Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX Series 2 Loudspeaker

A Wilson X-2 Alexandria at a third the price?

I can count on both hands, with fingers to spare, the number of audio components that have redefined some aspect of the listening experience. I’m not talking about products that incrementally improve an element of the sonic presentation, but those that have caused me to reevaluate what’s possible in music reproduction. Products in that category include the Mark Levinson No.30 digital processor (in its day—1991) for showing that the CD format held far more information than had previously been revealed; the Avalon loudspeakers (Radian HC and Eidolon) for their astonishing soundstaging; the Vendetta Research phono preamp for its jet-black background, wide dynamics, and massive resolution; and the Audio Research Reference 600 power amplifiers with their stunningly gorgeous and lifelike rendering of timbre.

To that select list I can now add the $45,000 Wilson MAXX Series 2 loudspeaker. The aspect of music reproduction that the MAXX redefines, in my experience, is the bottom end, where it combines huge bass power and dynamics with ultra-precise control, coherence, and resolution. More than any other loudspeaker I’ve heard, the MAXX integrates the bass into the musical fabric, both dynamically and tonally, in a way that makes me forget I’m listening to a mechanical reproduction of music rather than to music itself. In addition, the MAXX resolves inner detail and nuances in the bottom end in a way that changes the listening experience with some kinds of music. The audiophile lexicon of superior bass performance—tight, articulate, weighty, deep—simply doesn’t begin to describe the MAXX experience. Rather, this new MAXX renders a wholesale elevation of bass quality, requiring a different approach to describing why it’s different from every other loudspeaker I’ve heard.

I spent a good portion of my review of Wilson’s WATT/Puppy 7 loudspeaker (Issue 143) describing how that product maintains its dynamic coherence across the audio spectrum. That is, the bottom end didn’t “lag” behind the rest of the music on transients. Specifically, I wrote “The system seemed to speak with one voice dynamically rather than change its character with the instrumentation or the register. Some loudspeakers with superb transient fidelity in the midband cannot maintain dynamic contrast in the bass. As a result, the sonic fabric appears, distractingly, to be stitched together from separate materials rather than from a single bolt of cloth.” Surprisingly, the MAXX not only has this same rare quality, but takes it several steps beyond the WP7 by backing up the transient speed with massive dynamic impact, the ability to extend effortlessly into the realm of pipe-organ pedal notes, and even greater resolution of bass detail.

By contrast, the bass from other loudspeakers seemed slightly disconnected from the music, like a weight being dragged behind the rest of the spectrum. This description goes beyond the big, bloomy, and slow character of an underdamped loudspeaker—it’s more subtle sonically yet musically important. The effect had not been that noticeable until I’d heard its absence in the WP7. Once I’d lived with a loudspeaker that greatly reduced this form of distortion, I was hesitant to go back.

Which is why I at first declined to review the MAXX Series 2. I had become accustomed to the WP7’s freedom from from The Planets [JVC XRCD]—was particularly well served by the MAXX.

The second example is the MAXX’s reproduction of bass guitar and kick drum, which, with great musicians, work together to anchor the rhythm and create that propulsive, visceral involvement. Any alteration of the music’s dynamic structure in the bottom end is manifested as a lessening of the feeling of the bassist and drummer “locking in,” and thus the sense of physical involvement in the music. Listen to the spectacularly recorded guitar power-trio album Suspension by the Travis Larson Band [The Orchard]. You can hear the kick drum’s dynamic envelope line up with the bass’ leading-edge transients in a wonderful synergy that must be heard to be appreciated. The bottom end has a center-of-the-earth solidity that serves as the tonal and rhythmic anchor for the music. Moreover, the MAXX resolves the micro-detail that conveys the information that the bass’ sound is made by a vibrating string. Add to this the kick drum’s ultra-fast slam, equally fast decay, and seemingly unlimited extension and dynamics, and you’ve got the makings of an addictive experience. The MAXX will maintain these qualities at any listening level, with no congestion, smearing, or lessening of dynamic impact.