Reference Sounds – Wilson Alexx V with Dan D’Agostino
Visiting Reference Sounds
As the summer of 2021 has passed, October marks the moment when we can now experience this magnificent speaker at the recently relocated Reference Sounds showroom in Almere, near Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
On October 13th, I drove to Almere, where I was enthusiastically received by Michael. As he told me all the ins and outs of the new Alexx V I almost forgot to take some pictures of the reception lobby. It’s a shame as I would have like to better show off this area than I am capable of now. Honestly, Michael’s lobby is larger than many entire stores, and -cough- probably has better sound coming from the custom-designed multi-speaker ceiling sound system than some “proper” HiFi systems.
Above, you can see the Sasha DAW’s that I reviewed in a previous Reference Sounds Company Special in glorious blue, with a Dan D’Agostino Progression power amplifier in the back, accompanied by a preamp from the latest brand that Reference Sounds acquired, which is another favorite of mine: Audio Research!
The wall-mounted tiles near the main demo room entrance show all the current brands, except for the brand-new addition HRS (Harmonic Resolution Systems). Known to me mainly from American audio magazines such as Stereophile and The Absolute Sound, the brand makes big and heavy racks but also floor platforms (Isolation Bases), feet, dampers, and other accessories. As I would later find out, the Dan D’Agostino preamp and the two mono amplifiers have each been positioned on one of the brand’s Isolation Bases.
Here’s another peek across the Reference Sound reception lobby, revealing a Revel speaker in addition to Dan D’Agostino and Audio Research. Incidentally, on the building’s second floor, there is a separate room to showcase the Revel product line, a domotica room, and a dedicated full-blow cinema room.
Here we enter the tastefully designed and acoustically carefully treated main demo room, where absorber- and diffusion panels are seamlessly and beautifully integrated into the interior.
Especially for this demo, Michael has arranged a dCS front end, supplied by Dutch Distributor More Music. What we have here is the Rossini SACD player and DAC, along with the Rossini Master Clock, with an HRS Damping Plate on top.
The dCS Rossini outputs its signals to the D’Agostino Momentum preamp via Transparent Ultra Gen 6 balanced interlinks. The source components are all powered by a Transparent Gen 6 Reference Power Isolator, using Transparent Gen 6 premium power cables.
Here’s the Dan D’Agostino Momentum preamp, proudly sitting atop an HRS Isolation Base.
Here’s a box of HRS Nimbus goodies. If all goes as planned, I will be covering this brand in more detail in a future review.
On a side table in the demo room, I noticed a book, casually opened on the pages showing the Wamm Master Chronosonic, to which the Alexx V owes many of its design features. At close to 700.000 euros, these masterpieces sort of make the Alexx V look almost affordable at 160.000 euros. Well, still not quite, for most of us, alas.
And now, we finally arrive at the main subject of this article, the Alexx V speakers in Cranberry Pearl, driven by the gorgeous D’Agostino Momentum mono power amplifiers. The interlinks between the preamp and the power amps are also balanced Transparent Ultra Gen 6 while the speaker cables are Transparent Reference Gen 5 as that turned out to make a better match with these power amplifiers.
The Dan D’Agostino Momentum mono power amplifiers are powered directly from the wall outlets, using Transparent Gen 6 Premium Power Cables.
No doubt there will be people who think these speakers are overly technical-looking but I personally think they are absolutely gorgeous and magnificently engineered. Seriously, just look at the below details and tell me that this does not instill a sense of awe…
Next: Listening Impressions
I know it sounds great, but the only speakers uglier than this are the two more expensive models from Wilson.
Hahaha, ok, fair enough. Beauty remains in the eye of the beholder:-)
I’m with you Vladmir also I wouldn’t be able to shake the feeling of a giant robot staring at me ready to destroy should I offer any criticism of the sound. :p
+1 funny remark! Made me laugh out loud:-) Go figure, a speaker that would not tolerate any critical remarks…
I’m with YOU Vladimir . . . the things look like Darth Vader times TWO 🙂 Just imagine what ugly anachronistic THINGS they will look like in ten or twenty years!! And besides . . . there is NO way ANYONE is going to convince me that we cannot enjoy music from other speakers that actually LOOK like loudspeakers!
I love the way they look as form follows function! (PS I’m an Architect)