Evening with Dave Wilson and Dan D'Agostino

Got an invite to the local dealer for an evening with Dave Wilson (Wilson Audio) and Dan D'Agostino (Krell) there were also some guys from Transparent Audio there.

I've been meaning to give the Alexandria X2 ser.2 a listen and actually got a chance to listen to the Sophia and WP8's again as well.

Of course the highlight of the evening was listening to the Alexandria X2s being driven by the monsters of Krell, the Evo 900 monoblocks. Needless to say that Alexandria being a 95dB speaker and Evo 900s capable of putting out 3600w at 2 ohms was one hell of an impressive demo. Talk about dynamics... They are one impressive speaker for sure... :thmbsp:


I could tell by the conversations that took place that Dave is a huge music lover and Dan is really passionate about amplifiers... Both are into cars and Dan actually records car sounds as a hobby.

Much conversation and questions were directed towards Dave about his speakers and he was only happy to address all the questions in great detail. Some of the typical questions were about voicing speakers, design goals, choice of amplification, etc... I found out Dave uses Spectral 360 amps as a reference amplifier when "voicing" his speakers but is a big Lamm fan as well when he "listens" to music.

Dan was very proud of his 707 pre/pro as it showcases his talent for designing products that are truly transparent and neutral sounding.

By the way, the Watt Puppy 8s ARE retired and the new replacement may not be called a Watt Puppy, at this point Dave's lips are sealed and he addressed them as "Watt Evers"....

Transparent guys did a nice demo on their cables and got pretty heavy into the physics involved.

I only got a chance to take a few quick pics as I didn't want to be a distraction.

Overall a great time. :thmbsp: It's good to get out and listen to other gear once in a while to have a good frame of reference and a fresh perspective. :yes:

I got home and put on my system, somehow my familiar room and setup that has been optimized and tweaked so many times sounded so sweet and musical minus the BIG, BOLD DYNAMICS of course.

Very cool. Whether either Wilson or Krell is anybody's cup of tea or not one has to admit they are both very impressive lines of high end equipment, and their respective owners/presidents should be commended for their passion and contribution to the hobby. :thmbsp:

exracer said:

Very cool. Whether either Wilson or Krell is anybody's cup of tea or not one has to admit they are both very impressive lines of high end equipment, and their respective owners/presidents should be commended for their passion and contribution to the hobby. :thmbsp:

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Dave is actually a very down to earth guy, he freely talked about the financial state of his company, gross revenues, the economy in general and praised other speaker makers out there that he respects. One thing he frowns upon is speakers that are made overseas and are sold in the states under a hushed pretense they are made here. You'd be surprised who they are. I am not going to mention the names.

Moved to a more appropriate forum.

PHC1 said:

By the way, the Watt Puppy 8s ARE retired and the new replacement may not be called a Watt Puppy, at this point Dave's lips are sealed and he addressed them as "Watt Evers"....

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What did you think of the W/P 8s?

ANd I wonder what sort of shape the new speakers will take? If Dave referred to them as "Watt" anything, I wonder if that means it will use the Watt (Wilson Audio Tiny Tots) + something else?

Dan mentioned it is getting harder to get audio quality output transistors by the way. They used to use Motorola and once they custom designed them together, he had to buy a million pieces that he has been using up over the last 10 years. Krell is also getting a pc board maker as it used to take them 90 days to get the prototypes back and there were always changes after that. Now they can do a board in one day and make as many changes as necessary.

Uberbrown said:

What did you think of the W/P 8s?

ANd I wonder what sort of shape the new speakers will take? If Dave referred to them as "Watt" anything, I wonder if that means it will use the Watt (Wilson Audio Tiny Tots) + something else?

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I really liked the Alexandria and the Sophia 2 better. Now keep in mind they were all in different rooms and different gear so it is difficult to draw any direct conclusions. The Sophia 2 actually impressed me the most with its musicality and price. The Alexandria 2 is a BIG speaker with BIG BOLD dynamics but it is also 95dB so I have a feeling it is more of a Chameleon, taking on a character of whatever is driving it. Certainly many folks have been impressed with it with Lamm 18w SET amps as some were today with 3600w amps, maybe even more so. :yes:

Dave really did not elaborate about the new replacement for WP8 for obvious reasons, I asked if there will be a WP9, he said he preferred to call them Watt-Evers at this point. They had a promotion going for the WP8 that could have been purchased for a $10k discount. That will do wonders for the used market on them. ara:

I got the glossy ad slick invite last week in mail but couldnt attend, mine was for a demo in PA so I assume its the same meeting. While Dave's speakers are not my cup of tea and I still cant figure out how you make a speaker that cost what his does he is a nice guy in person, I met him in NYC a couple yrs ago. I bet it was a cool demo and I am curious if the cable demo made a believer out of you........if you were not one already.
My dad almost bought the Sophias a couple years ago but went with Vandersteen's instead..............its fun to swim in the deep end of audio even if I cant afford the flippers!

chadnliz said:

I got the glossy ad slick invite last week in mail but couldnt attend, mine was for a demo in PA so I assume its the same meeting. While Dave's speakers are not my cup of tea and I still cant figure out how you make a speaker that cost what his does he is a nice guy in person, I met him in NYC a couple yrs ago. I bet it was a cool demo and I am curious if the cable demo made a believer out of you........if you were not one already.
My dad almost bought the Sophias a couple years ago but went with Vandersteen's instead..............its fun to swim in the deep end of audio even if I cant afford the flippers!

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I've been in audio long enough to have heard enough of a difference in cables but I've also been into it long enough that the law of diminishing returns can be very steep.

Dave's speakers are not the most expensive out there but of course they're not exactly chicken feed. The system in the room with his Alexandria was well over $250k after cables. :sigh:

I have heard demos that had like $50k just in Transparents cables!

chadnliz said:

I have heard demos that had like $50k just in Transparents cables!

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Easily. :yes: I have a 3 pairs of Transparent Reference for a home trial right now. Can't say that I am impressed all that much over my much, much, much cheaper cables.

I had an opportunity to listen to the Maxx 2's and Sophia's in Seattle and was very impressed.

Nice amps.