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| Letters -- September 2006 "…not even on the same planet as these…" September 27, 2006 Editor, I read your comments on the Audio Acoustics Sapphire Ti-C SE, and, having heard them, I agree 100 percent. I have auditioned all kinds of speakers and they are not even on the same planet as these; admittedly, I was listening to them on a system belonging to Shabir Bhatti with Wavac amplifiers and his own cabling. Nevertheless, it goes to show what can be obtained when a system is put together in a holistic manner. No more chopping and changing. Just agree on your budget and ask for a system, not bits. That would be what I learned from my time with that system. Willie Shaw SETs, X-1s, X-2s September 20, 2006 Editor, Just a small question: Has the Wilson Audio Alexandria X-2 the divine ability to be played well by a SET amplifier like the X-1 does? Answer: NO. This would be a highly regarded observation that should make part of your excellent reviews since 70% of the hi-fi goes to Far East, a place where a huge SET following exists. I have had a pair of X-1s since 1997: a year when everybody was crying for more and more watts in an amp. When the SET brigade imposed itself a few years later in the marketplace I did not have to change the speakers, just the amp. So, better and more "ultra" for me is more relative to cosmetic and not to general purposes like the universal X-1. Don’t tell me a Spectral amp has better sound than a Lamm or Marantz Project T-1 amp, because I don’t believe it. My X-1s tell me a little bit more than you, even though I like very much to read your reviews. Please don’t get me wrong. I like very much your kind of articles. But I think if you say that SETs won’t work with X-2s, Mr. Wilson might never let you have access to their products with the same confidence. Luis Gustavo From reading my articles you know that I have owned both X-1s and X-2s. So you also know that I have owned and used a number of first-class solid-state amplifiers with them through the years. Since I’ve never had a SET amp in my home, however, there is no way I could have tried one with any of the Wilsons I have owned -- and therefore I would not have the experience to tell the reader that SETs work with one speaker and/or the other. However, my amplifier alter ego, Marc Mickelson, concluded in his SoundStage! review of the X-2s that "Such low-end weight and power will be a function of your amplifier, as the speakers can handle whatever is thrown at them, but even with the Lamm ML2.1s, which are 18W SET amps, the bass is astonishing." Clearly he felt the X-2 was a fine match with a SET amplifier….Jeff Fritz "...contrary to the review claim..." September 4, 2006 I am the satisfied owner of the Signature stereo version H2O. Henry Ho is an Apogee speaker enthusiast and the H2O was designed specifically to drive Apogee Scintillas, whose impedance can be made to dip well below 2 ohms. So I think that, contrary to the review claim, you could ask the H2O amps to drive such loads with confidence, as a number of Apogee owners have. Other amps may experience cardiac arrest trying. Bob Wilcox
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