Wilson versus Vivid Audio and Magico
 

Curious as to what people prefer here. I have wilson Sasha 1's and I'm looking to upgrade. The obvious choice is Alexia but in reading many reviews and posts on this forum it seems like I should audition some others before proceeding. What do people think about Vivid Giya G2/G3, Magico Q3 or S5, and Rockport Avior? Anyone compare any of these to Alexia? I am planning to listen to several of these next weekend.

Sorry, I replied to your post in the vivid forum. Of course the alexia is awesome, but if funds are an issue, the Sasha 2 gets you really close. The day mine came, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to hear a difference from my Sasha 1's. As soon as we turned them on, it was a jaw dropping moment. Big upgrade.

I copied and pasted my answer in the Vivid thread:

Haven't heard the G3s, but compared the G1 and G2.
Sound was very similar, what can be expected because they share 3 drivers.
Woofers 11 and 9 inches: I didn't really notice a big difference in the tracks we played.
With 7.5 inch woofers you could expect the bass impact to be a little bit limited in the G3s.

I have heard Sophia, Sasha and Maxx 3.
Very good speakers but I chose Vivid for its transparency while remaining very "musical".

Magico is not my thing but it is possible that the set-ups I heard were not optimal - impressive and very expensive systems though.

Rockport I don't know, but I'm curious.

When you're spending this kind of money, you owe it to yourself to audition them all, even if you have to fly around the country a bit (what's a $300 ticket when you're considering purchasing a $50K+ pair of speakers? ;-))

Me? The Alexia had just been released so I was not able to obtain a home demo, but I'm not for a moment sad I decided on the Vivid Giya G2s.

I've been very impressed with the Alexia when I've heard it at shows and dealers, and it's actually a bit less expensive than the Vivids, so it's definitely worth the time to compare.

I haven't heard the Rockports in a while, and the Magicos (at least those in a competitive price range) just have never done it for me.

I think Alexia is your choice if you can afford it. You are obviously pleased with the Wilson sound. I think Wilson cabinets are the best. The adjustability of Wilson speakers is unmatched. Wilson drivers are now competitive across the board with the drivers of other manufactures now that the Ti tweeter has finally been replaced. None of this means that you won't like the Vivid, Rockport, or Magico better but there is no perfect speaker. I would work my way up the Wilson upgrade ladder if I were you.

I plan to listen to Magico q3/s5, rockport avior, and Vivid Giya G2 this weekend and will be flying to another state to do so...

Thanks for your thoughts. Cost is always in play. Alexia went up to 52K retail recently in standard finish. Vivid Giya G2 is 50K retail, Magico s5/q3 are considerably less. So is the Rockport. Wilson speakers are very difficult to set up in my experience so buying them second hand is difficult. As a result it is much harder to get special pricing on them. I just want to be sure that whatever I do it is a significant improvement over my current Sasha 1. I don't want to buy speakers just to buy speakers.

At the very least I can say either the Alexia or the Giya G2 will be a substantial leap forward from the sound of the Sasha 1.

As much as the Sasha did right, to me they still had their moments where they didn't sound quite right to me.

One test I used was to find a recording with say a trombone located fully in one channel.

On the Sasha there was a good soundfield on stereo sounds, but with a single channel sound like that I could always hear the sound was coming from THAT driver in THAT speaker.

The Giya G2 never had that issue, nor, in my experience, does the Alexia, with the instrument sounding like it's on that side of the stage, rather than sound eminating from a particular cone.

I still think that anyone considering the Alexia should also listen to the Sasha 2 if they haven't done so.

I am blown away by the improvement over the original Sasha. It's very hard to believe a tweeter can make that much difference (I know I am over simplifying things) but it definitely takes things up a notch. It is 90% of an Alexia, instead of 75% previously. Something to that effect, I would say.

Interesting observations… Thanks for your input.