[audiochef]

I  agree whole heartedly with freedom of choice ,pay your money and pick your gear.
    I personally would be totally content to never listen to another Mark Levinson Wilson system again, as they are usually in elite  rooms at audio salons. I'm rarely impressed with the cold  mechanical  so called (detailed) sound.
         Yes ,absolutely freedom of choice but, let's introduce to them some altenative choices at real world prices.
            Stan

[audiochef]

To all ml  owners  forgive  me for insulting ML .They are truly one of the  best. I'd just like to see a wider range  of gear that is clearly not getting their props.
         
       Stan

[JoshK]

I once heard Wilson big boys (forget the model but it was a D'ag monitor on top of a 12" and 15" midbass/bass module) on ML No 32 monoblocks in a gorgeous room done by Innovative Audio in NYC....yawn.  Even the dealer was quick to point out, "this kinda setup isn't for everyone, its too clinical for my tastes."

[Horsehead]

Hey Josh- I didn't want to name names but that is the X1 setup I heard as well- double yawn.  No life to the music at all!  Sounded like a "big" radio.

[shokunin]

My local Theta dealer had Wilson Watt Puppy 7's with Krell gear.  Gear changes in that room quite often.  The owner (drawing a blank on his name) says it's an extremely neutral system.  I thought was it had very slight midbass hump (could be the krell amp) and the system lacked musicality and energy.  Their other room has maggies and that was an active and musical room, not nearly as neutral as the Wilson's but I preferred the maggies over the WP with krell gear.

I think the Wilsons are sensitive to the gear being used and have not yet heard the WP powered by some nice large tube amps.

[JoshK]

I think Keith and some others here before he moved to LA had a big audition of a bunch of gear at innovative.  They said they liked the Sophia's better than the WP's in the room they auditioned.   I think they were listening on BAT gear and said it sounded really good.  

All in all I just think they are too pricey, but some really like them and they do look nice, except for the X1, that to me looks like a big robot.

[Andrikos]

It's funny that you guys know OBG
Does he hang around here? I know he hangs at the ultra high end forum of AVSforum.
He LOOOOOOOOOOOOVES his Wilsons!
Can you imagine having a $125k pair of speakers???? INSANITY!
It'd be 50% of the value of my HOUSE!!!

I totally for an RM/X vs. X-2 shootout  
Anybody dare set it up?  

[Sa-dono]

It's funny that you guys know OBG
Does he hang around here? I know he hangs at the ultra high end forum of AVSforum.
He LOOOOOOOOOOOOVES his Wilsons!
Can you imagine having a $125k pair of speakers???? INSANITY!
It'd be 50% of the value of my HOUSE!!!

I totally for an RM/X vs. X-2 shootout  
Anybody dare set it up?  

He has posted around here...but I mainly know him from AVS. I don't expect any change of opinion from his love of Wilsons. It'd just be fun to hear for myself the RM/x's and X-2's in one session, in the same room with the same gear

[jackman]

I look forward to hearing Roop's impressions of the speakers.  I don't know if any of you know Roop (formerly Rup the Kid) but he's one of my favorite people I have met in my quest (obsession) for sonic nirvana.  He's a really smart young guy (Doogie Houser type) who I trust completely.  It's great to see someone like him getting into this business.  Over the years (not many years!) he has owned some of the best (and most expensive) gear on the planet (including top of the line ML's and a rare set of Gallo Ultimates) and is not afraid to speak the truth about audio.  

Hopefully soon, I can get my sorry a$$ out to his shop in the greatest city on the planet (after Chicago of course!) NYC, to hear a system that will play music the way it deserves to be played.  I'd better start saving my pennies...

Cheers!

Jack

[rkapadia@ROOP]

If somebody's willing to carry the X-1's up 4 flights of stairs... .

Well, I went to Home Depot in the middle of the night, and hooked up the speakers with some fat zip cord.  No tweaking of putty, no fooling with the pot's on the back.  

I've been fortunate to own quite a few respectable speakers (Gallo Nucleus Ultimates, ML CLS IIz, Apogee Scintillas, VMPS RM40's) , and I've never heard this quality of detail from a speaker before.

These RM/X have no right to sound this good hooked up to a NAD T762 receiver as pre and pair of NAD 218's for the amplifier section. It's already apparent Brian has made a very, very special speaker.

The imaging isn't where it should yet be, but that's obviously due to no break-in or tuning.  I will wait for about 200 hours before I begin the tuning process.  Given the tremendous amount of change occuring to the playback system relatively soon, any efforts in tuning and tweaking would be premature and a waste of time.


Kind Regards,

Rup

[rkapadia@ROOP]

Jman - Thanks for the kind words.  And you're right about Chicago - man I need to visit soon .

Regards,

Rup

[Brian Cheney]

If I had known I was dealing with Rup the Kid I'da charged more!!

There is a lot to do setting up the RM/X for optimum playback: tweeter pod angle, single amp/biamp, toein (critical not just for imaging but for bass), PR damping adjustment, and level controls.  At CES I didn't get it right for two days.  It is still a great sounding system right out of the box but it is capable of much more.

[rkapadia@ROOP]

Brian,

I agree with you - I love the "tunability" factor of the RM/X, and welcome the challange of mating them to the room perfectly.  I just think any efforts to perfectly tweak are futile until break-in completes, the tube amps arrive, IC's break in, power regulation is inserted, etc...

Still - out of box these are incredible.  A friend that helped me carry them up the four flights was about to tear my head off by the time we finished the ascent...then we slid off the double boxes, and he saw the RM/X - needless to say, he understood completely .

Kind Regards,

Rup