Wilson Audio Alexx UK Launch

A remarkable afternoon today (Friday) at KJ West One for the UK launch of the Wilson Audio Alexx, ultra high end speakers. Todays Wilson Audio Alexx launch was not about reviews or affordability, there are neither review samples available or money in my bank to let that happen.  This product launch was about aspiration and confirmation that life is full of jewels of musical joy.  And the Wilson Audio Alexx is all about aspiration and these jewels of joy.  We cannot all buy an Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato (also launched this week), at £500,000, but we can all dream of it when we have a lottery win or the like. And so the Wilson Audio Alexx is the same, a totally aspirational, and inspirational, pair of speakers at £100,000 plus. Glorious.

UK Launch at KJ West One

Today (Friday 20th May) sees the UK debut and launch of the aforementioned Wilson Audio Alexx speakers.  The speakers are simply stunning.  They have hand finished point to point crossovers which are then isolated from the outside world in an inpermeable block and they have 91dB sensitivity with nominal impedance of 4 ohms.  In other words these speakers ooze power.  They are four way speakers, with two bass woofers working in partnership at the low end.  Then there is a lower mid-range, an upper mid-range and a final Tweeter, a one inch silk dome.  Each driver is separately mounted and can be moved, then fixed, both directionally and forward and aft of the listener to obtain the perfect listening plane.  Such is the precision of the sound Pedro Jorge Luis, an Italian who has worked with Wilson Audio for 28 years, spent ‘five hours and a sandwich’ getting the sound right for the demo.  The speakers weight in at almost 600kg each so placement, ‘to an eighth of an inch’ is critical.  In our case the speakers were off centre due to projectors and television screens and the like, but the sound was exquisite.  

The set up for the UK launch today was all powered by Dan D’Agostina Momentum Pre amplification with two matching MonoBlock amplifiers with Transparent OPUS cabling and support.  The picture I have is a bit poor, I forgot to take my camera, but you have idea of the scale and precision here.   We thought there was a good two hundred and fifty thousand pounds worth of audio rigged up here.  That’s half of a Zagato (have the rear end)!

Peter McGrath, Wilson Audio Director, explained that the key to Wilson Audio’s legendary status as reference speakers to other manufacturers is that they use composite man made materials for the chasis of the speaker.  There’s no wood, MDF or metal, just a purely researched solid composite of material, like a modern kitchen work surface, that has monotonic resonance.  The material is also stiff, so the housing holds the drivers in their optimum position.  With minimal resonance and a stiff hand the drivers perform their function perfectly.  Mr McGrath was at pains to point out that Wilson Audio are ‘amplifier  agnostic’, they favour no brand.  The list of high end amplifier manufacturers who use Wilson Audio to develop their products was as long as your arm,  so  testifying to this truth.

Wilson Audio Alexx – My Impressions

I saw Julia Fordham, for the fourth time a few years ago, locally in fact, and she has a perfect voice with a beautiful catalogue of music.  When she sings music is as good as it gets, I heard some of that yesterday, the feeling of just being there, looking around the stage at different instruments.  David A Wilson, founder of Wilson Audio set out with one goal, ‘the facsimile reproduction of the emotionally charged sound I hear in real, acoustic music’.   Listening to the various pieces presented by these incredible speakers, including Haydn, Beethoven and Bach, and DubXanne (no less), I heard incredible depth and detail.  David Wilson’s vision is a reality.  The imaging I saw was beyond that I have experienced to date, and I was reminded of listening to Julia Fordham, live, and how amazing music can be.  The words I wrote down most often when listening to the demo music was space and separation, just being able to picture a double bass, to the right of a jazz piano was fantastic.  It was an honour to be there.

Finally, I urge to seek out DubXannes album, ‘Police in Dub’ and then listen to their incredible version of ‘Roxanne’, but I can tell you one thing, it won’t ever sound as good as I heard it today.

For more information and retailing go to Absolute Sounds , or Wilson’s website