gated high-frequency response, an expanded view of which is
Luckily, the phase angles
shown in Graph 2. [Wilson Audio Alexia Loudspeaker]
are nicely controlled, only
Newport Test Labs
exceeding 30° at 15Hz and
55Hz, and the impedance
modulus rises nicely at high
frequencies, which should
ensure compatibility with
Class-D amplifier designs.
In the frequency response depicted in Graph
5, Newport Test Labs has
used post-processing to
‘splice’ the low frequency
Graph 6. Composite response plot. Red trace is output of bass reflex port. Dark blue trace
response shown in Graph
is anechoic response of lower bass driver. Light blue trace is sine response of midrange
driver. Black trace is averaged in-room pink noise response (from Graph 1). [Wilson Alexia]
1 to the high-frequency reOhm
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Lab Report
sponse shown in Graph 2 in order to show
the overall response over a wider graphing
range (the two were spliced at 800Hz). You
can see that although the tweeter is flat out
to 20kHz, is still effective at 30kHz and has
appreciable output at 40kHz, the general
trend is that it’s rolling off above 20kHz.
This graph shows the final overall response
measured by Newport Test Labs for the Wilson Audio Alexia as 25Hz to 35kHz ±4dB.
As usual, I have included a composite
graph (Graph 5) which shows how the
various drivers and ports interact with
each other to produce the desired output.
However, this time I’ve simplified things by
not including the response of the smaller
bass driver (because it’s essentially the same
as that of the larger one), nor the output
of the head’s rear-firing slots. As you can
see, the correlation between the various
measurements is excellent.
Newport Test Labs used its standard
stringent methodology to test the efficiency
of the Alexia, and under its conditions,
reported sensitivity as 87.5dBSPL at one
metre with a 2.83Veq pink noise input.
This is just slightly above average efficiency,
despite being 2.5dB lower than Wilson
Audio’s specification. However, if you look
at Wilson Audio’s specification in more
detail, this US company specifies sensitivity
at only a single frequency (1kHz). Newport
Test Labs averages output levels over a far
wider bandwidth, which gives a more ‘realworld’ result… even though it always results
in ‘lower’ figures, much to the chagrin of
manufacturers the world over.
In sum, Wilson Audio’s Alexia will place
huge demands on the amplifier(s) used to
drive them, in terms of both current and
voltage, and will also require ‘way aboveaverage skill on the part of users in order
to align the various driver elements so they
deliver coherent sound at the listening position—and this is quite apart from the difficulties inherent in initially correctly locating
and positioning these large loudspeakers
in the room—as well as perseverance in
terms of constantly removing and replacing
loudspeaker grilles depending on whether
the speakers are being used or not.
However, these minor niggles aside,
the Wilson Audio Alexia is a well-designed
loudspeaker that is capable of delivering prodigious bass, linear midrange and
extended treble…and doing so very safely
at extremely high SPLs for extended periods
Steve Holding
of time.
87
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PANASONIC G6