Wilson Audio Alexandria X-2 Series 2 Flagship Speakers - The Best

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General:

The Alexandria X-2 was the biggest and baddest speaker from Wilson a few years back until it was replaced by the XLF ($200k) and the Chronosonic ($329k).

The X-2 Series 2 benefits from a new midrange driver, a new tweeter, and a re-tuned crossover network.

We acquired these babies from an ardent audiophile who had them paired with a set of Mark Levinson 33H amps and Transparent Opus cables.

To get them in tip to shape we replaced the tweeters with fresh new units direct from Wilson. Nothing else was needed. The foam underneath the mid modules is beginning to show some aging but I cant imagine how that will affect the sound as is.

Both cabinets are pretty clean with no noticeable scratches or dents, just the occasional stuff you get from any high gloss loudspeaker that been around a few years.

These are complete sets including every grill, tool, spike, manual, and crate as it left the factory. It even has a set of gloves to keep fingerprints off the finish during setup.

I wanted to really experience this legendary speaker so rather than taking them to the shop I had them setup in my critical listening room at my home. It was quite an ordeal and it required three people to get them uncrated and into position. They are currently sitting on casters which really helps position them into the perfect spot over time.

Setup for these speakers is more intricate than most as you need to dial in the distance to your listening position by changing the orientation of the upper drivers to a specific spot. This will reward you with infinite imaging and perfect time alignment.

Im my mid to large size space they sounded best pretty far into the room but I'm not done experimenting. I suspect the optimal placement will take a few months to dial in which for me is part of the journey.

For amplification I went entirely the opposite direction and matched them up with my low power Nagra solid state amp. You see, despite the behemoth size, the Alexandria's are super efficient at 95db which means they can run happily with just 7W. This leaves a lot a room for some fun experimenting with tube and low power amps. The Nagra was up for the task and is doing a tremendous job showing no signs of stress or dynamics. Most folks pair them up with several hundred watts but I'm not sure that is necessary.

From the first song I played, it was evident this was several orders of magnitude better than anything I had ever heard.

Hands down, not even close to any speaker I have ever heard over the past 40 years.

I suspect a lot has to do with the fact they are in my most comfortable and familiar environment, but the amount of investment and engineering and materials that went into these shines through. With other brands, I have often felt that a lot of the dollar investment went into the marketing, hype and promotion of the product rather than true engineering and manufacturing where it really pays off.

This paragraph from Absolute Sound (full review linked bellow) best describes how I feel about the speaker.

"The X-2 defies the paradigm; this new Wilson is chameleon-like in its ability to sound big and forceful when the music demands—an area in which it is unparalleled—and then to seemingly shrink to the size of a mini-monitor when reproducing solo classical guitar. It’s not just the physical size of instrumental images that the X-2 gets right; it also resolves fine information in a gentle and understated way, conveying to the listener a heightened degree of musical expression."

I'm not a reviewer so I will leave the rest of the opinions to the professional so you will find several review links below.

Now let's discuss logistics:

These will come to the new owner packed in eight original crates that are built well enough to comfortably travel the world.

Freight is available and will run around $2k-$3k in the lower 48 States.

You'll just need to contact us if you're outside this area for a quote.

Unpacking should be done by two or three able-bodied persons. Setup is time intensive but not difficult and you will need to follow the directions from the manual to setup the angles just right. I'm highly impatient so I set them up quickly so I could have a satisfying first song, and them dialed them in over time. The pictures enclosed where taken during the initial setup before calibration so the angles might look off to a trained eye. In retrospect I should have taken my time and done it right the first time.

I'm confident to say that whoever is the next lucky owner will be highly rewarded by the cost and effort it will take to acquire them. It's really a once in a lifetime audiophile experience and I'm thrilled from having the opportunity to live with these for some time.

Brand Background:

Wilson Audio Specialties Inc. (commonly referred to as Wilson Audio) is an American high-end audioloudspeaker manufacturing company, located in Provo, Utah.

Ownership:

Second Owner

Amplifier Recommendation:

As little as 10 watts will make these sing.

Connections:

Single sets of speaker inputs, preferably spades.

General Sound:

Big beautiful musical sound with little fatigue.  

Cosmetic Condition:

7 - Some Wear and Light Scratches

https://skyfiaudio.com/pages/our-rating-scale

Working Condition:

Working perfectly and tested in our lab.

Included:

Everything like when it arrived new from Wilson Audio originally.

Packing:

Original Manufacturers Packing

Original MSRP:

$158,000.00

Overall Dimensions - Per Speaker:
Height
72 inches, (182.88 cm)

Width
17 1/2 inches, (44.45 cm)

Depth
27 3/4 inches, (70.49 cm)

System Weight - Per Speaker:
750 lbs each (340 kg)

Age:

2012

Reviews:

Alexandria X-2 Series-2 Home Theater Review

Alexandria X-2 Series-2 The Audio Beat (CES Best of Show 2011)

Alexandria X-2 Series-2 The Audio Beat

Alexandria X-2 Series-2 TONEAudio

Alexandria X-2 Series-2 Audiophile Review (Number 4 in the list)

Wilson Audio Series 2 Alexandria X2 Loudspeakers Reviewed Home Theater Review 08/04/2009

Link to Manual:

Manual

Recommended Cables:

https://skyfiaudio.com/products/transparent-opus-mm2-flagship-speaker-cables-w-spades-12ft-12-feet

https://skyfiaudio.com/products/kimber-kable-summit-series-monocle-xl-speaker-cables-pair-new

Testing Process:

Our speaker evaluation process starts with a visual inspection of all drivers. We are looking for damaged or deteriorating woofer surrounds, dented tweeter domes, and cone damage. We also inspect the speaker connection points for loose or broken connectors.

After the initial visual inspection we connect the speakers to a reference amplifier with our preferred test tracks. With the speakers placed with proper distance we listen to each driver to make sure that they are producing the intended frequencies with no signs of distortion or rattle. During listening tests with test tracks we check for proper stereo imaging and bass response at various listening levels. If there are any audible signs of issues, the speakers are taken to the bench where we perform a frequency sweep to isolate the issue so that it can be resolved by component repair or replacement.

Alexandria X-2 Series 2 Technical Specifications
Released: 2010
Retired: 2014

Drivers
Woofer:
One – 13 inch, (33.0 cm)

Woofer:
One – 15 inch, (38.2 cm)

Midrange:
Two – 6 3/4 inch (17.78 cm)

Tweeter:
One – 1 inch inverted dome (2.54 cm)

Super Tweeter:
One – I inch rear firing (2.54 cm)

Enclosures & Materials
Enclosure Type Woofer:
Front Ported

Enclosure Type Midrange:
Rear Ported

Enclosure Type Tweeter:
Sealed

Measurements
Sensitivity:
95 dB@ 1 watt (2.83V at one meter)

Nominal Impedance:
4 ohms, 3 ohms minimal

Minimum Amplifier Power:
7 Watts per channel

Frequency Response:
+0, -3 dB 19.5 Hz - 22.5 kHz Average in-room response