XVX Installation

[Levitator]

Looks good Charles! Out of interest, what do you have your Mac amps sitting on?

[Charles]

Actually if you look at the pics through your phone it is possible to see them unrotated. At Ruth Chris. Live lobster delectable. JR closed.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by Charles

When you go to FAO on webite no help for photos. When you go to Google there is an app for iPhone only. My son is helping me but is frustrated with AA. I would be very happy to pay a yearly posting fee in addition to membership if Ivan could come up with a solution for folks like me. My time is actually somewhat limited. The xvx really fits perfectly into my a frame room but I'm not sure this is clear from the photos. Hard to adjust eyes for rotation. Crab cake was good. I'm starving.

Charles... I will take care of your photos, and embed them tomorrow.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Levitator

Looks good Charles! Out of interest, what do you have your Mac amps sitting on?

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Charles... I will take care of your photos, and embed them tomorrow.

Thank you Ivan. In answer to Levitator's question, the amps set on custom cut cultured marble. There's (strangely) a factory right down the road. I have a rule of thumb that keeps everything either completely out of my sound field (you don't see any of my sources, pre, etc.) or as low as possible. The IC's between the amps and pre are balanced 24' Wel Signature and retail for about 29,000.00 for 2. They are solid silver and the speaker cables are also Wel's coming in at about 19,000.00 per cable. The 24' Wels hurt the most but worth every penny now that I have my XVX. Although a mancave (I think it looks decent but certainly not elegant, it was not meant to) the room is well engineered with its own HVAC that is super quiet and the floor supremely solid. There are 4 20 amp lines. The room is wall within wall built of 2x6's and above the garage. The family is asleep at the other end of the house so with the door closed, total isolation and zero hum noise, even with amps and volume at wide open on all inputs except of course, tuner. I love the AQ Niagara's. This speaker sounds marvelous.

What a gamble, and it actually paid off. Of course, I cut the odds by putting so much work into it. I never worked on an audio project so hard. I measured and measured and measure and measured some more. I can tell you very honestly that Wilson is the finest bunch of people I have ever encountered. I asked so many questions and had so many reservations because if it doesn't sound good, what's the point? I am so proud of the spiking. It saved me possibly an 1.5"of height. It was all Wilson working with my dealer. As far as my dealer, if I didn't know better, I say they were angels with wings hidden under their shirts.

____________________
Charles Updated System
Most recent update: AQ Diamond USB replaces AQ Coffee
Amps: McIntosh 1.25KW’s (3) set on floor on custom made cultured marble slabs
Preamp and DAC: McIntosh D1100
Sources: McIntosh MCD1100 SACD player, MVP881 BR player, MVP851 DVD player, MR87 tuner, Marantz 510LV Laser Disc player, ASUS laptop USB (JRiver Media Center 23)
Speakers: Wilson Audio Specialties XVX
Sub-woofer: Wilson Audio Specialties Thor’s Hammer (1) horizontal lie and Wilson Watch Controller (abbr: WC)
Cables main system: Audioquest Wel Signature speaker cables and balanced IC (preamp to amps); Wel Signature AES/EBU balanced digital IC for CD playback; Audioquest Diamond optical (1) for tuner, (1) for BR player, and (1) for LD player for total of (3); Diamond USB cable; McIntosh MCT cable for SACD playback; Dragon power cords (5 HC cords and 3 source cords for total of 8); Thunder HC power cord for tuner; cables for DVD player not listed
Cables subwoofer system: Audioquest Redwood speaker cable (1); Wolf balanced subwoofer IC from WC to amp; Wind balanced IC from preamp to WC; Hurricane HC (2) and Dragon HC (1) power cords
Power conditioners: Audioquest Niagara 7000 (1) and Niagara 5000 (3); (4) dedicated 20-amp lines with no. 10 wire straight out of fuse box
Cabinet: Double Custom Woodwork & Design (CWD) solid walnut cabinet on large casters; holds all sources and preamp; also, Niagara 7000; 11 feet minimum distance from speakers
Acoustic Treatments: Room and Echo Tunes enough to turn the room into a virtual anechoic chamber if desired; however, at present my room is significantly reflective giving me a bright, vibrant, dynamic, highly resolving, smooth sound free of harshness and grain and perfect for my taste; zero slap echo; gorgeous midrange
AC: Dedicated to this room only, an ultra-high efficiency and quiet recently installed Ruud split system 3-ton heat pump.
Room (mancave): 40’L x 15.5’W A-frame; max ceiling height 8’ min 5’; wall within wall construction built of 2 x 6’s; built over garage with custom hardwood floor with gym seal with over 40 Lowes stiffened wooden I-beams supporting floor; complete isolation from rest of house

[sandecker]

Congratulations, the XVX look amacing. Can just imagine how they sound [emoji3]

[SCAudiophile]

Congratulations on the speakers Charles!

[bart]

Congrats Charles!
What a system you have there.

II loved your pics but suffer from a severe torticollis now.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by bart

Congrats Charles!
What a system you have there.

II loved your pics but suffer from a severe torticollis now.

Thanks everyone so much! I'm amazed at how good the XVX actually sounds in my room. The woofers are very powerful not in the sense of too much bass but I have my Thor probably turned down at least 5 dB.

I have some disks that have very soft very low frequency organ, no higher than 20Hz. It is very difficult for any speaker to pick up one particular cut. It's the softness of the note that makes it so difficult but I want to hear that note. So I have the Thor turned up just enough to hear it.

OK, I said last night, I'm ready to turn the Thor down but I know my note is going away. I'll live with it. So I turned it down so that now for at least 95% of my music the Thor is not over about 2 watts at most. It was about 4 am and the room was dead quiet. What I'm hearing now is almost all XVX, these woofers are so good I want to hear them.

I put the CD on (In a Quiet Cathedral 2nd CD 1st cut, it has an incredibly low incredibly soft sustained low note so that when it goes off the room depressurizes.) and much to my surprise and pleasure it was there in spades with the Thor hardly contributing. At least in my room these speakers have incredibly smooth extremely powerful extended low frequency output. I never thought they would do it.

I hope Ivan gets the pics corrected. I'm going very soon to become a significant AA donator.

[For The Love of Music]

Without hearing your system, I would agree with your comments.

My hunch is the system will perform very well with taking the Thor out.

Good to read your enthusiasm, enjoy your sound!

[joey_v]

Congrats Charles!

A lifetime work to be proud of.