Wilson Alexandria X2s in small room


I'm thinking of getting a pair of Wilson Alexandria X-2s. I'm wondering how they will sound in my 13.5 x 22 x 7 foot listening room. I've talked with Wilson and they thought they'ed work. Some dealers I've talked with are not as positive, thinking they will overpower my room. My room has been acoustically treated with Auralex LNRD bass traps in all four corners. I also use diffusors and 6 Room Lens to tune my room which features a pair of Revel Salons and a pair of Revel Sub 30 subwoofers. I figure my current system has about the same radiating area as the Wilsons. A friend has Legacy Focus 20/20s which generate large amounts of bass also, and he's used them successfully in small rooms with tweeks. Will I need to use a unit like the Rives PARC to get the best from these speakers? Or will they fit in with the usual amount of setup care that my Salons took?
Any opinions or educated guesses?
Thanks,
Steve
128x128sgr
You`re the biggest whiner in here Audiofeil. I`ve read MUCH in here, but haven`t written much because of bickering and generally grown ups whining and talking trash. They say "Silence is golden"....... Have you ever thought of thinking before posting all over Audiogon? Europeans laugh at grown men whining and complaining like this..................
Audiofeil,

Dont you know who Albert Porter is? If you did, prior to Audiooracle mentioning his name, then dont you think that he's famous? Isn't he known and discussed?

Well then... your subjective opinion of him is irrelevant. To you, audiooracle, those who know him on this board, and I... AP's pretty "famous".

You're famous too... for all your whining.
Sgr, I have heard the X2s at Innovative Audio in NYC and they are set up there in a room that is larger than your and taller. The room is treated all around. The speakers sounded amazing with all Levinson gear(33H monoblock amps).

By looking at the pictures of your room, I doubt they will work as they should.

The great thing about the X2s is that the soundstage is so wide deep and tall producing an amazing level of realism.
In your room, I think, you may get most of the depth but the height and width will be limited by the size of the room.
In other words, I don't think you'll be getting the performance that would be worth the money.

If you want, give Innovative Audio a call and ask them what they think. They are a long time Wilson dealer.
I, too, have heard the X-2's at Innovative. They were powered by Levinson 33's and the then-new (Summer 2005) Spectral single-box CD player, of course with MIT cabling. The room is a large, purpose built room, probably 35' x 25' x 9'.

The sound to my ears was quite disappointing and I thought the WattPuppy 7's in the other room sounded much better. The X-2's were not dialed in properly and the speakers could be identified as the source of sound. Given that the midrange and tweeter drivers are mounted quite high in the air, the sound was shooting down at me and the presentation totally unnatural. Eliott and his staff are professional, try hard and are super-nice by NYC standards, but I respectfully differ from the above poster about the X-2 set-up at Innovative and would not judge X-2's on that set-up.

Taking the liberty of offering my honest opinion, I have never cared for Levinson amplifiers and do not believe they are appropriate for a speaker of the level of X-2's. As for solid-state, the darTZeel, Tenor or Lamm amps (or vintage Rowland if we're pinching pennies -- Models 2/6/8ti/9ti) are the only solid-state amps I am aware of that can layer space like a great tube amp and that do not denature timbre. That would be my first choice, and second choice would be Spectral or Audio Research, which Wilsons are primarily voiced with. A pair of speakers like X-2's, the top Kharmas, the big Magicos or just released Evolution Acoustics merit the CAT monoblocks or darTZeel (the synergy between Wilsons and CAT's amps are outstanding, by the way). I respect Levinson's 32 preamp and owned a 360S DAC and 37 transport for a couple of years (the latter I bought at Innovative, by the way), but their amps, while being very good solid-state, are not, I believe, in the same league as X-2's. My sincere apologies if any of this is offensive to the person who began this thread or anyone else (that is absolutely not my intention), but the X-2's are both very special and very expensive -- my conscience is now clean.
Wow, it seems my simple question has opened many cans of worms! Thanks for all your opinions and educated gueses. It appears there are more for not doing this than for. So we'll have to see what happens. If I was a betting man I'd have to say these are not the best speakers for my room, but I might get them to work and sound reasonably good until I purchase a new house in the near future with a much larger listening room.
I have heard from more than one knowledgable source that Mr. Wilson owned Levinson 33s for many years personally (using them to voice many of his speaker models)and just sold them this year for the big VTL monoblocks. I believe that it is probably in a designer's best interest to use a variety of top notch equipment when voicing speakers. At any rate, no offence taken from anyone and I hope to read about other audiophiles' experiences or opinons.