Wilson Maxx 3 many questions

[Charles]

I am going to purchase a Maxx 3. I would like to hear some comments from folks that own Maxx 3's. I believe the speaker would fit well within my room. I have an a-frame rec room. Another speaker I am considering is the XRT1K but am concerned about the port being to close to the a-frame ceiling. My room is 15'3'' W and 40' long. Imaging and sound staging qualities of the room are excellent with my XRT 29's which are over 9 years old now. I have heard the Sasha's numerous times and like the Wilson sound. What does anyone think regarding the port of the 1K's being very very close to the a-frame ceiling? This causes me concern regarding the 1K. The Maxx 3 height is much more friendly to my a-frame ceiling than the line source 1K. I expect I'd be happy with the sound of either speaker providing no compromise of the 1K sound. I want a little more speaker than the Sasha's if possible. Comments would be greatly appreciated. My side walls are 5 feet. My ceiling in the room center is a full 8' tall and 3'6" wide before the slope begins to the 5' sidewalls. Am I overlooking anything?

[jdandy]

Charles.......It sounds like a fantastic room for a sound system. With the side wall height at 5 feet on each side, and the overall height at only 8 feet in the center of the ceiling, my thought is the Wilson Sasha's are the most likely speaker to integrate well. I know you are use to a taller speaker, and visually this may be part of the motivation behind your other choices. Considering the 15 feet of room width, you are not likely to have more that 9 feet between the speakers, with your best seating position probably less than 12 feet from the speakers. If I am in the ballpark with my assumptions, the Sasha's would be perfect.

[BlueChiaro]

Hi, Charles, thanks for going out on a limb and starting the thread. I guess the first question sort of relates to your main, overall, concern. The Maxx 3 is 5' 8" tall...aren't you worried about this impacting placement flexibility? I didn't get out my HP calculator to determine how far into the room this places the speakers, but that was my first concern. The XRT1Ks, at 6' 7", give you even less placement flexibility.

Other questions that come to mind to get us started:

• Is placement planned on the long wall, short wall, or are you flexible?
• When you say, "a little more speaker than the Sasha," what are you seeking that you feel Sasha doesn't provide? I ask because my concern would be that the total placement flexibility, which Sasha would provide, may offer a better sonic solution than either of the other two in your unique room...just a thought.
• What electronics will be driving them?

If your answer to all of the above is, simply, "I just want MAXX 3!"...then so be it! Okay, that's all I've got...be aware that I have no answers, only questions!

[PHC1]

Charles, have you auditioned the Maxx 3? You mentioned you have auditioned Sasha and liked it a lot. Be sure to audition the Maxx 3 and see if the difference of almost $50k makes that much of a difference to you. Good luck.

[trponhunter]

A line source , in general should work better, as it will virtually eliminate the ceiling and floor reflections. The MAC is a line array- not really a true line source - so I'm not exactly sure at which frequency it becomes very directional above the line. I am most familiar Wisdom Audio line sources, and they have virtually no dispersion above about 450hz above the line. A tall point source speaker in a room like that would appear to be much more room interactive, and therefor, less predictable. And the answer is not to move the speaker alot more towards the center of the room where you have more height, as this has its own set of problems as well. If you are dead set on getting Wilsons, I would think Sasha would be more predictable in that room, as I'm understanding it.

[Charles]

I appreciate the thoughts a lot. I made some measurements (actually a lot of measurements). I can get to 15" from the side walls with the Maxx 3's before the head becomes a problem. I would start with the bass box at about 24" to 28'' with toe in. This would give me a max of 9.6' between the tweeters with recommended listening position between 10.5 to 12 feet according to the Wilson manual. I checked with Jeron at Wilson and he confirms the suitability of the Maxx's with my room. Yes, I really want the Maxx's if they they will work over the Sasha's, not sure why I just like the Maxx's. But if there is something fundamental that I am overlooking it is a huge amount of money to spend. I was sold on the 1K's. Ivan likes them better and I respect ivan's opinion a lot. But then I got to thinking that with toe in the very high port and rear of the speaker is going to be slammed right against my a-frame ceiling. Probably, this would not afferct the sound but at 35,000 dollars I can't take the chance. I'm not hearing any alarms going off in my head so far. Would appreciate any brainstroming any body has as to severe misgivings (as I have with the 1K's) about the Maxx's. I totally agreee that the Sasha's are a better fit but the aspherical array is made to overcome room problems. Also I had great success with Thiel CS5's (height 64") in my room. More comments greatly appreciated. It's a huge purchase. Does anyone think the Maxx 3 is a dated speaker? I have not heard the Maxx's. I will list my system below.

Charles system
Speakers: McIntosh XRT 30's, Krell MRS Subwoofer with dedicated 20 amp line/Palladian PK10 20 amp Power Cord
Preamp: McIntosh C1000 C/P Solid State
Power Amps: McIntosh 1.2 KW's (2) each with dedicated 20 amp line, MIT Z-Cord II power cords, (2) Z-Stabilizers
Sources: McIntosh MCD11000 SACD/CD Player, McIntosh MVP881BR Audio Video Player, McIntosh MVP851 DVD Player, McIntosh MR85 Digital Tuner, Marantz LV510 Multi LD Player
Line Treatment Systems: MIT Z-Center, Z-ISO-Duo
Interconnects, Speaker cables & Power cords: Kimber Kable Select Copper top tier both balanced and unbalanced interconnects are employed throughout, Audioquest Coffee USB cable for computer audio, Kimber Kable KS 3033 Select Copper Speaker Kable, Kimber Kable Palladian PK10 20 amp power cord, Multiple MIT Z-Cord II's
Computer: ASUS Laptop with Windows 7 64 bit OS and 750G HD using J Rivers Media Center, dedicated for Computer Audio

[BlueChiaro]

Awesome system, Charles!

MAXX 3 is the speaker I would want if I could afford it, but I've never spent any serious time listening to them...only the Series 2. In my view, the XRT1K would reduce your tweeter to tweeter distance even further, and then you'd almost be doing near field listening, which probably isn't the way to go with that speaker...that's my gut...I certainly don't "know" the speaker.

To me, the downside of the bigger Wilsons is placement flexibility, but if you don't want Sasha, then you're not going to be happy. Ironically, when I made my purchase, I listened to both Sasha and Sophia 3. I really wanted to love & buy the Sashas, but I preferred the presentation of the Sophia 3. I think I'm the only person my dealer ever came across who felt that way. My gut says that if you like Sasha, you will like MAXX 3, as the tweeter & mid-range are the same on both speakers. Obviously, there are other factors to the sound, but that's a good start in your favor.

Once you decide, let's get on to more serious things, like COLOR!

[PHC1]

Charles, there are some that actually prefer the Sasha to Maxx 3. Best thing to do would be to audition both and decide for yourself.

[NoahG]

Charles, the Maxx 3's aspherical array will definately help fine tune the speakers to your room. There's a pair of Maxx 3s on Agon at a big discount.

The Maxx 3s should work well with your existing components.

Since Wilson just updated the X2, I don't think they'll update the Maxx 3 until 2013.

If like the Sashas, you'll love the Maxx 3s.

[daveneumann]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Charles, there are some that actually prefer the Sasha to Maxx 3. Best thing to do would be to audition both and decide for yourself.

Hi Charles, I would echo what Serge has said. Before making that kind of purchase you owe it to yourself to audition the Max 3 in direct comparison with the Sashas. I personally prefered the Sashas over the Max 3 when auditioned in the same room and with the same electronics. Of course everyone's hearing is different and we all have different values and priorities when it comes to music.

Another consideration is whether your McIntosh electronics are the best match for the Wilsons. After hearing several other options, I sold my McIntosh gear for other electronics that, to me anyway, sounded much better with Sashas.

Good luck and enjoy the process!