Sabrina impressions

[FDPDK]

Ohh Serge , forgot to tell , its 10 x 19 where the speakers are on the long wall , and its not possible to do it the other way .
And thanks for your wishing

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by FDPDK

Ohh Serge , forgot to tell , its 10 x 19 where the speakers are on the long wall , and its not possible to do it the other way .
And thanks for your wishing

Sophia II and III were happy in similar "volume" rooms if not the same layout in my previous homes. You should be good.

[FDPDK]

Thanks a lot Serge , its really great to have the feedback from members like you.

[Jean-Marc jmajma]

Originally Posted by Charles

Several years ago when Alexia was first introduced I heard the same problem in the bass which was immediately solved by a bigger Mac amp run off the 4 ohm tap. It previously had been paired with a Mac integrated amp run off 8 ohm tap. The bass had sound bloated and uncontrolled.

+1 with Charles, I use my ALEXIA's with 1,2KW on 4 ohms taps and can't be happier.

Every Wilson Audio speaker I listened to, from Duette's to Alexandria's, gave me goose bumps.

Aficionado I am, for sure.

[Sharp 1080]

Originally Posted by PHC1

I have lived with Sophia II, Sophia III, Sasha and Alexia for some time as well as the other incredible home theater related speakers such as the Polaris and Mezzo and surrounds. I've auditioned most of the Wilson speakers at one time or another from the Duette's and up to and including the Alexandria's.

Of course as you go up the line those speakers bring more to the table, no doubt about it. Having said that, the Sabrina all in itself is a very enjoyable speaker that I would not hesitate to buy and spend many years listening to. It is definitely enough of a speaker to present the listener with all the great aspects that go into enjoying music and keeping the cost at more down to earth levels.

I certainly do not need Alexandrias nor would I ever buy them for even my 26x31 room as they are really meant to fill a much bigger space with incredible pressurization and the grand scale of sound they can recreate in proper acoustical spaces and I have heard those beasts in the wild! Unforgettable experience. The Sabrina's would be more than enough at substantial savings for me and I am saying that as a previous Wilson speaker owner. Speaking for myself only of course, I realize that many will prefer to reach for the higher shelves and that is absolutely understandable as well.

Serge,

Thank you for that review of the Sabrina speaker. Much appreciated. I have only heard them once and it was sharing the space with a customer who was auditioning them. I have to go back and listen when the store is empty. Okay now for my second reply. I have a slight disagreement with your statement about the size the rooms. I have a 21'X15' room myself. I was torn between the ability to actually buy Maxx 3"s or go into serious debt trying to buy the Alexandria XLF! I have heard the Alexandria XLF in a huge dealer showroom with obviously more space than your room and also heard the Alexandria X2's in a 23'X15" purpose built room (OBGYN's room). Believe it or not the smaller of the two rooms sounded fantastic. Being driven by SET Lamm monoblocks helps. I even had a long detailed talk with Daryl Wilson before I bought the Maxx 3's and if that was too much speaker compared to my Watt/Puppy 7's. Of course a year later he finished the Alexx and they began shipping. You are absolutely correct about the bigger the better. Just confused why would you would be against them in your room which is huge. Us mere mortals have smaller rooms. I am enclosing photos of both rooms. Now I am suffering from room envy!

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Sharp 1080

Serge,

Thank you for that review of the Sabrina speaker. Much appreciated. I have only heard them once and it was sharing the space with a customer who was auditioning them. I have to go back and listen when the store is empty. Okay now for my second reply. I have a slight disagreement with your statement about the size the rooms. I have a 21'X15' room myself. I was torn between the ability to actually buy Maxx 3"s or go into serious debt trying to buy the Alexandria XLF! I have heard the Alexandria XLF in a huge dealer showroom with obviously more space than your room and also heard the Alexandria X2's in a 23'X15" purpose built room (OBGYN's room). Believe it or not the smaller of the two rooms sounded fantastic. Being driven by SET Lamm monoblocks helps. I even had a long detailed talk with Daryl Wilson before I bought the Maxx 3's and if that was too much speaker compared to my Watt/Puppy 7's. Of course a year later he finished the Alexx and they began shipping. You are absolutely correct about the bigger the better. Just confused why would you would be against them in your room which is huge. Us mere mortals have smaller rooms. I am enclosing photos of both rooms. Now I am suffering from room envy!

Good question as to why I would not consider Alexandria. First let me say I would not ever consider spending that kind of money on a pair of speakers no matter how great they are. I could have allowed myself that luxury before and I still can but I have other priorities these days so that's not even an option in my mind. Price aside, when I heard the Alexandria's in a much bigger room than mine, the way the speaker pressurized the room, the 30 ft wide soundstage that opened up in front of the listeners the incredible depth and layering of instruments, the grand scale and sheer effortless power and eye flinching dynamic crescendos that speaker can recreate is beyond impressive. One problem, that room was much bigger than mine. Believe me when I tell you this, you have not heard the Alexandria in its element is it was driven by Lamm SETs. Much like driving a Ferrari on the street is no where near the actual experience that car can deliver on the track. There is no way a small room can recreate all the drama that a bigger room that can actually allow the spaciousness of the soundstage and bass waves to develop can. My monitor sized Harbeths feel right at home developing all the drama they can muster in my room. The Sabrina would have even less work to strut their stuff in my room. I think we often tend to overspeaker our rooms on the advice of those interested in selling us a bigger speaker.

[Antonmb]

Great review Serge. I auditioned the Sabrinas a couple of years ago and was equally impressed with them.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

Great review Serge. I auditioned the Sabrinas a couple of years ago and was equally impressed with them.

Not really a review, just my observations but thank you Tony. Hard not to be impressed with the Sabrina. It does so many things so well.

[PeterMusic]

I also auditioned a pair of Sabrinas both in store and at home, and I largely concur with your findings. The only thing I'd add is that for rock/blues/jazz, the Sabrinas benefit greatly from the addition of a subwoofer.

[Mikado463]

Originally Posted by 1KW

Nice write up Serge, these look a lot better than the prior R2D2 appearance of the past

translation ...........'Fifties era amusement park trash cans' ...........


Thanks for the review Serge, although your 'mid' review I think adds up to a 3 not a 4 !